Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of “Felons” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “Felons” and its relation with “Society”. The research also analyzes many aspects of “Felons” and tries to gauge its effect on “Society”. Finally the research describes various factors which are responsible for “Felons” and tries to describe the overall effect of “Felons” in a “Society”.

Felons and Society

Introduction

This paper discusses over whether convicted felons can be part of the society they live in or not. This paper elaborates over different views of real people who have or are going through their felony stages of their lives. They express their opinions which are briefly discussed in this research paper regarding what feelings and phases they have gone through and what the society has reverted back to them. (Anderson, 33)

Discussion and Analysis

The first stage of the criminal career is the person's involvement with a criminal behavior system and the acquisition of a criminal perspective and identity. Most imprisoned felons have had some contact and some involvement with criminal systems prior to arrest. Some, however, have not, and this distinction must be emphasized. Not all felons are “criminals”; that is, not all felons have a criminal identity. Some persons are convicted of a felony, sent to prison, and released without ever identifying with criminal behavior systems This research paper will describe the major behavior systems with which entering felons into California prisons have had contact. Changes in commitment to these systems the effects of commitment, and the future career courses will be treated in ensuing papers. (Clinard, 183)

It must be kept in mind that the systems are being described. Many persons have contact with more than one system and the systems themselves, because of cultural diffusion, interchange of members, and common background characteristics, are overlapping. Therefore, though relatively pure types do exist, classifying many felons neatly according to their involvement with one system is difficult. The clearest and perhaps most important distinction is that between the various criminal systems and the two noncriminal ones—the square john and the lower class “man.” Within criminal systems, the distinctiveness and exclusiveness of membership varies. This variation will be discussed in the descriptions of the systems which follow. (Akers, 98)

In spite of this overlap in the life routines of actual felons, the task of describing the systems in their ideal-typical form is being undertaken because they do exist as relatively distinct entities in the minds of some of the participants, and they operate, therefore, distinctly and differentially on an overall and long-term basis. To lend weight to my own conceptions of the internal characteristics and the interrelationships of these systems maximum use is made of the accounts, analyses and descriptions of other writers.

Probably the oldest existing criminal system is that of the “thief.” This system, which presently seems to be fading, has been highly influential in the general criminal world and the prison. As we shall see in chapter, it established certain dominant themes in ...