The text provides an overview of the shifting boundaries of criminology, counting of crime and measuring of criminal behavior. It also features the schools of thought throughout history, in particular, pertaining to the study of individuals committing crime. The text addresses early history of criminal theory and its application to crime control. Some of the perspectives on criminology highlighted in this text include the positivist and the classical schools of thought. Other issues of importance highlighted in this particular text include gender, class and race including their relation to crime.
Important insights from the text include the early theoretical explanation of reasons for criminal activities. The theoretical field of criminology has been evolving over time with new perspective emerging. The development of theories has seen diverse views on the reasons people commit criminal activities. The text states that in the early and mid-1800s, a lot of theoretical views regarding the way to establish the specific individuals who most likely committed a given crime were advanced. One of the early criminology theory mentioned in this particular text is craniometry. It is vital to note that craniometry refers to the notion that the brain size or skull shows the superiority or inferiority of some individuals or particular ethnic or racial groups (Schram & Tibbetts, 2017). During these early times, the size of a person’s skull was believed to represent the level of brain that such a person had. These are just some of the early theories mentioned in this text. The theories used in the early days were specifically applied in identification of criminal persons. Moreover, the same theories were used in explaining the reason for some crime activities.
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It is important to mention the classical and positivist schools of thought in criminology as explained in this text. The positivist school of thought was developed in the mid-1800s and held that a person was motivated towards engaging in the criminal activities by some internal or external force. Such internal or external forces were explained to completely bias or fully influence the behavioral choice of a person. On the other hand, the classical school of thought argued that people simply made a free choice of engaging in criminal activities, without any internal or external force prompting them to commit the actions against their will. These are some of the views highlighted in the text.
Racial profiling refers to the application of race as a major factor in the decisions made by the police to stop and interrogate citizens (Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). For instance, the police-initiated traffic stops targeting a given race for interrogation. Racial profiling is a highly contested issue. The right position is that racial profiling is not justified in the modern world of today. Concentrating on racial profiling during criminal investigations exposes the police officers top the tricks of criminals. For instance, assuming that terror criminals come from a given race or religion opens chances for a person who does not belong to this profiled group to execute attacks and commit crime without being caught (Lever, 2016). Therefore, this practice is not justified because it creates loopholes for non-profiles races to commit criminal activities and escape successfully.
Furthermore, racial profiling is not justified because it is unfair to the innocent people who belong to the profiled group. For instance, the decision by Donald Trump to ban all Muslim immigrants from entering the United States for security reasons is, at its best, unfair racial profiling. The innocent individuals within the profiled race often feel stereo-typed and this situation may heavily destroy their esteem as well as cause them psychological torture. Moreover, even the events of 9/11 do not, in any way, suggest a justification for other forms of ethnic profiling.
References
Lever, A. (2016). Racial Profiling and the Political Philosophy of Race. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race , 425.
Schram, P. J., & Tibbetts, S. G. (2017). Introduction to Criminology: Why Do They Do It? 2nd ed. Sage Publications.
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. A. (2002). Perceptions of racial profiling: Race, class, and personal experience. Criminology , 40 (2), 435-456.
