Public Perception of Crime and Delinquency
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The association between society's explanations for the causes of crime and delinquency and society's responses to crime and delinquency are not always obvious to the public, but clearly such an association must exist. We address issues based on the way we view issues. We do not have a bag of solutions from which we draw whatever happens to be at the top at the time. Rather, we look at what we think the problem is, and this always includes how we think the problem developed. We then create a solution that includes addressing the cause in order to reduce the problem in the future. In this regard, we attack both ends of the problem at once. When speaking of crime, we address the issue of punishment for the crime that exists while trying to address the causes of crime to reduce the future incidence of it. However, the perception the public has of crime is not always clear, and the public does not necessarily consider the question of cause in a direct and specific fashion. Put another way, the public demands a response to crime based on the perception it has of crime at a given moment, and this perception changes over time. The public perception of the cause of crime is not necessarily rational. It is instead often based on emotional responses--when people are more afraid of crime, for instance, they demand a harsher response toward the criminal in terms of punishment. The general societal response to crime, however, is very much based on the prevailing view of the ca
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emand harsher penalties because of some vague belief that greater pain will be a deterrent to someone else or at least a future deterrent to the one being punished. Yet, the prevalence of our belief in this aspect of utilitarianism does not make it a valid theory of why people commit crimes. If it were valid, society could have rid itself of crime by the harshness of its punishments long ago. Different societies have different levels of punishment, and there are societies with far higher levels of punishment than our own. Yet, no society has eliminated crime. Even the most dictatorial society has a problem with crime--it may be less severe than our own, but it still exists. The impetus to commit crimes is not dependent simply in the issue of pleasure or pain.
The positivist school sees crime as being determined either biologically, psychologically, or socially, and the social theory is the one with the widest application. These theories share the assumption that criminal behavior is caused by some underlying element in the social environment. The theories can be grouped under three general categories--strain, cultural deviance, and social control. Strain and cultural deviance assume that social class and criminal behavior
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Shaw McKay, , Jeremy Bentham, Cesare Beccaria, Mueller Laufer, cause crime, causes crime, middle class, requirement means, social forces, lower classes, criminal behavior, biological psychological, harsher penalties, McGraw-Hill Inc, single cause crime, inadequate social response, social response, society prevent crime, demand harsher penalties, requirement mens rea,
Approximate Word count = 2658
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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