Posted: September 7th, 2024

Modern Social Theories Regarding Race and Crime

Modern Social Theories Regarding Race and Crime.

The aspect of race and crime still proves to be a controversial topic and one that is debatable in modern social theory. The involvement of minorities with crime in all aspects has evidently been disproportionate, nonetheless a part of the society views it as discriminatory and amounting to racial practices. Several divergent theories of social science have comprehensively expounded the issue of race and crime. This stated, it is prudent to appreciate and consider a few of theories on how each of them handles the issue of race and crime in the society.
In support of the topic, the theory of sociobiological propounds the idea of crime as an hereditary and genetic trait. The theory further observes the psychological distinctions between normal people and criminals. For instance it states that many criminals are characterized with outstanding ears,plenty of hair and wide cheekbones hence attributing the same to ‘The Negro’ a term that commonly describes the minorities in the America however, its a discriminatory term. Over the years, there have been amendments and revised versions of the sociobiological criminological theory (Justice,2018).The versions advocate against the premature application of biological findings,since the application of biological findings brings social misunderstanding hence raising issues of racism.
The individual-level theory considers the influence of fury and low self- respect as expressed by the Black American community’s experience. The problems experienced by the minorities are institutional racism related hence that cultivates a constant lack of black self-esteem,prompting the minorities to act with intractable rage (Barnes,2018). The principal objective of the individual-level theory clearly suggests that understanding the interaction between the person and their environment is important in assessing the topic of crime and race. The environment influences the behavior of an individual and how they relate with each other, a violent environment will equally attract such traits to innocent individual around the place.
The modern and widely celebrated ecological theory caters for conflicting issues in individual-level and sub-cultural aspects. The theory examines and understands the distinct features of minority and majority communities in urban areas that are characterized relatively high crime rates. The theory elucidates that residential mobility, law income status and ethnic diversity are the main structural factors that contribute to juvenile misdemeanors. This finding was significant such that the main shortcoming of the individualistic theories of was quashed- the main shortcoming of the individualistic theory was that it promoted extreme discrimination. Adaption of the ecological theory in the American system has been important since it dresses the fact that ethnicity has a direct effect on observed rates of lawless behavior.
Conclusion.
From the above mentioned theories, its evident that as the population of minorities increases, the minority pose an eminent threat in the majority’s political and economic structure. The adverse effect of such growth is that it proselytizes the majority to compete for economic resources with the minority hence promoting institutional racism as expressed in the individual-level theory. Scholars delineate that according to this perspective of extreme competition for resources, racial discrimination is an attempt by the majority to limit racial minority efforts to exercise power. Further the criminal justice system extends its powers to cater for the aspect of race and crime in such a way it reflects the priorities of the majority and attempts to preserve social power. Finally its evident through the modern theories that the population percentage of the minority adversely affects the aspect of social control.

References
Barnes, J. C. (2018). A constructivist view of race in modern criminology. Journal of Criminal Justice, 59, 81-86.
Justice, C. Rational Choice Theory. Lí thuyết về sự lựa chọn duy lí), http://criminaljustice. iresearchnet. com/criminology/theories/ratio nal-choice-theory/2/,[truy cập ngày 11/4/2018].

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