Criminology is the study that examines the reasons why people take part in criminal activities and provides rational on how crime should be handled once committed and some prevention measures. Some of the common theories include rational choice theory, which people make the conscious decision to commit crimes after weighing the potential risks against the rewards. The strain theory that attributes crime to lack of opportunities for people to realize their aspirations and the labelling theory that stipulates people in power get to label people as criminals, resulting them to live up to their name due to lack of opportunities. These among others are the common theories identified in criminology. Theories have been created over the years, where philosophers, psychologists, and criminologists have been able to explore the best ways to combine and define these theories and how they will reduce crime rates in the long run. Based on the different theories, policies are created to help in implementing the theories, subsequently reducing and curbing the crime rates.
Policies and Theories
D.A.R.E. - Social control theory
D.A.R.E. is an acronym that stands for Drugs Abuse Resistance Education. The program started in Los Angeles, where police officers would go to the K-12 schools and teach children all the way from Kindergarten to the 12th grade on the ways and advantages of giving drug-free and violent free life. The program was meant to instill the moral and ethics that would prevent the students from falling into peer pressure as they continued to get exposure to the world around them. Although the program is no longer in existence, it bore some fruits at the time it was in operation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Such a policy derived its functionality from the Social control theory, which unlike the rest that tries to figure out why people commit crimes, this theory works to find the reasons why people obey the rules (Kempf-Leonard & Morris, 2012) . Control theory explains the ability of people to conform to the societal standards if instilled the ethics during their developmental stages such as through to their childhood. Since the theory understands that crime and deviance occur out of free will, it looks to give the potential offenders the freedom of choice and ability to be responsible for their behaviour. The D.A.R.E program, therefore, encompassed the beliefs of the social control theory by educating the children since kindergarten on the ways they could avoid getting into lives of crime and drug abuse, leaving the decision to adhere and fall, entirely on them. Instilling these values in the students requires combined efforts of the family structures, schools and other institutions, such as the Police force that were responsible for the program in the schools. Social control is primarily based on “explaining conformity, particularly the process by which people are socialized to obey the rules (Frailing & Harper, 2013) ”, which justifies the years of training n the D.A.R.E program to get the students to conform to the societal expectations of non-violent and drug-free lives.
The Weed and Seed program - Social disorganization theory
The Weed and Seed Program is a government-sponsored initiative that is meant at preventing, reducing and controlling the rate of crime and other drug and gang-related activities in the neighbourhoods that are most prone to the high crime rates. The Department of Justice has created this innovative and in-depth approach to the crime prevention activity to revitalize the communities, which involves the combined effort of law enforcement, prosecutors and other law enforcement personnel to “weed out” the crime in the most prone areas. Once these identified individuals or gangs are weeded out, the community through private community-based organizations, social workers, and other agencies take up the role of “seeding” which is instilling positivity into the society.
This policy is aligned with the social disorganization theory. The theory was introduced by Shaw and McKay in 1942 (Gehring, 2017) , using the Chicago law courts to realize that most crimes was concentrated in a specific area of the city, and the case remained so even at the time progressed despite the settlements getting new populations. Despite the racial and ethnic affiliation of a neighbourhood, the crime rates remained the same, with the concentration of crime gangs in these areas. Therefore, with these observations, the two inventors suggested that crime rate could be more of a social dynamic in the specific neighbourhood and not necessarily related to individuals within the particular neighbourhood. The Weed and Seed program, therefore, targets such communities to change the entire dynamic of the neighbourhood by instilling positive values that reduce the crime rates, but by first getting rid of the existing crime doers, maybe to rehabilitate them.
Three Strikes- The classical school of criminology
The three strikes theory is a statute in the justice system that stipulates a mandatory life imprisonment for an individual who has been convicted of a grave and violent felony or has had more than two convictions which were considered as severe felonies (Siegel, 2016) .This statute is meant to permanently rid the society of repeat offenders or dangerous criminals who are noted to be notorious.
The policy originated from the classical school of criminology that was introduced in the 18th maximize on the century. This theory views man as a rational being who has the freedom of choice and commits crime out of free will, despite knowing the difference between right and wrong. They, therefore, make the informed and rational choice to commit the crime. According to this view of felons, they deserved to be dealt with swiftly and in proportion to their crime. The classical era was aimed at shifting the criminal justice system from punishment through torture, which is physical, to a new era that concentrated on the mind and soul of the individual (Hartley, 2011) . The theory, therefore, looks to maximize on a rational penal policy that will deter the individuals from making the conscious choice of committing a crime. The three strikes will, therefore, hinder a felon who has been previously convicted of taking part in more crime so they do not qualify for the three strikes which will guarantee an instant life sentence.
Conclusion
The era of criminology has come a long way since the 18 th century to the current place it is today. While crime and other felonies may not be likely to be eliminated due to various factors, the ability to control the behaviour is a good start for the society. Despite the failure of some policies, such as the D.A.R.E policy, implementation of new and innovative policies are bound to revolutionize the criminal and justice system. The main point that is passed across in these criminology theories is that the aspect of criminal behaviour is not an inborn aspect in human beings, but society and the surroundings affect how people behave. This is, therefore, to mean that no one is born a criminal, but are influenced by the behaviours they pick up from their surroundings. Some of the factors that have been attributed to crime rates include unemployment rates, poverty and other inequalities in life. Whichever the case, the worse the living conditions are for people, the more likely they are to commit a crime.
References
Frailing, K., & Harper, D. W. (2013). Fundamentals of criminology: New dimensions .
Gehring, K. R. I. S. T. A. S. (2017). Social Disorganization Theory . S.l.: Oxford University Press.
Hartley, R. D. (2011). Snapshots of research: Readings in criminology and criminal justice . Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
Kempf-Leonard, K., & Morris, N. A. (2012). Social control theory . New York: Oxford University Press.
Siegel, L. J. (2016). Criminology: Theories, patterns and typologies .
