The Sociological Origin Of Criminology - Understanding Crime In Society
Author: LawSphereX
Category: Criminal Law
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF CRIMINOLOGY:
UNDERSTANDING CRIME IN SOCIETY Yamini Thakur, Ideal Institute of Management and Technology and School of Law Introduction To think of a society to be a crimeless society is a myth. In fact, no society can exist without the problem of crime and criminals. There is no pertaining or delimitation in the definition of crime as it generates from the implicit or explicit behavior or deviations in the society. Any act, so permissible to any point will deem to be only an act however if it passes the societal benchmark then may be deemed to be a crime. To have it defined legally, crime means violation of a criminal law or a social order. A sense of mutual respect and trust for the rights of others regulates the conduct of the members of the society.
A certain set of people who deviate from normalcy that is, deviating from normal behavioral pattern of the society and ending up associating themselves with anti-social elements are often found to be causing criminal acts. Different groups have variable and often incompatible interests in the society which gives rise to conflicts eventually resulting in the incidence of crime. Edwin Sutherland defined crime as a system of social disorganization. Therefore one can easily decipher that there are multiple attributes and aspects of crime which are altered with the passage of time. The correct definition of crime isn’t the one which only defines the crime so committed rather the criminal intention of the perpetrator that caused the criminal act. Crime is often considered to be an unlawful act which is an offence against the public and the perpetrator of the act is liable to punishment.
The verticals of crime often explain the interchangeable or organic role of an offence wherein one offence may be dealt under multiple categories which in submission turn around the general nature of the offence. Therefore, without exhaustive interpretation all may deem to be of same nature. Although, it is often argued by criminologists that even an act which may appear to be criminal in its nature cannot be called crime until and unless a proper evaluation has been made on the intent of the perpetrator. Crime in society stems from various roots. It can either be mentally, physically, emotionally or even out of pure envious intent. Concept of Criminology The concept of criminology is directly associated to crime and criminal behavior. It is predominantly the study of crime and criminals along with their justice system.
Criminology gravitates to cover the aspects of, as to what goes on in a conscious and a subconscious mind of a person committing a criminal act. It downright acts upon the intent and motive of the perpetrator. The versatility of criminology is such that it is involved in all the psychological aspects of crime, which means that it is trying to decipher the criminality of any act. Therefore, whatever is incidental in understanding any crime is deemed to be a component of criminology. History of Crime and Criminology Back in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, crime did not have an explicit or well-defined meaning. Crime was initially considered to be an act of some demonic entity possessing a person’s body and causing that person to commit a sinful act. Such ideology was acknowledged by the name of ‘demonological theory’.
The propounders of this theory acknowledged the omnipotence of the spirit, which they regarded as a great power. However, this theory could not survive in the society with lapse of time as in the middle of eighteenth century, Cesare Beccaria laid huge emphasis on the free will of an individual. Hence, dismissing the presence of evil spirit causing the person to commit a criminal act. He argued that a person committing crime does so with his own free will without being influenced by any other individual. He also stated that a person is mentally sound enough to be able to decipher between a normal behavior and a criminal behavior. Further, Beccaria’s approach was also dismissed with the introduction of positive school’s exponent Cesare Lombrosso. He expressed that the real cause of committing a crime lays in the anthropological features of the criminal.
Anthropological here is being referred to the study of human beings and their origin of development along with their customs and beliefs. Sociological Aspect of Criminology All these theories withered away with lapse of time and also when the sociological aspect of criminology was set forth. Sociological theory arose from the understanding of criminal mind being influenced by its surroundings. It fundamentally focuses on the social interactions of the perpetrator which is learnt by experiences either individual or societal. Sociological theories of criminology plays a massive role in figuring out the intent and motive behind crime causation. Edwin H.
Sutherland was the main exponent of the sociological school of criminology who established the ‘Theory of Differential Association’, which centres around the theme that a person becomes criminal if there is an excess of influence on him favourable to the violation of law as compared with the influences which are unfavourable to violation of law. According to him, behavioural learning takes place through personal contacts with other people. It may be said that the essential characteristic of sociological view of crime is that it regards criminality as a consequence of social processes operating in society. Understanding criminology through sociological aspect is basically understanding the fact that an individual commits a crime based on how he was raised in his surroundings. It is argued that societal learning influences the mind of a criminal in committing an unlawful act.
Culture Conflict In a dynamic society social change is an inevitable phenomenon. The impact of modernization, urbanization and industrialization in modern dynamic society may sometimes result in social disorganization and this may lead to culture conflicts between different sections of society. People sharing different family backgrounds along with different circumstances endure a sheer possibility of having different morals and ambitions. Some might fall under a lawful manner and some might be opposed to law. Therefore, culture plays an equally important role in understanding the criminal mind of an individual through sociological aspect. To conclude, it can be said that punishment to a perpetrator should be given keeping in mind the presence of sociological aspects and also making sure if that perpetrator is sound enough to understand the seriousness of the crime he has committed.
However, it is stated that there is not a single theory which can properly elucidate the causation of crime, sociological roots are just another point of view in understanding criminality through a vivid interpretation. The reason mostly being that these theories are aiming at general points, hence not clarifying particular situation of delinquency. It therefore follows that, delinquent behavior is an outcome of the combination of a variety of factors which create situation conducive to crime. Social interaction has an immense impact on the minds of people, in shaping their belief system, opinions and even sentiments. Crime and violence are often caused due to social disorganization which is reflected by the conflict in social values, interrupting the harmony of society.
Therefore, crime must be understood keeping in mind the human behavior and the social and emotional needs of a person.