People start to engage in criminal activities such as theft to satisfy their needs. Cochran suggests that anomie is greatest where the goal of attaining societal goals occurs under conditions of individual competition. A decrease in state control and regulations leads to positive impacts in the economy. Three key elements affect crime in an economy (Cochran 2012). The first element is the degree of economic regulation/freedom. The second is the ability of the economy to sustain accrual of wealth opportunity. The third key element is the nature of economic conditions.
The economic freedom index measures the prominence of a free market and unregulated social constraints. Economic freedom index also measures political constraints in a market. Economic freedom is the absence of government control and coercion in production, distribution and the consumption of goods. In a free economy, a person is free to protect and maintain his economic preferences without government involvement. In measuring the freedom economic index, Cochran examined fifty economic variables. He classified the variables into 10 different categories. These were trade policy, government intervention, government fiscal burden, monetary policy, foreign investment, capital flows. The others were banking, wages, property rights and black market activity (Cochran 2012). A high score on a variable indicates that institutional policies are conducive to economic freedom.
Changes in the economy have a direct impact in the level of crime in the community. This study shows that measures of relative depreciation and economic inequality are the factors that affect economic conditions in a country. The study conducted by Cochran uses a Gini coefficient in household income for measuring relative depreciation and economic inequality (Cochran 2012). The coefficient in this measure ranges from zero to 100. A score of zero represents perfect income inequality while a score of 100 represents a perfect unequal distribution of wealth in the country.
Main conclusions
The study shows there are some variables that contribute to level of crime in society. These variables affect the economic index of a country. When the economic index of a country lowers, this leads to the increase in crime rates. People start to use un-institutional means to acquire wealth. Operation of anomie is one of the main...
Criminology The essence of broken windows theory is that "if a neighborhood or city doesn't fix its broken windows and graffiti, the environment will continue to descend into crime, chaos and violence," (Thompson, 2012). Environmental variables have an impact on crime rates, which is why it is important to pay attention to the foreclosure phenomenon and the phenomenal rate at which foreclosures are happening in certain neighborhoods. A vicious cycle can
Criminology What was the "rational choice theory" of crime causation? The "rational choice theory" of crime causation holds that crime is consciously committed out of an intellectual desire to improve one's situation. Accordingly, the theory does not believe that delinquents are motivated through unconscious urges, but instead contends that people are goal-oriented. Another implication of the theory is that everyone, regardless of their neurological profile, has the ability to act in a
This is a form of punishment that is incremental in application, and establishes what the public perceives as unbreakable pattern of individual criminal recidivism (Siegel, p. 110). However, there is no evidence to support incarceration itself as a deterrent to crime (pp. 110-111). Many criminologists disagree with public opinion on the topic of three strikes incarceration (p. 110), which is, in brief, when a person commits a felony, that
All students would be responsible for monitoring the halls at all times and for telling their fellow students when they were violating one of the rules. To give them an incentive to engage in such monitoring, students would be responsible for certain duties, such as picking up litter, removing graffiti, and straightening the lunchroom when students violated school rules. A violation of the rules of the school would be
Criminology Explanation of Deviant Behaviors Comment by Sabina: Delinquent behavior can considered normal in adolescent years. There are many different types of behaviors that are exhibited during teenage years, and as a society we have learned that this period could invoke delinquent behavior. Each individual must go through this rite of passage we refer to as adolescent year, a time where the individual is no longer a child but still not an
The environment extends beyond the family to friends and neighborhood. Neutrality has no effect on development of criminal behavior. Concept In order to understand the authors reasoning it is important to understand the concepts of behavior development, i.e. how observation of a behavior leads to development of that behavior. It is also important to understand the dynamics in various groups to understand why behaviors may be imitated from some sources and
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now