Crime

Biosocial theories of crime look at both the biological and social determinants of crime, as well as their interaction. In other words, this field of criminology looks at the way in which people...

There is an argument by the celebrated French philosopher Michel Foucault that the birth of the modern-day penitentiary system and the emergence of new classifications of crime created new,...

The answer to this question subjective. There is not a definitively correct answer, so you are free to state your opinion and defend it. Personally, I feel that the second rephrased question is...

Both the flame itself and the smoke associated with a fire offer important clues as to the nature of the fire. Different substances, whether wood, plastic, gasoline, kerosene, etc., burn...

There is no one overarching theory of criminology which is endorsed by all psychoanalysts. After all, the practice of psychoanalysis is based on a variety of different schools of thought—Freudian,...

I am not really giving you information as much as a different perspective. As a volunteer on call with the county jail for those who are in crisis, I know that often the lines between ethical and...

Structural theorists of crime might take a number of different approaches to middle-class crime. First, they might focus on the stability of life in the middle class, financial stability in...

There are a number of factors that influence the offender selection system, including type and nature of crime, prior arrests and convictions, and mental status of the offender. How well any given...

We cannot know for sure what causes people to commit crimes. It seems likely that poverty is a cause of crime, but it seems wrong to say that poverty is “the” cause of crime. Different people...

There are a number of causes of crime, including the breakdown of the family unit, drugs, a psychological belief system that rejects the legitimacy of the rule of law, and psychopathetic tendencies...

This is a question which essentially boils down to the nature-versus-nurture argument. In other words, is somebody prone to certain behaviors because of their genetic makeup ("nature"), or because...

Biosocial theorists of crime argue that both of these factors are important in determining whether a person comes to commit crimes. Such theorists argue that people can be genetically predisposed...

In order to understand what categories might be used to organize best practices for reducing teen violence, we must look at the causes of that violence. Each type of cause might offer us a...

There is something to be said for each of these as the worst kind of crime. First, we can argue that street crime is the worst because it has the greatest physical and emotional impact on its...

Something we should consider, whenever we investigate ideas as broad and fundamental as these, is that topics relating to crime, justice and society have been discussed for thousands of years....

In general, men are far more likely to commit crimes than women. Men constitute 98 percent of those arrested in the United States for rape and over 90 percent of those arrested for homicide. Males...

A major medical explanation for criminal behavior is antisocial personality disorder, more commonly known as psychopathy or sociopathy (though these are no longer medically the best terms)....

The sorts of issues that influence the choice of actions taken against offenders involve politics, race, technology, and gender. Political issues influence the actions taken against offenders...

The behavioral/learning theory of criminology holds that people commit crimes because of the way that their environments have influenced them as they have grown up. These environmental factors can...

Crimes reported to the police and total crimes committed in a calendar year will vary based on the reporting method and on definitions. For the purposes of this answer, the FBI's definition of...

There are two main reasons why criminal activity drops after young people pass through the period of adolescence. These reasons are connected, but separate. One has to do with the obligations...

Yes, theories that hold that people can have biological predispositions to crime can be reconciled with the idea of rehabilitation. The reason for this is that biological predispositions are only...

If scholarly research finds that these things can help to reduce crime, then the government would need to find ways to promote them so that the likelihood of crime can be reduced. Of course,...

The debate over the legalization of drugs brings up many issues that we have to consider when we think about crime prevention and how aggressively to try to prevent crimes. Let us look at a few of...

It is very much in the state's interest to provide educational opporunities to prison inmates. There is a well-established connection between education and most crimes, particularly those commonly...

There are many pieces of evidence that could be used to make this case. Perhaps the most important such evidence is the number of people who are in our prison systems for non-violent drug crimes....

There is no such thing as a victimless theft. If there were, this would not be an example of such a theft. First of all, local convenience stores are not huge companies that can easily withstand...

The idea of Broken Window Syndrome holds that small problems in a given neighborhood, such as broken windows in buildings or cars, will soon lead to other, larger problems. The reason for this is...

This datum on its own does not really tell us much about the causal connection between poverty and crime that some people think exists. After all, it is not as if people are claiming that every...