15 Jul 2022

115

Crime Prevention: Ways to Help Keep You Safe

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Academic level: University

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Deviance is prevalent not just in American society but in the global frame. Criminal activities have been experienced from family levels to terrorism activities at national levels. Increases in offenses have been realized over the years, when supposedly it ought to be contained, based on the improved judicial systems and approaches. Rising crime statistics have been realized among adults, youths, and even the juveniles (Kennedy-Turner et al., 2019; Akers & Jennings, 2019) . The study investigates ways in which crime can be prevented while acknowledging that the leading causes of crime can be explained by either strain or differential association theories or both. The theories are also significant in determination of programs and policies for crime prevention.   

Ways of Crime Prevention 

Differential association theory and strain theory elaborate on deviance considering the individual's social relationships. Normal interaction exists between normal people and deviant ones, as they learn criminal tendencies from such interactions. Thus, criminal behavior is not inherited but learnt through communication and interaction, where one knows the techniques to commit crimes and develop compromised drives in their lives (Riedel & Welsh, 2015). The local, state and national lawmakers that are very effective in crime prevention have created many policies.  

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Stricter alcohol policies lower the chances of alcohol and drug abuse, which have instigated a lot of violence and crime. The policy recognizes that decisions and judgments that would have otherwise been controlled under normal circumstances are immediately corrupted when one consumes alcohol. The policy is implemented by imposing a higher alcohol tax, controlling the number of alcohol shops by strict licensing, and many more. The law enforcement officers can also be instrumental in reducing crime, particularly by using evidence-focused approaches such as hot-spot policing (Kennedy-Turner et al., 2019) . That is, in cities and specifically, spots that are prone to those crimes should be subjected to heavy police presence. Such a move of deploying police officers will greatly influence the move to fight crime and violence. Community policing is almost like a focused deterrence policing on particular challenges in a community (Akers & Jennings, 2019). The common problems in society would include drug indulgence, deviant behaviors, violence, and many more. The policy concentrates on the specific people and groups who spur those criminal activities. The strategy of the policy is to harmonize the inputs of law enforcement and community groups to evade the serious effects of violence, particularly if someone has been involved in crimes before. 

School-founded programs can be instrumental as life skills training in crime intervention. According to Nicholson and Higgins (2017), t he training happens for three years, and it is commended for the delayed use of alcohol and other substances in the subsequent times. As such, the people involved in the interventional program especially in the early stages of life delay their indulgence in crime because of being able to resist substance use and abuse. Project toward no drug abuse is a program that concentrates on people that are highly susceptible to drug use and violence (Riedel & Welsh, 2015). Many family-based programs act as universal prevention interventions that have a significant effect on the participants. Strengthening families program involves parents and youths as a family-based program that improves the parenting skills and inculcates refusal skills on the youths to resist temptations of involving in any deviant activity. 

The Differences that Policies/ Programs that Might be Implemented under Classical Utilitarianism can Bring 

Criminal policies and programs are varying estimations of behavior that society has historically secured itself against. Therefore, the behavior should be evaluated scientifically to produce data that will explain the extent of its gravity. Policies and programs under classical utilitarianism are somehow effective to the extent that they consider the social contexts of people such as growth in urban centers and harsh living and working conditions (Nicholson & Higgins, 2017) . With the growth of urban centers, the susceptibility to crime should be detected and commensurate efforts are placed to deter any indulgence in criminal activities.  

Policies or programs that might be implemented under classical utilitarianism are contrary to moral propensities. The policies and programs generate recommendations that oppose our moral intuitions. The determinations made under utilitarianism are based on the assumption that we are naturally driven towards crime by the situations we are exposed. A circumstance or determination must though be exposed to some logical reasoning or consultation as done to policies in the preview subtopic, which is unlike the idea of classical utilitarianism (Kennedy-Turner et al., 2019) . There are occurrences in the society that programs and policies have addressed amicably, but if they were to be examined under utilitarianism, they would be considered right when moral intuition indicates a very different thing to be right. 

The previous policies and programs in the previous subtopic are founded on a manageable number of significant principles and concerns. The concerns are then subjected to logical reasoning to make determinations founded on the principles. Utilitarianism or moral intuitions though are very particular for a case, sometimes contradicting, and less consistent with any standard principles (Nicholson & Higgins, 2017) . They are very particular perspectives or feelings demonstrated by much-involving engagements within our minds. 

The Possibility of Integrating Classical School with Strain and Differential Association for a More Robust Approach 

The classical school can be integrated with strain and differential association for a more robust approach. The classical school misses the point that people should be punished because they deserve it as one equates that to the atrocities they have committed, and not just because there is a need to enhance present and future utility. Akers and Jennings (2019) determined that the classical school holds that justice is only significant to the extent that it enhances welfare. That means punishment is never ideal if its costs are more than the welfare that would bring down future undesirable behaviors. 

A strain and differential association brings up the logical reasoning on circumstances by asking 'How?' questions. For instance, "How have the prison and judicial system become a significant manner of tackling offenses?" The questions prompt the weight of governance, power and knowledge in addressing the societal issues explained by strain and differential association (Kennedy-Turner et al., 2019) . Differential association, for instance, provides a significant context for acquiring criminal behavior such as family units through entities like neighbors or feedback in the media (Riedel & Welsh, 2015). The normative dimension has to do with values that one gain when interacting with others that will deter him from engaging in delinquent activities. Therefore, the value of these theories can put into perspective the reasoning of the classical school. 

Conclusion 

Because of increasing populations, poverty and development in the world, criminal activities have intensified. As such, policies and programs should be intensified, that would help in crime prevention in our societies. The strategy of the policies and programs should be to incorporate the inputs of law enforcement and community groups through interactions. Differential association theory and strain are significant in understanding the behaviors and interactions of individuals in society and guiding the principles to evade the serious effects of violence. The theories can be considered in policy-making processes to end up with a more robust approach towards criminal prevention 

References 

Akers, R. L., & Jennings, W. G. (2019). The social learning theory of crime and deviance. In  Handbook on crime and deviance  (pp. 113-129). Springer, Cham. 

Kennedy-Turner, K., Serbin, L. A., Stack, D. M., Dickson, D. J., Ledingham, J. E., & Schwartzman, A. E. (2019). Prevention of Criminal Offending: The Intervening and Protective Effects of Education for Aggressive Youth.  The British Journal of Criminology

Nicholson, J., & Higgins, G. E. (2017). Social structure social learning theory: Preventing crime and violence. In  Preventing crime and violence  (pp. 11-20). Springer, Cham. 

Riedel, M., & Welsh, W. N. (2015).  Criminal violence: Patterns, causes, and prevention . Oxford University Press, USA. 

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