Criminology Coursework – Assessing the riots... Criminology is focused on the attempt to understand the meanings involved in social interaction. Theorists have tried to explain sociological behaviour by looking at the patterns created by individuals that commit crime. The August 2011 riots are pivotal in explaining criminological behaviour since official statistics show that 865 individuals were put in prison by the 9th September 2011 for offences related to the disorder between 6th and 9th August 2011. This is not to say that others were not involved, but that they have simply not been identified to date and may never be identified, however the evidence we do have about the recent riots gives us plenty to talk about. This essay will …show more content…
According to Becker deviance is ‘a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender’. Becker came to the conclusion that people are criminalised through the process of negotiation, known to be social constructionism for example the Crown Prosecution Service may drop the charge of murder to manslaughter if there is not enough evidence to convict for murder. By doing this the defendant becomes labelled for the crime of manslaughter even though he may truly be guilty of murder. By introducing what could be regarded as ‘petty’ legislation more people will be labelled criminals, which in turn may lead the offender to act further on this basis. Lemert referred to this as secondary deviance as when a person is labelled criminal they change their view of themselves and this then becomes their ‘master status’. On the other hand primary deviance is when someone violates a social code, but does not get labelled. Therefore a person is only labelled a criminal if he is caught and since ethnic minorities are subject to much more scrutiny than the white population this puts black people at an automatic disadvantage. Following the inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence it was uncovered that the police are institutionally racist. Institutional racism can be defined as ‘the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to the people
A 'riot' is commonly defined as a disorderly behaviour, which often involve violence and the destruction of property (Andrews, 2014, p. 292). Riots can be viewed from a Conservative point of view and from a Radical point of view. Conservatism and Radicalism are both political ideologies. Although ideologies are 'explanatory frameworks that help to make sense of society' (Andrews, 2014, p. 306), conservatism and radicalism contrast in many ways. Conservatism is associated with wisdom, limited politics, and natural hierarchy, legitimising the existing order. Radicalism is linked to progress, universal rights and popular sovereignty, suggesting alternative to the existing order (The Open University, 2016b).
Every crime has a correlation with a theory in criminology. These theories explain why crime happens and some even go to the extent to come up with a solution to prevent or stop crime. This paper will explore how certain theories of criminology connect with the riots that happened in Ferguson, Missouri. Facts from different articles will be used to back up the theory. The theories will explain why rioters committed the crimes did. The paper will take the actions of the protestors and explain why they did what they did.
This was sought through Cesar Lombroso, the ‘father of criminology’ born in Italy November 6, 1935 – October 19, 1909 (McCabe, 2011). Merton could combine both sociology and criminology to come up with his theory of anomie as it relates to criminology. As an “American Dream” there are some discrepancies among cultural promises and structural realities that may undermine social support. Many actors in society may be frustrated in the actor environmental conditions and as members of society, forced to adapt to deviant behavior (McCabed,
This essay will investigate how different environments of crime impact upon the policing of crime. It will examine urban and rural crime, and as well the global north and south. Firstly it will look at rural and urban crime with a focus on England, but as well other countries in the world. It will give a brief history overview over urban and rural police forces in England, this for the reason that it will provide a good background before telling about urban and rural policing as of now and as well because the first modern police department was established in London. This essay will then examine how the global north and global south effects on policing. It will examine the differences and how policing might affect differently in either the global north or the global south. This essay will as well go into organisations like Interpol, customs and different types of crime as corruption, white-collar etc. and how this affects the policing in the countries. In the end this essay will give a short overview over the main points in the essay.
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the meaning and validity of the label criminology has as a ‘rendezvous discipline’. To do this, this essay illuminates where criminology originates from and what its primary focus is. The Chicago School, Lombrosian Theory, Positivist and Classical criminology, are discussed. Other disciplines namely Sociology, Psychology, and the Criminal Justice Sector are examined and applied to the broad subject of criminology, to show the network of how this subject came to be recognised as such a discipline. Exposed are main issues that occur for the likes of criminologists and other
This report aims to explain how the CRQ was answered. It will also critically analyse four pieces of literature used to help with the primary research and how the British crime survey (BCS) was used in comparison with the primary data.
Garland & Sparks (2000) ‘Criminology& Social Theory & the Challenge of Our Times’. The British Journal of Criminology, 40(2), 189-204.
Many researches have raised concern over racism and police indulging in other criminal activities, especially corruption the United Kingdom, but contemporary research has been more specific when dealing with race matter, the scope has been so wide in that various scholars have found it important to explore it more to fight its prevalence. The racism in the police is a not matter which should be kept in secret; the prejudice is very visible in the public domain (Benson, 2010). The police approach to an issue is purely biased, the way police officers approach to white people is different from the way they tackle the same to a black person, minority ethnics and Asian person (Weitzer, 2008). The society has been socialized in a manner that the level of prejudice is used to define characters of a different race. These definitions in most cases amount to hatred actions. The issue of concern is where to run for justice now that police are part of this society. Due to this, many violence ends up unreported, In 2013/2014, the number of defendants who were referred by the police to Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision for racially and racially aggravated crimes rose by 14.17% from the previous year to 12,184, and out of
“Criminology” is the study of crime from a social perspective by researching the nature and management of crime and the social impact of crime on society involving the causes and consequences behind the matter. This is a generalised explanation of what “Criminology” involves as it is too difficult to create an exact definition because the topic is so complex from continuous growing historical roots and evolving theories which will be explored within the main body of this essay. It is said by Sutherland (1939), that Criminology is made up by “three great tributaries: The study of crime, the study of those who commit crime and the study of the criminal justice and penal systems”. Criminologists study this topic in an attempt to gain a
The problem of crime hаs cаptured the аttention of Аmericаn society in а mаnner unlike few other issues. While the overаll numbers hаve dropped during the lаst few yeаrs, Аmericаns still remаin feаrful of the disintegrаting effects of this phenomenon on our collective sense of stаbility аnd sаfety. Nowhere аre these effects more vividly displаyed thаn in those urbаn communities inhаbited predominаntly by Аfricаn Аmericаns. " Blаck-on-blаck " crime (аs it hаs been lаbeled) remаins аn oppressive sociаl problem, while homicide hаs become the leаding cаuse of deаth аmong young blаck mаles in Аmericа.
Like, some other articles and texts, Brewer in this book pays close attention to the under-privileged and the tensions that existed amongst the state and authority. Though this book pays little attention to youth crime, it does give an insight into historical civil disorder, suggesting that civil disorder is not confined to contemporary society and that there is a deep underlining issue surrounding the tension that exists within the state between authority and those that involved in civil disobedience. Therefore, the book is useful in getting a historical perspective of civil disorder and when combined with other research carried out will enable me to get an in-depth overview on but also similarities and differences on civil disorder then and
Crimes have been prevalent in societies since the beginning of mankind. Sociological theorist Emile Durkheim said crime is normal and is necessary in a society (Tibbetts & Hemmens, 2010). The basic goal of theory is to explain a fact or phenomena and shines a light on a topic. A theory is tested and used to make predictions. Many criminological theorist have been creating theories to explain the criminological behaviours in a society, reasons why crimes are committed, and how to control crime (Barlow & Kauzlarich, 2010). In this paper I am going to discuss about Robert Merton’s Theory of Anomie and his five adaptations to strain. I will relate his theory to the issue of disadvantage neighbourhoods relating it to areas of Regent Park and Rexdale.
Critical criminology is an adaptation of interactionist criminology, however critical criminology focuses on the political aspects. It similarly suggests that individuals engage in meaningful activity, which can be defined as criminal by other outside members (Burke 2009). These outside members are usually those with political status. However, it is definitive on the idea that every individual is responsible for their own actions (Lawson and Heaton 1998). Left realism similarly focus on the determined human nature of the working class as a result of relative deprivation (Young 2002) however, they reject the idea that offenders are victims of society (Jones 2006). Ultimately the focus of left realists is how human nature is affected by the real fear of crime (Burke, 2009).
Official crime statistics refer to statistical data which are compiled by official agencies such as the police and courts, and are published by the state. National statistics about crime in England and Wales have been collected and published by the Home Office annually since 1857. These figures are compiled by putting together the offences recorded by the police in each of the forty-three police areas in England and Wales. The statistics contained in these volumes are of great significance, not only for those who study crime or work in the criminal justice system, but also for politicians, the mass media and the general public, for whom these are the major source of authorized information about the extent and trends in crime. These figures give an indication of whether crime is increasing or decreasing and allow geographical areas to be compared, they also give a good indication of police workload. However, official statistics on crime arguably have serious deficiencies. Whether official crime statistics are an accurate measure of the extent and seriousness of crime can be questioned for a number of reasons, which will be discussed in the following essay. Alternative methods of measuring crime such as self-report studies and victim surveys, which may be a more accurate measure of the extent and seriousness of crime will also be discussed.
This essay will start by identifying the history of the police and when did the term ‘new police’ have been established notifying the beginning of a new criminal justice system. It will than discuss how far is the new police witnessing more sophisticated era in responding to crime. The techniques the police follow to fight crime could be divided into two section. The first section is the traditional approaches and that include random patrol and response, Stop and search, investigation and detection, intensive enforcement or zero deterrence (Khrn, 2013) .The other section is the developed approaches which term ‘targeted policing’ and that include hotspots policing, tackling repeat victimisation, focused deterrence (Khrn,2013).However, this essay we will only be discuss random patrol ,stop and search ,hotspots policing and focused deterrence. It will also identify some of the advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms and to what extent they are functional and how they could be developed.