The justice system and uses data gathered

The criminal justice system has many different parts to it, a major part is criminology, the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior, including their forms, causes, legal aspects, and control(Schmalleger, 2016).  Deviant behaviors are human activities that violate social norms(Schmalleger, 2016).  The idea of deviance can help criminologists understand what the social norm is and detect those who are not considered “ normal”.  Given the fact that criminology is the study of different types of crimes and criminals criminologists use the many different theories of crime like the biological, psychological, and much more to fully understand the reason for crime in the world and why criminals commit crimes.

These theories offer different insights into reasons on why criminals commit a crime.  There are many different aspects that criminologists must use in order to study crime and criminal behavior in the world.  These aspects of criminology are based on everyday life activities like social groups, school diplomas, family life, and many more aspects of one’s life are studied and can help predict whether or not a person will commit a crime.  Criminology is a part of the criminal justice system and uses data gathered by the different parts of the criminal justice system like the uniform crime report in order to get statistics and analyze crime occurring in the United States.  Not every crime is reported therefore the crime statistics are not always accurate.

With the understanding of deviance, crime causation theories, and statistical analysis of crime criminologists can understand the criminal behavior. Deviant behaviors are human activities that violate social norms (Schmalleger, 2016).  Deviant activities are all from the idea of the person judging the crime that is occurring, the people are normally in higher power who judge the criminal, “ The police, court officials, social workers, and the public, in general, perceive street children negatively-their behavior is deemed deviant (Le Roux and Smith, 1998, p.

915).  Many people look at kids and see that the way they act or the way they dress is a deviant behavior and will lead to a life of crime.  There are many different types of deviant behaviors, some are considered deviant crimes while others are just considered only deviant activities(Edwards, 2006).  There are many activities that could be considered deviant but are not upheld by the law, because some laws are not expected to be upheld by the police(Edwards, 2006).  There are parameters of acceptable deviance that set an idea of what should be considered a deviant crime and what shouldn’t be considered one(Edwards, 2006).  Some believe that deviant behavior leads to certain crimes in the future, like a gateway action(Edwards, 2006).  Hirschi and Gottfredson have contributed to the studies and experiments to prove that crime and deviance do have links to them(Birkbeck and LaFree, 1993).

Deviant behaviors have evolved to be more adaptive to more modern crime.  Technology plays a key role in crime and has always been closely linked to crime(Schmalleger, 2016).  Although most offenses online are considered minor deviant behaviors, there are some that can have traumatic impacts on the victim(Roberts, 2007).   Deviant behavior will be different based off of the public’s opinion.  Formal and informal deviant behaviors are based on the law and many informal deviant behaviors should be a crime while many formal deviant behaviors should not be crimes.

Therefore, deviant behaviors will also change as society changes and will affect the public’s reaction towards crime. Crime causation is the action from which a specific injury or other effect arose and is combined with a mental state to compromise the elements of guilt(Schmalleger, 2016).  There are various different types of crime causation theories like the classical theory, neoclassical theory, biological theories, psychological theories, social structure theories, social process theories, and social conflict theories(Schmalleger, 2016).

These theories are used by criminologists in order to understand the reasons for crime and to possibly prevent them in the future.  These theories are created to help understand the criminal activities in the world. The classical theory is the idea that people commit crimes in order to exercise free will(Schmalleger, 2016).

These ideas were created in the late 1700s and early 1800s and had roots in the enlightenment(Schmalleger, 2016).  The classical school claims that people deviate from social norms and commit crimes to exercise free will in their society(Schmalleger, 2016).  While the neoclassical school of thought is a contemporary version of classical criminology that emphasizes deterrence and retribution, with reduced emphasis on rehabilitation(Schmalleger, 2016).   “ Psychological theory is a theory derived from behavioral sciences that focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis. Psychological theories place the locus of crime causation within the personality of the individual offender”(Schmalleger, 2016, pg.

123).  Some other theories include behavior theory which is the idea that rewarded behavior will increase and punished behavior will decrease(Schmalleger, 2016), modeling theory, the idea that people learn how to act by watching others(Schmalleger, 2016), and many more theories that contribute to the knowledge of crime causation. Some additional theories that help contribute to the idea of crime causation are theories like the biological theories, theories that maintain the basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality, are constitutionally or physiologically based and often inherited(Schmalleger, 2016).

“ Social structure theory is a theory that explains crime by reference to the economic and social arrangements in society.  This type of theory emphasizes relationships among social institutions and describes the types of behavior that tend to characterize groups of people rather than individuals”(Schmalleger, 2016, pg. 151).  For example, many believe that robbery is linked to an economic downfall.  “ Social process theory is the interaction between and among social institutions, groups, and individuals”(Schmalleger, 2016, pg. 151).  “ Social conflict perspective is an analytical perspective on social organization that holds that conflict is a fundamental aspect of social life”(Schmalleger, 2016, pg. 213).

The society plays a major impact on crime with how they react to crime.  There are crimes against property, crimes like larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, burglary, receiving stolen property, and arson(Schmalleger, 2016).  Crimes against people are crimes like murder/ homicide, rape, and robbery are larger examples of crimes against a person(Schmalleger, 2016).

The society’s response impacts how the law enforcement and criminologists react to the situation. Property crimes like larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, burglary, receiving stolen property, and arson are related to the increase in unemployment(Nunley, Stern, Seals, and Zietz, 2016).  Technology has made property crime easier because hackers can steal computer software which is considered a property theft(Licalzi, 2017).  The public’s reaction to these crimes can change how the crime-stopping units and criminologists react.  If the public makes a big deal out of it criminologists and law enforcement units will do anything to control the crime.  Crimes against people include many violent actions towards a person.  In the present, a constant crime against people is hate crimes(Anderson, Brooks, and Dyson, 2002).

Crimes against people have instilled more fear on the population, people that live in areas with a higher rate of crime are more likely to fear the idea of crime just as much(Borooah and Carcach, 1997).  Crimes against people can change how the society reacts to criminals and it causes criminologists to focus on that crime to stop the fear.  The theories of criminology help criminologists understand crime and try to fix the problem before it occurs again.  These theories also help the control of the public’s reaction to the crimes.  Crime causation theories assist criminologists understanding of the reason criminals commit a crime and how to prevent crimes in the future.  The reaction of crime by the public urge criminologists to work harder on understanding that specific crime.  The public plays an important role in the criminologist’s career because they must use that reaction and work hard to help the public’s fear. There are many different ways to record the statistics of criminal behavior.

The FBI’s uniform crime report analyzes different levels of crime in the United States(Columbia Journalism Review, 1999).  The uniform crime report analyzes police reports of different levels of crimes either reported by victims or stopped by police(Columbia Journalism Review, 1999).  Many critics caution using the FBI’s uniform crime report because it is from the police reports and cities may record crime differently(Columbia Journalism Review, 1999).  The NCVS or the national crime victimization surveys are surveys conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that provides data on surveyed households that report they were affected by crime(Schmalleger, 2016).  The UCR program was created in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet the need for reliable uniform crime statistics for the nation(FBI, 2012).

The reports have been updated constantly and were previously updated in 2016(FBI, 2012).  The problem with many statistics is that not many crimes are reported therefore the statistics are not exactly accurate.  In order to perform a uniform crime report, you must gather all reported crime from all law enforcement offices and compile them into different categories like level one crimes or more specific like homicide rates or robbery rates(Columbia Journalism Review, 1999). Collecting data is very similar throughout the years it got easier as technology advanced, but the crimes that are reported change with technology(Licalzi, 2017).  Technology has advanced to where people can now commit more crimes online and it has become easier for them to steal identities, money, and property(Licalzi, 2017).  With the internet advancing online crime will be used more often.  According to John H.

Laub, the data collection of crime has three main eras’s that are considered turning points: the Golden Age of Research, the Golden Age of Theory, and the Modern Era(Schmalleger, 2016).  These turning points in criminological history helped develop the ways law enforcement has tried to stop crime in the United States and the World. The Golden Age of Research was between 1900 to 1930 and was when crime and criminal record data was collected and evaluated to a great extent(Schmalleger, 2016).  This age shows that in the past years of understanding crime they examined the statistics more thoroughly in order to find out the most crime committed at the time.  These different crimes and statistics were evaluated independently in order to understand each by themselves(Schmalleger, 2016).

The Golden Age of Research helped the development of crime understanding by focusing entirely on the amounts of crime that occur. The second main era was between 1930 and 1960 called the Golden Age of Theory, the time where theories dominated criminal justice research(Schmalleger, 2016).  This age of theory was a time when theories were the main way of understanding crime.  According to Schmalleger, “ Laub said during this second period, ‘ there was no systematic attempt to link criminological research to theory’”(Schmalleger, 2016, pg. 28).  This era though never linked to the research of criminologists helped develop the attempt by law enforcement to control crime. The third era, is the modern era and extends from 1960 to the present day and is the examining of the accuracy of criminology theories that have been updated since the beginning(Schmalleger, 2016).  This era helps criminologists fix theories that are not accurate to the modern crimes that are being committed now.

This era has helped modern criminologists update theories and fix them to get on the same level as the crimes committed in today’s society. The statistical analysis of crime and the ways that they have analyzed crime has helped modern criminologists understand the reason for crime.  The analysis throughout the years have changed with the changing crime rates and ways crimes are committed.  The ways they analyze crime will help criminologists in the future analyze crimes and understand crime.  These crimes will change with technology therefore the way the criminologists will collect and analyze crimes will also change.

Crime response can have a major impact on how data is perceived.  Crimes in the past like non-violent crimes messed up criminological statistics because people were arrested and sent to jail for having drugs on them.  This data makes it seem like police officers have made more arrests.

The crime now has advanced since the drug era and has shifted its concern more towards technology. Technology has advanced therefore more crimes can be committed making the statistics focus more on technological crimes.  In the future crime will advance as technology advances changing crime data from a focus on crimes like homicides to computer crimes. Criminology will help the future with ways to study people and understand whether or not they have a possibility of committing a crime.  The different parts of criminology like deviant behaviors, crime causation theories, and statistical analysis of crime help criminologists understand crime and why criminals commit crimes.

Deviant behaviors will help criminologists understand the society’s opinion and how they would react. Crime causation theories are always changing and will contribute to the understanding of crime and the reason for the criminal activity.  Statistical analysis of crime will get a better knowledge of crimes that have been committed more and need to be controlled.  Deviant behaviors, crime causation theories, and crime statistics are key parts of criminology and assist the criminal justice system in controlling the crime.