Functional (social structure theories)
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Social disorganization
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Certain social characteristics of urban neighborhoods contribute to high crime rates. These characteristics include poverty, dilapidation, population density, and population turnover.
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Anomie
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According to Robert Merton, crime by the poor results from a gap between the cultural emphasis on economic success and the inability to achieve such success through the legitimate means of working.
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Interactionist (social process theories)
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Differential association
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Edwin H. Sutherland argued that criminal behavior is learned by interacting with close friends who teach us how to commit various crimes and also the values, motives, and rationalizations we need to adopt in order to justify breaking the law.
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Social bonding
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Travis Hirschi wrote that delinquency results from weak bonds to conventional social institutions, such as families and schools.
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Labeling
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Deviance and crime result from being officially labeled; arrest and imprisonment increase the likelihood of reoffending.
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Conflict (conflict theories)
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Group conflict
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Criminal law is shaped by the conflict among the various social groups in society that exist because of differences in race and ethnicity, social class, religion, and other factors.
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Radical
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The wealthy try to use the law and criminal justice system to reinforce their power and to keep the poor and people of color at the bottom of society.
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Feminist
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Gender plays an important role in the following areas: (1) the reasons girls and women commit crime; (2) the reasons female crime is lower than male crime; (3) the victimization of girls and women by rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence; and (4) the experience of women professionals and offenders in the criminal justice system.
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