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SOC305: Crime and Society

This document explores the relationship between crime and societal factors, analyzing criminological theories.

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    Crime 1 Crime in Society Sandy Diaz (Echon) SOC305: Crime & Society Instructor: Sara Rogers April 15, 2012 Discuss the historical evolution of crime prevention and the role of the criminal justice system in modern society. Include an analysis of various theoretical perspectives on crime, 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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    Crime 2 Crime Prevention Introduction As old as human life itself, crime has seeped through civilizations Punishment in varying forms and degrees are implemented with the impression that such actions are a social and moral deterrent to criminal behavior thereby limiting criminal behavior and violence in a society. Several approaches have been advanced in an effort to provide behavioral modification in a multi - disciplinary approach that prevents the incidence of criminal deviation among individuals. Criminal justice promotes concern for everyone by lodging on preventive theories and focusing on the individual capacity to control and restrain errant behavior. This is the positive essence of a healthy society that does not disregard common morals and conventions for personal gain or for retribution. However as criminal activity refuse to abate, any preventive means were trashed in favor of arresting and punishing the perpetrator. The scientific study of crime and criminality is relatively recent and criminal codes have existed for thousands of years, these were restricted to defining crime and setting any punishments. Back in the Middle Ages around the 1200 - 1600’s, it was superstition and the fear of satanic possession that dominated thinking (Siegel, 2007, p. 6) . People who violated any type of social ritual or religious practices were believed to be a witch or processed by a demon. The method used for dealing with the possessed was burning at the stake. This type of orderliness lived on into the seventeenth century. B etween the years 1581 - 1590, there were 900 sorcerers and witches burned to death and another 6,500 people were ordered by a bishop in a German city to be seared

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    Crime 3 (Siegel, 2007, p. 6) . There were over 100,000 people act against throughout Europe for witchcraft during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this error, it was common method to use cruel tortures to obtain confessions, and those convicted of violent or theft crimes 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 back since the gladiator period. According to Aristotle, poverty is the parent o f revolution and crime (An environmental view of the antecedents of crime) (Criminology: The Study of Crime and Behavior) . Sir Francis Bacon (1600 ’ s): Opportunity makes a thief pointing out the 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 criminal behavior (Criminology: The Study of Crime and Behavior) . Classical theorists argued for making fair and impartial punishment and revolutionizing Draconian punishment. However, the Bill of Rights protection against cruel and unusual punishment is a result of this movement ’ s conceptualization of criminal behavior (Criminology: The Study of Crime and Behavior) . Now nothing much has changes with the exception of how now the use of the scientific method and empirical data to aid in the understanding of crime. Statistics are used to help in the possibilities of where, when, how and why a crime is committed. Criminologists that are interested in criminal statistics try to create a valid and a reliable measurement of criminal behavior (Siegel, 2007, p. 17) . Techniques are created to gain access to police records and court agencies. Sophisticated statistical methods are used to try and understand underlying patterns and trends. The development

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