Application of Criminological Theory

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Abstract

The application of criminological theory involves identifying the problem of an individual and designing a program of correction as well as preventing any deviant acts committed from recurring in the future. A certain teacher is in problems with a student who has been brought up in a disadvantaged socioeconomic background but managed to secure a chance in a prestigious school where the principal feels he should remain despite the anti-social behaviors he has like fighting other students among other things. One day he is caught red-handed beating up another student and the matter is reported to the vice principal that is in charge of the discipline. He is expected to apply criminological theory to help the boy and the teacher.

Introduction

One of the teachers has a problem with a student who comes from a poor socioeconomic background. The principal still wants to maintain the student in the school because he believes by so doing is in the best interest of the student. One day the teacher caught the student fighting another student and steps in to stop the fight and reports this matter to the vice-principal for assistance. The major reason for the intervention, in this case, is to identify the cause of the student’s criminal behavior and help him to undergo rehabilitation and fit in the school environment.

It will also be important to help the teacher understand the problem of the child so that he can calm down and work towards a common goal of assisting the student to achieve academically. All this will only be achieved through the application of knowledge in criminology regarding the identification of the crime, its probable causes, and the rehabilitation program that should be adopted to correct the criminal. (Bede, 1999 pp501-504)

Review of criminological theory

Criminology regards crime to be a social phenomenon that involves enacting laws and the process of breaking them as well as what should be done in case they are broken. It is therefore important to measure as well as analyze a particular crime over a specified period as one observe the characteristic of the person engaging in the crime and the magnitude of the undesirable acts committed. When this is done, the next step is to punish the criminal and employ the right treatment to correct him as well as undertaking all the prevention measures to deter the occurrence of such behavior in the future. (Bede, 1999 pp505-508)

Influence of the boy’s background on his behavior

The student requires an interdisciplinary approach that will mainly focus on sociological interpretation as well as psychological understanding and interpretation. The fact that the student comes from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background indicates that his negative behavior is largely determined by the environmental physical factors as well as his characteristics. It is the community where he comes from which is the major cause of his deviant behavior and therefore further details of the student from his parents will be necessary. This will help to understand his history on how he relates with other age-mates at home on holidays and when not in school. Research indicates that human behavior is best understood if it is studied in his/her natural environment. (Bede, 1999 pp509-510)

The student requires counseling to make him feel like an equal to the other students because the fact that he comes from a poor background and he is now schooling with students from well-to-do families will make him feel “out of home” and as a way of reacting to this, he becomes deviant. It is from such poor backgrounds such as slums where most crimes are fostered due to unemployment that causes inadequate basic needs and therefore resulting in juvenile gangs and many other vices.

The counseling will also be important to the boy because in such poor background, most likely he did not have anyone to share his problem with since very few people care about his social wellbeing. Therefore the guidance and counseling department in the school will hold a meeting with the boy in the presence of the vice-principal and encourage him to open up to his problems be it social or economic. From the interaction with his peers at home, he has acquired deviant values, and therefore in the process of forming his support group in school where most students are not deviant, he is always in trouble with other students and the teachers who are trying to protect the rights of the other students as well as implement the school’s rules and regulations. (Buckland, 2004 pp35-38)

School parenting

The student will be assigned a teacher whom they are very close to being his “parent” in a program known as “parenting”, to be sharing with the boy at a personal level and regularly to make the boy feel that there is always somebody who cares about his welfare even in the “strange” environment-the school. Studies indicate that the absence of a responsible guardian to discourage criminal acts almost always results in the occurrence of crime. The parent-teacher will also explain to the boy why observing the school’s rules and regulations as well as being humble to other students is not unfair to him thus changing the boy’s believe. This will strengthen the bond between the boy and the rest of the members of the society and chances of the boy committing deviant behaviors will greatly be reduced. (Buckland, 2004 pp39-42)

Limiting idleness

The student will also require to be occupied in most of his time in school and even at home so as break his cycle of engaging in wrong acts. The criminological theory states that criminal acts are related to a great extent to daily routines of social interaction. Thus the boy will always be having something either academic or extracurricular to do. When a student is involved in school or at home it helps in preventing him/her from potential deviant behaviors that could be resulting from idleness. However, care will have to be observed to avoid overburdening the boy and consuming much of his time he is supposed to be in recreational activities as well as relaxing. This will only be achieved through designing a personal timetable having routine activities with the help of the boy. (Buckland, 2004 p43)

Target hardening

The boy will be made to undergo target hardening to prevent him from committing a situational crime. This method involves making it more difficult for him to do wrong on a specific target for example rocking all the lockers if he is being involved with theft cases and having responsible prefects to monitor him. If target hardening is done over time, it serves the purpose of negative reinforcement towards deviant behavior. (Garland, 2002 pp19-21)

Crime prevention on the boy will be aimed at reducing his deviant behavior rather than his characteristics. The goal will be directed towards increasing the risks associated with whatever bad he does and also increase the difficulties as well as reducing the rewards that he gets after engaging in deviant behavior. This is because research has shown that, individuals commit crime through accidents involving a practical or a pleasing chance such as leaving lockers with valuable textbooks unlocked.

Routine activity theorists believe that committing a deviant behavior is normal and the rates at which it is done largely depend on whether the opportunity is available or not. If what the boy is targeting is unprotected and it is worth that which he desired he is likely to commit the undesirable act. This can only be achieved if the areas where he is most involved in deviant behaviors are identified over time. (Garland, 2002 pp22-25)

Building self-esteem in the boy

Building confidence and a sense of responsibility in the boy will be among the efficient long-lasting solutions to his anti-social behaviors. This will include among other things making him a prefect during the following prefect’s selection and making him understand that several teachers felt that he was the most qualified among the rest proposed by the students. The vice-principal will also observe a positive behavior in the boy and commend him during the assembly and use it to encourage another student to emulate him. This will encourage the boy to work hard in retaining the positive perception of the school community on him. (Garland, 2002 pp26-27)

Teachers and other students will be advised not to label or define this boy as a criminal or any other similar label because research has shown that students and even adults behave according to what they are labeled. There is a possibility that the boy is not a criminal/evil but he acts in a criminal status that has been placed upon him by the teacher and the whole school at large. If this is identified as his major problem, then his actions will not be as significant as the social reaction to them.

According to Howard (1963) “Deviance is not measured as a quality of the crime done, but instead as a result of the application by the members of the society of rules and punishments to an offender. Therefore one is regarded as deviant if that label is successfully applied on him; crime or deviant behavior, therefore, is that act that society so labels.” If the boy at one time in school engaged in a criminal/deviant act and was segregated from the rest of the students by the teacher and thus labeled, a criminal, a thief, and the like then that must have made him an “outsider” in the school.

Because he felt like an outcast in the school or the society, he started associating with other students who before had been labeled like him. As the concerned teacher continued to think of this boy as a deviant, the boy may have responded to him as such; thus the boy reacted to the teacher’s response by doing more of the anti-social behavior that the teacher now expected from him. In a school environment where many teachers are handling the same student, one would expect every teacher to complain about the boy but in this case, it is only one teacher reported to be in problems with the boy. The response of the teachers towards this boy will have to be redesigned as it will play a big role in rehabilitating him. (Muncie, 2004 PP45-47)

Analyzing the bond between the boy and the school

The academic performance of the boy will have to be analyzed because research indicates that if a child does dismally in school, he is likely to become delinquent especially if it is a case of repeated failure. The effects of this manifest in a series of the event some of which are what the boy is doing like getting troubled by the teacher as well as fighting other students. If the boy is performing dismally then he hates the school and this has caused him to start rejecting the teachers and the school rules and regulations all of which is resulting in acts of deviance. The teachers will therefore have to be urged to work hard in improving his performance by giving him individual academic attention and devoting extra time outside the normal class time on him.

Students’ discipline generally will also have to be maintained at high standards because studies indicate that, a student’s attachment to school is largely determined by how he/she appreciates the school and also by how he is handled by his fellow schoolmates and teachers. (Muncie, 2004 PP49-51)

Peer influence will also be monitored to find out if the boy is being influenced by his close friends who may not have been identified. This will not only be confined within the school but will be extended to his home residence. Research on criminal behavior has shown that deviant behavior is usually learned when an individual associates with other criminals. If this is found to be true for him the whole group will be handled individually.

Disciplinary measures to be taken on the boy

School rules and values must be used in controlling the student’s behavior if it is realized that the boy is using neutralizing techniques. This allows him to neutralize his deviant values and therefore engaging in legitimate behaviors while at other times engaging in illegitimate acts. Research on criminal behavior has shown that a child who uses neutralization techniques in his/her conduct does well in conventional activities while at other times can shun the same activities if he/she wants to engage in a deviant activity.

The boy could be using these techniques to defend himself and thus feeling released from the confinement regarding moral order in the school. According to David (1964) “An individual lives on a continuum in between two extremes of total freedom and total restraints.” therefore strict rules should be applied to him to control his drift between the two extremes and when this will be done over time, the boy will adopt the right culture and fit not only in the school but also in the society at large.

The boy must also be put on punishment which will be directed towards reforming him and make him be re-integrated into the school and maintaining law and order. The punishment has to be moderate because severe punishment would result in hardening him more than ever before. This is the reason why rehabilitation should be given priority even if a capital offense has been committed especially if the offender is remorseful.

The form of punishment to be inflicted on this boy at different times will depend on effectiveness as well as moral grounds and it should be the minimum possible that gives the expected deterrence but enough to reform the boy. The punishment must also be relevant to the boy and administered immediately when he commits a crime. (Muncie, 2004 PP52-53)

Conclusion

Any behavior in a student can be modified to make him fit in his environment if the problem is first identified. Close analysis on the trend of behavior on this boy will be required to first find the root cause of his deviant behavior before any measure is undertaken. It will also be important to analyze the environment surrounding the boy about his disadvantaged socioeconomic background. This will enable him to adapt to the new social environment because this could be the major cause of his deviant behavior.

References

Bede C. (1999): International journal of social economics: Oxford University Press pp. 501-510.

Criminology Theory: Penology by Christopher Rowe. Web.

Buckland G. (2004): Researching crime and criminal justice: Cavendish publishing pp.35-43.

Garland D. (2002): The Development of criminology: Oxford University press pp.19-27.

Muncie J. (2004): Crime and strategies of crime control: Cavendish publishers PP.45-53.

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