Crime and the why

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Crime and the why
Summary

This essay will delve into the various theories and explanations behind criminal behavior. It will explore sociological, psychological, and economic factors that contribute to crime, discussing theories such as strain theory, social learning theory, and others. The piece will examine the complexity of understanding criminal behavior and its implications for law enforcement and society. More free essay examples are accessible at PapersOwl about Crime.

Category:Crime
Date added
2021/10/15
Pages:  8
Words:  2385
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Introduction

Crime is an unlawful activity conducted by a person who is punishable by the government. The state has the duty to restrict one’s free will of committing a crime through the security police officers who have the power to arrest. Whenever a person is found guilty, they are provided separated from the community through imprisonment in order to rectify their behaviors. In both developing and developed countries, crime is very common which result from various reasons such as high level of poverty, access to firm arm or high level of unemployment.

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In addition, more research indicates that increased interaction between genes and the surrounding environment may also predict the criminal behavior of a person. Other people end up engaging in crime due to the environment in which they are brought up. Therefore, there are many causes of crime and it is the sole role of the government to prevent and reduce high crime levels in respective countries in the world.

Causes of Crime

Crime is one of the social issue affecting the society where many people live in great fear and they are even afraid of leaving their houses. There are various criminology theories that tend to explain various causes of crime such as biological and sociological theories. The rate of crime in the world is increasing as there is a group of people who do not want to work as they want easy and quick cash. Crime is, therefore, a deviation from social norms ranging from petty theft to robbery with violence.

In order to curb and reduce crime, the government has relevant bodies such as police and judiciary which helps to prevent and punish crime offenders in the region. It will be the role of the police to arrest a suspect then charge them in court where the judicial system will rule. Whenever a person is charged, they are taken to prison where they will be able to reform through various rehabilitation programs.

Unemployment

One of the main causes of high crime rate across the globe is unemployment in society. According to biological theory, one of the basic determinant of human criminal behavior may be passed through generation. Most of the employment opportunities have been directly related to education hence whenever a person lacks basic education, there are high chances they will end up not getting any job opportunity. In addition, due to the increase in technology and automation process, there has been a reduction of job opportunities in the region (Riedel & Welsh, 20150. In such a case, most of the people who cannot afford to attend college, they end up acquiring lower jobs which cannot sustain their livelihood. They, therefore, end up to engage in crime in order to get their daily bread through violence using various weapons such as guns and knives.

Therefore, most of the people who are unemployed or working for minimum wage will always feel the need to take extra risk in order to support their families. Studies reveal that once a person continues to engage in crime, there are very high chances that a person will never quit that behavior.

Education

Lack of education among the youth in society has also resulted in a high crime rate in the community. Education normally provides various ways in which we can make money through legal and legit ways in the community. In school, people are also taught how to behave and conduct themselves in the best way possible and also possible negative effects of crime are provided (Riedel & Welsh, 2015).

Therefore, lack of education normally will result to increase in crime rate which will mean that those who have never gone to school will have a greater chance of becoming involved in crime. In most cases, people who lack education will end up getting causal jobs which have low wages hence it cannot sustain their livelihood. In such a case, they end up engaging in crime such as robbery with violence, burglary, drug tracking, and shoplifting among others in the community.

Peer Influence

There are many peer groups which exist among the youths which also contribute to a strong desire to commit the crime in the region. There are good peer groups which tend to engage in responsible social activities such as sports and academic competition. On the other hand, those people who will not be able to fit in the good and positive social activities, they will feel out of place hence the need to engage in crime. According to sociological theory, weaker bond between the families tend to cause occurrence of a crime in the region. Young people will therefore engage in crime since they do not see any benefits of adhering to set social and legal norms.

Therefore peer pressure will create negative influence within the lives of the young people. In addition, in case a person is in a group of friends who all live prestige live, he/she will tend to engage in crime in order to support and fit in that group. Therefore, these people may end up leaving school in order to engage in criminal gangs that end up terrorizing member of the public. These gangs will always result in criminal acts in order to live a comfortable life in society. Therefore peer influence is also a major cause of crime in society. Within these criminal gangs, youths will also be recruited on peer influence with the promise of getting a huge sum of money in return.

Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Some of the most used drugs in the society are very expensive where in most cases, addictive will require to use them daily. Since these drugs cost a lot of money, they will be forced to engage in crime in order to access enough funds to purchase the drugs. According to interactionist, close association with another criminal especially in drug abuse will contribute to huge causes of crime in the region.

The individual will therefore lack self-direction hence end up accepting other unwanted behaviors. They end up stealing in order to satisfy their addiction to drugs. In addition, drugs also influence a person to commit the crime since it is able to influence the decision-making process. Therefore, both drugs and alcohol will tend to impair judgment and reduce inhibitions hence giving a person a higher chance of committing the crime. When engaged in crime as a result of drug influence, one will tend to be very violence where he/she can even kill a victim if they do not cooperate. Research indicates that drug and alcohol abuse contribute to 30-40% of crimes such as murder, robbery or sexual assault.

Access to Firearm

Access to a firearm within the community level has also contributed to high levels of crime in the region. Most of the firearms used during a crime may either be stolen or acquired illegally which tend to increase crime levels in the community. In addition interactionist theory indicate that whenever a person has access to firearm he/she will tend to interact with other innocent people in order to engage in crime. Firearm provides simple means of committing a crime since most of the victims will be afraid when confronted with a gun. There is, therefore, the need for the government to ensure any illegal firearms is surrounded back to the government. Most of these guns are involved in major crimes such as bank robbery among others and many deaths across the world have also been recorded.

Poverty

High level of poverty and economic deprivation have been one of the main causes of crime in most countries. In nations where there is a high level of economic deprivation and the standards of living are high, it, therefore, tends to make the citizens commit a crime in order to earn a living. Therefore, most of the young people normally engage in crime whenever they see they are surrounded by a high level of poverty caused by depression and frustration in life.

Whenever the youth are committing these crimes using firearms, they become heartless human beings where if a victim fails to cooperate, they can even kill her in the process. Researchers indicate that there is no justification for engaging in crime due to poverty since most of the governments normally have youth and other funds where they can be granted support to start a small business.

The High Population Growth Rate

In both developing and developed countries, the high population growth rate has been associated with a high level of crime in the region. Therefore, the available resources with a country will not be able to suit the available population hence the need to engage in an unhealthy competition such as crime (Maier, Mears & Bernard, 2017). Therefore, when people become very many, the available resources and jobs will be deprived hence making most of the people to lack the major source of income in the community level. The system, therefore, motivates them to engage in crime since they have bills to pay as well as families to feed at home.

Lack of Role Models

Within the community especially in the slums, there is a lack of role models who have successfully and achieved in life that tend to affect and make people engage in crimes. The youth will, therefore, lack a person to enumerate and aspire to be in the future which can make them avoid crime. For example, if a child is born in a family where the father is a criminal, he/she will end up having a bad role model who may end up influencing them negatively.

They will, therefore, tend to become associated with crime in order to earn a living in the community level. On the other hand, if a person is surrounded by educated parents who are working, he/she will tend to work hard and become a good person in the community. Crime does not pay and therefore it should be discouraged and avoided in order to have a peaceful community. Therefore, according to biological theory, lack of any role model within the community will result to increased level in causes of crime.

The Society

The society mainly starting from home, church, as well as the community, also have high hopes and pressure for the youth who end up engaging in crime. Within society, wealth is highly valued and worshiped without considering where the wealth came from. Since the youth knows that the rich are valued and respected, in order to gain that fame, they will be able to engage in crime to prove that they have enough money in the community level.

Some parents even end up comparing their children with others who have become very successful in the market (Coccia, 2017). In addition, when most of the youth leave their rural homes for the city, most of the parents do not know what their children do hence they may not be able to monitor them. Some of them engage in crime where they take huge sums of money to their parents without considering where the money came from. They praise them and inform them to work hard in the cities now knowing the type of business they conduct in the major towns.

Unfair Judicial System

Most of the victims of an unfair judicial system normally engage in crime as the last resort as a form of rebellion against the community and the state. It, therefore, happens whenever a person is a victim and end up engaging in crime (Shabnam, Faruk & Kamruzzaman, 2016). For example, when one is falsely accused or convicted, there are high chances that they will be more hardened and filled with anger. They will end up taking up firearms as a revenge mission and also rebel against society. Most of the prisons system normally lacks the capability to reform most of the criminals hence they will end up engaging in more crimes in the community.

Crime Prevention

Crime prevention can be defined as various efforts required and taken in order to reduce and deter crime in the community through the help of the government. First, the government should provide both financial and social support to the youth through youth funds in order for them to create and start their own business in the community. In addition, it is also the role of the government to allow and provide various technical skills which can provide self-employment to the jobless youths in the community. The young people will, therefore, be economically empowered which will help them to ensure they will be able to support and feed their families.

In addition, the returning prisoners should also be empowered and provided with stable housing in order to discourage them from committing a crime at the community level. Due to the high level of poverty and unemployment, it will be the role of government to seek other international support from major organs in order to elevate the lives of their citizens in the market. They should be provided with both free primary and secondary education in order to acquire more skills.

The police should also engage with the community of community policing where they will able to invite members of the public to surrender their firearms without any form of victimization (Shabnam, Faruk & Kamruzzaman, 2016). The return of the firearms to the government will help to curb high cases of robbery with violence which end up killing and destroying any property.

Conclusion

Crime in the community is caused by various factors such as lack of education and the high unemployment rate in the community. Since most of the people lack the necessary skills and jobs to feed their families, they end up engaging in crime to feed their families. In addition, peer pressure also contributes to the crime where young people will be able to influence each other in order to get quick and easy cash.

Drug and substance abuse are very expensive to purchase hence any person who is addicted to the drugs will be able to engage in crime in order to acquire necessary funds to purchase the drugs. There is also easy access to firm arms which makes the youth very violent and can end up killing a victim. Other major causes of crime are lack of role model, poverty, the high population as well as the unfair judicial system.”

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Crime and the Why. (2021, Oct 15). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/crime-and-the-why/