Historical Foundations Criminal Justice Your paper should consider the historical foundations of the study of criminal behavior, and examine ways in which society responds to criminal behavior in terms of prevention and punishment.
The paper should be written in APA format and have at least four sources, three of which should be sources not covered in the course. The essay should contain a title page and a reference page.
Historical Foundations Criminal Justice Requirements
You are not required to prepare an abstract for this assignment.
As a part of your paper, you should include “real” examples of your theory in action from your own observations of your life or others around you or you may use examples from books, movies or television shows that have interested you. You must give specific examples of what happened to make it fit your theory.
The question sets below are simply guidelines to help you write your paper and analyze your examples. You may not be able to or wish to answer every question under your theory, they are simply there for guidance.
Cultural Transmission Theory- Based upon your example, consider the process by which the main subject becomes involved in deviant and criminal behavior: is the behavior the product of learning, operant conditioning, lack of containment, or failure of self-control? Which theory do you believe best accounts for the subject’s thought process and actions? Do you see examples of learned techniques as well as learned motivations? Conclude by analyzing the agents of socialization- parents, media, peers, schools, etc.- that facilitated cultural transmission. Is there any way to break the cycle from generation to generation?
Structural Strain Theory- Based upon your specific example, consider the socially-endorsed goals that the main subject(s) is seeking to achieve? Do you consider these goals normal and desirable? What specifically happened that interfered with the achievement of these goals? Using Merton’s theory of strain, determine whether the actions represent conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion; keep in mind that you might find a number of these modes of adaptation in any scenario or example, depending on the specific obstacles and circumstances. Conclude by determining if the criminal innovation and rebellion that resulted from the strain is understandable and should be excused, or so deviant that it should be prosecuted.
Control Theory- Consider Travis Hirschi’s Control Theory in the person in your example of a scenario. Give specific examples of how this person(s) had bonds of attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Which bonds are missing, weakened or broken, and what were the specific results for that character? If you were a policy-maker, what would you do to ensure that the crucial bonds that give control to teenager’s lives are not broken- and what can you do for those who lose control and resort to crime?
Labeling Theory- Based upon your specific example/scenario, consider the role of labeling in the social interaction and life choices of the person(s); give specific examples using discussions/dialogue and descriptions of what happened to explain the labeling process and its repercussions on the person. Who were agents of socialization that labeled the person? In what way were they “significant others” or “Moral entrepreneurs”? Did you see examples of primary deviance which transformed into secondary deviance? Was the person an example of “self-fulfilling prophecy?”
