Criminology theories and their applications

Criminology

Crime differences between Japan and U.S.

Crime is the act of breaking the law and involves the commission of a forbidden act or rather the neglect of a duty commanded by the law. It results into punishment to the offenders. Japan is a society with secular values and low crime rate based on the cultural beliefs and practices. The cultural contradictions found between Japan and U.S. influence the differences in the rate of crime. Japan has strong regional, cultural and social bases. This greatly increases the state of crime in the region. The people feel indebted to maintain peace by reducing conflicts. The concept of responsibility comes out in the Japanese culture compared to U.S..

In Japan, it is wrong to perform anything that will bring disgrace and shame to the family and the other social units. Crimes in U.S. are violent and include incidences such as rape, murder, theft and robbery, this is unlike in Japan whereby the citizens observe the right secular values and lawful practices Generally, Japan experiences crime activities but they are less aggressive in nature compared to U.S.. A main example is that looting or any other cases of lawlessness did not take place upon the earthquake or occurrence of a great Tsunami in Japan. This is mainly because the citizens are dignified and willing to maintain their moral code, hence did not take advantage of the situation by participating in crime activities such as stealing and property destruction.

The rate of controlling crime in the two countries fully depends on the citizen's willingness to maintain their culture and the principles stated. This greatly relates to reintegrative shaming which is a theory exercised on the lawbreakers. It focuses on the significance of causing shame and disgrace when it comes to crime cases and mainly applies to the lawbreakers. Despite the harsh punishments to lawbreakers in U.S., the country still leads in the world's crime rate. Unlike in the U.S., the theory of reintegrative shaming has greatly worked in reducing the crime rate. U.S. emphasize more on harsh punishments to the lawbreakers rather than practicing the acts of repentance and rebuilding the conscience of the lawbreakers.

Gender Differences in crime in the U.S.

The gender differences in crime refer to the differences between men and women as the victims of crime. Both men and women go through similar levels of violent victimization although there are differences in the nature of their victimization. In the U.S., the differences that come up upon crime activities of the male and female gender might be due to the social cultural factors, unreported crimes, or the biological factors. Men can have a bias against reporting themselves to be victims of a crime whereas women get favored treatment from the courts and other law enforcement agencies.

Males are suspects for crimes more than females, especially for violent crimes. The kind of violent harassments experienced by both genders bring in gender differences. The males for example mainly involve themselves in physical assaults and homicide while on the contrary; sexual assault victims are mainly women. There is physically assaulting of men especially in public places such as in the streets by strangers while women are more likely to receive physical harassment by a spouse or someone with whom they had a close relationship. Men are mainly the ones who suffer from robbery cases but the women tend to suffer from criminal harassment and receiving threats.