Criminological theories with the context of social policy - Essay Example

Theories help make today’s various world orders and systems especially in the field of criminology. In criminology, theories provide strong groundings pertaining to the performance and functions of the criminal justice system, as well as the actors involved in the system. Essentially, these theories, criminological theories, offer wide range of dos and do not’s with regard to different array of operation levels: the macro (the larger unit of social system) and the micro (smaller unit level).

Moreover, effective criminological theories—which are logically consistent and valid—could be essentially applied to “real world applications” which enshrine various policy implications (See, 2004, p. 5). Looking at the lens of criminological theories, their essential applications could be primarily seen in the creation of various social policies which are mostly grounded on the bases of effective criminological theories. According to Dr. Paul Knepper (2007), various criminological theories—which basically resulted from the instituted questions regarding crimes—have led to the institution of a diversified array of policy implications—i.e., social policy, which concerns social welfare (p. 3). Most of the different criminological theories contributed significantly to the institution of social policy which grounded on the very core of such criminological theories.

In fact, there were different social policies (and policy implications) which were formed and directed to addressing the problems of crimes stipulated and made essential by the different criminological theories. Education policy, for example, has been one of the major social policies, which has significant relationship to crime reduction (p. 83).Moreover, social policy creation through the basis of criminological theories is likely to proliferate in various strata with which various policy programs are implemented prior to the assertions embedded in each criminological theory.

As being holistically stipulated in the account of Eric See (2004), the variously identified criminological theories significantly have their corresponding social policies presented and implemented. Cases in point are the programs which yielded solutions and alternatives in addressing crimes grounding essentially on Choice and Deterrence theory of criminology. Choice theory stipulates that it is the very choice of an individual to engage him/herself in and commit crime. This criminal act should therefore be responsibly blamed to the individual who performed the act and not to the society where such crime occurred.

This theory, furthermore, holds the criminal responsible of the crime and of making better choices. With the aforementioned theory as the foundation, various policy programs were implemented such as the Scared Straight program. This program’s basic element is to obstruct the augment of criminals and a criminal case is the use of fear and deterrence (p. 9).Various criminological theories were also used in forming social policies. Such theories include the Marxist theories which consider capitalism as the root cause of crime.

Marxist theories often portray crimes as result of taking control over the powerless individuals. Hence, in addressing such crimes based on Marxist theories, corresponding policies were formed with the prime aim of empowering the powerless so as to deliberately get rid of crimes related to the issue on repressing the powerless individuals (See, 2004, pp. 35-36).Essentially, it could therefore be construed that various policy implications sprang out of the necessity regarded by various criminological theories, which require actual resolution.

ReferencesKnepper, P. (2007). Criminology and social policy. London: Sage Publications. See, Eric. (2004). Student study guide for Ronald L. Akers and Christine S. Seller’scriminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and applications, 4th ed [PDFdocument]. Retrieved from http://roxbury.net/images/pdfs/ct4ssg.pdf