Siegel discusses social conflict and critical criminology (2011). Based on his arguments, this paper will discuss what conflict criminology is, and how it contributes to crime in today’s society. It will also discuss how relative deprivation and a stratified society contribute to crime and delinquency. It will discuss various sociological schools of crime causation, and how they relate to relative deprivation, and a stratified society. Finally, it will discuss the different degrees of homicide and the elements needed for each degree, as well as the different murderous relationships.
Question one: Conflict Criminology
Conflict criminology refers to a type of criminology that relates the cause of crime to class conflict and differences in economic status between the rich and poor (Parmentier, 2011). Conflict criminology postulates that the wealthy who dominates the economy uses their economic capability to marginalize
...the poor. Their continued dominance requires that they must exploit the poor. The rich also create laws to protect themselves while advancing economic exploitation against the poor. The poor who are marginalized and unequal turn to crime in order to accumulate wealth that ends inequality in the capitalist society (Siegel, 2011).
Relative deprivation is clearly noted when the rich and the poor live close to each others. The economic inequalities between the two groups create negative feelings as the poor suffer due to high poverty rates. Furthermore, an urge to accumulate riches coupled with scanty opportunities for the poor, motivate them to commit crime. A stratified society also brings crime and delinquency based on age differences among other reasons (Siegel, 2011).
There are various schools of crime causation as discussed below:
Left Realism
This explains that crime results when the poor are taken advantage
of by wealthy ruling class through discriminative laws and also by gangs. This is comparable to relative deprivation as the poor experiences poverty yet they are surrounded by rich, hence creating discontent which ultimately leads to crime (Siegel, 2011).
Critical Feminist
Critical feminist theory is another school of crime causation. Lack of equality between men and women where the society is patriarchal, meaning women are not viewed as equal to men in power, often leads to exploitation of women by men in a capitalist system hence leading to gender disparity. Gender bias in ownership of property and employment opportunity presents itself and gender based violence or crime such as rape, among others, against women become common (Siegel, 2011).
Power Control
Power control theory explains causes of crime based on class as well as gender conflicts being brought about by gender disparities (Siegel, 2011).
Peacemaking Criminology
Last but not least, there is peacemaking criminology. This form of criminology views poverty as crime in itself and tend to explore avenues or ways in which suffering to the poor can be reduced as well as providing social services in the long run to further reduce suffering brought about by poverty (Siegel, 2011).
Question two: Homicides
Homicide refers to killing a human being unlawfully without implying premeditation (Brown & Males, 2011). There are different types or degrees of homicide as discussed below:
First Degree Murder
This degree of murder occurs when someone kills another after deliberation and premeditating. A real life example is when An American named Anderson, a hit man hired to kill Peter Hills by an unknown person. It took place on 23rd February 1984, Chicago city (Brown & Males, 2011).
Second Degree Murder
It refers to killing of
another person though not deliberately or pre-meditatively but with malice. A good example of a second degree murder is the podcast episode 028 in which a defendant beats his wife into a coma and ultimately killed her (Brown & Males, 2011).
Manslaughter on the other hand occurs when one kills though not with malice.Rigmaidon, 1833; negligently fastened a cask which fell and killed two women, hence was guilty of manslaughter (Brown & Males, 2011).
Murderous Relations
There are five murderous relations described in this essay:
- Acquaintance murder which results when an acquaintance murders another.
- Intimate partner murders arise from romantic relations.
- Stranger murders involve murder arising from strangers.
- Sexually based murders on the other hand result from jealousy, envy among other reasons between lovers.
In conclusion, conflict and contributes to the increase in crime rate in the society. Stratified society also contributes to crime and delinquency in the society. Effective measures are therefore needed to reduce the increasing crime rate.
References
- Brown E. & Males, M. (2011). Does age or poverty level best predict criminal arrest and homicide rates? A preliminary investigation. Justice Policy Journal, 8(1), 1-30.
- Siegel, L. (2011). Criminology: the core. Nelson Education.
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