The Study of Crime Crime is defined differently among the many societies in the world but a conventional description

of crime is that it is the violation of the law resulting in a conviction by a governing institution through customary legal mechanisms. Crime is generally viewed to be offences against the public or the government and is clearly distinguished from offences towards private parties (Miller, 2009). There are numerous factors that influence people to indulge in crime. These factors include socio-environmental, economic and even political. Individual offenders have many reasons to commit crimes. These include greed, revenge anger, pride and jealousy. Its common to learn of pre-meditated cases where a person plans everything in advance in order to minimize the risk involved while also increasing their chances of gain. Some offenders end up considering a life of crime rather than engaging in legal means to earn a living convinced that there are greater rewards in crime or even because of admiration or the excitement gained from participating in such acts (Siegel, 2009). Parental influence is a great factor in the upbringing of any individual. It has been proven from psychological studies that neglected children and those who are victims of parental abuse are more likely to commit crimes later in their lives. These statistics correspond to underage victims of sexual abuse where they end up becoming sexual offenders as adults (Blumstein, 1986). Peer influence is another great cause of crime especially among the youth. It is common to find the youth forming groups according to what they identify with in the society such as social status. Youth who are rebellious or who dont fit in with widely accepted standards end up forming gangs and stick with them due to the respect and acceptance they gain. In most gangs, antisocial conduct and criminal acts earn a member respect.

Drugs and substance abuse is another cause of crime in society. Drugs impair ones judgment while also reducing an individuals personal inhibitions and in some cases give a person even greater confidence to execute a plan. Addiction or substance dependence could in many cases influence a person to commit crimes in order to maintain the drug habit (Siegel, 2009). Most of the convicted offenders in any country are known to either have little or no education at all and in modern society, people who lack an education have great trouble in seeking employment and if they do get anything, it usually doesnt pay enough to live comfortably. Individuals with poor educational backgrounds have to either cope with the reality of long-term low income or the promise of a profitable life in crime. Easy access to firearms has also contributed greatly to crime in society. Statistics have indicated that by the start of the century, firearms were among the top ten leading causes of death in the world. These firearms are readily available in the black market (Blumstein, 1986). Crime affects the society at large in many ways and it is for this reason that there are laws, enacted by the society and enforced by various legal mechanisms such as the police, to protect the citizenry. But even with the harsh penalties one could face due to crime, worldwide statistics indicate that cases of criminal activity are on the rise and these has in turn had many effects on society. New jails and other programs to rehabilitate prisoners as well as the costs for greater police protection all come from the taxpayers pocket. Studies have proven that society pays over twice the average household income for the incarceration of one inmate. This clearly shows that rather than using taxes to improve wages and fund education (which are factors that would greatly reduce cases of crime), the taxpayer pays more than double to keep criminals fed and safe. In

some neighborhoods, crime watches and community policing have been established to counter criminal activities and also to prevent crime. Another noticeable effect of crime on a community is the depreciating in value of housing and other economic factors in a crime-infested area. Such a scenario will lead to depopulation, especially in urban communities, while also affecting the relationships of the people residing in the area; most people in such neighbourhoods tend to keep to themselves. Parents have also been affected by the rise in crime levels in society. It is noticeable that most of the children dont play outdoors as it was the norm previously. Parents have resorted to keeping their children indoors because of the general anxiety caused by heinous crimes in society such as the many cases of sexual offences against minors. Many households have seen the installation of alarm systems as well as other paranoid behaviour linked to the effects of crime (Miller, 2009). Even though crime has had a great impact on society, the latter has also had a lot of influence on crime too. Several social, economic, political and environmental aspects of society have a great impact on crime both directly and indirectly. For instance, in a region experiencing political change, this could in turn result in instability within the security forces in this region. An example of this scenario is in the countries undergoing revolutions such as Egypt. Political instability creates an environment of mayhem and this is conducive for crime, which could be seen as the only resort for those with no means to sustain themselves during such a period. Economical aspects can be seen as the most influential to crime since most crime is motivated by economic gain. An ideal example of this is the destruction of the motor industry in Detroit, MI. This has impacted on all the residents of the city due to the great levels of unemployment hence leading to a large spike in insecurity making Detroit the most unsafe city in the United States.

There are many social aspects that influence crime within the society but I shall briefly discuss one example; within any society, there are certain standards and achievements that indicate individual or family success. This creates pressure on those who are yet to achieve this or dont have the means to. Such pressure and the promise of a rich life through committing an offence are an influence to engage in crime (Siegel, 2009). This is the case in many areas around the world where the underclass and young people who dont have means of acquiring material goods are alienated. Environmental factors also influence crime in society. If a natural disaster occurred and there was unprecedented damage or if a freak weather occurrence led to the destruction of a cities transport systems hence paralyzing the capability of state authorities, this would be an enabler to an increase in crime since the damage, which could also extend to the basics such as the availability of food, would create the opportunity conducive to crime while the problems would serve as motivation (Blumstein, 1986). There are various types of crime which can be categorized into several groups including property crime, public order crime and violent crime. Property crime is the category of crime that comprises of burglary, theft, arson, vandalism and shoplifting among others. These crimes involve the obtaining of money or property without the use of force or the threat to use force on a victim. Items involved in this form of crime are usually valuable, concealable, enjoyable and most importantly, they are easy to dispose of. In the United States, there were 1.4 million cases of residential burglaries in 1999, although half of these crimes arent reported to law enforcement authorities. Distraction burglary is described as a form of burglary involving tricks by the offenders to distract the occupant of the targeted location allowing co-conspirators to gain entry and steal (Miller, 2009). The elderly in the community are the most susceptible to

distraction burglary. Crime prevention programs, like the Neighbourhood Watch, have shown some effectiveness in reducing burglaries as well as other crimes too. Motor vehicle theft is also viewed uniquely as a form of property crime often carried out by youth. Almost twenty per cent of motor vehicle thefts are carried out with the intent to get auto parts for re-selling. Several crime prevention means such as car alarms have been effective in curbing this crime. Construction vehicles are often targets since they are easily resold. Public order crime is behaviour labeled criminal since its contradictory to widely accepted customs and social values. It affirms the need to have law so as to maintain order both in legally and morally. Convictions for these forms of crimes are in most cases influenced by the moral and political principles of those in power and in some cases the decisions change with the moral standards of society. An example of such is the establishment of birth control facilities. Initial attempts into this field were viewed as immoral and led to persecution but at present birth control are viewed as a norm. Many instances where an individual is accused of public order crime involve a situation when the accused had made a personal choice to indulge in acts disapproved by society such as recreational use of an illegal substance. These types of crimes are regarded to as victimless and in some cases, such as drugs, sex and gambling they usually involve desirable items with high financial gains (Siegel, 2009). Violent crime is a crime involving the use of force or threats to use force against a victim (Blumstein, 1986). They include both crimes where the objective is to commit the violent act, such as murder, and crimes where violence is the avenue to committing the crime. They also include crimes committed using a weapon or without a weapon. Types of violent crime include; child abuse which is viewed as cruelty to persons under 18 years, sexual abuse and child sexual

abuse, assault and battery, aggravated assault, domestic violence, harassment, robbery, murder, rape and homicide among others. Criminology entails several theoretical perspectives in the study of these and other crimes. Some of these include psychoanalysis, interactionism, postmodernism among others. The theories that I shall explain are the strain theory, also referred to as the social class theory, and the rational choice theory. According to the strain theory, mainstream society is filled with dreams of opportunity, freedom and prosperity commonly referred to in the US as the American dream. The greater population is sucked into this belief and it thus serves as a mighty cultural and psychological inspiration. But with the unequal structuring of opportunities which holds back the majority from the realization of this dream, its logical that some of them will turn to crime so as to achieve it while others involve themselves in deviant subcultures. This theory can be seen to be true all across the world where social class is a great motivator for involvement in crime. The rational choice theory is another perspective used in the study of crime. It maintains that criminals weigh the risks and benefits when determining whether to commit a crime or not and that they think economically. The theory asserts that criminals also try to reduce the risks involved in any crime by examining various situational factors such as time and place. With this in mind, certain crime reduction/prevention measures that would increase the risk involved in committing a crime can be put into place. This theory has provided the basis for several approaches such as the Market Reduction approach which focuses on crime facilitators such as markets for stolen goods (Miller, 2009). The approach sets out to bring down potential markets for such stolen items which serve as a motivation for thieves who supply them. Crime is a major constituent of society and its costs and effects are felt by every member of the society to some degree. Some of these costs are short-term while some have a lifetime pinch. In

the past few decades both crime and its costs have reached unprecedented levels with the United States being estimated to spend an upward of $1.7 trillion in crime costs. The ultimate cost though is the loss of life by the victims of crime. Other costs borne by the victims include legal fees, funeral expenses, medical costs, loss of income, and loss of property among others. Extra security expenses are also incurred by the victims and non victims through installation of stronger locks and security alarms. However, some costs of crime arent easily identifies. These include pain and suffering endured by the affected individuals as well as traumatic effects on friends and family of the victim. Other than the clear effect on the economic productivity through victims of crime missing work, crime also affects communities productivity through loss of business when an area gets its reputation tainted due to high crime activity. Victimless crimes such as prostitution and drug abuse also have major social and financial consequences. Other than the costs stated above, governments and communities spend public funds to pay the police, fund correctional facilities and courts, remunerate prosecutors, judges and other crime related professions. Other than nations continuing to bear the cost of punitive crime fighting, governments should shift their resources to finding means to prevent crime while also trying to find ways to eliminate the causes of crime while also punishing it. This will in the end prove to be economical all round (Miller, 2009). The concept of criminal careers has been well founded in the study of crime. Collectively, the criminal career is a developed over a length of time characterized by delinquency and criminal acts committed by an individual as he or she advances in age from childhood through adolescence and adulthood. The term criminal career implies an involvement in crime in an

intensive and extensive manner so as to constitute a way of life. The four main elements defined and applied to the analysis of criminal careers are: participation, frequency, seriousness and career length (Miller, 2009). Participation is a broad measure of the proportion of the population involved in deviant behaviour. Frequency on the other hand denotes the rate of committing an offence among active offenders. Seriousness cites the degree of seriousness of offences committed by an individual while career length refers to the amount of time that an individual has been actively offending. There are various components to understand about a career criminal, these are such as initial involvement, frequency and termination. The focus on juvenile delinquency in criminology reflects the correspondingly great involvement of young people in crime. Studies conducted show that the age distribution curve shows a steep rise from the age of ten to peak between ages 15 and 18 followed by a decline after 21 (Siegel, 2009). Trying to understand age distribution and offending leads to looking into both social and biological factors such as changes in physical strength or behavioural experimentation at a time of emerging self identity and a seeming spontaneous remission suggested by declining prevalence at early adulthood has brought about great attention in longitudinal research to the end of criminal careers. Noting the definitions provided for career criminals above, we understand that a career criminal establishes him/herself from an early age. The risk factors that may lead to a career criminal as identified by several studies include: intelligence, family factors, socio-economic deprivation, peer influence, community influences, impulsivity and situational factors. Many other studies have also shown an association between the configuration of personality factors referred to as Hyperactivity-impulsivity-attention deficit, also known as HIA and offending. Other researchers looked at likely predictors of delinquency among males and came to the conclusion that poor

parenting, offending by siblings as well as parents, inadequate educational achievement and separation from parents were all predictors of future offending (Blumstein, 1986). References Blumstein, A. (1986) Criminal careers and career criminals Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Siegel, L. (2009) Criminology Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Miller, J (2009) 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook, Volume 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.