Crime in a Social Phenomenon
Many interpretations of crime as a social phenomenon have been continually passed over to us by the bible from ancient times. Moral teachers refer to the crime as a fruit of individuals' disobedience to the Biblical Commandments, that is, individuals' immorality. Also, crime is a social phenomenon that is interpreted as the inability of individuals, or deficiency of mental capabilities to distinguish between what is good and wrong. But following sociological interpretation, society is to be blamed in a greater portion than individuals because it does not meet the needs of everyone. Consequently, individuals must go beyond the boundaries of the law to meet their satisfaction or daily needs for sustenance. Recently, unemployment, drug addiction among many others, have emerged to be the main sociological causes of criminality. This suggests that, if society will not allow every individual to prosper, there will always be the existence of crime and perpetrators.
The issues of conflict, power, and social action can be used to explain how crime is thought of as a social phenomenon. Conflict. As we all know, there always exists every sort of conflict within the society in which we live and are inevitable and at the same time, they seem to be normal in our social life. Conflicts usually exist in societies with distinct value structures and existing societal groups (Eqbal, 2015). From experience, it is very difficult to find consensus on all values and norms in such societies. Also, as we all know, many groups that exist in society have their cultural components. These cultural components usually cause conflicts between the social units as a result of social differentiation. Contrary, social integration and stability may be realized in some social groups. Hence, crime can be thought of as a social phenomenon in reflection of what is happening in our society.
Power. Different distribution of power often yields conflicts between the groups involved and whenever individuals stay together, the aspect of conflict and fighting over power is inevitable. Hence, this defines power as the ability of individuals to determine the behavior of other individuals. The enforcement of power usually affects the distribution of values and values also affects the distribution of power. The institutional approach is used in our society to officially come up with sets of values and thereafter enforce them to the whole population (Kamali, 2019). There is an unequal distribution of access to the contribution of public policy-making due to the restrictions subjected to structural arrangements of the political state. The main assumption here is that public policy is formulated to take care of the interests and values of individuals in power (Roepke, 2017). This means that those who are not in power have to go beyond the boundaries of the law to meet their needs hence committing a crime.
Social action. The recent issue of Contemporary Social Science is dedicated to a range of inequalities that are highly productive and their varying consequences. The study that was carried out by Myketiak on the mass shooter, shows how these inequalities affect individuals by making them feel of low worth to society (Canter & Youngs, 2019). Hence, we should not blame society, but the social inequalities perceived by an individual in demonstrating his advancing anger and frustration. The other view of this exposal is about public attitudes to minorities which in return affects their experiences (Roepke, 2017). Thus, prejudice against minorities is experienced due to lack of interaction and ignorance and this is relevant to the recent attitudes towards Muslims.
In conclusion, crime is one of the actions that are inevitable across the world and can take place anywhere in the globe. Crime and criminal activities have become the discussion of the day in the United States. Specific regions of the country have emerged to be the areas of interest due to the recent increase in violent crimes within those areas as compared to others. An example is the city of Chicago and its increasing assassination rate. Therefore, crime can be thought of as a social phenomenon since it is usually caused by some social activities that affect minority groups or those who are not in power.
Reference
Canter, D. & Youngs, D. (2019). Crime and society: Crime and Society, 1-6. doi:10.4324/9781351207430-101
Eqbal, A. (2015). Crime and society. New Delhi, India: Anmol Publications Pvt.
Kamali, M. H. (2019). Shariah Punishments in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, 306-309. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190910648.003.0029
Roepke, W. (2017). The Social Reality of Crime: The Social Reality of Crime, 3-26. doi:10.4324/9781315135014-1
