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Explanations of Crime

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I need some assistance with parts of my final Sociology paper on crime my class is crime and Society. These are the sections Biological and Psychological Explanations of Crime, Learning to Commit Crime, Community Reactions to crime. I also need scholarly souces with the help.

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The solution is a 1,560-word narrative that presents a discussion of the motivations behind criminality. The topic is 'Explanations of Crime' and explores biological, psychological and sociological motivations and reasons behind criminal motivation and criminality as well as the development of a criminal mindset and the social reaction. references are listed for expansion. A word version of the solution is attached for easy printing and download.

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Dear Student,

Hi. I hope that this solution will be of help to you. Analysing your post, I have to a conclusion that you are referring to the theories of crime and this is what this solution is about. If your paper is about exploring the reasons behind crime and the creation of a criminal identity, then this solution should get you there. Just to make sure that your paper is specific to the theories in your class; in your final paper cite from your books and readings some examples.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Explanations of Crime

Crime is rooted primarily in deviance. Deviance, sociologically speaking is the violation of cultural norms and legally enacted rules of a social group/society. Deviance, when formally recognized is labelled as a crime. For example, it formally enacted law that murder and theft are unacceptable and punishable in American society. Deviance however could be about erring against particular ethnic folkways especially if one is unfamiliar with it or is following another belief system - the view of an action (i.e. a Western couple kissing and displaying affection in downtown Dubai) here is strictly by cultural context and the framing of deviance only meaningful to the culture that sees it as such. Crime and criminality however is the deviance that leads to breach of law going against that imposed by the governing authority and each nation, each state worldwide have their own set of rules and ways to identify criminality and punish criminals to give justice to the victims of a crime. Deviance, especially criminal deviance threatens the social order. If society was a machine, criminality goes against progress and function and crime in the social order threatens to unravel the social structures that make society happen.

Now, what are the explanations of crime? First off, we have to remember that what is criminal and deviant is socially defined. A culture and society decides what is legal, moral, ethical and acceptable in their social order. They also decide what aren't. Crime is a product of cultural, political, social and anthropological discourse and what is criminal differs from culture to culture. For example, in the US polygamy is illegal and denying women their rights is also illegal. This is not the case in most Middle Eastern and Islamic states; in fact it is the norm. Mark Stevens of California State University (2004) presents 13 types of criminological theory and for the purpose of this explanation, I shall group them to 3: Biological, Psychological and Sociological (where italicized & bounded by "", the description of the theory is quoted from Steven's 2004 lecture - see source ...

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  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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