Theories of Causation of Crime - Term Paper Example

Theories of Causation of Crime Introduction It is apparent that there is a growing body of evidence that articulate on the factorsthat induce people at risk of committing crime. Several theoretical approaches have been devised in an attempt to explain why people engage in criminal behaviors. This paper is going to focus on strain theory, which shades some lights on the causation of crime. According to this theory, people engage in criminal activities due to experiences of strain or stress thus they become upset and engage in crime (Henry & Einstadter, 2006). Engagement in crime to such people is a way of reducing or escaping from the strain or stress they are experiencing. According to this theory, people engage to crime to avoid or end harassment from their friends. In other instances, they may steal so that they can end or reduce financial problems that make them feel embarrassed. In another dimension, such people may commit crime as a way of revenging against those who have done them wrong. Engagement in illegal drug use is also a way of making them feel better especially when they engage in criminal activities. Poverty According to Vito & Maahs (2012), different challenges have been found to cause individuals from committing crime. Poor families have different challenges that make them feel disadvantaged in life. Due to lack of finances, poor families end up having different health problems since they cannot afford medication. In some of the developing countries, poor families suffer from malnutrition and other dietary related diseases. Such diseases are preventable especially when people have good meals, but this is different when it comes to people from poor background. They find it difficult to have three meals in a day. In this regard, people from such families try to find ways of placing meals on their tables. Since very little means are available to do so, they end up engaging in criminal activities such as stealing. They may feel that their supremacy is on the ability to steal from rich people. They mostly blame the forces of nature for their misfortunes and believe that since life is all about survival for the fittest, their ability to steal is their strength and they count is as their own adventure or as a means of earning a living. However, Kelso (1994) noted that such people develop a culture of stealing and find it difficult to engage in positive work to make money. They do not engage in any positive development activity as long as they believe they can survive by stealing. Education Studies have documented that people from poor backgrounds have little education or none at all. They lack resources to go to school or drop out of school due to lack of school fees. In most of the developing countries, children drop out of school as early as at the early age of 10 years due to different challenges. Some fail to attend to school because they lack meals thus they are unable to concentrate in class. Others fail to attend school because they engage in different activities to earn money. However, even those that engage in such activities prefer using simple ways of earning money and this primarily involve engaging in criminal activities. In a different dimension, they may end up joining criminal gangs that use force to get what they want (Kelso, 1994). Due to lack of finances, poor people only find pleasure in sexual activities thus bringing in complications related with sexual misconducts. For instance, prostitution is reportedly high in poor areas than in rich areas. This is what brings in the issue of sexually transmitted diseases as well as HIV and AIDS. Since most of the people that engage in such businesses are adults trying to earn a living for their children, they end up contracting sexually transmitted diseases. They lack knowledge on how to remain safe thus they end up succumbing to the diseases. In fact, they do not care about their fate. This leads to a situation of having many orphans. When their parents die, they are left with no option, but to engage in different criminal activities for their survival. Some engage in criminal behaviors to help their ailing parents. In addition, in the effort to overcome challenges facing them and the embarrassment involved in stigmatization of orphans, such children engage in criminal activities to avoid harassment and embarrassment. Drugs Studies have documented that the issue of drug abuse is correlated to crime (Goldberg, 2010). Areas with high rates of crime have been found to have the highest number of people engaged in drug abuse. However, there is a supporting evidence of the use of crime in regard to other several factors that make people engage in drug abuse. Children that are brought up in a violent family tend to engage in drug abuse as a way of reducing stress associated with the exposure to violence. However, engagement in drug abuse comes with addition urge to do more than just to engage in drug abuse. This entails developing aggressive behavior toward their family members including their parents. Goldberg (2010) pointed out that poor child up bringing can lead to children developing antisocial behaviors. In this regard, parenting style plays a critical role in regard to encouraging children engage in drugs and drug related crimes. A study conducted by Redda (1999) on the effects of sexual harassment on children indicated that children exposed to sexual harassment tend to engage in drug abuse as a way of reducing stress and other forms of bad feelings related with sexual assault. Others engage in drugs due to violence they encounter in their families. Children raised by their step parents have been reported to record the highest number of cases of drug abuse and other related crimes. In fact, some children who encounter any form of violence in their homes tends to join drug lords to earn money that they would use to prove to their rivals that they can still make it even with the current situations. Drug abuse groups are known to have their own philosophies that encourage them to engage in drug business and consider the business as their legacy. They have all forms of influence that they use as a form of shield from the law enforcers and other criminal justice organs. They use the money they obtain from the sale of drugs to bribe police officers. They have strong beliefs that they use to solidify their groups and consider such groups as socially acceptable as long as their missions are accomplished. Most of the rape cases have been connected with the use of drugs (Naqshbandi, 2012). Rape acts as a way of showing supremacy and domination. Drug abusers do not like being viewed as failures. They sexually abuse people to show masculinity and power possession. In some instances, drugs have been found to trigger the urge for domination, which to some extent push people into killing. Some of the famous serial killers have been found to be under the influence of drugs. When they take drugs, they feel high and possess extra power to commit crime. Politics Poor governance has been found to cause different socio-economic problems to the society. For instance, lack of incentives that bring about economic development have been cited to increase levels of poverty in many countries. This translates to poor or law quality education, poor health and overall poverty. These are tenets that encourage crime. For instance, governments that fail to offer incentives of reducing poverty encourage people to engage in crime. Some people find it easy to engage in crime to earn a living especially if they do not have other means. Siegel, (2012) argued that poor governance and bad politics encourage as situation where the gap between the rich and the poor continue to widen. In such situations, the poor feel oppressed and taken advantage of thus they look for means of climbing the social ladder. In a different dimension, poor politics tend to divide people into ethnic, racial and religious boundaries. This leads to conflicts between people. Various cases of conflicts affiliated to divided politics have been reported with high levels of all sorts of crime reported in such areas. Since leaders fail to address the basic needs of their people, completion for the available resources is inevitable. People tend to fight for what they consider as their rights especially in areas that their leaders fail to intervene. Some instances of massacre have been reported where political leaders incite their followers to engage in the kills for their own benefits. This is especially so in poor areas where the youth are encouraged to engage in the killings with empty promises of good life after they eliminate their rivals. When one group or community feels sidelined in terms of development and other social benefits, it resorts to violence to regain what it feels was deprived from it. Rwanda genocide involved elimination of Tutsi by the Hutu, who believed that they were taking up all leadership positions in the country. The Hutus believed that eliminating Tutsis would mean more leadership positions thus more benefits to Hutus. This was an example of the Hutus relieving their stress, which they thought was as a result of Tutsis. Socio-economic factors According to Helfgott & Meloy (2013.), various issues related to socioeconomic factors trigger individuals in committing crime. Social ties in various groups have been found to be so indispensable that people in such groups would fight for their wellbeing just to keep them embedded. They believe that their norms and practices are the best and should be respected by other groups. That is why many religious groups have been involved in conflicts with other groups. Some movements have been formed by people with a common interest just to safeguard their interests. These movements have their own ideologies that drive their motives. Most of them prefer the use of force as way of airing their grievances. As such, criminal gangs emerge as a result and engage in different criminal activities. Hardship in life triggers people from engaging in criminal activities. Areas with hard economic prosperities have been found to have the largest levels of crime. Illegal businesses thrive in such areas just to have their activities get thriving. In most cases, corruption and other related ills thrive in such areas. Business completion in such areas has always led to different crimes just to eliminate competitors to stay in the course. Personality Since strain theory emphasizes on experiences of strain and stress as the main cause of crime, personality can be argued to highly contribute to engagement in criminal activities. When some individuals are faced with difficult times, they lack other means of eroding their stress other than engaging in crime (Naqshbandi, 2012). They believe in instance justice, which lenders to the use of force and violence to get what they want. Such individuals have a history of criminal behavior that is characterised by their own beliefs, which constitute their personality. In fact, personality makes individuals to engage in criminal activities especially when the involved individuals do not like sharing their problems in others. Such individuals accumulate stressful moments only to react when they feel they cannot take it anymore. For instance, a person who has struggled to make the ends meet might feel disappointed and discouraged when all his efforts become futile. If such a person is the kind that do not like sharing his problems with people, he can resort to crime especially, which is characterised by violent behavior. Such people end up developing antisocial behaviors as well as psychological complications. In fact, some of them feel that they have been sidelined by others and always feel that their misfortunes happen because of others. When such feelings engulf them, they result in criminal activities as a sign of frustration. Some personality behaviors are a manifestation of previous encounters that tend to shape the behavior of an individual in a negative way (Vito & Maahs, 2012). For instance, people brought up in environs where crime is the order of the day tend to adapt to such kind of a lifestyle. Committing crime is not a big deal to them. Sometimes engaging in a criminal activity is a spontaneous reaction stimulated by events or situations. Such people believe that the only way to get out of their current situation is through crime. In a different dimension, personality has been argued to be a shape of parenting style. Children brought up by parents that have no regard to good behavior tend to develop bad personality. They grow up believing that their achievements are wholly entitled to their unquestionable efforts just as they used to do in their early years of development when they were being brought up. Such people have no regard to the rule of law. Peer pressure Peer pressure has been documented to play a critical role in shaping the behavior of an individual (Naqshbandi, 2012). Right from early years of development, children tend to adapt to the lives of their peers. This is evident especially in their backgrounds and their schools. Children from neighborhoods have different characteristics of their own behaviors. Some have good behaviors while others have bad behaviors. Bad behaviors acquired from the neighborhoods can be detrimental to children especially if the spend most and the whole of their lives in these neighborhoods. Engagement in antisocial behaviors is considered as a norm and can be carried on to adulthood. The same case applies to peer pressure emanating from school. Children at school mingle with children from other backgrounds. Bad influence can come from children from neighborhoods where crime is prevalent. Such children can influence their peers to engage in criminal activities regardless of whether they come from crime from areas. Mass media influence With the increase in technological innovations, many people witness different kinds of crimes from television, movies and other forms of media. For instance, violent movies have been noted to possess the ability to influence people from committing crime. Movies with actors that are portrayed as heroes fro their criminal behaviors can negatively influence people to commit crime. This is especially so children, who might have little knowledge of the meaning of the movie. For instance, a movie with the theme of how criminals extort money from the government or other rich people can have a very negative influence to people (Naqshbandi, 2012). A movie where kidnapers use different tactics to demand for ransom can be a bad influence to people as some people would try to use the same tactics shown in the movie to earn a living. In children, violent games have been reported to have high potentials in influencing them in a negative way. For instance, boxing and wrestling are the major video games that children like playing and which could influence them in a negative way. Such students would tend to practice what they saw in the video games in real life situations. Conclusion Several theoretical approaches have been devised in an attempt to explain why people engage in criminal behaviors. According to strain theory, people engage in criminal activities due to experiences of strain or stress thus they become upset and engage in crime. Poverty has been documented to be a major cause of crime. Drug abuse is also correlated with engagement in criminal behaviors. Bad politics create situations that encourage people to engage in criminal activities. Peer pressure is another cause of people engaging in criminal activities. Nevertheless, all these causes pin point to the issue of people trying to look for means of relieving their strains and stressful moments. References: Goldberg, R. (2010). Drugs across the spectrum. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Naqshbandi, M. (2012). Drug addiction and youth of Kashmir. . International NGO Journal Vol. 7(5), 84-90. Redda, K. (1999). Cocaine, Marijuana, Designer Drugs: Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Behavior. New York, NY: CRC Press,. Helfgott, B. Meloy, J. (2013). Criminal Psychology. New York: Cengage Learning. Top of Form Henry, S., & Einstadter, W. J. (2006). Criminological theory. Lanham: Rowman & Littlfield publishers, Inc. Bottom of Form Top of Form Vito, G. F., & Maahs, J. R. (2012). Criminology: Theory, research, and policy. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Bottom of Form Top of Form Kelso, W. A. (1994). Poverty and the underclass: Changing perceptions of the poor in America. New York: New York University Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form Siegel, L. J. (2012). Criminology. Belmont: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Bottom of Form Read More