Criminal Law: Criminology Theory and Practice

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW 1
Criminology Theory and practice
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CRIMINAL LAW 2
Introduction
This article provides an insight of how human behavior changes as they advance in years.
The article is written by Robert Sampson and John H. Laub on life course view on
development of crime. The authors suggest that crime provides immediate and easy
gratification. There are also three major observations that the authors make which I feel is
correct.
 The authors of this article suggest that individuals who have a weak bond with the
society are more likely to commit crimes.
 The marital status of an individual has a direct relation on whether an individual
commits crime or not. A person who is not married is more likely to commit a crime
that one who is not married.
 Delinquency can also be attributed to how a person behaves when they are adults.
Deliquency and other forms of anti social behavior were directly related to
troublesome behavior in adulthood.
Development / life course theory
This theory focuses on development stages, continuity and change of individual’s behaviors.
It focuses on an individual as a single unit and focus on analyzing the onset, frequency,
intensity and desistence of an individual criminal behavior Patterson, DeBaryshe & Ramsey
(2017). It also focuses on events and life changing situations that are the onset of an
individual decisions to criminal activities the human experience undergone through,
especially during childhood, and how they shapes an individual ultimate outcome. There are
a number of forces that shape the social trajectories of family, education and work as they

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each influence the behavior of an individual. Despite the fact that some individuals can select
their paths they want to follow, opportunities, social structures and culture provide constraints
against those paths. Such constrains include: family structures and poverty, early antisocial
tendencies among individuals, peers, siblings, exposure to media and violence etc.
Critique of the article
Although life course theory has over the years produced a basis through which human
behavior is studied, it also has its limitations. These limitations include
The article suugests the following which are the main disadvantages of the article. The life
course theory tends to differs from other psychological theories in that for instance behaviors
such not wasting food , one on one communication, trusting strangers and respect are
important to the baby boomer’s generations and the generations before them, the current
generation has placed value on being self-containment , impersonal communication through
texting, wasting resources and little or no respect on people Patterson, DeBaryshe & Ramsey
(2017).This values have shifted over the years. Parents are less involved in their children’s
life; more violence is being portrayed in the media etc. this contradicts the life course theory
since there has been a very huge shift in values.
The other weakness of the theory is the idea of individuality. Even though it can have
perceived as a positive aspect of the theory, it can also form a major disadvantage in the area
of being able to search for patterns of general behavior. For instance, in United states were
there are high levels of heterogeneity, it may be difficult to determine certain behaviors
causes Hawkins & Weis (2017).. For example, an individual’s decision to migrate maybe be
social, religious or political. A person studying this group of individuals may have a difficult
time in identifying the major cause in each individual since they all will be portraying
different pattern of behavior.