Criminology Theories

Criminology Theories
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(March 27, 2012)
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Criminology Theories
Criminology is defined as the process of studying the etiology, extent of law breaking behavior and nature. Criminology theories are regarded as important in understanding criminality. They cover all the group roles, societal arrangements, dynamics affecting the group and structural issues in the society.
Both Russia and the United States have conducted a number of experiments on earth and in space aimed at testing human reaction to isolation conditions in outer space. One of the examples is the test performed by the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems. In this experience, seven astronauts from Russia and Japan were male, and a Canadian female astronaut- Judith Lapierre- spent 110 days onboard in an international space station (Ameliagira, 2011).
The experiment drew international attention as several crimes were committed in the space station. Two Russian astronauts reportedly committed assault, attempted murder and battery, and the Russian commander sexually harassed and assaulted Judith Lapierre severally during the 110-days experiment. Lapierre reported that she worried being sexually attacked; however, Russian authorities did not bother to protect her. The Russian commander -visibly drunk, forcefully kissed Judith Lapierre on the mouth twice, touched her inappropriately and attempted to have sex with her. That same day, the Russian commander assailed a Russian male astronaut. The Japanese astronaut intervened to separate them and later left the experiment because of tensions as well as non verbal and verbal aggression made it impossible for him to continue (Richards, 2005).
The Russian commander undesirable action of manipulation and exploitation against his partners made him satisfy his desires on Judith Lapierre and the Russian astronaut. He used his powers inappropriately and out of order during the experiment. That incident caught the attention of the media, therefore influencing some changes in the international space station.
The causes attributed by the Russian commander were both individual and structural. Sociological explanations explain criminality in terms of the social environmental elements of the offenders. The social environment is mainly responsible for criminality in society. The major social factors causing criminality include low quality education experiences, poor parenting, poverty, broken families, inadequate sharing in values implicit in the predominant culture and lack of equal economic opportunity, among others. This approach is followed by some of the theories which are social disorganization, cultural deviance, strain, labeling, control and social learning (Ameliagira, 2011).
In the social disorganization theory, such as the concentric zone theory, focus on the characteristics of the geographical location where people live, are associated with criminalities in the urban settings. McKay and Shaw’s theory states that major cities are inhabited by immigrants from other states of the union and foreign countries; this is due to high heterogeneity, population changes, and permanent poverty conditions. Institutions of social control, such as schools, family and commercial establishments, break down and can no longer fulfill their expected functions, hence fostering the upsurge of crime (Richards, 2005).
Social control theory focuses on why people do not commit crimes. Every single person has the potential to become a criminal but refrains from committing criminal acts as they are held by their bonds to the society. Social bonds that individuals have in peers, parents, and important social institutions, such as workplace or school are strong, they fear that their criminal activity may threaten their relative position in society and hence they decline to run the danger of losing meaningful social relationship, opportunities and careers. Crime happens when the forces that hold people to society are broken or weakened.
Social learning theory, especially Differential Association theory, criminal behavior is studied in interaction with family and friends. As a result people learn techniques of committing crimes, such as drives, attitudes, motives and rationalizations. Criminal behavior arises when one is exposed to anti social-messages than pro-social messages (Richards, 2005).
Astronauts, including visiting crew members and expedition are recruited from upper or middle class families, who live in wealthy neighborhood. None of the astronauts in any space station has ever come from a poor immigrant family and who is not conversant with the language of the majority and has no access to social institutions, such as schools or the middle-class job (Ameliagira, 2011).
Social disorganization theories focuses on the transition zone as the main focus of criminality, and strain theories, which emphasizes on lower class impossibility to attain common objectives, may not account for criminality in space. Equally irrelevant is cultural deviance theory- which connects the commission of crimes in accordance with lower class sub cultural values as no astronaut has been brought up in a lower class culture.
Astronauts with a firm support network of friends and family are recruited. Therefore it is easily noticeable that all astronauts have strong bonds with socio-economic governing orders, which presumptively they will not intend risking. Thus, control theory cannot account for outer space criminality. Likewise inapplicable is social learning theory –which asserts that criminality is a function individual socialization- as astronauts do not associates with criminal offenders. Part of the recruitment process consists of analyzing whether candidates have had a prior criminal record and those with even minimal criminal records are automatically disqualified, labeling theory does not help either in solving the occurrence of crimes in outer space (Richards, 2005).
International space station Agreements provisions on criminal jurisdiction have been balanced by a code of conduct. The members are subjected to additional requirements, such as disciplinary policy, flight rules, and requirement imposed by their cooperating Agency. Code of conduct, for the space station crew establish a clear chain of command, a management hierarchy and a clear relationship between ground and on-orbit management.
The general rule of conduct is that the crew members must maintain a cohesive and harmonious relationship among themselves and respect through a participative, interactive and relationship-oriented approach and an appropriate level of mutual confidence, which duly takes into account the multicultural and international nature of the crew and mission. No space station crew member should give undue preferential treatment to any entity or person in the performance of the space station activities and may not affect the confidence of the public in the integrity of the space station partner (Ameliagira, 2011).
The Sp...