THEORIES OF CRIME AND JUSTICE OBJECTIVE

Theories of Crime and Justice Objective

Theories of Crime and Justice Objective

Introduction

Criminology can be characterised as the multidisciplinary study of crime (Bartol, 1999,p. 3). As the definition suggests, numerous disciplines are engaged in the assemblage of information about crime, encompassing psychology, sociology, psychiatry, anthropology, biological science, neurology, political science and economics (Bartol, 1999p. 4). Over the years criminology has been dominated by three disciplines - sociology, psychology and biology. Criminology desires all the help it can get in its labour to realise, interpret and avert criminal behaviour and an integration of the data, idea and general viewpoints of each control and respect is vital (Bartol, 1999 pg. 4).

Analysis

While interest in crime has always been high, understanding of why it occurs and what to do about it has always been a problem. Public officials, politicians and 'experts' offer simple and incomplete solutions for obliterating crime, whereas academe invariably offers abstract interpretations and suggestions that often have little practical value. As in most areas of human behaviour, there is no shortage of experts but there are very few effective solutions (Bourne and Russo, 1998 p.52)

Criminological Theories School of Thoughts

Criminologists develop theories and conduct research to understand and explain criminal behaviour. A theory attempts to make sense out of many disparate observations (or facts) by stating a general principal that connects, integrates and explains them. A good theory is extremely valuable in that it extends our knowledge beyond the facts in front of us (the raw data), enabling us to predict how others might behave at another time and in another place (Bourne and Russo, 1998 p. 33). Criminological theories based on biology, psychology were both, at one stage dominant in the field, however the vast majority of current criminological text employs sociological theory and research. Biological and psychological explanations will be examined in the following essay, however there will be a focus on sociological theory.

Criminology not only progresses by the development of coherent and comprehensive theories about crime and its causes but also by the systematic collection and analysis of observations about the social world in relation to those theories (Jupp, 1989 p.25). Generally, data is generated by different forms of data collection and examined by different forms of data analysis. The variety of data is, in part a reflection of the diversity of problems addressed and the overabundance of aspects of such problems which are exposed for investigation by different theoretical approaches (Jupp, 1989 p. 25). Any given instance of criminological research represents a particular constellation between problem, theory and method, and the data which is used is the outcomes of that constellation. This essay will also look at the research procedure and its three phases: the research question or problem, the research and information gathering method, and interpreting the results from the gathered information.

Biological interpretations of Crime Assert

Biological explanations of crime assert that particular individuals are more prone to deviance than others because of their genetic makeup (Haralambos, van Krieken, Smith & Holborn, 1996 ...