Criminality and society

A Paper Presentation to Department of Business Administration and

Management, 2022 Departmental Day Seminal., Fidel Polytechnic
Gboko, Benue State.
Olusegun Alaba Adebayo. societal criminologist...
Introduction
Criminality is one things; society norms is another perception. Let view the
concept of crime, criminality and society side by side. Crime or act of
criminality is an act or omission that is not generally accepted by the norms
or tradition of the society. The word crime is derived from
the Latin root cernō, meaning "I decide, I give judgment". Originally the Latin
word crīmen meant "charge" or "cry of distress" The Ancient
Greek word , krima, with which the Latin crimen is cognate, typically referred
to an intellectual mistake or an offense against the community, rather than a
private or moral wrong. In 13th century English crime meant "sinfulness",
according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. It was probably brought to
England as Old French crimne (12th century form of Modern French crime),
from Latin crimen (in the genitive case: criminis). In Latin, crimen could have
signified any one of the following: "charge, indictment, accusation;
crime, fault, offense". The word may derive from the Latin cernere – "to
decide, to sift". But Ernest Klein (citing Karl Brugmann) rejects this and
suggests *cri-men, which originally would have meant "cry of distress".
Thomas George. Tucker suggests a root in "cry" words and refers to
English plaint, plaintiff, and so on. The meaning "offense punishable by law"
dates from the late 14th century. The Latin word is glossed in Old English
by facen, also "deceit, fraud, treachery". Crime wave is first attested in 1893
in American English. In the scope of law, crime is defined by the criminal law
of a given jurisdiction, including all actions that are subject to criminal
procedure. There is no limit to what can be considered a crime in a legal
system, so there may not be a unifying principle used to determine whether
an action should be designated as a crime. Legislatures can pass laws
(called mala prohibita) that define crimes against social norms. These laws
vary from time to time and from place to place: note variations
in gambling laws, for example, and the prohibition or encouragement
of dueling in history. Other crimes, called mala in se, count as outlawed in
almost all societies, (murder, theft and rape). English criminal law and the
related criminal law of Commonwealth countries can define offences that the
courts alone have developed over the years, without any actual
legislation: common law offences. The courts used the concept of malum in
se to develop various common law offences. In the military sphere,
authorities can prosecute both regular crimes and specific acts (such
as mutiny or desertion) under martial-law codes that either supplant or
extend civil codes in times of (for example) war. Many constitutions contain
provisions to curtail freedoms and criminalize otherwise tolerated behaviors
under a state of emergency in case of war, natural disaster or civil unrest.
Undesired activities at such times may include assembly in the streets,
violation of curfew, or possession of firearms. There are many effects of
crime, but statistically, the effects are often worse if the crime is violent.
Areas that have a higher crime rate often suffer from crashing property
prices. People are likely to want to move away when the crime rate
increases, yet find it difficult to sell their homes for a good profit. This is
because nobody wants to move to an area affected by high crime rates. A
crime is behavior that is punishable as a public offense. The elements of a
crime generally come from statutes, but may also be supplied by
the common law in states where the criminal common law still carries force.
What is Crime ?
Crime is behavior, either by act or omission, defined by statutory or common
law as deserving of punishment or penalty. Although most crimes require the
element of intent, certain minor crimes may be committed based on strict
liability even if the defendant had no specific mindset with regard to the
criminal action. For instance, parking violations are crimes that usually do
not require prosecutors to establish intent. Some crimes are considered mala
prohibita (bad because prohibited); these are prohibited by statute but are
not inherently evil. Other crimes are considered mala in se (bad in
themselves); these are considered inherently evil under general community
standards. The idea of mala in se formed the original justification
for common law crimes. However, many crimes that are today prohibited
by statute also belong to the category of mala in se. Crimes are prosecuted
by government attorneys. Such attorneys may signify a city, county, state, or
the federal government. Examples include the Attorney General of the
United States, the attorney general of a state, federal district attorneys, and
city attorneys. Crimes are ranked as greater violations of public order
(felony) or as lesser violations (misdemeanor), and are adjudicated according
to rules of criminal procedure. A society is a group of individuals involved in
dogged social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial
or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and
dominant cultural expectations. Societies are characterized by patterns of
relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a
distinctive culture and societies; a given society may be described as the
sum total of such relationships among its component of members. In
the social sciences, a larger society often
displays stratification or supremacy patterns in subclasses. Society has
existed since man began to populate the planet, although its form of
organization underwent variations throughout history. The society of
prehistoric man was organized in a hierarchical, where a boss (the strongest
or wisest of the group) concentrated power. From the Ancient Greece, the
absolute tendency of control began to change, since the lower levels of
society were able to reach certain sectors of importance in decision-making
through the democracy. Just in 1789, with the French Revolution, the social
organization changed radically: since then, anyone can go up to a higher
estate of the society. It is worth mentioning that the concept of society can
also be understood from a viewpoint of economic and legal, to define the
union of at least two personalities who commit to make contributions and
common efforts to develop a Commercial activity and distribute among
themselves the profits obtained. In this sense, Germany, Ghana, India,
Britain, China, South Africa, Nigeria, France and the United States are all
societies. Societies may be very small or too big to include millions of people
and many groups or communities. In brief, the word ‘society’ connotes the
whole complex of relations of man/woman to his/her fellows. On the other
hand, culture refers to the ways of life or living of the members of a society.
How people dress, how and what they eat, how they marry, what are their
customs of birth and death, what are their beliefs and values, what are their
leisure activities, what is their language and so on. All these elements make
a culture. When informal relationships prove insufficient to establish and
maintain a desired social order, a government or a state may impose more
formalized or stricter systems of social control. With institutional and legal
machinery at their disposal, agents of the state can compel populations to
conform to codes and can opt to punish or attempt to reform those who do
not conform. Authorities employ various mechanisms to regulate
(encouraging or discouraging) certain behaviors in general. Governing or
administering agencies may for example codify rules into laws, police
citizens and visitors to ensure that they comply with those laws, and
implement other policies and practices that legislators or administrators
have prescribed with the aim of discouraging or preventing crime. In
addition, authorities provide remedies and sanctions, and collectively these
constitute a criminal justice system. Legal sanctions vary widely in their
severity; they may include (for example) incarceration of temporary
character aimed at reforming the convict. Some jurisdictions have penal
codes written to inflict permanent harsh punishments:
legal mutilation, capital punishment, or life without parole. Usually, a natural
person perpetrates a crime, but legal persons may also commit crimes.
Historically, several pre-modern societies believed that non-
human animals were capable of committing crimes, and prosecuted and
punished them accordingly. Richard Quinney has written about the
relationship between society and crime. When Quinney states "crime is
a social phenomenon" he envisages both how individuals conceive crime and
how populations perceive it, based on societal norms. In ordinary language,
a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The
term crime does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and
universally accepted definition, though statutory definitions have been
provided for certain purposes. The most popular view is that crime is
a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if declared
as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a
crime or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some
individual but also to a community, society, or the state ("a public wrong").
Such acts are forbidden and punishable by law. The notion that acts such
as murder, rape, and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide. What
precisely is a criminal offence is defined by the criminal law of each
relevant jurisdiction. While many have a catalogue of crimes called
the criminal code, in some common law nations no such
comprehensive statute exists. The state (government) has the power to
severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies,
there are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If
found guilty, an offender may be sentenced to a form of reparation such as
a community sentence, or, depending on the nature of their offence, to
undergo imprisonment, life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions, death.
Usually, to be classified as a crime, the "act of doing something criminal"
(actus reus) must – with certain exceptions – be accompanied by the
"intention to do something criminal" (mens rea). While every crime violates
the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime. Breaches of private
law (torts and breaches of contract) are not automatically punished by the
state, but can be enforced through civil procedure.
The term State
Peter L. Berger defines society as "…a human product, and nothing but a
human product, that yet continuously acts ... upon its producer[s]."
According to him, society was created by humans, but this creation turns
back and creates or molds humans every day.

Canis lupus social ethology

Sociologist Gerhard Lenski differentiates societies based on their level of

technology, communication, and economy: (1) hunters and gatherers, (2)
simple agricultural, (3) advanced agricultural, (4) industrial, and (5) special
(e.g. fishing societies or maritime societies). This is similar to the system
earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. Fried, a conflict theorist,
and Elman Service, an integration theorist, who have produced a system of
classification for societies in all human cultures based on the evolution
of social inequality and the role of the state. This system of classification
contains four categories:

 Hunter-gatherer bands (categorization of duties and responsibilities).

Then came the agricultural society.
 Tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social
rank and prestige.
 Stratified structures led by chieftains.
 Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional
governments.

In addition to this there are:

 Humanity, humankind, upon which rest all the elements of society,

including society's beliefs.
 Virtual society, a society based on online identity, which is evolving in the
information age.

Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms
of organization and control. This cultural evolution has a profound effect on
patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal food
stocks to become agrarian villages. Villages grew to become towns and
cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states.

Types of Society

Societies are social groups that differ according to subsistence strategies,

the ways that humans use technology to provide needs for themselves.
Although humans have established many types of societies throughout
history, anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to the
degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to
advantages such as resources, prestige, or power. Virtually all societies have
developed some degree of inequality among their people through the
process of social stratification, the division of members of a society into
levels with unequal wealth, prestige, or power. Societies are place in three
(3) broad categories: pre-industrial, industrial, and postindustrial.
- Pre-industrial Society

In a pre-industrial society, food production, which is carried out through the

use of human and animal labor, is the main economic activity. These
societies can be subdivided according to their level of technology and their
method of producing food. These subdivisions are hunting and gathering,
pastoral, horticultural, and agricultural.

- Hunting and Gathering

San people in Botswana start a fire by hand.

The main form of food production in hunter-gatherer societies is the daily

collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers
move around constantly in search of food. As a result, they do not build
permanent villages or create a wide variety of artifacts, and usually only
form small groups such as bands and tribes. However, some hunting and
gathering societies in areas with abundant resources (such as the people
of Tlingit in North America) lived in larger groups and formed complex
hierarchical social structures such as chiefdom. The need for mobility also
limits the size of these societies. Bands consist of 15 to 50 people related by
kinship. Statuses within the tribe are relatively equal, and decisions are
reached through general agreement. The ties that bind the tribe are more
complex than those of the bands. Leadership is personal—charismatic—and
used for special purposes only in tribal society. There are no political offices
containing real power, and a chief is merely a person of influence. The family
forms the main social unit, with most members being related by birth or
marriage. The anthropologist Marshall Sahlins described hunter-gatherers as
the "original affluent society" due to their extended leisure time: adults in
foraging and horticultural societies work, on average, about 6.5 hours a day,
whereas people in agricultural and industrial societies work on average 8.8
hours a day.
- Pastoral Society

Pastoralism is a slightly more efficient form of subsistence. Rather than

searching for food on a daily basis, members of a pastoral society rely on
domesticated herd animals to meet their food needs. Pastoralists live a
nomadic life, moving their herds from one pasture to another. Because their
food supply is far more reliable, pastoral societies can support larger
populations. Since there are food surpluses, fewer people are needed to
produce food. As a result, the division of labor (the specialization by
individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities)
becomes more complex. For example, some people become craft workers,
producing tools, weapons, and jewelry, among other items of value. The
production of goods encourages trade. This trade helps to create inequality,
as some families acquire more goods than others do. These families often
gain power through their increased wealth. The passing on of property from
one generation to another helps to centralize wealth and power. Over time
emerge hereditary chieftainships, the typical form of government in pastoral
societies.
- Horticultural society

Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the
jungle or forest provide the main source of food in a horticultural society.
These societies have a level of technology and complexity similar to pastoral
societies. Historians use the phrase Agricultural Revolution to refer to the
technological changes that occurred as long as 10,000 years ago that led to
cultivating crops and raising farm animals. Some horticultural groups use the
slash-and-burn method to raise crops. The wild vegetation is cut and burned,
and ashes are used as fertilizers. Horticulturists use human labor and simple
tools to cultivate the land for one or more seasons. When the land becomes
barren, horticulturists clear a new plot and leave the old plot to revert to its
natural state. They may return to the original land several years later and
begin the process again. By rotating their garden plots, horticulturists can
stay in one area for a fairly long period of time. This allows them to build
semi-permanent or permanent villages. The size of a village's population
depends on the amount of land available for farming; thus villages can range
from as few as 30 people to as many as 2000. As with pastoral societies,
surplus food leads to a more complex division of labor. Specialized roles in
horticultural societies include craftspeople, shamans (religious leaders), and
traders. This role specialization allows people to create a wide variety of
artifacts. As in pastoral societies, surplus food can lead to inequalities in
wealth and power within horticultural political systems, developed because
of the settled nature of horticultural life.

- Agrarian society

Ploughing with oxen in the 15th century

Agrarian societies use agricultural technological advances to cultivate crops

over a large area. According to Lenski, the difference between horticultural
and agrarian societies is the use of the plow. Increases in food supplies due
to improved technology led to larger populations than in earlier
communities. This meant a greater surplus, which resulted in towns that
became centers of trade supporting various rulers, educators, craftspeople,
merchants, and religious leaders who did not have to worry about locating
nourishment.

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agrarian societies. For

example, women previously had higher social status because they shared
labor more equally with men. In hunting and gathering societies, women
even gathered more food than men. However, as food stores improved and
women took on different roles in providing food for the family, men took an
increasingly dominant role in society. As villages and towns expanded into
neighboring areas, conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred.
Farmers provided warriors with food in exchange for protection against
invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social status also
appeared. This nobility organized warriors to protect the society from
invasion. In this way, the nobility managed to extract goods from "lesser"
members of society.

- Industrial Society

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a new economic system

emerged. Capitalism is marked by open competition in a free market, in
which the means of production are privately owned. Europe's exploration of
the Americas served as one impetus for the development of capitalism. The
introduction of foreign metals, silks, and spices stimulated great commercial
activity in European societies. Industrial societies rely heavily on machines
powered by fuels for the production of goods. This produced further dramatic
increases in efficiency. The increased efficiency of production of the
industrial revolution produced an even greater surplus than before. Now the
surplus was not just agricultural goods, but also manufactured goods. This
larger surplus caused all of the changes discussed earlier in the
domestication revolution to become even more pronounced. Once again, the
population boomed. Increased productivity made more goods available to
everyone. However, inequality became even greater than before. The
breakup of agricultural-based societies caused many people to leave the
land and seek employment in cities. This created a great surplus of labor and
gave capitalists plenty of laborers who could be hired for extremely low
wages.

- Post-industrial

Post-industrial societies are societies dominated by information, services,

and high technology more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial
societies are now seeing a shift toward an increase in service sectors over
manufacturing and production. The United States is the first country to have
over half of its workforce employed in service industries. Service industries
include government, research, education, health, sales, law, and banking.
Humans fall between presocial and eusocial in the spectrum of animal
ethology. The great apes have always been more (Bonobo, Homo, Pan) or
less (Gorilla, Pongo) social animals. In contrast to humanity's closest
biological relatives (chimpanzees and bonobos), is the parental role assumed
by the males, which supposedly would be absent in our nearest relatives for
whom paternity is not generally determinable. The term "society" came from
the 12th century French société (meaning 'company'). This was in turn from
the Latin word societas, which in turn was derived from the
noun socius ("comrade, friend, ally"; adjectival form socialis) used to
describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least
civil. Without an article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity (also:
"society in general", "society at large", etc.), although those who are
unfriendly or uncivil to the remainder of society in this sense may be deemed
to be "antisocial". In the 1630s it was used in reference to "people bound by
neighborhood and intercourse aware of living together in an ordered
community.
Criminality in society
A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. In other
words, crime and legality are social constructs that are fluid and change over
time. There are many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons
to victimless crimes and violent crimes to white collar crimes. The study of
crime and deviance is a large subfield within criminology, with much
attention paid to the culture conflict table (primary and secondary conflicts
evolution) in society to who commits which types of crimes.
- Crimes Against Persons
Crimes against persons also called personal crimes, include murder,
aggravated assault, rape, and robbery. Personal crimes are unevenly
distributed in the United States, with young, urban, poor, non-white, and
other historically marginalized groups both more often affected by these
crimes and arrested for them than white, middle- and upper-class people
are.
- Crimes Against Property
Property crimes involve the theft of property without bodily harm, such as
burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson. Like personal crimes, members of
historically marginalized groups are arrested for these crimes more than
others.
- Crime against Government
This is third category of crime could either be physical or cybercrime against
the government. When a crime is committed against the state, it is
considered an offence on the sovereignty of a nation and an act of
infringement against the Government.
- Hate Crimes
Hate crimes are crimes against persons or property that are committed while
invoking prejudices of race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability,
sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The rate of hate crimes in the U.S. remains
fairly constant from year to year, but there have been a few events that have
caused surges in hate crimes. In 2016, the election of Donald Trump was
followed by an uptick in hate crimes.
- Crimes Against Morality
Crimes against morality are also called victimless crimes because there is
no complainant or victim. Prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use
are all examples of victimless crimes.
- White-Collar Crime
White-collar crimes are crimes committed by people of high social status
who commit their crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes
embezzling (stealing money from one’s employer), insider trading, tax
evasion, and other violations of income tax laws. White-collar
crimes generally generate less concern in the public mind than other types
of crime, however, in terms of total dollars, white-collar crimes are even
more consequential for society. For example, the Great Recession can be
understood as in part the result of a variety of white-collar crimes committed
within the home mortgage industry. Nonetheless, these crimes are generally
the least investigated and least prosecuted because they are protected by a
combination of privileges of race, class, and gender.

- CyberCrime
The “Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015” has a significant
impact on cyber law in Nigeria. This Act creates a comprehensive legal,
regulatory, and institutional framework in Nigeria to prohibit, prevent, detect,
prosecute, and punish cybercrime. The Act also encourages cybersecurity
and protection of computer systems and networks, electronic
communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property, and
privacy rights, as well as the protection of important national information
infrastructure.
- Organized Crime
Organized crime is committed by structured groups typically involving the
distribution and sale of illegal goods and services. Many people think of the
Mafia when they think of organized crime, but the term can refer to any
group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug
trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money
laundering).

Most Crimes in Nigeria

Crime in Nigeria is investigated by the Nigerian Police. Nigeria is considered

to be a country with a high level of crime, ranking 17th among the least
peaceful countries in the world. During the first half of 2022, almost 6,000
people were killed by jihadists, kidnappers, bandits or the Nigerian army.
- Child sexual abuse in Nigeria
According to UNICEF in 2014, 25% of women were sexually abused before
age 18 and 11% of men were sexually abused before age 18.
 - Corruption in Nigeria
In 2011, it was estimated that Nigeria had lost over $400 billion
to political corruption since independence.
- Domestic violence in Nigeria

A 2012 study found that 31% of Nigerian women had been victims
of domestic violence. Nigerian sensitivities of domestic violence vary based
on region, religion, and class. For example, the Tiv people view wife-beating
as a "sign of love" that should be encouraged as evidenced with the
declaration "If you are not yet beaten by your husband then you do not know
the joy of marriage and that means you are not yet married. All the
major ethnic groups, especially Yoruba and Igbo, have strong male-controlled
societal structures that lead to the justification of domestic violence.

- Human trafficking in Nigeria

Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children
subjected to trafficking, including forced labour and forced prostitution.
Trafficked Nigerian women and children are recruited from rural areas within
Nigeria - women and girls for involuntary domestic servitude and sexual
exploitation, and boys for forced labour in street vending, domestic
servitude, mining, and begging. Nigerian women and children are taken from
Nigeria to other West and Central African countries,
primarily Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso,
and the Gambia, for the same purposes. Children from West African states
like Benin, Togo, and Ghana – where Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) rules allow for easy entry – are also forced to work in
Nigeria, and some are subjected to hazardous jobs in Nigeria's granite mines.
Nigerian women and girls are taken to Europe, especially to Italy and Russia,
and to the Middle East and North Africa, for forced prostitution.
- Kidnapping in Nigeria
Kidnapping is a major problem in Nigeria in the early 21st century.
Kidnapping by bandits and insurgents is among the biggest organised or
gang crime in Nigeria and is a national security challenge.

- Murder
Nigeria had a murder rate of 9.85 per 100,000 population in 2015. In 2016,
the homicide rate per 100.000 inhabitants was 34.5%.

- Organised crime in Nigeria

Criminal organizations in Nigeria typically do not follow the mafia-type model

used elsewhere. They appear to be less formal and more organised along
familial and ethnic lines, thus making them less susceptible to infiltration
by law enforcement. Police investigations are further hampered by the fact
there are at least 250 distinct ethnic languages in Nigeria. Area boys are
loosely organised gangs of street children and teenagers, composed mostly
of males, who roam the streets of Lagos, Lagos State in Nigeria.
They extort money from passers-by, public transporters and traders, sell
illegal drugs, act as informal security guards, and perform other "odd jobs" in
return for compensation.

- Piracy
In 2021, there were six actual and attempted piracy attacks in Nigeria, a
significant decrease compared with the previous years. That year, the waters
off the Singaporean straits experienced the highest number of piracy attacks
global in 2021.
- Cybercrime
Cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network
popularly known as “ahoo yahoo or yahoo plus” in Nigeria. The computer
may have been used in committing the crime, or it may be the target.
Cybercrime may harm someone's security or finances or the country at
large.
 - Prison breaks in Nigeria.
Since 2020, in Nigeria, over 5,000 inmates had escaped during prison
breaks.
Islamist militants’ jihads have said they carried out the attack, and dozens of
jihadists are thought to be on the run.
- Terrorism:
Boko Haram insurgency Jihadist group Boko Haram began an insurgency in
July 2009, which peaked in the mid-2010s. Centered on Maiduguri, Borno
State, they have killed carried out many attacks in
Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. They have carried out
many kidnappings, bombings and massacres - killing tens of thousands of
people. In September 2019, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stated that
it killed 14 Nigerian soldiers in Borno. Later in September 2019, militants in
northeastern Nigeria killed at least nine people in an attack. A day later, ISIL
claimed responsibility for the attack. In January 2021, a separatist insurgency
in the country's southeast began.

Causes of Crime in Society

Crime changes all the time, as does society. However, laws take longer to
change and are not subjective. The government decides the line between
'right' and 'wrong', which can sometimes lead to controversy when new laws
come into action. Durkheim's theories on crime concerning lack
of socialization can be explored further to determine the causes of crime and
Reckless Walter (1961) control theory for reason for crime is in perfect line to
determine causes of crime in society from his social pressures (poverty),
social pushes (inferiority perception), and social pulls (bad company).
- Social Factors of Crime
Causes of crime are very complex. There is never just one underlying reason
for a criminal committing an act against the law. However, studies have
shown that cause is often determined by the situation you are born into. The
amount of crime you will commit in a lifetime can generally be determined
by social factors such as the location you are born, your gender, ethnicity,
and social class. This can be seen by looking at official statistics. Over 70
percent of crime is committed by men; if you are born a man, it's more likely
you will commit a crime than a woman. Poverty is a great factor in crime.
Those born into poverty are more likely to commit crimes such as theft in
order to escape poverty. However, this is not the case for all. Labelling
theory suggests that as the working class are labelled 'underachievers' by
society, it results in a self-fulfilling prophecy. By joining delinquent
subcultures, the working class can finally feel accepted in society. However,
this results in the labelling going even further. Being labelled as 'criminal'
makes them become so, as they have lost other opportunities in life.
- Youth, Crime and Society
It is particularly interesting to look at the relationship between youth, crime,
and society. Crimes are committed by a younger demographic and have
been for a long time. The mean age of criminal conviction for men is 21-25
years old; for women it is 26-30 years old, according to official statistics.
Sociologists find it interesting to look at the reasoning for this. Some believe
that it comes down to the fact that human brains aren't fully developed until
the age of 25. This means we can still be impulsive and struggle to make
decisions until the brain is fully developed. Determining between 'right' and
'wrong' is important but subjective. If someone has not been socialized in a
way that teaches them the same norms as the law, it's more likely they will
commit a crime. Opportunity often comes along when we just grow out of
childhood, and this could be another factor for why crime is committed by
younger groups of people.
- The Impact of Labelling in School on Crime
In addition, labelling at school plays a big part in how we develop after
leaving education. Rosenthal and Jacobsen suggest the self-fulfilling
prophecy results in differences in achievement. Teachers' unintentional
labelling of students determines what they will achieve. Labelling students
negatively (e.g. 'low-achiever' or 'delinquent') will mean they fulfil this role.
Labelling occurs within schools when people are younger, resulting in
criminal behaviors at this age rather than later in life. A key sociological
concept in the study or organized crime is that these industries are
organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take on a
corporate form. There are typically senior partners who control profits,
employees who manage and work for the business, and clients who buy the
goods and services that the organization provides. Arrest data show a clear
pattern of arrests in terms of race, gender, and class. For instance, as
mentioned above, young, urban, poor, Black and brown people, and
historically marginalized groups overall are arrested and convicted more
than others for personal and property crimes. To sociologists, the question
posed by this data is whether this reflects actual differences in committing
crimes among different groups, or whether this reflects differential treatment
by the criminal justice system. Studies show that the answer is “both.”
Certain groups are in fact more likely to commit crimes than others because
crime often looked to as a survival strategy, is linked to patterns of
inequality in the United States. However, the process of prosecution in
the criminal justice system is also significantly related to patterns of race,
class, and gender inequality. We see this in the official arrest statistics, in
treatment by the police, in sentencing patterns, and in studies of
imprisonment. Governments create laws and policies that affect the citizens
that they govern. There have been multiple forms of government throughout
human history, each having various means of obtaining power and the ability
to exert diverse controls on the population. As of 2017, more than half of all
national governments are democracies, with 13% being autocracies and 28%
containing elements of both. Many countries have formed international
political organizations and alliances, the largest being the United
Nations with 193 member states. Humans commit violence on other humans
at a rate comparable to other primates, but kill adult humans at a high rate
(with infanticide being more common among other animals). It is predicted
that 2% of early H. sapiens would be killed, rising to 12% during the
medieval period, before dropping to below 2% in modern times. There is
great variation in violence between human populations with rates of
homicide in societies that have legal systems and strong cultural attitudes
against violence at about 0.01%. The willingness of humans to kill other
members of their species en masse through organized conflict (i.e., war) has
long been the subject of debate. One school of thought is that war evolved
as a means to eliminate competitors, and has always been an innate human
characteristic. Another suggests that war is a relatively recent phenomenon
and appeared due to changing social conditions. While not settled, the
current evidence suggests warlike predispositions only became common
about 10,000 years ago, and in many places much more recently than
that. War has had a high cost on human life; it is estimated that during the
20th century, between 167 million and 188 million people died as a result of
war.
Effect of Crime in Society
An interesting theory in relation to the effects of crime is the 'Broken window
theory' by. The theory suggests that if a community accepts a broken
window without fixing it, then crime will slowly increase. The idea behind this
is the acceptance of crime. If the window is not fixed, it shows criminals that
vandalism is accepted in that community. This has a knock-on effect which
leads to further low-level crime such as littering and graffiti. Although
perhaps small, their impact sends a message of crime tolerance, therefore
paving the way for worse crimes to occur. Wilson believed the solution to this
problem was to deter criminals from committing serious crimes in an area by
having severe punishments for low-level crimes such as these. Stereotyping
can also be seen as an effect of crime. Stereotypes in relation to crime are
often assumed from who we believe will commit a crime. Stereotypes limit
certain groups within society and have a negative effect on how we perceive
one another. This is often down to media perception. Quite naturally,
economic and social disparities adversely affect the socioeconomic
disadvantaged group. Socially excluded people have an albatross around
their neck: they are prone to unemployment, underemployment, poor
educational attainment and other desperate circumstances which directly or
indirectly hinder the development of their innate requisite skills or talents
which could pave way for a better living condition and consequently
dissuade them from contemplating crime or delinquency. In this regard, both
the root and immediate causes of substance abuse, kidnapping, youth
restiveness, political thuggery, campus cultism and terrorism in Nigeria are
strongly linked to social exclusion endemic in the country. For instance, a
cursory look into the historical antecedent of cultism in Nigeria is traceable
to social exclusion. Many Nigerians were dishearteningly excluded from their
societal resources by the British colonial masters. In reaction to this
egregious situation in Nigeria, a group of Seven (7) students at the University
College, Ibadan in 1952 formed the Pirate cult/confraternity in order to
correct the anomalies in the system and stem the widespread social injustice
meted out not only to Black students but also the entire Black population in
the country. Warner (2003) stressed that some lower class (socially
excluded) people are driven to desperate measures such as crime and drug
abuse because they lack ties to the mainstream culture; this they do to cope
with their economic plight. Giddens (2006), citing Currie (1998), reiterated
that the connection between social exclusion and crime is that legitimate
channels for change are bypassed in favor of illegal ones. Crime is favored
over alternative means, such as the political system or community
organization. Anayaba (2012) illustrated that the living standard and welfare
of Nigerians have since independence continued on a downwards
progressive slide in the face of though abundant material and human
resources. Poverty (social exclusion) is especially exemplified in the area of
water supply with statistics indicating that less than 40% of Nigerians have
access to pipe borne water while 60% of them obtain their water from rivers,
streams and ponds that are sometimes located many kilometers’ away from
their residence. Ironically, this water in most cases is not in a drinkable
condition. Anayaba further lamented that less than half of the national
population cannot afford Three (3) square meals per day. Comfortable living
standard and affordable housing have continued to elude the highest
number of Nigerians population both in urban and rural communities. Health
facilities in Nigeria are largely insufficient, not strategically located,
overstretched, underfunded, poorly managed and maintained, ill-equipped
and understaffed with poorly motivated members of staff that lack modern
medical capacity to deliver. Also, Nigerian roads have driven from bad to
worst and from manageable condition to inaccessible. It is estimated that
Nigeria ranks next to such densely populated countries as China and India in
accident rates, resulting from poor or bad road network.
CONCLUSION
A crime is any acts or actions perpetrated by being or animal in groups or as
individual that is contrary to legal code or traditional laws of the society. In
other words, an act is not seen as crime or offence except the society see it
as such. Societal norms are what decode what is legal or illegal in sphere(s).
crime and legality are social constructs that are fluid and change over time.
There are many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to
victimless crimes and violent crimes to white collar crimes, cybercrime etc.
The study of crime and deviance is a large subfield within criminology, with
much attention paid to the culture conflict table (primary and secondary
conflicts evolution) in society. Law should simply be used to enforce,
maintain and nourish the social contract.
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