Culture And Crime Essay

The crime rate of societies differs with each other. If the crime rate of European countries and American countries were comp ared, the payoffs would be different. The same is true if countries from the East and western hemisphere were compared in regards to their crime rates. This can be attributed perhaps to different norms and concepts on crime of different societies, as well as the overall mode of life of the wad in any given area. If this were analyzed further, it leave al single be noted that destination plays a role in the charge that crime is viewed in a given golf-club.This essay deals with the concept of acculturation, peculiarly in the way that it relates to crime. Culture, Society and Criminality Before juxtaposing crime and coating, however, it would be necessary to define the overly used and abused concept of culture. Generally, culture is the overall pattern of the way of life of a given participation of people together with the structures of symbols and mea nings that they attach to various aspects of their society. This also includes the morality of the society as well as the collection of acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors (Krober & Kluckhohn, 1952).Since the moral remains is included here, it impinges upon the conception of what is right, as well as the way that people in a given society view law, together with the relegating of crimes. Given that culture reckons the overall lifestyle of peoples in a society, it is fatal that crimes are also affected by culture. For example, in a excogitate conducted by Karstedt (2001), she mentioned that culture has been recognized by criminology as one of the factors influencing crime. The workplace took note of various amicable control means in Asian countries with low crime rate such as Japan.Karstedt called for the introduction of methods and ship canal by which cultures may be tellingly compared to study the differences in culture and its push on crime. By conducting an extensiv e survey in one of the Southern States in the US, Warner (2003) found out that cultural disorganization affect crimes. Her findings show that a prevailing culture conditioned by separate in the society and the disconnection of social ties have significant impact on the level of social relationships and ties of the community. This in turn impacts slack modes of social control in the society.Without these informal social control, it would the tendency for crimes to be attached becomes stronger. On the other hand, Leonardsen (2002) investigated the apparent anomaly of Japanan urban estate with very low crime rate. In his study, Leonardsen pointed out to apparent redness of too much individualism in Japan while focal point on the overall community. He argued that although the loss of individuality can be seen in Japan, it has much to teach to Western countries, especially regarding identity, obligations and social connections. shutting Based on the studies mentioned above, it can b e seen that indeed culture has a significant impact on crime. Crime cannot only be prevented through formal means such as law, police force, and the prison system. Rather, in that respect are informal institutions and norms that help prevent or perhaps advertise the fact of crime. When social ties are severed and a negative culture of the disadvantaged spawns, social controls are weakened, thus increasing the likelihood of the occurrence of crime.A focus on the communitys norms, however, can result to a more rewritely society with low incidence of crime. These studies are congruent with Blacks theory that if the culture and the means of informal social control in a society are weak, then(prenominal) the tendency for that society is to have laws that are more powerful as compared with other societies with stronger social control means (Black, 1976). A combination of effective laws and informal social controls, are however necessary so that order can be kept within the society. R eference Black, D. (1976). The Behavior of jurisprudence.San Diego, CA Academic Press. Karstedt, S. (2001). Comparing Cultures, Comparing Crime Challenges, Prospects and Problems for a Global Criminology. Crime, Law and Social Change, 36 (3), 285-308. Kroeber, A. L. & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge, MA Peabody Museum. Leonardsen, D. (2002). The Impossible Case of Japan. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 35 (2), 203-229. Warner, B. D. (2003). The intent of Attenuated Culture in Social Disorganization Theory. Criminology, 41 (1), 73-98.