Crime is a broad and an extensive term which has been widely researched on and explained using different theories. There are numerous crime and criminology theories that discuss about the causes of crime in the society. Crime generally refers to illegal actions that are punishable within a society or within a state. There is no one definite cause or remedy of crime because different factors ranging from environmental, biological, and psychological lead to criminal activities in the society. Examining why people engage in criminal activities is essential is seeking appropriate counter actions against crime and criminal activities. Identifying the root cause of a crime is the right way to go about curbing criminal activities in the society. This paper will discuss of various theories of crime and criminality possible measures that can be employed to reduce criminal activities in different societies and environments where criminals tend to target for their criminal executions. The behavioural characters that an individual takes after are primarily determined by the immediate physical and social environments. Social disorganization theory argues that the behaviour of an individual will match with the environment in which that individual was brought up (Briggs, 2019). For instance, an environment that is characterised by lack of schools and other essential amenities is prone to experiencing more criminal activities than an environment with adequate schools and other social amenities. Lack of learning institutions in an environment will result to unskilled population, unable to secure a formal job due to lack of skills. As such, the unemployed individuals are most likely to turn into criminal activities as a way of living. Most criminal activities in the society are as a result of having unskilled population that cannot secure an informal employment, thus, turning into criminal activities as a way of surviving.
Crime emanating from high unemployment rate due to lack of learning institutions and other social amenities can be countered through providing the necessary social amenities and learning institutions. This is a task which befalls the government as it is the one responsible for providing essential social amenities and creating employment to its citizens. It is the responsibility of the government and other relevant authorities to ensure unemployment rate among its citizens is properly handled because unemployment has been cited as a major cause of criminal activities in many societies. There is also the aspect of mixture of commercial and residential property which triggers criminal activities in the society. Commercial property should be distanced from residential property to subdue crime temptations caused by the mix of commercial and residential property. That way, most criminal activities that arise from high rates of employment could be minimised and controlled to a great extent. Rational choice theory was developed on the assumption that individuals who engage in criminal activities weight between the consequences of committing a crime and the reward they are likely to get if the criminal activity execution succeeds (Criminal Behaviour Theories, 2019). The United States justice system has identified the rational choice theory as an appropriate reference as to why most people, especially the youth, engage in criminal activities. For instance, the cause of most financial institutions’ robberies can be explained through the rational choice theory. Bank robbers usually weigh between executing a successful bank robbery activity and being arrested and taken to court. In most cases, the reward likely to be realized from a bank robbery outweighs the possibility of being arrested and sentenced to a jail term. As such, most robbers would decide to risk their freedom by participating in a bank robbery despite the risks involved. The best way to deal with criminal activities which are based on the rational choice theory is by imposing extreme punishments on the offenders (Criminal Behaviour Theories, 2019). An extreme punishment can in most cases serve as a warning to individuals contemplating on committing a crime based on the rational choice theory. For instance, the United States justice system could consider sentencing robbers on a life sentence jail term to deter other individuals from committing a similar crime. People are usually scared from engaging in an activity which has had severe consequences on a fellow individual. There are also other punishments like death sentence which is appropriate for robbers who employ violence in their robberies. Generally, the United States government should impose very severe punishments on robbers across the whole of the United States in order to prevent future criminal incidents of a similar nature from other citizens. Biological and biosocial theories state that some individuals in the society are born criminals and their criminal characters cannot be changed. According to biological and biosocial theories, ‘born criminals’ are very hard to control or mitigate as their criminal characteristics start to manifest from very young ages of their growth (Criminal Behaviour Theories, 2019). These theories state that children born of ‘born criminals’ are likely to take after their parents’ criminal nature in their future lives. The effectiveness of biological and biosocial theories is influenced by the environment a ‘born criminal’ is brought up in. If a ‘born criminal’ is brought up in an environment suitable for criminal activities, then such an individuals will most likely turn out to be a criminal. ‘Born criminals’ engage in all sorts of criminal activities regardless of the consequences likely to befall them and the aftermath of the criminal activities to the society. Criminal activities emanating from the biological and biosocial theories are complex and hard to deal with. However, there are appropriate ways that can be implemented to curb crimes emanating from biological and biosocial theories. One of the ways is educating parents on appropriate ways to bring up children believed to be ‘born criminals’ to reduce their chances of becoming criminals in their future lives. ‘Born criminals’ can be brought up to be responsible members of the society if they are raised in appropriate environments. Environments that promote good characters and behaviours have been identified as the most appropriate to raise children believed to be ‘born criminals’ (Criminal Behaviour Theories, 2019). The other ways of dealing with crimes resulting from biological and biosocial theories is by teaching children alternative ways to conflict resolution so that their characters do not take after what they face in their daily lives. As people grow up, they have different expectations and goal that they expect to achieve in life. As such, if by any chance some people fail to attain what they anticipated for in life, then they are likely to turn into crime to see whether they can achieve what they anticipated for in life. The strain theory is founded on the assumption that some people get better opportunities in life and end up achieving more than others (Briggs, 2019). Individuals who don’t get opportunities to become what the society anticipated of them in most cases turn to crime compensate for their failures in life. Crimes resulting from strain theories mostly involve corruption incidents. For instance, an individual who anticipated being a bank manager in life but ends up being a cashier might indulge in theft to meet the goals he or she expected to meet if he or she was a bank manager. Most crimes which are based on strain theory are psychological in nature and need the intervention of a psychiatrist to deal with them. People who indulge in criminal activities to meet inner self desires are mostly under pressure to impress the society which expected more from such an individual. Also, having high expectations on a child as a parent on a child and that child fails to meet such expectations can also lead to criminal activities. Therefore, the best way to deal with strain theory criminal activities is by taking the crime victims through psychiatrist lessons. Parents also have a part to play while bringing up their children. Parents should be weary of the expectations that they place on their children because when the expectations are not met, then the children can indulge in criminal activities to meet those expectations. The society also should not put much pressure on individuals who fail to achieve their goals and targets as this might trigger the youth to indulge in criminal activities.
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Conclusion
Crime is a broad phenomenon and its definition cannot be confined in a single sentence. Many researches have been done on the term ‘crime’ and numerous theories defining crime brought forth. All these crime and criminality theories discuss different causes of crime and also suggest appropriate ways which can be relied up on to mitigate crime in the society and in the whole of the United States. Both the society and the United States government have a role to play in controlling criminal activities in the different societies. The society, starting from parents, plays a very crucial role in determining whether children grow up to become criminals or not. Appropriate implementation of crime control methods can help deter people from engaging in criminal activities and leading a responsible life in the society.
References
Briggs, S. (2019). Important Theories in Criminology: Why People Commit Crime. Retrieved November 27, 2019; from https://www.dummies.com/education/psychology/important-theories-in-criminology-why-people-commit-crime/
Criminal Behaviour Theories: Major Criminology Theories and How They Affect Policy. (2019). Retrieved November 27, 2019; from https://onlinedegrees.kent.edu/sociology/criminal-justice/community/criminal-behavior-theories
