Part I

Sociology of Crime

Sociological theories of crime

Sociology of crime, or criminology, is the science

that studies the nature, extent, causes and control
of criminal behavior on both the individual and
societal level.

1.The Strain Theory: The strain theory suggest

that people engage in criminal activity as a means
to escape for the strain of a bad experience one
may be experiencing.

Crime, is a term used for any act

that violates written criminal law,
is a specific form of deviance.

2.Social Learning Theory: Social learning theory

simply states
people learn through the observation of others.
These observations can be through other's
attitudes and behavior.

General categories of crime:

1. Crimes against the person: These are crimes
in which an act of violence is either threatened or
perpetrated against a person.
2. Crimes against property: These are crimes
that involve the theft of property or certain forms
of damage against the property of another.
3. Victimless crimes: These are crimes in which
laws are violated, but there is no identifiable
victim.
4. White-collar crimes: are crimes that
committed by people of high social status who
commit their crimes in the
context of their occupation.
5.Organized Crime: Organized crime is crime
committed by
structured groups typically involving the
distribution of illegal goods and services to others.
Criminal Profile
Sociologists studying crime and deviance study
statistics on who commits crime. Identifying a
criminal profile can help sociologists understand
the causes of crime and
other deviance.
Age : Young people, roughly between the midteens and early twenties, commit almost 40
percent of all crimes. The
likeliness to commit crime, particularly violent
crime, decreases
as one ages.
Gender: Men are arrested for crimes far more
often than women. Men are arrested for
approximately 70 percent of all
property crimes and 80 percent of all violent
crimes.
Social Class: Street crime, particularly violent
crime, is more prevalent in poor, inner-city
neighborhoods than in affluent communities.
Violent crime in inner-city neighborhoods tends to
be committed by the same group of seasoned
criminals. Their victims are most often the lawabiding inhabitants of those neighborhoods. Whitecollar crime tends to occur in
more affluent communities.

3.Self Control Theory: Last but not least, the self

control theory. This theory basically states that
people will engage in any self-indulgent behavior
simply because it gratifies them. Engaging in such
behavior can result into criminal activity.
Part II
The Marxian Theory of Criminal Law
Introduction: Interactionist approaches opened
up a concern with the process of criminalization,
but failed to
explore this process in the context of the social,
political and economic organizations of society. Nor
did they ask why some acts were defined as
deviant whereas others were not.
This issue became a central theme of Marxist
criminology.
Basic Beliefs:

Deviance is partly the product of unequal

power relations and inequality in
-general. It is an understandable response
to the situation of poverty.

See power as largely being held by those

who own the factors of production.

Crime is often the result of offering societydemeaning work with little sense of
creativity. The Marxist concept of alienation
can be applied here. (Alienation is the
process whereby people become foreign to
the world they are living in.)

The superstructure serves the ruling

classes.
The state passes laws, which support ruling
class interests. Maintain its power, coerce,
and control the proletariat. They see
individual property rights as much more
securely established in law than the
collective rights of, for instance,
trade unions.

Laws passed reflect the wishes and

ideologies of the ruling classes.
Moreover, people have unequal access to
the law. Having money to hire a good

lawyer can meant the difference between

being found not guilty or guilty.

Thus for Marxists punishment for a crime

may depend and vary according to the
social class of the perpetrator.

Marxist viewpoint
Who Makes the Laws:

and the eventual removal of feudalism by

capitalism resulted in vast numbers of laws
protecting the interests of the emerging class.
Chambliss argues....
The heart of the capitalist system is he protection
of private property, which is, by definition, the
cornerstone upon which capitalistic economies
function. It is not surprising, then, to find that
criminal laws reflect this basic concern.

Laws are made by the state, which

represent the interests of the ruling class.

This line of argument forms the basis of a

theory of widespread crime and

References:
Part I

selective law enforcement; crime occurs

right the way through society, but

BarCharts, Inc. (2000). Sociology: The Basic

Principles of Sociology for Introductory Courses.
Boca Raton, FL: Bar Charts, Inc.

poor criminals receive harsher treatment

than rich criminals. Marxists tend to
emphasize white collar, corporate crime
and pay less attention to blue collar
variants. They note that the crimes of the
upper class exert a greater economic toll
on society than the crimes of the ordinary
people

Business Crimes: Corporate or Business Crime:

This
term is usually applied to business persons holding
power who engage in fraudulent activity on behalf
of their company to raise profits. see White Collar
and Organized Crime.
Mannheim and Chambliss: Excessive
Protection of Property :
Many sociologists have noted the large number of
laws dealing with property in capitalist society. For
example, Hermann Manheim writes that....
"The history of criminal legislation in England and
in many countries shows that an excessive
prominence was given by law to the protection of
property. "
According to William Chambliss, such laws were
largely unnecessary in feudal society were land,
unmoveable property, was the main source of
wealth and landowners were the undisputed
masters of the economic resources of the country.
However, with the increasing importance of trade
and commerce, which involve movable property,

Andersen, M.L. and Taylor, H.F. (2009). Sociology:

The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Cunningham, M. (2006, August 23). Self-control
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http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/53216/se
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Law Rank. (2009). Sociological theories - social
learning theory. Retrieved February 9, 2009, from
http://law.jrank.org/pages/815/Crime-CausationSociological-Theories-Social-learning-theory.html
Minnesota Cognitive Behavioral Network. (2002).
Benefits & outcomes of cognitive-behavioral
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Part II
Marcrime/30/9/97/P.Covington/1997
Marxist Perspective on
Crime/10/7/98/P.Covington/1997
www.sociology.org.uk/pcdevmx.doc
Prepared By: Nikki Oliva ABE 3-1