SOC305: Crime and Society

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Crime1Crime in SocietySandy Diaz (Echon)SOC305: Crime & SocietyInstructor: Sara RogersApril 15, 2012Discuss the historical evolution of crime prevention and the role of the criminal justicesystem in modern society. Include an analysis of varioustheoretical perspectives oncrime, such as the Conflict View, Interactionist View, and Consensus View. Additionally,explore the impact of social class, age, and economic conditions on criminal behavior.Your response should be between 1500 to 2000 words.

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Crime2Crime Prevention Introduction As old as human life itself, crime has seepedthrough civilizations Punishment in varying forms and degrees are implemented with theimpression that such actions are a social and moral deterrent to criminal behavior therebylimiting criminal behavior and violence in a society. Several approaches have beenadvanced in an effort to provide behavioral modification in a multi-disciplinary approachthat prevents the incidence of criminal deviation among individuals.Criminal justicepromotes concern for everyone by lodging on preventive theoriesand focusing on the individual capacity to control and restrain errant behavior. This is thepositive essence of a healthy society that does not disregard common morals andconventions for personal gain or for retribution. However as criminal activity refuse toabate, any preventive means were trashed in favor of arresting and punishing theperpetrator.The scientific study of crime and criminality is relatively recent and criminalcodes have existed for thousands of years, these were restricted to defining crime andsetting any punishments.Back in the Middle Ages around the 1200-1600’s, it wassuperstition and the fear of satanic possession that dominated thinking(Siegel, 2007, p.6). People who violated any type of socialritualor religious practices were believed to bea witch or processed by a demon. The method used for dealing with the possessed wasburning at the stake. This type oforderlinesslived on into the seventeenth century.Betweenthe years 1581-1590, there were 900 sorcerers and witches burned todeath and another 6,500 people were ordered by a bishop in a German city to beseared

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Crime3(Siegel, 2007, p. 6).There were over 100,000 people act against throughout Europe forwitchcraft during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this error, it was commonmethod to use cruel tortures to obtain confessions, and those convicted of violent or theftcrimes suffered extremely harsh penalties including whipping, branding, disfigurement,and execution(Siegel, 2007, p. 7).The study of crime has been going on since the early years dating as far backsince the gladiator period. According to Aristotle,poverty is the parent of revolution andcrime(An environmental view of the antecedents of crime)(Criminology: The Study ofCrime and Behavior).Sir Francis Bacon (1600’s):Opportunity makes a thief pointing outthe power of the situation to affect behavior.Voltaire & Rousseau (1700’s): free will,hedonistic decision making, and the failure of the social contract in producing criminalbehavior(Criminology: The Study of Crime and Behavior).ClassicaltheoristsarguedformakingfairandimpartialpunishmentandrevolutionizingDraconian punishment.However, theBill of Rights protection againstcruel and unusual punishment is a result of this movement’s conceptualization of criminalbehavior(Criminology: The Study of Crime and Behavior).Now nothing much haschangeswith the exception of how nowtheuseofthe scientific method and empiricaldata to aid in theunderstanding of crime.Statistics are used to help in the possibilities of where,when, how and why acrime is committed. Criminologists that are interested in criminal statistics try to create avalid and a reliable measurement of criminal behavior(Siegel, 2007, p. 17). Techniquesare created to gain access to police records and court agencies. Sophisticated statisticalmethods are used to try and understand underlying patterns and trends. The development

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