Over the past decades, Forensic science has evolved and has been embraced by most states as a vital constituent of modern legal practice. It is widely used in courts as a major source for the outcome of a verdict. Forensic science has attained a merit of its own although it is relatively new in the jurisprudence world. As technology and science have evolved with time, more and new methodologies and practices in law realm have been established. In United States (U.S.) specifically, the applica...
Terrorism can be termed an ever evolving dynamic, widely disputed complex phenomenon that finds its roots in psycho-social and political realms. According to Lacquer (1999) [1] and Gordon (2004) [2] every instance or act of terrorism is inherently different and possess distinctive characteristics similar to biometrics. As stated by Gordon (2010) futile attempts have been made to form terrorism typologies according to terrorists' methods of operations, regions of the world, organization and id...
Terrorism has inflicted fear and panic on almost every corner of the globe. Due to the pain that it inflicts on people indiscriminately, the United Nations has taken the threat of terrorism seriously and is actively engaging all member nations to participate in counterterrorism efforts (United Nations [UN], 2008). The counterterrorism agenda is a priority one for the UN for many years now. Countering terrorism has been a difficult pursuit because it is immediately laden with ethical and moral...
Terrorism is a subject matter, not a discipline. It has been approached by scholars from various academic perspectives with political scientists in the lead. In an effort to get a firm hold on a slippery subject, those studying the phenomenon of terrorism were obliged to define it more precisely. Terrorism could be described simply as the use or threat of violence to create an atmosphere of fear and alarm and thus bring about a political result. But making this definition operative in politic...
The life course theory is one of the developmental theories that is interesting. The life course theory incorporates the idea from the social learning theory that "crime is a learned behavior" (Siegel, 2011). This occurs when the individual experiences a transition during their life course. According to the life course theory we start behaviors at a very young age that can have a significant impact on our adult life. One of the points brought up in the life course theory is about transitions ...
The progressive global nature of crime and justice points to a need to move beyond the nation state as the starting point for criminology. Criminologists are already building theories that go beyond the confines of the modern state for example in relation to transnational policing, transnational crime and supranational forms of criminal justice. The reasons that have led the need to move beyond the state territorial principle are globalisation and the increase of transnational crime. The stud...
Community service constitute an apologetic reparation that the person is now required to make to the community what he has wronged. The Indian Penal Code was the enacted in 1860 by virtue of the classic legal draftsmanship of Lord Macaulay. If there would have been a concept of community service prevalent at that time then the authors are sure that there would have been no need to urge the inclusion of the same in the Indian Penal Code. But since this exclusion by Macaulay is because of no fa...
This essay is about how Robert Merton theory accounts for crime and deviance within a contemporary society. I will look at how he believes crime is a result of an ambitious society, and whether or not we can blame crime on the wider society and not on the deviant themselves. I will show how Merton and also Durkheim (1958-1917) construct their theories of crime from different principles, However, both use the theory of `anomie' (also referred to as 'strain theory') in their bid to explain the ...
In this essay I will analyse the importance and relevance of a structional functionalist view of deviance seen through the lens of strain theory and a symbolic interactionalist perspective through the use of labelling theory. Strain Theory attempts to explain why crime is resolute amongst the lower classes who are subjected to the least opportunities for economic achievement (O' Connor 2007). It focuses on the positions that individuals occupy in a social system, not on the characteristics of...
Merton Anomie Durkheim How does Merton’s theory of anomie differ from that of Durkheim? Durkheim usefully conceptualised the phenomenon of anomie, and I consider the context in which this occurred. I look at Durkheim's examples of crime and deviance and his discussion of social solidarity to clarify how his terms are understood. I discuss how, for Durkheim, anomie was a product of social change, resulting in loss of social cohesion and I go on to examine why, for Merton, the concept needed re...
