A Sociology of Crime - Assignment Example

Task: In spite of the idea that there are fewer female offenders than male offenders, there has been recent international attention on gender-specific offences and criminal justice. Feminism is an instrumental force that has reflected focus towards the type of sentences and viewership of crime that accompanies female offenders. A major way in which sentencing decisions affects patriarchy regards the insensitivity that accompanies sentences on female offenders. Criminal justice should acknowledge that gender creates a disparity in which crime is viewable. This is because women possess different pathways into crime and criminality as well as unique reactions to imprisonment. In addition, this group manifests disparities in terms of aspects such as parenting responsibilities, substance abuse and employment histories. As regards this perspective, most women find a pathway to crime through substance abuse and survival out of poverty and abuse. This perspective reveals notable flaws in sentences that concern women. To begin with, women possess family responsibilities that are ignored in family sentences. In average households, women possess responsibilities such as nurturing young children and babies. Such care is very intensive and demanding as mothers have to take responsibility for cleaning, feeding and making health choices for the baby. In courts, sentences ignore the idea that such mothers bear an extra responsibility of handling incarceration pressure in case of jail sentences. This creates the scenario whereby fathers cannot fill in the responsibilities of mothers in case they face incarceration. While the mothers bear an additional burden of nurturing children in prison, men continue with their ordinary lives. On the other hand, certain sentences reveal contradictory viewership of criminals. This, especially, occurs in family relationships whereby criminal justice views violence differently if a female partner acts violently against the other partner. In case of a female perpetrator, the court is most likely to grant a less intensive sentence. This perpetuates the belief that the females are a vulnerable part of the population that needs protection from the society. 2 The structuralists prop a disciplinary and authoritarian state in a peculiar way. To begin with, the society should not view the state in terms of ruling class’ behavior models. This is because the composition of the state, in terms of classes, is of mild importance to the nature of governance. The state and social classes are objective elements whose links are objective systems to functionality of a whole community. In addition, the state is relatively independent as a function of other structures such as the individuals. In sculpturing the state, the structuralists believe that the state ought to assume control over all the individuals and the territories. This suggests that the state can pursue plans that do not reflect the requirements of the powerful groups. The structuralists view society as a building complex that requires several units to make the whole framework. The building entities work towards creating stability and solidarity. Structuralists perceive the shape of a society at a macro-level while focusing on the single units that bind an evolving community. The constituent elements include customs, norms and traditions. Apart from those, there are institutions that help towards functioning of a whole structure. In this sense, an authoritarian state helps in binding these elements towards creating a society without compromising on the building components. In addition, authoritarianism is an integrating force of the capitalist upper classes and the working class. The capitalist upper classes are viewable as the owners of wealth and providers of jobs that are guided by the search of profits. In order to prevent constraints of conflicting interest, it becomes vital to induce a merging force that prevents domination of one social group. This also suggests that social structures do not actually fade in the evolution of a society. The actual change occurs in the perception of those structures. 3 Court trials conduct a symbolic role in the criminal justice system and constitutionality of a whole community. This suggests that the courts are vital due to an inherent perception and sensation about its roles. One of the symbolic elements of the court regards its figure as a participatory democracy. In the courts, every individual possesses the right to fair trial. In the real sense, courts are sometimes open to manipulations by a powerful part of the community. Court trials seek to perform the constrained function of reforming individuals. The society makes an assumption that the courts succeeds in its efforts of reforming individuals. However, the courts only deliver verdicts on individuals. In the end, the courts continue in their activities without consideration of the idea that incriminated individuals do not change. This suggests that court’s functions fall short of the society’s ambitions. Besides, the society assumes that courts serve to reconcile different competing interests. The court cases are viewable as contests between two individuals in proving their moral standpoints. This suggests that the courts would serve the critical function of identifying the right moral standpoint for the benefit of the whole society. However, the courts would always strive to issue verdicts that end cases and give room for new disputes. In actual scenario, the courts ignore societal values and standards of fairness in delivering solutions for reconciliation. This suggests that the courts would always favor an entity over the other. This contrary from the assumption that courts would serve to unite and reconcile two competing interests. In addition, the courts serve the symbolic function of advancing the society. In the actual court scenario, individuals attain compensation for their duties as cases progress. This is a diverting position from the moral instituting role that the courts ought to serve. In actual court scenarios, individual entities strive to justify their compensation for the duties they conduct. This suggests that court parties such as defense attorneys have to strive to deliver efforts that measure up to their compensation for respective cases. Part 2 Question 1 On her first conviction, Victoria Twiddy was just seventeen years old. This occurred due to a shoplifting incident in which she involved. However, the consequential community sentence acted as a launch into her career of crime. Within a single decade, she had attained 11 convictions and 220 arrests. Of the 11 convictions, there were five for theft, two for criminal damage, three for assault and a court order’s breach. Twiddy claims that she would do shoplifting in order to appear nice. This reflected in terms of constant reoffending. This provides an evidence of the penal system as requiring change. Rehabilitation comes in as a vital solution against criminality. Rehabilitation has existed as an alternative solution to the penal systems of retribution, deterrence and incapacitation. In terms of deterrence, it is always a dilemma whether fear discourages crime. Proponents argue that celerity, severity and certainty are the only elements that make deterrence effective. While general deterrence triggers the public to desist from criminal conduct by employing the individual as an example to the public, specific deterrence dissuades the offender from future commission of crime. However, in the case of Twiddy, specific deterrence is not effective for reforming the behavior of the girl. Rehabilitation suggests an individual restores normal life through education, therapy and other forms of training. The core of rehabilitation is ensuring that an individual reforms one’s modes of thinking to less believe that crime is helpful towards a quality life (Eglin and Hester 213). Rehabilitation strives to cut back on recidivism without injecting harm onto a student. This is achievable by restoring one’s state of mind towards a positive attitude. In this view of justice, crime is viewable as a product of social inequality. By according conventional endeavors, individual acquire the means to tackle their criminality. This concept makes the assumption that individuals are at the mercy of economic, social and interpersonal conditions. Works Cited Eglin, Peter, and Stephen Hester. A sociology of crime. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print. Read More