Positivism is a method of inquiry whose main aim is to answer questions through the scientific methodology
INTRODUCTION
In every society there is always disparity in terms of people who have more than enough, while others have just enough and lastly there are those who barely have what they need. Those with more will always tend to commit crimes to keep what they have or even gain more. This can be clearly seen when government officials are involved in corruption, they misappropriate public funds for their own personal gains and this is a crime. Those that have less on the other hand, are willing to commit crimes so that they can get more or even stay at the level they are at. The reason why people commit crimes is because they do not want to go through the hassle of working hard to get what they need. They simply want to get rich overnight which is not possible in normal work situations unless in gambling which mainly depends on luck.
Crime can therefore be defined as an unlawful act that is punishable by a nation or other authority. The word ‘crime’ was derived from Latin word ‘cerno’ which means “I decide, I give judgment.” The most popular view of crime is that, it is something that is created by law and without any relevant and applicable laws, and then it cannot be classified as a crime. The state has the power to restrict ones freedom by locking them up in jail after they have undergone trials and been found guilty by a court of law. The sociologist Richard Quinney wrote a book about the relationship that exists between crime and society. In his book, he states that “crime is a socio phenomenon” where he goes ahead to investigate how individuals end up committing crimes and how the society perceives it based on the norms present. According to the FBIs annual report on crime in 2015, it reveals that there was a 3.9 percent in violent crimes and a 2.6 percent decrease in crimes related to property when compared to the 2014 rate. The estimated murders in the country was 15,696, the rape crimes were about 90,185, robberies were estimated to be 327,374, there was 71.5 percent use of guns in murders with 40.8 percent being robberies and 24.2 percent were assaults. Crimes related to property led to loss of approximately $14.3 billion.
However it is not possible to simply judge that all people who are wealthy or struggle have the will to engage in crime. But also long as there exists a lack of balance in any society, then crime will always exist. Everyone wants the best for themselves and their families too yet there are limitations in terms of finance for them. This essay will focus on discussing whether crime is inevitable or not in any society but providing relevant supporting evidence from theorists.
DEVELOPMENT
The classical theory of crime
The focus on the rationality of human beings is what led to the development of the classical theory. There is belief that any individual can choose to live with others in harmony in society and that they only decide to commit crimes because they have the will to and are not influenced by other factors at all (Crab, I. 1997). The need to prevent crimes came as a result of the fear that people who had engaged in crimes would become outcast in their societies. People choose to commit crimes based on the benefits they reap from the crimes as compared to the mere punishment they get. This can be evidently since when some government ministers in Africa choose to become corrupt in their budgeting of funds. They do this knowing very well that they will not face severe punishment such as being sentenced to jail for a life time. In China, over 300,000 officials were punished over graft claims in 2015 as the president; Xi Jinping went onto progressively wage the war against corruption. 200,000 were given light punishments and 82,000 were treated to severe disciplinary actions and demoted from their respective positions. Some of the most corrupt officials have even being punished through murder.
According to this theory, individuals are normally in agreement with the structuring of the society which plays a role in shaping the actions and behaviors that are important to survive. Emphasis on the formation of law and social contracts that restrict behaviors protect the society from people who have their own selfish interests at heart. The creation of a system which prevents someone from committing a crime due to corporal punishment that they are likely to face is what guides people to try as much as possible to avoid crimes. For example, the issue of executing drug traffickers in China is most likely to instill fear in people who think of committing the crime, the consequences serve as a preventive mechanism. The main idea behind people engaging in social contracts is to make them understand what is acceptable while they are in pursuit for the general happiness of society. The development of a social order that reduces the idea of people having their own personal interests ends up leading to crimes. This theory advocates for the respect of the society as the key focus and individuals are expected to always consider the good of the entire society before their own.
The existing balance of what is likely to stop the criminal from a crime and the process of law that they risk facing were the key aspects of this theory of crime that explain why people have rational judgments towards criminal behaviors. From the theory, there is explanation for the reasons for criminal behavior which are based on rational person’s perspective. Although this theory holds validity for why human beings result to criminal acts, it doesn’t explain why some irrational individuals lead to criminal behavior.
The positivism theory of crime
Positivism is a method of inquiry whose main aim is to answer questions through the scientific methodology. The person carrying out the research aims at examining the real world of facts by testing of the presumption with the main aim being to arrive at the final truth and then deriving laws such as; the laws of gravity, the law of relativity. In this school of thought, it is argued that human beings lack the free will and that their behavior is influenced by the sociological, biological and psychological factors. Therefore, one doesn’t have to take responsibility for the actions they take since they are beyond their control. The theory emphasizes the need to address the various factors that are the likely causes of the crime occurring such as poor mental condition and poverty. It argues that the punishment should be made to fit the offender rather than the crime they have committed which is the argument in the classical theory. Andre Michel Guerry who was a French statistician and Adolfe Quetelet, who was a Belgian Mathematician, were the 1st people to do detailed statistical studies in regards to crime in 1830s and 1840s (Gottfredson, M. R., Hirschi T.,& Hindelang M.J, 1987). Adolfe discovered that were strong correlations between the rates at which crimes occurred and factors such as poverty and illiteracy. During his study, he also noted that these factors remained the same as the rates of crime continued escalating in Europe. This school of thought was also referred to as the “cartographical school “since there was a map that plotted crimes within certain regions.
Cesare Lombroso was an Italian doctor who argued that crime was a biological thing and no person was actually born as a criminal. He considered people who engaged in crimes as those who suffered various stigmas in the society and that they resembled the ancient primitive generations. His argument was that criminals were people who were biologically inferior like the Neanderthal man. There has been continued stereotyping of how criminals look like in the American society and the media greatly contributing towards this perceptions. The African Americans and the Hispanic are the most affected, since they are the ones seen as criminals. The rich also consider the underclass as the only criminals that exist in the society. For example, the TV program on Fox, “cops” is a good example of the stereotyping that exists in media. It seems that every person they arrest is a black man who is seen held against the hoodie of a police car or spread on the ground. In today’s world, there are many variations to the positivism thought of criminology. The three major ones are:
• Psychological positivism which suggests that the causes of crimes are due to faulty development of personality.
• Biological positivism which attributes crimes to the individuals make up physically.
• Sociological positivism emphasizes the existence of certain social factors in ones society.
Durkheim’s theory of crime
Durkheim as a theorist argues that crime is inevitable for human beings due to two main reasons. They are:
• Each person is socialized in different ways and some may be more socialized than others. Those that are poorly socialized means that society doesn’t value them like the others which can make them deviant.
• The modern society we live in currently is also very complex especially the large cities such as New York where there are a lot of people with different cultures and lifestyles. The existence of these many cultures is what leads to emergence of new subcultures that may have norms that do not conform to those of the mainstream society. For example, in African cultures, it is okay to eat using hands, but if an African was living in Europe and they used hands to eat, this would be considered deviant.
According to Durkheim, he believes that there tends to be lack of norms in any modern society that is attributed to the special division of labor. Everyone while trying to fulfill their duties, does their own thing which leads to a weakened social cohesion and consciousness of the values expected of them, the end result of these is people engaging in many crimes (Sykes G.M, 1967). Most functionalists believe that crime is bad for society but Durkheim argues that, too much crime is bad yes but too little crime is also not good for any society. He considers the 2 main functions of crime as follows:
• Adaptation and change. People who are seen to challenge the norms in society are considered deviant, however challenging the norms is what makes the society grow and adapt to the changes. For example, Suffragette’s challenge of patriarchy is what made the society start supporting women.
• Boundary maintenance. The main purpose of the laws and justice system is to “dramatize evil” so that it acts as a warning to the citizens that are law abiding. For example, when Andres Breivik was big prosecuted, they had to create a special court for him since the media claimed that he was so big.
However there have been several criticisms to Durkheim’s theory, the first one is that Durkheim doesn’t say which the right amount of crime is. Secondly, his theory doesn’t address how crime affects somebody or groups in the society. Thirdly, it doesn’t consider that crimes plays a role in weakening solidarity and making people especially women live in isolation i.e. most women stay indoors at night because they fear being rapped (White R.D., & Habibis D, 2005).
CONCLUSION
The above three theories namely; the classical theory, the positivism and the Durkheim theories of crime, all have different views towards the behaviors of crime. The classical theory of crime supports Theresa May’s statement that crime as an act is not inevitable since individuals have the free will to think and act. The positivism theory on the other hand tends to argue that crime is inevitable since it is caused by sociological, biological and psychological factors. Lastly, Durkheim’s theory also argues that crime is inevitable based on two main reasons; that modern society is very complex and that every one socializes with others on a different level. Therefore the only theory that supports Theresa May’s statement is the classical theory while the other two theories argue that crime is inevitable.
REFERENCES
Crab, I. (1997). Classical social theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gottfredson, M. R., Hirschi, T.,& Hindelang, M.J. (1987). Positive criminology. Newbury Park, Calif: Sage Publications.
Sykes, G.M. (1967). Crime and society. New York: Random House.
White, R.D., & Habibis, D., (2005). Crime and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
…………………………….Answer preview……………………
In every society there is always disparity in terms of people who have more than enough, while others have just enough and lastly there are those who barely have what they need. Those with more will always tend to commit crimes to keep what they have or even gain more………………….
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