Criminology - the document contains my assignment titled as crime as a social problem PDF

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the document contains my assignment titled as crime as a social problem...

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“Crime as a Social Problem”

Submitted To:

Sir Zain-ul-Abbidin

Submitted By:

Zaryab Fatima

Roll No:

BSSOF17M37

Subject:

Introduction to Criminology

Program:

BS Sociology(5th Semester) Regular

Department of Sociology and Criminology University of Sargodha, Sargodha

“Crime as a social problem” “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”― Nelson Mandela Introduction Social problem is something that create disturbance in the social structure. Either it is organized or unorganized if it effects society one or the other way it is termed as social problem. As crime is a violation of given law and creates a state of tension in the smoothly running society that’s why it is labeled as one of the biggest social problem. Crime represents a type of formal deviation from social customs and norms administered by an authority or state. But it is difficult to measure the intensity of crime in any society because it is not a weather that we measured it accurately. Usually when crime occurs, only the criminal and the victim, and sometimes an occasional witness, know about it. We thus have an incomplete picture of the crime problem, but because of various data sources we still have a pretty good understanding of how much crime exists and of who is most likely to commit it and be victimized by it.

Explanation Crime is socially patterned. Males commit more serious crimes than females. Africans, Americans and Latins have higher crime rates, youths in thirteens and early twenties have more crime rate than older people. In addition, tendency of crime is doubled in urban settings than rural areas. Here an important question arise, why an individual commit crime and indulge in antisocial activities? The answer is enclosed in individual’s biological, psycological, social and economic reasons. Society today has seen various people and crimes have originated in community and spread to be a crisis. Depending on the country or authority, crimes are divided into categories by law, the exact age of offenders, the severity of crime or offence, the potential punishment that can be under taken as a result of violation of law. Further, biological and psychological explanations cannot adequately explain the social patterning of crime discussed earlier: why higher crime rates are associated with certain locations and social backgrounds. For example, if California has a higher crime rate than Maine, and the United States has a higher crime rate than Canada, it would sound silly to say that Californians and Americans have more biological and psychological problems than Mainers and Canadians, respectively. Biological and psychological explanations also cannot easily explain why crime rates rise and fall, nor do they lend themselves to practical solutions for reducing crime. Beside all this the social interaction has yielded higher crime rate in society and has become one of the major reasons of crime in society. As it is said, “ a man is known by a company he keeps”. According to Sutherland, crime is a social problem since criminal behaviour can be learnt from close friends who practice these crimes and teach them to another person. Moreover, role of crime controlling agencies is also very beneficial in defending and preventing society from crime. If all these agencies do not play their part honestly ultimately crime rate will be increase in society and society will suffer in return. It is a common fact that when person is

deprived and society too create hindrance in his positive way to earn his livelihood then he try to achieve all this through illegal activities and try to harm society. According to Robert Merton, crime by the poor results from a gap between the cultural emphasis on economic success and the inability to achieve such success through the legitimate means of working. “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”― Aristotle Another aspect of crime is emergence of conflict. Conflict arise from different factors such as social class, creed and race as a result crime has seen its way in and become a social problem. Since the society comprises of different people with different ethnical backgrounds, this create desire for power and control over resources. People of a certain group, if powerful, can influence certain laws to be passed in which they don’t favor the other group. People try to assume the fact but after some time it is becoming a big crisis for society.

Suggestions for Prevention of Crime: The question “how do we reduce crime” has been asked for many years. Numerous amount of research has been done on this topic to see if there are other ways to reduce crime. Reducing crime has been a heated debate for many years and continues to be an important topic to study. Prevention is, of course, better than cure. Some suggestion are given below to prevent crime from society: 

Prevention which focuses on institutions such as schools and employers rather than on individuals.

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Preventative Diversion programs for ‘at risk’ groups.

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Community Development approaches.

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Media and other publicity aimed at changing Social Values.

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Early childhood or Developmental Prevention.

Conclusion: In a nutshell, Crime originates from society itself. It is a social problem because it equally affects the entire society. Crime is majorly influenced by interactions of bad friend, difference in opinion, the desire to influence power, the ability to control resources and social organization. All this is seen because people ignoring the fact that society is not about to competing in social class or even focusing on economic success but to generate good behavior and social patterns. in order for a society to be a safe place to live in, all society members including the governments and people must take necessary measurements to keep it a crime-free place....