Sociological perspective of violent criminal behaviors

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Sociology

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Behaviors are socially constructed [Rice, et. al. Therefore behaviors become crimes depending on society's interpretation of the action. In one community a particular practice may be considered as a crime while in another community it may not be viewed as a crime. Also, some acts may be regarded as criminal offense depending on times. There is no need for them to struggle since they have no purpose or objective. The victims have no sense of obligation or continuity. They feel that they are not part of the society and therefore reject all the social bonds. This makes to have anarchy in the community and the emergence of violent criminal cases in society. Strain theory Strain theory tries to define crime as a function of the struggle between the objectives which people have and the ways they can use to gain them legitimately.

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Disorganization theory Disorganization theory looks on the urban life and how it contributes to the high rate of crime [Maier 57]. The urban centers are somehow disorganized. In urban centers, the social entities such as the businesses, families, and schools at times do not function as they are required. In towns and cities, there are always problems such as insufficient schools, poor sanitation, unemployment, and street children and families. According to [Moffitt and Terrie, 70] People who grow up and lives in such conditions go through desperation and conflicts which make them opt to participate in antisocial practices. As a result, this develops into a tradition of the community. This gang tries to abandon and compete with the accepted social practices, and this leads to moral decadence of the society.

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At last, there arise criminal violence behaviors in such communities. Differential association This theory suggests that criminal activities are gotten from the social setup of the society [Moffitt and Terrie, 70]. It states that an individual learns moral and immoral behaviors behavior as they mingle and intermingle with other individuals who belong to a specific group. One has to hold the activities of the nation first before his or her interests. Regarding involvement, one has to be a pivotal contributor to societal developments. One has to as well participate in communal and rightful leisure practices of the society. Functional analysis theory This theory states that social groups have a number of critical needs that need to meet and adhere to for the survival of the group [Rice, et al.

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It also says that these changes keep on changing with time. For example, there are many people who perform criminal offenses at the expense of self-defense. They use self – defense as a way of neutralizing their criminal behaviors. Many people take the advantage of self-defense and end up in many criminal practices. Other people take the drug and assume it's not an illegal activity since it does not harm anybody else in society. Since the drugs don't harm other people, they try to neutralize their criminal behaviors. If society has a pejorative view towards you, there is a significant likelihood for one to start criminal behaviors. From the above, it is evident that different societies have different perspectives on violent criminal practices in societies.

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