Popular Theories of Criminology Three

Popular Theories of Criminology

Three popular modern theories of why individuals commit crimes can be summed up as conflict-based, functionalist, and interactionist in their approaches to criminology. The conflict-based approach to understanding crime is based upon the view that the fundamental causes of crime lie not within the individual psyche, but in the social and economic forces operating within society that drive individuals to commit violent crimes to survive. The criminal justice system and criminal law, in the conflict-based approach, are criticized for operating on an individualistic perspective of criminal behavior. This individualistic perspective denies the shaping influences of society, particularly poverty.

For example, a young man may grow up in a neighborhood riddled with violence and drug use with a poor school system. The only heroes the young man sees are drug dealers, and he starts from a young age, to make money for his family, working for dealers. If he had other opportunities, he would likely have chosen a different path, but this seems like the best way to make money and to survive and succeed. However, the adult criminal justice establishment does not take this point-of-view and views the young man as morally 'bad,' despite the fact the young man's character is not at fault. Had he been subject to other influences he would have made different choices. The suggestion is that by his own will, the young man should have tried to earn an honest living, even though he had no opportunity to earn comparative money or to gain a good education, like a wealthy young man growing up in the suburbs. The conflict-based school suggests that the justice system is intent upon upholding the social order and split between the haves and the have-nots. Another example of this bias is that white-collar criminals like the Enron executives are punished much less severely, even if they may hurt just as many lives as street criminals. The executives may have injured just as many with their illegal economic activities even though it was not with than one-on-one violence. Change society, don't punish criminals more severely, suggests the conflict-based school.

The functionalist school of criminology, however, takes a more practical and less causal 'what works' attitude for the larger community in its approach to the causes and remedies for crime. The functionalist approach favors more severe punishment criminal activity and the use of the legal system to punish the individual, not change society. What of the community affected by drug use, the functionalist might ask of the above example? Punish the drug dealers so that they will not be positive examples to younger individuals to improve the community. This will bring new law-abiding citizens back to the community and thus create a more affluent society and school system. In other words, society should not be an excuse to avoid punishing misdeeds. Functionalists might also stress this is true for white-collar criminals who should be punished equally -- look how Martha Stewart became a positive example as a result of her incarceration. She is a warning not to do 'dirty' stock deals and is now more motivated to give back to the community since she has experienced punishment for her disregard of the law. Human beings will always commit crimes, suggests this school, containment of crime and improvement of criminals is the goal of the justice system.