Is Crime Beneficial to the Society Essay Example

also presents a debatable statement that the presence and prevalence of crime actually prepares the society greater space and vacuum to mould itself to accommodate itself for greater change.

In addition to this, according to Durkheim feels that crime helps the society from moving into the state of a plateau and for a society to progress goodwill must exist in alliance with crime or evil activities. In contrary to this, another prominent American politician and sociologist, Daniel Moynihan argues that crime is an element that increases the feeling of desensitization in a society giving adequate space for the mushrooming of anti-social elements which ultimately proliferate chaos and anarchy in a society and hence due to all such adverse repercussions crime and criminal activity, whether it exists in any form, must be discouraged.

Quoting the example of the St. Valentine, he argues that events like these which manifest sheer human brutality and anarchic situation are becoming common nowadays, and therefore, in such crucial times, discussion must not be focused on the necessity of crime in a society but conversely it must accentuate on the measures that can be taken to eliminate, or in simpler terms, to reduce crime in the society, which in other terms will be focusing on the strengthening of law enforcement institutions.

He does acknowledge the fact that crime is inevitable but simultaneously is also advocate of the opinion that it can be controlled. He holds the perspective that if one views the existence of crime as justified in a society then all agendas or strategies formulated to eradicate it will eventually turn fruitless. (Goodlin 2009)

The perspectives of both these prominent personalities are undoubtedly very stringent

in nature and at the same time poles apart but a closer analysis of the outlook of these sociologists will to a larger extent convince us with the opinion of Moynihan as the arguments presented by him are based on greater rationality and logic than those presented by Durkheim who believes that accepting crime as an obligatory ingredient of the society will make it open for accommodating greater constructive changes, but it does not change the discordant reality that all such components disturb the balance of the society and moreover the only people benefitting from crime are criminals by manipulating the laws of the society in whatever way they like. (Gregor 1981)

The very issue that whether crime is a compulsory component for the smooth functioning of the society affects the Criminal Justice System. The popping of the very idea that crime is an anti-social element in the first place led to the formation of a criminal justice system, therefore at any given point of time major factors like crime rate of a society, the gravity with which public views criminal activity as and the adequate presence of funds will eventually the attitude of law and law legislators towards crime. All these reasons collectively converge on the waging of the everlasting war of law with crime. (Goodlin 2009)