Criminological theory

Contents

Introduction1

Methodology3

Findings4

Classical paradigm4

Positivistic paradigm6

Marxist paradigm10

Discussion and conclusion11

Classical Paradigm11

Positivistic paradigm13

Marxist Paradigm14

References16

Criminological theory

Introduction

Criminology is the field that is based on theoretical imaginations. Criminology is the field of science that deals with the study of crime. This specially focuses over that why people commit crime. Many researchers have been made over to define criminology. However, the scientific definition of crime is totally different from examinations and other perspectives of crime. The legal examination of and philosophical definition of crime deals with the logical reasoning of crime for example it deals with the study on legal perspectives that make logical sense. Journalist plays an important role in the examination of crime. They uncover and explore the injustice in society by exploring different sort of crimes. However they mainly focus over the different sort of crimes rather than focusing over the objectives why crimes are committed. The perspectives of journalists, legal and philosophers are not scientific. They do not deal with the scientific methods to evaluate the crime (McLaughlin, et.al, 2010).

The structure and ground of criminology is made in a certain way. It is based on the number of theories and school of thoughts. Again the objectives that why crime occurs are the point in which many theorists disagree and there arise a conflict on this point. At this point, this field leads towards the limitation. Like other social behaviors, the field of criminology consists of various factors that are related to the inside and outside of an individual. These factors can be observed on micro as well as macro level. All those factors have got several effects on the different perspectives of one's life. Finding out the point that what causes crime is the basic task on which different criminology theories are based on. Every theory has its own perspective and view over this point (Wilcox, et.al, 2010).

Scientific theories of crime can be categorized depending various important assumption and perspectives. Criminological theories are categorized by the different paradigms they focus on. Paradigms are different theoretical models and views. In criminology, the paradigms vary largely opposing the assumptions made by the human behavior. There are few major paradigms that will be discussed throughout in this paper.

The first major paradigm of criminology is the classical school perspective. This is also known as deterrence or rational choice of theory. The classical school of criminology assumes that a person has got free will and they choose to commit crime depending upon their own normal decisions. When a person's expenditures are increased and when they have limited recourses and unlimited wants than they go to commit a crime to increase their pleasures and minimize their pains. The characteristic of this theory that distinguishes it from other theories is that it focuses over the individuals will to commit a crime. The other paradigms are based on other than the concept of committing a crime on an individual's free will (Wilcox, et.al, 2010).

The second most important paradigm of criminology is the school of positivism. The theories related to this paradigm are ...