Classification of Classical Criminology - Term Paper Example

ical Criminology ical Criminology Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 224820 05 May 2008 ical Criminology Introduction The need to classify criminology for study research is greater than ever before. Crime does not pay Perhaps it does not. However, the cost of damages resulting out of not classifying criminology is so unimaginably high, that it will be difficult to expect law and order to take its course in a society ridden with criminal viruses in every stratum. What is criminology Who is a criminal Why do people take to crime Why do criminal acts continue to bother every nation despite consistent deterrent and legislative actions to curb it Nowadays lawlessness is prevalent in every country. There isn't any place on earth where the government can declare that the occurrence of crime is rare. Indeed, blue and white collar crimes are displaying a rising curve on the graph everywhere. The reason is not confined to any one particular field or discipline. Statistics reveal the grim situation prevalent in political, social, economical, educational, entertainment, and even familial circles. The Study of Criminology The controversy on treating criminology as an academic stream exists and it is difficult to argue either in favor of it or oppose it. For instance, the issue of capital punishment is raging currently with the proponents and opponents engaged in a war of words in print and electronic media. In this cacophony and confusion, the Human Rights' Commission and their supporters claim that: the death sentence amounts to state or judiciary-sponsored murder, that it does not serve the purpose as a deterrent to potential killers, it does not take into account the basic rights of the dependants of the condemned man for a decent livelihood, and finally, that the state should rather reform the convicts so that they learn to lead a better life in society and atone for his wrongdoing by engaging in social services under the state's dictum. The proponents of capital punishment however have a different point of view. Every civilized society in the world has penal codes and most contain the capital punishments. The civilized society's contention is that obliteration of capital punishment from the statute book will only prod lawbreakers to commit their wanton acts with impunity. The eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth kind of justice prevalent in some countries like Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have succeeded in maintaining a healthy sense of fear of the law among its citizens. So, on the one hand, justice has to be done to the perpetuator of crime in a way that metes out punishment for the crime and at the same time also leaves him enough scope to transform. Also, the ordinary citizens longing for an orderly peaceful society have the assurance at all times that their security concerns are not compromised while dispensing justice to the criminal. (Criminology) The Classification Crime can be broadly classified into two groups of categories. They are the organized crime and the unorganized crime or individual criminals. The characteristics of these two entities have their similarities and dissimilarities. However, they have the potential to quickly merge and adapt whenever the occasion requires. In fact, in ordinary circumstances both these groups maintain a distance from each other's turfs. Secrecy and silence are golden precepts for either group. Hard, high, visible and invisible walls hem in the machinations and activities of crime. These and other factors make study of criminology rather complex and many times a matter of wild goose chases. Nevertheless, classical criminology is emerging as important field of study and essential to modern governmental, social and economical welfare. Organized Crime Crime has had a long history dating back to ancient times. The middle ages are strewn with adventures of the likes of Robin Hoods, die-hard renegades, seafarers, and pirates. Their destiny was intertwined with their popularity among the masses and escapades from the dragnets of kings and nobles. However, in recent times it has become infused into different disciplines necessitating a very wide strategy of research. Its presence in polity, economy, and social realms has led to the study the nature and extent of its permeation and influence in these areas. It is not enough to study criminology through the background and tactics of filibusters. Now one has to delve deeper into the psyche and system of the mafia. Criminology as a discipline now straddles an entire curriculum consisting of history, psychology, human resource, the information and communication technologies, drugs and narcotics network, religious fundamentalism, separatist movements, and so on. It is so extensive that there is perceptibly the need to further divide criminology into sub-streams in order to break it up into various divisions of expertise. Also, there are avowed rogue nations overtly and covertly in league with powerful criminal outfits engaged in destabilizing activities and money laundering daily and merrily scooping unlawful deals and transactions worth billions. (Roger C. Barnes) Individual Criminals Criminals are no longer the straggly, wide eyed, monstrous personalities wearing the inevitable peak cap and eyes covered with dark glasses. No doubt some of them carry on like this. Nonetheless, the internet has single-handedly metamorphosed individual criminals as much as it has the organized crime. As it is, online communications and setup are still in their nascent stage and there is a whole lot of virtual terrain the law has yet to come to terms with or is grappling to curb through obsolete legislations. Emails, chat rooms, blogs, and the world-wide-web have rendered rudimentary 20th century moral issues ineffective and unrealistic to deal with highly motivated and technically advanced geeks for whom hacking, and not moral force, is the norm. (Crime Reduction) Unequal progress in the industrial and the agrarian economies, widening urban-rural economies gap, outsourcing of local business to cheaper, foreign shores, disintegration of the traditional family systems and values, a fast-paced and expensive educational system that has no time for slow learners, future uncertainties, etc. are driving young, impressionable dropouts in droves into committing criminal acts to satisfy personal needs. The juvenile delinquent may not be a threat of high magnitude, his environment well equipped with deterrent, corrective and rehabilitative resources. However, law enforcement agencies the world over have little to show to conclusively prove their preferences for corrective or rehabilitative measures as against the easier first, second or third degree methods. It is equally difficult to blame these law agencies as the balancing acts they have to perform vis--vis social security interests and individual criminal's rights can be quite nerve wrecking. The two-fold handling of organized crime and individual criminals places the latter at a great disadvantage and risk. While organized crime enjoys the benefit and reach of its politico-crime nexus and resources, the individual criminal becomes branded and hounded by law agencies and powerful criminal elements for lifetime. (Klaus von Lampe) Conclusion Classical criminology dealing with crime in all its empirical forms and contents may be just the answer in a society and state where prisons are increasingly running out of space to accommodate more offenders. Classical criminology could change possibility into reality and bring about ways and means to handle crime to effect short term, medium term, and long term remedies rather than condemn with the strike of the gavel. When Sir William Shakespeare coined the phrase, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" he undoubtedly had even criminals in mind. The stage would be unrealistic place had everyone fit in the scheme like clockwork. It is time for classical criminologists to get into the act of taking on crime at all levels and dimensions. Source: Crime Reduction, Thames Valley Police, http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/reduction/victimsofcrime/internet/index.htm. Criminology, Search.com, http://webshots.search.com/reference/Criminology. Klaus von Lampe; Beg, Steal or Borrow, The Study of Organized Crime and the Infusion of Concepts and Theories from Other Disciplines, Presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), Toronto, Canada, 18 November 2005, http://freenet-homepage.de/kvlampe/ASC2005-kvl.pdf. Roger C. Barnes, Peacemaking Criminology: Challenges and Possibilities, National Social Science Association, University of the Incarnate Word, http://www.nssa.us/journals/2007-29-1/2007-29-1-05.htm. Read More