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Criminal Justice: Understanding Crime And Victimization

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Criminal Justice: Understanding Crime And Victimization
UNDERSTANDING CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION

From Siegel, L.J. & Worrall J.L. [2012]. Introduction to Criminal Justice 13 th ed.





One of the goals of criminology is to develop an understanding of the nature and cause of crime and victimization. Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior, and seeks to develop an understanding of the nature and cause of crime and victimization.

People choose to commit crime after weighing potential benefits and consequences.
A. Rational criminals -

Rational choice is a function of a person’s perception of conventional alternatives and opportunities. Benefits include not only monetary gains, but psychological rewards such as excitement and
…show more content…


The disorganized neighborhood
 Crime is believed to be a product of neighborhoods that are characterized by physical deterioration and conflicting social values.  Major sources of informal social control (family, school, neighborhood, civil service) are broken are ineffective.

Social Learning Theories
Individuals learn the techniques and attitudes of crime from close relationships with criminal peers. Most widely known of the learning perspectives is Edwin Sutherland’s differential association theory.

Control Theories
Crime results when the forces that bind an individual to society are weakened or broken. The most influential advocate of control theory is sociologist Travis Hirschi who suggests that people’s social bonds are formed from a number of different elements.

Social Reaction Theory
Individuals resort to crime when significant members of society label them as criminal and they accept that label as a personal identity. People who commit undetected antisocial acts are called “secret deviants” or “primary deviants” and their illegal act has little influence or impact on their lifestyle or

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