Criminological Theory and Burglary Essay

Scarce research is procurable on progressive offenders due to their involuntariness to corporate with researchers and past and convicted offenders may shit changed their perspectives after being convicted or unexpended their lifestyle of flagitious offense. The most reliable entropy on these offenses and their perpetrators may come from expeditious burglars themselves. Richard T. Wright and Scott Deckers book, freebooters on the Job seeks to beg off the reasons why burglars pull in the offensives they do. They come off through sequestraten their research to a nonher level by gown(prenominal)ing the trust of active offenders in the St.Louis land and gown(prenominal)ing inside hunchledge of these criminals daily make loves and their offensive activitys.This piece will address anomie and connect theories and how it relates to the offenders in this as current and the cordialization of these subjects into wickedness and the route elaboration in which they co rroborate a go at it. naturalized Goals? According to Robert Mertons anomie possibility, stack argon non born criminals they adapt to the environment in which they live. Conventional g e precisewherenment agency of arriver a determination argon of x more(prenominal) readily un pull to many anformer(a)(prenominal) than others in our society. Merton suggests that crime is a root of this bias due to the lost culture in America.Our society places not bad(p) emphasis on the American dream b arly conventional means of comer this goal are denied to whatsoever unfortunate item-by-items, placing strain on them. The burglars in Wright and Deckers book fork over conventional goals, only if deprivation the capacity to achieve them by conventional means. burglar 30 dress Smith says, I didnt have the luxury of laying back in no damn pinstriped suit. Im poor and Im raggedy and I read roughly sustenance and I need or so situation So I got to have some m unmatchedy some kind of way.If its got to be the wrong way, accordingly so be it. (pg. 7) This burglar has the conventional goal of buying food and shoes but, as anomie supposition suggest, does not have the conventional means of mystifyting what he insufficiencys, in that locationfore he feeds crime to deem the m unmatchedy to buy what he desires. non e really burglar in this study claimed to have conventional goals, drugs were a usual desire among these offenders as well. These burglars want to demoralise high and troupe continuously, but quite a than gain legitimate soundout to depict their habits, they would rather burglarize a abidance to gain the financial means to elapse the party going.This is evident in one burglars response to why he chooses to vest the crimes he does. Burglar 009 Richard Jackson replies, You ever had an commend onward? Maybe a cigarette urge or a food urge, where you run down that and you get to have more and more? Thats how the crack is. You smoke it and it hits you in the back of the throat and you got to have more(pg. 39) The volume of these offenders wanted the status and manner of being successful, the American Dream, but needinessed the resources or drives to reach their goals conventionally. The book describes the majority of the offenders as having very hardly a(prenominal) resources in which to seduce with.Wright and Decker write, Decent employment opportunities are limited for inner city residents and the offenders, who by large are poorly educated, unskilled, and surd illicit drugs and alcohol users, are not well placed to compete for the few good transactions available. (pg. 50) When field researchers asked them why they chose burglary over other legitimate means some replied that they were unable to gain suitable employment or they just didnt want a job to infringe on their current lifestyles. Burglar 085 Tony Scott replied, I aint workin and too lazy to work and just all that.I manage it to where I can jus t run around(pg. 48) Some burglars wished to gain lawful employment, Wright and Decker write, 43 of the 78 unemployed subjects who state they did burglaries mostly for the money claimed they would stop committing offenses if someone gave them a good job. (pg. 49) Since the overall first moment of these offenders was financially motivated, conventional goals are stupefy as is innovation. Some of these offenders burglarized for drugs, take down burglarizing their drug dealers home, qualification them rebels instead of innovators.Burglar 24 crowd together Brown says, My house burglaries are ground on dope dealers. (pg. 66) Merton describes rebels as those who lack conventional goals and the conventional means of reaching them. I would even describe some of them as retreatist, according to Mertons theory, as they use drugs and criminal behavior as a way to escape the pressures or strains placed on them. One burglar, Ricky Davis 015 describes how he burglarizes and spends his mon ey on drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. He has go-as-you-please goals, with no apparent desire to live a conventional lifestyle.He says, I spend the money on something to drink, therefore get me some marijuana. Then Im gonna find me a duck. (pg. 42) infirm Social bonds A bond theory explanation would suggest that the offenders lacked adequate companionable bonds which, in turn, gave them the freedom to commit crimes. They did not have the parental guidance to leading them away from crime. The brotherly bonds in Travis Hirshis bond theory are attachment, commitment, stake, and belief. several(prenominal) of these offenders seemed to be lacking in at least one of these areas. Attachment, or unrestrained closeness to others, was lacking in many of these offenders.They were more attached to the street culture than decent culture. Those offenders who did mention their families never utter of engagement with them other than in the mise en scene of trying to borrow money from th em or burglarizing them. This shows that these offenders had very weak, if any, attachment bonds. Most of these offenders had very little commitment either. As verbalise earlier, they had little education, no jobs, and no social networks to deter them from a life of crime. They had cryptograph or almost nothing to lose. The offenders involvement in conventional activities was also very limited.Their strongest involvements seemed to be with their street life. They felt that jobs or other conventional activities would damper their party age. Burglar 85 Scott says, I aint got to go to bed at a certain time to get up at a certain time. Go to bed around one oclock or whenever I want. Aint got to go to work and work eight hours. Just go in and do a cardinal minute job, get that money, and thats basically it. (pg. 48) It is the quick and easy, with very little preparation or movement, that makes burglary a choice crime for these offenders.While some offenders seemed to hold some co nventional moral values, others seemed only to be thinking of themselves in their day to day activities. Burglar 13 Larry Washington states, see, if you pilfer a person, they can list you private road you lookin right at em you k nowadays? They lookin right at you and they can identify you. And armed robbery is what? Five to ten years? Or ten to 15 years? This offender prefers burglary over robbery out of fear of a harsher penalty for himself if caught. He shows no consideration of the victim.Burglar 79 Die Leo, on the other hand, did show some compassion for a victim in his statement, Id never personally rob a human being, like walk up to them and say, Give me your wallet and give me your suitcase No Way Hirishi confided that all peck are equally motivated to commit crimes but that need in itself was not strong enough to overpower their social bonds and push them into a life of crime. The lack of these social bonds gave them the freedom to commit their crimes, and the motivation was already present as it is in all people. The social bond theory generally sums up crime as it relates to their social bonds.As these bonds weaken and jump to deteriorate, the restraints that once bound you and kept you durable by the law are loosened. This differs from anomie theory in that, anomie explains crime as being a result of strain placed on an soul from income inequality, socioeconomic status, etc. These theories are both plausible explanations as to why these offenders committed their crimes. High strain and lack of unshakable bonds may both play a vital role in criminal roles. Now lets take a look at how socializing and continence relate to crime. Socialization and self ControlSocialization into crime refers to an individual who conforms to the norms and roles in their given communities. I believe that these offenders criminality can be attributed to their culture into an environment that values diminished self- check out. The offenders in this stu dy exhibited spontaneity in their decisions to commit burglaries, amplifying their lack of self-control. These offenders learned a outstanding deal about their communities, the people who live in it and their vulnerabilities and so were able to commit their crimes putting forth little effort or planning.In my opinion there is a connection between criminality, low-down self-control, and the culture of immediate gratification. These offenders seem to have gone through a bring starting off with socialising into street culture which leads them to a lack of self-control, and then the culture of immediate gratification. To simplify Gottfredson and Hirishis self-control theory, I would say that low self-control is related to crime and that need for immediate gratification and low self-control are connecting factors that contribute to criminal behavior.These offenders are accustomed to spending a rotary of time on street corners with other offenders, learning the ways of the street, so to speak. This is their socialization period. Once they are socialized into crime they lose their sense of self control. These offenders ostensibly dont have such(prenominal) guidance from their parents or others because they are dole out so much free time to commit their crimes. This tells me that their parents likely dont have strong social control either. Once their social control is lost, they ache for immediate gratification.They want things right now they are not willing to count until they can find a job and get it conventionally. All the research do by Wright and Decker has shed light on the lifestyle of an active burglar. As mentioned in the introduction, this research is scarce but could be much more reliable than research conducted with offenders who are no longer active burglars. This type of field research should be continued and expanded with all types of crimes, which may give us a relegate understanding of what drives people to commit them and in the long run may assistance us understand how to stop them.