Crime and Socialization
Crime, in my opinion, is the effect of socialization and environment rather than rational choice. People are more likely to commit crime as a result of their interactions with other criminals. Such an association frequently fosters criminal behavior and makes it easier for individuals to develop criminal-friendly behaviors. As a result, these individuals come to see crime as something that might be justified and desirable in certain contexts. According to psychodynamics theory, human personality is made up of three elements, namely id, ego, and superego. Id is concerned with gratification or instant pleasure while disregarding other individuals' interest. Ego, which is perceived to develop during the early childhood, compensates demands of id by guiding one's behaviour or people (Akers 2009, p. 5). However, superego develops as one incorporates values and moral standards of parents, friends, and society in general.
The Development of Criminal Behavior
Based on the three elements, it can be concluded that criminal behaviour develops because of underdeveloped superego due to the absent or weak ego. This means that the past events that occurred during childhood together with the interactions or association significantly influence one's behaviour (Cullen, Wright, and Blevins 2011, p. 3). Thus, although most assume that adults and young people understand what is right or wrong, individuals commit crimes because of environment they grow in and the kind of interactions they have with others.
A Scientific Lens: The Positivist Perspectives
Do you think the problem of crime can be solved using a scientific lens, as suggested by the positivist perspectives?
I supposed, the positivist model presents one of the best approaches to solving crimes as it focuses on a primary prevention approach. The design states that all social learning taught during early childhood and thus initial learning of a young one is significant to the outcome of choices one make during development and in adulthood (Ignjatović 2009, p. 4). Social learning and strain theory are some of the methods found within the positivist model of crime.
The social theory postulates that individuals upbringing determine whether they will commit a crime or not in future. For instance, aggression behaviour in juveniles and children is influenced by the media, family members as well as environment as confirmed by Omidi et al. (2014, p. 97). They found that affection, watching nonaggressive movies and love in the family reduces violent behaviours among adolescents. Moreover, watching crime and action movies as well as being brought up in a family that has a violent history increases chances of a child becoming violent in future. Thus, by raising children in a favourable environment that is less of violence reduces chances of young ones developing aggressive behaviours in future.
Furthermore, strain theory suggests that individual commit crimes due to forces of social sets of standards of living. Naturally, people are good because of limited resources, and they have to accomplish certain goals they are pushed to do criminal activities (Ignjatović 2009, p. 4). Partly some of the leading causes of crimes are social-economic standards as seen in most ghettos. For instance crime rate in Canadian aboriginal's reserves is high owing to the low education and poverty levels among the members of the community. By addressing these challenges, crime rate within this region can reduce significantly.
Psychological or Sociological Perspectives on Crime
Do you currently prefer the explanations offered by psychological or sociological perspectives on crime?
I prefer explanation given by sociological perspective of crime as opposed to psychological one. Psychological changes in the brain are mostly influenced by the environment of an individual. By explaining crime using psychological perspectives, it limits the causes to non-conforming personality traits such as impulse, aggression, and discord without sufficiently describing how the behaviour develops (Ignjatović 2009, p. 1). Besides, sociology theories explain how the environment such as neighbourhood disarray, lack of equal opportunities and surrounding social influences one to commit crimes. Furthermore, sociological perspective integrates psychological theory in its description of the offensive conduct as it illustrates how the environment affects individual personalities and development of criminal behaviour.
Quantitative and Qualitative Measures in Understanding Crime
Do you find quantitative or qualitative measures more useful in understanding and responding to a crime?
Quantitative measures are more helpful in Criminology due to the expectations that are addressed using this research type. In a political and societal discussion about crimes require statistics and facts that indicate how certain types of crimes are distributed among various communities and populations. As well, qualitative is a research approach that does not depend on numeric data as well as quantitative measures rather it attempts to understand human behaviours more deeply (Ignjatović 2009, p. 11). The method is concerned about why and how people behave in a certain way in a community. However, in large population qualitative analysis is infective as results cannot be generalized. As such, when conducting research that is aimed at understanding the crime and effectiveness of the response approach, a quantitative analysis is more useful as it provides researchers with accurate facts needed to make decisions.
The Key Causes of Crime
What do you currently see as the key causes of crime?
According to my view point, the main reason for crime is environment and background of upbringing. Children develop personalities by learning which can be categorized in three namely observational, classical, and operant conditioning. In places where gang activities are high children are likely to be involved in violent crimes when the reach adolescent. For instance, in Canadian aboriginals' reserves, youth violence is said to be the highest in Canada and maybe in the world. One of the pathways into gang activity is 'violentization'- defined by Totten (2010, p. 258) as a process by which survivors of child neglect and abuse become prey and predators in adolescence. Extreme abuse during early days is directly associated with violence and mental health disorders due to prolonged trauma.
I also think that crimes are caused by poverty because they are both geographically connected. For example, the poverty levels in Canadian aboriginals reserves are higher compared to other regions of the country since most of them are unemployed (Totten 2010, p. 257). At the same time, crime rates are very high within this population that shows a clear though the complex connection between both. Furthermore, most poor parents tend to overwork and neglect their parental duties to meet their families' social-economical needs. It is easy to find that such children grow unsupervised and in poor conditions which are likely to facilitate entry to criminal activities.
References
Akers, R.L., 2009. Social learning and social structure: a general theory of crime and deviance. Transaction Publishers.
Cullen, F.T., Wright, J. and Blevins, K., 2011. Taking stock: the status of criminological theory (Vol. 1). Transaction Publishers.
Ignjatović, D., 2009. Theories in criminology. Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, 12, pp. 558.
Omidi, R., Heidari, K., Davari, H., Espanani, M., Poursalehi, M., Naeini, S.E., Rastkerdar, Z., Azizi, A. and Zakizadeh, M., 2014. The relationships between environmental factors and violent behaviors in adolescent students of Isfahan, Iran. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 5(Suppl 2), pp. 97-101.
Totten, M., 2010. Preventing aboriginal youth gang involvement in Canada: a gendered approach. Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi), pp. 255-279.
