Criminology Reflective Journal: Learning from Week 2-6 Online Tasks

This reflective journal delves into various aspects of criminology covered in weeks 2-6 online activities. It starts with an exploration of positivist perspectives, questioning the differences between criminals and regular individuals, and highlighting the role of social fabric in criminal tendencies. The journal then reflects on crime in Western Sydney, linking it to social disorganization and sociological positivism. Further, it connects historical events like the London riots to Merton’s strain theory, emphasizing the conflict between cultural goals and institutional means. The discussion extends to subcultures, using the hippie culture as an example, while also acknowledging the associated crimes. Finally, it touches upon identifying criminal signs through physiological appearances and behavior patterns, stressing the importance of experience in recognizing criminal behavior. This journal demonstrates a comprehensive understanding and critical reflection on the week's topics.

Week 2:
Online
Activity
The online activity of the week two raised some questions in mind.
Criminals are different from regular people, but why they are different?
How can we identify criminal tendencies in a common person and detect
the criminal in him? The definition of the deviance gave me the answer. I
also figured out that the social fabric of a place has a lot to do with the
criminal tendencies. Here I also discovered that certain theories can help
us in understanding the nature of the crime and more precisely we can
study the criminal behaviour of the individual and figure out the criminal
tendencies in them (Anderson, 2014) .
Week 3 -
Online
Activity
Crime in Western Sydney was an issue that I encountered briefly in the
previous week. In the current week, I discovered that according to the crime
related data released by the authorities, every nine victims out of ten in
Sydney becomes a victim of crime in the suburban areas of the western
Sydney. Was it happening because of the personal reasons of the individuals
or we can hold social disorganization responsible for this? I learned that social
disorganization acts as a catalyst in increasing the intensity of the criminal
behaviors in an individual. My conclusion was simple, sociological positivism
has a role to play in the criminal behavior of an individual.
Week 4 -
Online
Activity
The online assignment of week 4 taught me that history has all the
answers ready if you can connect it with the present scenarios. Riots in
London can be seen from the perspective of the social status and class
wars prevailing in the USA during 1930. The common thread is the
structural stain as described in Merton’s theory. The search for an apt
piece of literature to explain the riots was my biggest achievement of the

week. Merton’s theory says that a conflict of cultural goals and institutional
means can force an ugly turnaround of the events, it was the same in this
case where certain communities of the London started getting an
impression that they belong to the deprived lot of the society and they
need to battle it out to gain an identity in the mainstream economy of the
city (Pritchard, 2016).
Week 5
The story of a subculture starts from the nature of an individual, a set of
radical people can create a subculture within the society. The hippie
culture sets a poignant example for the substantiation of this theory. They
figured out a magical solution of relaxation within the existing systems. My
job was to search out for a picture representing resistance in style. I opted
for a picture that represented the free culture of that society. However, the
truth behind this picture was ugly, I discovered that under the pretext of
this freestyle life, crimes like drug peddling and prostitution flourished very
easily and drawn some gruesome consequences in the life of the people.
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Week 6 -
Online
Activity
We can trace the signs of a crime on the face of a criminal; it was the
lesson that I learned from the week six activities. Physiological
appearances, behavior patterns, dressing sense of a person. The way he is
talking. Just put it together and a label is ready for him. After a secondary
study of the pattern, we can reach on some prima facie conclusions of a

criminal behaviour. The case of a drug addict is a classical case. In the
week six, I prepared a mind map of this labelling process and realized that
it is an ongoing exercise that I need to practice and master throughout my
life because the experience is the most effective encyclopaedia that a man
can access.
Anderson, J. F. (2014). Criminological Theories. Jones & Bartlett. Burlington.
Pitchcard.D.( 2016). Springer. New York City.
Room, News. (2017). The Most Criminal Suburbs in Sydney have been Revealed.
www.961.com.au, Viewed on 6-08-18. http://www.961.com.au/newsroom/the-most-criminal-
suburbs-in-sydney-have-been-revealed-a-lot-of-them-are-in-the-west.
Winstone, J. (2016). Mental Health, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Responses and Reforms.
Springer. New York City