The wealthy try to use the law and criminal justice system to reinforce their power and to keep the poor and people of color at the bottom of society. Travis Hirschi wrote that delinquency results from weak bonds to conventional social institutions, such as families and schools.ĭeviance and crime result from being officially labeled arrest and imprisonment increase the likelihood of reoffending.Ĭriminal law is shaped by the conflict among the various social groups in society that exist because of differences in race and ethnicity, social class, religion, and other factors. Sutherland argued that criminal behavior is learned by interacting with close friends who teach us how to commit various crimes and also the values, motives, and rationalizations we need to adopt in order to justify breaking the law. These characteristics include poverty, dilapidation, population density, and population turnover.Īccording to Robert Merton, crime by the poor results from a gap between the cultural emphasis on economic success and the inability to achieve such success through the legitimate means of working.Įdwin H. Table 8.2 Sociological Explanations of Crime Major perspectiveĬertain social characteristics of urban neighborhoods contribute to high crime rates. A brief discussion of these explanations follows, and a summary appears in Table 8.2 "Sociological Explanations of Crime". In contrast, sociological explanations do help understand the social patterning of crime and changes in crime rates, and they also lend themselves to possible solutions for reducing crime. Biological and psychological explanations also cannot easily explain why crime rates rise and fall, nor do they lend themselves to practical solutions for reducing crime. For example, if California has a higher crime rate than Maine, and the United States has a higher crime rate than Canada, it would sound silly to say that Californians and Americans have more biological and psychological problems than Mainers and Canadians, respectively. Further, biological and psychological explanations cannot adequately explain the social patterning of crime discussed earlier: why higher crime rates are associated with certain locations and social backgrounds. While a few offenders may suffer from biological defects or psychological problems that lead them to commit crime, most do not. Sociologists generally discount explanations rooted in the individual biology or psychology of criminal offenders. If we want to be able to reduce crime, we must first understand why it occurs. Describe the general assumptions of conflict theories of crime.Explain the social bonding theory of crime.Understand social structure theories of crime.
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