Society and Crime

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how America is a criminogenic society, where people learn to adopt criminal tendencies and behaviors from their environment and surroundings. The paper bemoans today's chronic social crisis that is leading to increased incidences of child abuse, poverty, violence and inevitably crime. The paper explains the views of social theorists that society is responsible for the crime in that society. The paper provides a case history of a convicted black criminal and evaluates all the factors involved. The paper concludes that the environment in which this criminal was raised influenced his behavior as much as his personality or biological make up.

Outline:
America, The Criminogenic Society
Case History
Theories Regarding Case History

From the Paper:

"A "criminogenic" society by definition is one where the people living within society are taught to become criminal by adopting deviant morals, beliefs and values. These deviant morals, values and behaviors derive from their cultural and environmental condition. Brown, Esbensen & Geis (2004) note that the "etiology of crime" is the foundation of criminology. Further the authors suggest that modern efforts at explaining crime have focused on among other areas, family violence, hate related crimes, violent consequences of human behavior and misconduct in the world of white color workers."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alexander, J.C., Marx, G.T. & Williams, C.L. (2004). "Self, social structure and beliefs: Explorations in sociology." Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Brown, S.E., Esbensen, F.A. & Geis, G. (2004). "Criminology: Explaining Crime and It's Context, 5th ed." New York: Anderson Publishing.
• Carrabine, E., Iganski, P., Lee, M., Plummer, K. & South, N. (2004). "Criminology: A Sociological Introduction." New York: Routlege.
• Davis, N.J. (1999). "Youth crisis: Growing up in the high risk society." Westport: Pager Publishers.
• Liska, A.E. (1993). "Social structure and social control: Building theory." Society Review, 27(2): 345.

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