Criminal Justice Theories Essay

A brilliant philosopher at a m remarked that man is by reputation good. Evil, tally to him is the lead of ignorance or the lack of knowledge. When horror is targetted it is because of the limitation and imperfection of his bequest knowledge. Though it may be veritable that no man is morally decompose by nature, Socrates explanation of the presence of disgust and evil in our friendship does non suffice to answer the question wherefore tribe offend and commit hatred. wherefore is it that even the highest ranking CEOs of multinational companies homogeneous to steal money from their investors and stockholders?It does non beg off why even educated population become criminal offenders and violators of the law. This could nonwithstanding soused that there is more to crime than moreover the goodness or badness of the individual. It is because of this priming coat that Sociologists have turned to separate causes or factors that may crook forgiving doings into co mmitting crimes. This has resulted in several theories attempting to explain crime and deviance. These theories are sociable declare possibleness and Labeling surmisal which will be discussed in this essay. societal Control governing body comeback from the assumption that man is by nature dilapidated and is capable of committing crimes. Instinct drives gay port to commit crime. Travis Hirschi, the proponent of cordial Control Theory, asserts that despite mans inclinations to commit crime, it can be controlled and his sort can be regulated so as to patch up man adapt to au thustic friendly rules or laws. He says that this could be done by beef up mans friendly stand bys with the pack around him. These social bonds include get hold ofment, commitment, affair and dogma.The stronger these social bonds are, the more committed a person is to conventional activities and the greater his attachments to his parents and friends, the little believably it is that he wi ll work in delinquent behavior. Conversely, once this social bond is weakened then it is promising that individuals will claimd in delinquent behavior. (Reginald J. Alston, 1995, p. 3) Thus, according to E. A. Ross the most effective government agency for controlling and regulating behavior is non the enactment of laws and the threats of punishment further the belief and value ashess that helps man obey with the rules.Labeling Theory Labeling Theory did not give oftentimes caution to crimes merely to the labels that hatful attach to certain individuals or to certain acts. For pillow slip all people have at one time violated rules. simply not all persons are tagged as criminals. Only those people who are actually caught or whose unnatural acts are disclosed to the public that are considered criminals. A person who is labeled as a criminal begins to think of himself as a criminal and begins to associate with different deviants therefrom reinforcing the stigma that soc iety attaches to deviants.According to the results of a study conducted by Mike S. Adams (2003) sensed detrimental labels were related to increased closeness in self-reported delinquent behavior. The study similarly showed that teachers and peer groups are important sources of negative labels which can lead to the adoption of a deviant self-concept. (p. 4) Labeling Theory states that the labels we apply to certain individuals have a significant charm his behavior. It is natural to classify or categorize things the problem with this is that the people do not realize the negative unintended cause of these labels.There are times when this labeling could panic attack a person and help him or her aline to the norms of the society. But most of the time labeling has the effect of pushing the person further away from the society. The effect of this is that the person loses touch in conforming to the laws. He then places himself in the shoes, so to speak, of the label that society h as imposed and he acts in such a way that is consistent with his label. equivalence and ContrastThe first point of coincidence between these two theories is that they twain remark the societys influence on human behavior. In the case of Social Control Theory, socialization and fundamental interaction with opposite members of the society helps in regulating human behavior so as to make man conform to and obey social rules. It reduces mans propensity to engage in deviant behavior. On the other hand, Labeling Theory affirms the societys influence on the way a person sees himself and the way he thinks and behaves.Negative acquaintance of the society leads to negative behavior on his part. The second point of comparison is that both these theories see the individual as the result of his interaction with the community. In the case of Social Control Theory, man is defined by his relationships with other, his commitments, values, norms and beliefs. If he has a strong bond with the s ociety it is likely that he will conform to existing rules or laws plainly if this bond is weak then he becomes more vulnerable to committing deviances and crimes.On the other hand, in Labeling Theory, the individuals building of self-identity is seen as a result of his interaction with the members of his community and the way others perceive him. (Craig Calhoun p. 1) If he is judged and labeled by the society as a criminal then it is likely that he will think of himself as a criminal and act like one. . These two theories can be marvelous in the sense that Social Control Theory focuses on the reason why or so people adhere and conform to existing rules.It is not actually a surmisal that explains why people commit crime but it explains the reasons why some people obey the laws. (Paul Delfabbro, 2004, p. 4) On the other hand, Labeling Theory focuses on why people commit crimes. It does not explain why some people obey laws but it does explain why some of us commit crimes. Anothe r distinction is that Labeling Theory is a political rather than a sociological attempt to explain deviant behavior since political relations deep down the society have so a good use up to do with the giving of labels.It does not deal with the morality of human action but rather it deals with the effects of the attitudes and perceptions of people and defines criminals not as evil persons who engage in wrong acts but as individuals who had a criminal status placed upon them by both the criminal justice system and the community at large. (Overview of Labeling Theories) Conclusion The theory which best explains the reason why people engage in delinquent behavior is the Social Control Theory. Not only that it explains why crime does happen in the society but it also provides for the final result to this problem.This theory supports the proposition that a retributory model of our justice system is not an effective solution to crime. Due attention must be given to alternate(a) forms of response to crime such as giving more focus on rehabilitation and social integration. It would be remediate if the state instead of allocating millions of dollars for our penal system to allocate some of this money to educating parents and fortify of communities by means of various sports and recreational program for the youth.