Importance Of Criminology In Modern Society

The investigation of crime, society’s reaction to it and approaches to prevent it are all areas that have interested me from my adolescent years. I have an interest and passion for Criminology studies for the strict purpose of wanting to fulfill a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of crime and exploring how crimes affect our society. This shady interest in the criminal world has encouraged me to pursue the subject at degree level and to seriously consider a career in a related field. At the beginning of the course my understanding on crime and criminology was mostly derived from the internet or media. These tools became very useful for me to learn different subjects of crime.

Criminology is continuously changing and developing. Advances of technology have made media our primary news source for crime. We believe the stories told by our local news media, not doubting a word because these sources are supposedly reliable. Nevertheless, they sometimes do spread false information. It may be intentional or unintentional. According to Cohen, media presence amplifies a problem which did not previously exist (Steeves and Milford, 2015) thus creating a moral panic. As media influence increases, it is necessary for criminologists to study moral panics, such as the Columbine School shootings or the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

According to previous moral panic research (Cohen 1972; Cohen 2011; Critcher 2003; Hall et al. 1978; Krinsky 2013:1; Lull & Hinerman 1997) a moral panic may be defined as a widespread incident often triggered by alarming media stories and reinforced by reactive laws and public policy, of exaggerated or misdirected public concern, anxiety, fear, or anger over a perceived threat to social order. Additionally, other studies on moral panic (Critcher 2003; Goode & Ben-Yehuda 2009; Ungar 2001) have shown that social panics arise because of a socially perceived or real threat to certain taken for granted ideologies, values and interests. Evidently, there can be many interpretations of what can constitute a moral panic and that is why Critcher (2003) illustrates that moral panic discourse has developed rather divergent meanings in British and American

The Western Australian response due to shark attack/shark culling issue is an example of moral panic because of the media was able to influence the government to create a moral panic to the society. According to Goode and Ben Yehuda (1994), Western Australia does make a situation that defines moral panic to the society. The media were quite obsessed with the news regarding the shark attacks especially in Western Australia. The media company in Western Australia sees an advantage to gain more profit because the people do really concern with the shark issues and the people will read the shark culling news that happened in Western Australia. According to Cohen (2004) moral panic were defined as individuals that become known as a threat to the

Criminologists seek to understand the commission of crime in a given society, attempting to figure out why certain crimes occur, and then to study how these can be prevented, and deterred by individuals. The two key approaches I will examine in this assignment is that of the early 'Classicalist' approach, and the opposing 'Positivist' approach, each of which are crucial for understanding modern criminology today.

A moral panic can be defined as the common characteristics of social problems that suddenly emerge, cause problems for

A moral panic is the public’s response to problems that seem threatening to the society. Moral panics are used by the media, however people are likely to panic out of proportion due the way it is upheld.

Before we embark on description and analysis of a General Strain Theory of criminology, it is important to, first of all, understand the meaning of the term "criminology". Criminology, as defined by the two social theorists, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham of Italy and England respectively in their classical school of criminology, is the scientific study of crime, its causes, law enforcement as well as prevention measures taken to curb and control the crime in this case. Despite the fact that criminology has lots of fields including sociology, economics, psychology, biology, psychiatry, statistics and even anthropology, the term also has various theories explaining the real concepts surrounding crime, criminal and criminologist. The reason as to why these theories are many is that criminologists are trying as much as possible to seek the best solutions for reducing the levels and types of crimes. In this regards, the specific theory of criminology that will be described and analyzed in this paper is the General Strain Theory.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the meaning and validity of the label criminology has as a ‘rendezvous discipline’. To do this, this essay illuminates where criminology originates from and what its primary focus is. The Chicago School, Lombrosian Theory, Positivist and Classical criminology, are discussed. Other disciplines namely Sociology, Psychology, and the Criminal Justice Sector are examined and applied to the broad subject of criminology, to show the network of how this subject came to be recognised as such a discipline. Exposed are main issues that occur for the likes of criminologists and other

Public criminology takes information, research and education to the next level, as discovered through this essay. It doesn’t just include lab work, research and discoveries, it involves community based teaching in a way that the public can be informed and educated through upfront communication. Throughout this essay, the broad definition of public criminology will be discussed as well as its relevance to society. As with anything, there are challenges and promises that accompany public criminology and those will be stated in this essay. Examples will be given to help you learn the different concepts of public criminology and how it relates to our modern society. Given as a starting point, according to

The central problem was that 'wholesale improvement in social conditions resulted in not a drop in crime but rather the reverse' (Young 1998, p.159). Critical criminology had a significant impact on academic criminology over two decades ago but still remains important and influential today. "The new criminology had a brief period of decline and is now experiencing a resurgence of interest and influence" (Walton & Young 1998). Critical criminologists raise a number of important questions and see crime as a process related to wider economic and political structures of power. They question the way social control operates and is used. They explain crime as a result of the alienation and powerless of the working class, controlled by capitalism.

Criminology is a study of crime, criminals and criminal justice. Ideas about criminal justice and crime arose in the 18th century during the enlightenment, but criminology as we know it today developed in the late 19th century. Criminology has been shaped by many different academic disciplines and has many different approaches. It explores the implications of criminal laws; how they emerge and work, then how they are violated and what happens to those violators. Laws are relative and historically shaped; they vary from time to time and from place to place (Carrabine et al, 2009).

Moral panics usually take place at the time of significant changes in society, when there is a great fear of loss of control. In these times "collective consciousness" needs to be reinforced so that society can locate new boundaries. Other examples of moral panics are over witchcrafts, satanic rituals, drugs, handguns, teenage pregnancy, TV violence, Internet and so on. According to Goode and Ben-Yehuda, moral panic has the following necessary indicators: 1. Concern - (different from fear) over the imagined threat (and those associated with

What is crime? What makes people commit crimes and how can we stop it? These, and many other questions similar to these, are asked by criminologists everyday. Criminology is an ever growing field, mainly because there is more and more research occurring and new theories linking people and crime coming out everyday. Below the main field of criminology there are many subfields that have different theories and philosophies on what they believe link criminal behavior. Two of the main criminology perspectives are Classical Criminology and Positivist Criminology. Although these two are both studied in the criminology field, their views are distinctly contradictory from each other. These two theories and many

1). Criminology arose from the social scientific community over the year and has since come into its own discipline, it examines the entire process of lawmaking, law breaking, and law enforcing” (as cited in Akers, & Sellers, 2013). Criminology seeks to discover the depth of crime at both the micro and macro levels, from the individual’s natural biological and psychological characteristics, the nurturing of social and structural institutions, to policy, prevention and control.