Criminality and society

A Paper Presentation to Department of Business Administration and Management, 2022

Departmental Day Seminal., Fidel Polytechnic Gboko, Benue State.
Olusegun Alaba Adebayo. societal criminologist...
Introduction
Criminality is one things; society norms is another perception. Let view the concept of crime,
criminality and society side by side. Crime or act of criminality is an act or omission that is not
generally accepted by the norms or tradition of the society. The word crime is derived from
the Latin root cernō, meaning "I decide, I give judgment". Originally the Latin
word crīmen meant "charge" or "cry of distress" The Ancient Greek word , krima, with which the
Latin crimen is cognate, typically referred to an intellectual mistake or an offense against the
community, rather than a private or moral wrong. In 13th century English crime meant
"sinfulness", according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. It was probably brought to England
as Old French crimne (12th century form of Modern French crime), from Latin crimen (in the
genitive case: criminis). In Latin, crimen could have signified any one of the following:
"charge, indictment, accusation; crime, fault, offense". The word may derive from the
Latin cernere – "to decide, to sift". But Ernest Klein (citing Karl Brugmann) rejects this and
suggests *cri-men, which originally would have meant "cry of distress". Thomas George. Tucker
suggests a root in "cry" words and refers to English plaint, plaintiff, and so on. The meaning
"offense punishable by law" dates from the late 14th century. The Latin word is glossed in Old
English by facen, also "deceit, fraud, treachery". Crime wave is first attested in 1893
in American English. In the scope of law, crime is defined by the criminal law of a given
jurisdiction, including all actions that are subject to criminal procedure. There is no limit to what
can be considered a crime in a legal system, so there may not be a unifying principle used to
determine whether an action should be designated as a crime. Legislatures can pass laws
(called mala prohibita) that define crimes against social norms. These laws vary from time to
time and from place to place: note variations in gambling laws, for example, and the prohibition
or encouragement of dueling in history. Other crimes, called mala in se, count as outlawed in
almost all societies, (murder, theft and rape). English criminal law and the related criminal law
of Commonwealth countries can define offences that the courts alone have developed over the
years, without any actual legislation: common law offences. The courts used the concept
of malum in se to develop various common law offences. In the military sphere, authorities can
prosecute both regular crimes and specific acts (such as mutiny or desertion) under martial-
law codes that either supplant or extend civil codes in times of (for example) war. Many
constitutions contain provisions to curtail freedoms and criminalize otherwise tolerated behaviors
under a state of emergency in case of war, natural disaster or civil unrest. Undesired activities at
such times may include assembly in the streets, violation of curfew, or possession of firearms.
There are many effects of crime, but statistically, the effects are often worse if the crime is
violent. Areas that have a higher crime rate often suffer from crashing property prices. People are
likely to want to move away when the crime rate increases, yet find it difficult to sell their homes
for a good profit. This is because nobody wants to move to an area affected by high crime rates.
A crime is behavior that is punishable as a public offense. The elements of a crime generally
come from statutes, but may also be supplied by the common law in states where
the criminal common law still carries force.
What is Crime ?
Crime is behavior, either by act or omission, defined by statutory or common law as deserving of
punishment or penalty. Although most crimes require the element of intent, certain minor crimes
may be committed based on strict liability even if the defendant had no specific mindset with
regard to the criminal action. For instance, parking violations are crimes that usually do not
require prosecutors to establish intent. Some crimes are considered mala prohibita (bad because
prohibited); these are prohibited by statute but are not inherently evil. Other crimes are
considered mala in se (bad in themselves); these are considered inherently evil under general
community standards. The idea of mala in se formed the original justification for common
law crimes. However, many crimes that are today prohibited by statute also belong to the
category of mala in se. Crimes are prosecuted by government attorneys. Such attorneys may
signify a city, county, state, or the federal government. Examples include the Attorney
General of the United States, the attorney general of a state, federal district attorneys, and city
attorneys.  Crimes are ranked as greater violations of public order (felony) or as lesser violations
(misdemeanor), and are adjudicated according to rules of criminal procedure. A society is
a group of individuals involved in dogged social interaction, or a large social group sharing the
same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant
cultural expectations. Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations)
between individuals who share a distinctive culture and societies; a given society may be
described as the sum total of such relationships among its component of members. In the social
sciences, a larger society often displays stratification or supremacy patterns in subclasses.
Society has existed since man began to populate the planet, although its form of organization
underwent variations throughout history. The society of prehistoric man was organized in
a hierarchical, where a boss (the strongest or wisest of the group) concentrated power. From
the Ancient Greece, the absolute tendency of control began to change, since the lower levels of
society were able to reach certain sectors of importance in decision-making through
the democracy. Just in 1789, with the French Revolution, the social organization changed
radically: since then, anyone can go up to a higher estate of the society. It is worth mentioning
that the concept of society can also be understood from a viewpoint of economic and legal, to
define the union of at least two personalities who commit to make contributions and common
efforts to develop a Commercial activity and distribute among themselves the profits obtained. In
this sense, Germany, Ghana, India, Britain, China, South Africa, Nigeria, France and the United
States are all societies. Societies may be very small or too big to include millions of people and
many groups or communities. In brief, the word ‘society’ connotes the whole complex of
relations of man/woman to his/her fellows. On the other hand, culture refers to the ways of life or
living of the members of a society. How people dress, how and what they eat, how they marry,
what are their customs of birth and death, what are their beliefs and values, what are their leisure
activities, what is their language and so on. All these elements make a culture. When informal
relationships prove insufficient to establish and maintain a desired social order, a government or
a state may impose more formalized or stricter systems of social control. With institutional and
legal machinery at their disposal, agents of the state can compel populations to conform to codes
and can opt to punish or attempt to reform those who do not conform. Authorities employ
various mechanisms to regulate (encouraging or discouraging) certain behaviors in general.
Governing or administering agencies may for example codify rules into laws, police citizens and
visitors to ensure that they comply with those laws, and implement other policies and practices
that legislators or administrators have prescribed with the aim of discouraging or preventing
crime. In addition, authorities provide remedies and sanctions, and collectively these constitute
a criminal justice system. Legal sanctions vary widely in their severity; they may include (for
example) incarceration of temporary character aimed at reforming the convict. Some
jurisdictions have penal codes written to inflict permanent harsh punishments:
legal mutilation, capital punishment, or life without parole. Usually, a natural person perpetrates
a crime, but legal persons may also commit crimes. Historically, several pre-modern societies
believed that non-human animals were capable of committing crimes, and prosecuted and
punished them accordingly. Richard Quinney has written about the relationship between society
and crime. When Quinney states "crime is a social phenomenon" he envisages both how
individuals conceive crime and how populations perceive it, based on societal norms. In ordinary
language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The
term crime does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted
definition, though statutory definitions have been provided for certain purposes. The most
popular view is that crime is a category created by law; in other words, something is a crime if
declared as such by the relevant and applicable law. One proposed definition is that a crime
or offence (or criminal offence) is an act harmful not only to some individual but also to a
community, society, or the state ("a public wrong"). Such acts are forbidden and punishable by
law. The notion that acts such as murder, rape, and theft are to be prohibited exists
worldwide. What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by the criminal law of each
relevant jurisdiction. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code, in
some common law nations no such comprehensive statute exists. The state (government) has the
power to severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies, there
are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If found guilty, an offender may
be sentenced to a form of reparation such as a community sentence, or, depending on the nature
of their offence, to undergo imprisonment, life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions, death.
Usually, to be classified as a crime, the "act of doing something criminal" (actus reus) must –
with certain exceptions – be accompanied by the "intention to do something criminal" (mens
rea). While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime.
Breaches of private law (torts and breaches of contract) are not automatically punished by the
state, but can be enforced through civil procedure.  
The term State
Peter L. Berger defines society as "…a human product, and nothing but a human product, that
yet continuously acts ... upon its producer[s]." According to him, society was created by humans,
but this creation turns back and creates or molds humans every day.
Canis lupus social ethology

Sociologist Gerhard Lenski differentiates societies based on their level of technology,

communication, and economy: (1) hunters and gatherers, (2) simple agricultural, (3) advanced
agricultural, (4) industrial, and (5) special (e.g. fishing societies or maritime societies). This is
similar to the system earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. Fried, a conflict theorist,
and Elman Service, an integration theorist, who have produced a system of classification for
societies in all human cultures based on the evolution of social inequality and the role of
the state. This system of classification contains four categories:

 Hunter-gatherer bands (categorization of duties and responsibilities). Then came the

agricultural society.
 Tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige.
 Stratified structures led by chieftains.
 Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.

In addition to this there are:

 Humanity, humankind, upon which rest all the elements of society, including society's
beliefs.
 Virtual society, a society based on online identity, which is evolving in the information age.

Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms of organization and

control. This cultural evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer
tribes settled around seasonal food stocks to become agrarian villages. Villages grew to become
towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states.
Types of Society

Societies are social groups that differ according to subsistence strategies, the ways that humans
use technology to provide needs for themselves. Although humans have established many types
of societies throughout history, anthropologists tend to classify different societies according to
the degree to which different groups within a society have unequal access to advantages such as
resources, prestige, or power. Virtually all societies have developed some degree of inequality
among their people through the process of social stratification, the division of members of a
society into levels with unequal wealth, prestige, or power. Societies are place in three (3) broad
categories: pre-industrial, industrial, and postindustrial.
- Pre-industrial Society

In a pre-industrial society, food production, which is carried out through the use of human and
animal labor, is the main economic activity. These societies can be subdivided according to their
level of technology and their method of producing food. These subdivisions are hunting and
gathering, pastoral, horticultural, and agricultural.

- Hunting and Gathering

San people in Botswana start a fire by hand.

The main form of food production in hunter-gatherer societies is the daily collection of wild
plants and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers move around constantly in search of
food. As a result, they do not build permanent villages or create a wide variety of artifacts, and
usually only form small groups such as bands and tribes. However, some hunting and gathering
societies in areas with abundant resources (such as the people of Tlingit in North America) lived
in larger groups and formed complex hierarchical social structures such as chiefdom. The need
for mobility also limits the size of these societies. Bands consist of 15 to 50 people related by
kinship. Statuses within the tribe are relatively equal, and decisions are reached through general
agreement. The ties that bind the tribe are more complex than those of the bands. Leadership is
personal—charismatic—and used for special purposes only in tribal society. There are no
political offices containing real power, and a chief is merely a person of influence. The family
forms the main social unit, with most members being related by birth or marriage. The
anthropologist Marshall Sahlins described hunter-gatherers as the "original affluent society" due
to their extended leisure time: adults in foraging and horticultural societies work, on average,
about 6.5 hours a day, whereas people in agricultural and industrial societies work on average 8.8
hours a day.
- Pastoral Society

Pastoralism is a slightly more efficient form of subsistence. Rather than searching for food on a
daily basis, members of a pastoral society rely on domesticated herd animals to meet their food
needs. Pastoralists live a nomadic life, moving their herds from one pasture to another. Because
their food supply is far more reliable, pastoral societies can support larger populations. Since
there are food surpluses, fewer people are needed to produce food. As a result, the division of
labor (the specialization by individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic
activities) becomes more complex. For example, some people become craft workers,
producing tools, weapons, and jewelry, among other items of value. The production of goods
encourages trade. This trade helps to create inequality, as some families acquire more goods than
others do. These families often gain power through their increased wealth. The passing on of
property from one generation to another helps to centralize wealth and power. Over time emerge
hereditary chieftainships, the typical form of government in pastoral societies.
- Horticultural society

Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the jungle or forest
provide the main source of food in a horticultural society. These societies have a level
of technology and complexity similar to pastoral societies. Historians use the phrase Agricultural
Revolution to refer to the technological changes that occurred as long as 10,000 years ago that
led to cultivating crops and raising farm animals. Some horticultural groups use the slash-and-
burn method to raise crops. The wild vegetation is cut and burned, and ashes are used as
fertilizers. Horticulturists use human labor and simple tools to cultivate the land for one or more
seasons. When the land becomes barren, horticulturists clear a new plot and leave the old plot to
revert to its natural state. They may return to the original land several years later and begin the
process again. By rotating their garden plots, horticulturists can stay in one area for a fairly long
period of time. This allows them to build semi-permanent or permanent villages. The size of a
village's population depends on the amount of land available for farming; thus villages can range
from as few as 30 people to as many as 2000. As with pastoral societies, surplus food leads to a
more complex division of labor. Specialized roles in horticultural societies include
craftspeople, shamans (religious leaders), and traders. This role specialization allows people to
create a wide variety of artifacts. As in pastoral societies, surplus food can lead to inequalities in
wealth and power within horticultural political systems, developed because of the settled nature
of horticultural life.

- Agrarian society

Ploughing with oxen in the 15th century

Agrarian societies use agricultural technological advances to cultivate crops over a large area.

According to Lenski, the difference between horticultural and agrarian societies is the use of the
plow. Increases in food supplies due to improved technology led to larger populations than in
earlier communities. This meant a greater surplus, which resulted in towns that became centers
of trade supporting various rulers, educators, craftspeople, merchants, and religious leaders who
did not have to worry about locating nourishment.

Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agrarian societies. For example, women
previously had higher social status because they shared labor more equally with men. In hunting
and gathering societies, women even gathered more food than men. However, as food stores
improved and women took on different roles in providing food for the family, men took an
increasingly dominant role in society. As villages and towns expanded into neighboring areas,
conflicts with other communities inevitably occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food
in exchange for protection against invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social
status also appeared. This nobility organized warriors to protect the society from invasion. In this
way, the nobility managed to extract goods from "lesser" members of society.

- Industrial Society

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, a new economic system emerged. Capitalism is marked by
open competition in a free market, in which the means of production are privately owned.
Europe's exploration of the Americas served as one impetus for the development of capitalism.
The introduction of foreign metals, silks, and spices stimulated great commercial activity in
European societies. Industrial societies rely heavily on machines powered by fuels for the
production of goods. This produced further dramatic increases in efficiency. The increased
efficiency of production of the industrial revolution produced an even greater surplus than
before. Now the surplus was not just agricultural goods, but also manufactured goods. This
larger surplus caused all of the changes discussed earlier in the domestication revolution to
become even more pronounced. Once again, the population boomed. Increased productivity
made more goods available to everyone. However, inequality became even greater than before.
The breakup of agricultural-based societies caused many people to leave the land and seek
employment in cities. This created a great surplus of labor and gave capitalists plenty of laborers
who could be hired for extremely low wages.

- Post-industrial

Post-industrial societies are societies dominated by information, services, and high technology
more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial societies are now seeing a shift toward
an increase in service sectors over manufacturing and production. The United States is the first
country to have over half of its workforce employed in service industries. Service industries
include government, research, education, health, sales, law, and banking. Humans fall
between presocial and eusocial in the spectrum of animal ethology. The great apes have always
been more (Bonobo, Homo, Pan) or less (Gorilla, Pongo) social animals. In contrast to
humanity's closest biological relatives (chimpanzees and bonobos), is the parental role assumed
by the males, which supposedly would be absent in our nearest relatives for whom paternity is
not generally determinable. The term "society" came from the 12th century
French société (meaning 'company'). This was in turn from the Latin word societas, which in
turn was derived from the noun socius ("comrade, friend, ally"; adjectival form socialis) used to
describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least civil. Without an
article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity (also: "society in general", "society at
large", etc.), although those who are unfriendly or uncivil to the remainder of society in this
sense may be deemed to be "antisocial". In the 1630s it was used in reference to "people bound
by neighborhood and intercourse aware of living together in an ordered community.
Criminality in society
A crime is defined as any act that is contrary to legal code or laws. In other words, crime and
legality are social constructs that are fluid and change over time. There are many different types
of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless crimes and violent crimes to white collar
crimes. The study of crime and deviance is a large subfield within criminology, with much
attention paid to the culture conflict table (primary and secondary conflicts evolution) in society
to who commits which types of crimes.
- Crimes Against Persons
Crimes against persons also called personal crimes, include murder, aggravated assault, rape, and
robbery. Personal crimes are unevenly distributed in the United States, with young, urban, poor,
non-white, and other historically marginalized groups both more often affected by these crimes
and arrested for them than white, middle- and upper-class people are.
- Crimes Against Property
Property crimes involve the theft of property without bodily harm, such as burglary, larceny,
auto theft, and arson. Like personal crimes, members of historically marginalized groups are
arrested for these crimes more than others.
- Crime against Government
This is third category of crime could either be physical or cybercrime against the government.
When a crime is committed against the state, it is considered an offence on the sovereignty of a
nation and an act of infringement against the Government.
- Hate Crimes
Hate crimes are crimes against persons or property that are committed while invoking prejudices
of race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The rate of
hate crimes in the U.S. remains fairly constant from year to year, but there have been a few
events that have caused surges in hate crimes. In 2016, the election of Donald Trump was
followed by an uptick in hate crimes.
- Crimes Against Morality
Crimes against morality are also called victimless crimes because there is no complainant or
victim. Prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use are all examples of victimless crimes.
- White-Collar Crime
White-collar crimes are crimes committed by people of high social status who commit their
crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes embezzling (stealing money from one’s
employer), insider trading, tax evasion, and other violations of income tax laws. White-collar
crimes generally generate less concern in the public mind than other types of crime, however, in
terms of total dollars, white-collar crimes are even more consequential for society. For example,
the Great Recession can be understood as in part the result of a variety of white-collar crimes
committed within the home mortgage industry. Nonetheless, these crimes are generally the least
investigated and least prosecuted because they are protected by a combination of privileges of
race, class, and gender.

- CyberCrime
The “Cybercrimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015” has a significant impact on cyber law
in Nigeria. This Act creates a comprehensive legal, regulatory, and institutional framework in
Nigeria to prohibit, prevent, detect, prosecute, and punish cybercrime. The Act also encourages
cybersecurity and protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data
and computer programs, intellectual property, and privacy rights, as well as the protection of
important national information infrastructure.
- Organized Crime
Organized crime is committed by structured groups typically involving the distribution and sale
of illegal goods and services. Many people think of the Mafia when they think of organized
crime, but the term can refer to any group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises
(such as the drug trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money
laundering).

Most Crimes in Nigeria

Crime in Nigeria is investigated by the Nigerian Police. Nigeria is considered to be a country
with a high level of crime, ranking 17th among the least peaceful countries in the world. During
the first half of 2022, almost 6,000 people were killed by jihadists, kidnappers, bandits or
the Nigerian army.
- Child sexual abuse in Nigeria
According to UNICEF in 2014, 25% of women were sexually abused before age 18 and 11% of
men were sexually abused before age 18.
- Corruption in Nigeria
In 2011, it was estimated that Nigeria had lost over $400 billion to political corruption
since independence.
- Domestic violence in Nigeria

A 2012 study found that 31% of Nigerian women had been victims of domestic
violence. Nigerian sensitivities of domestic violence vary based on region, religion, and class.
For example, the Tiv people view wife-beating as a "sign of love" that should be encouraged as
evidenced with the declaration "If you are not yet beaten by your husband then you do not know
the joy of marriage and that means you are not yet married. All the major ethnic groups,
especially Yoruba and Igbo, have strong male-controlled societal structures that lead to the
justification of domestic violence.

- Human trafficking in Nigeria

Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected
to trafficking, including forced labour and forced prostitution. Trafficked Nigerian women and
children are recruited from rural areas within Nigeria - women and girls for involuntary domestic
servitude and sexual exploitation, and boys for forced labour in street vending, domestic
servitude, mining, and begging. Nigerian women and children are taken from Nigeria to
other West and Central African countries,
primarily Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Gambia,
for the same purposes. Children from West African states like Benin, Togo, and Ghana –
where Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rules allow for easy entry – are
also forced to work in Nigeria, and some are subjected to hazardous jobs in Nigeria's granite
mines. Nigerian women and girls are taken to Europe, especially to Italy and Russia, and to the
Middle East and North Africa, for forced prostitution.
- Kidnapping in Nigeria
Kidnapping is a major problem in Nigeria in the early 21st century. Kidnapping
by bandits and insurgents is among the biggest organised or gang crime in Nigeria and is
a national security challenge.

- Murder 
Nigeria had a murder rate of 9.85 per 100,000 population in 2015. In 2016, the homicide rate per
100.000 inhabitants was 34.5%.

- Organised crime in Nigeria

Criminal organizations in Nigeria typically do not follow the mafia-type model used elsewhere.
They appear to be less formal and more organised along familial and ethnic lines, thus making
them less susceptible to infiltration by law enforcement. Police investigations are further
hampered by the fact there are at least 250 distinct ethnic languages in Nigeria. Area boys are
loosely organised gangs of street children and teenagers, composed mostly of males, who roam
the streets of Lagos, Lagos State in Nigeria. They extort money from passers-by, public
transporters and traders, sell illegal drugs, act as informal security guards, and perform other
"odd jobs" in return for compensation.

- Piracy
In 2021, there were six actual and attempted piracy attacks in Nigeria, a significant decrease
compared with the previous years. That year, the waters off the Singaporean straits experienced
the highest number of piracy attacks global in 2021.
- Cybercrime
Cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network popularly known as
“ahoo yahoo or yahoo plus” in Nigeria. The computer may have been used in committing the
crime, or it may be the target. Cybercrime may harm someone's security or finances or the
country at large.
 - Prison breaks in Nigeria.
Since 2020, in Nigeria, over 5,000 inmates had escaped during prison breaks.
Islamist militants’ jihads have said they carried out the attack, and dozens of jihadists are thought
to be on the run.
- Terrorism:
Boko Haram insurgency Jihadist group Boko Haram began an insurgency in July 2009, which
peaked in the mid-2010s. Centered on Maiduguri, Borno State, they have killed carried out many
attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. They have carried out
many kidnappings, bombings and massacres - killing tens of thousands of people. In September
2019, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stated that it killed 14 Nigerian soldiers in
Borno. Later in September 2019, militants in northeastern Nigeria killed at least nine people in
an attack. A day later, ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack. In January 2021,
a separatist insurgency in the country's southeast began.

Causes of Crime in Society

Crime changes all the time, as does society. However, laws take longer to change and are not
subjective. The government decides the line between 'right' and 'wrong', which can sometimes
lead to controversy when new laws come into action. Durkheim's theories on crime concerning
lack of socialization can be explored further to determine the causes of crime and Reckless
Walter (1961) control theory for reason for crime is in perfect line to determine causes of crime
in society from his social pressures (poverty), social pushes (inferiority perception), and social
pulls (bad company).
- Social Factors of Crime
Causes of crime are very complex. There is never just one underlying reason for a criminal
committing an act against the law. However, studies have shown that cause is often determined
by the situation you are born into. The amount of crime you will commit in a lifetime can
generally be determined by social factors such as the location you are born, your gender,
ethnicity, and social class. This can be seen by looking at official statistics. Over 70 percent of
crime is committed by men; if you are born a man, it's more likely you will commit a crime than
a woman. Poverty is a great factor in crime. Those born into poverty are more likely to commit
crimes such as theft in order to escape poverty. However, this is not the case for all. Labelling
theory suggests that as the working class are labelled 'underachievers' by society, it results in a
self-fulfilling prophecy. By joining delinquent subcultures, the working class can finally feel
accepted in society. However, this results in the labelling going even further. Being labelled as
'criminal' makes them become so, as they have lost other opportunities in life.
- Youth, Crime and Society
It is particularly interesting to look at the relationship between youth, crime, and society. Crimes
are committed by a younger demographic and have been for a long time. The mean age of
criminal conviction for men is 21-25 years old; for women it is 26-30 years old, according
to official statistics. Sociologists find it interesting to look at the reasoning for this. Some believe
that it comes down to the fact that human brains aren't fully developed until the age of 25. This
means we can still be impulsive and struggle to make decisions until the brain is fully developed.
Determining between 'right' and 'wrong' is important but subjective. If someone has not been
socialized in a way that teaches them the same norms as the law, it's more likely they will
commit a crime. Opportunity often comes along when we just grow out of childhood, and this
could be another factor for why crime is committed by younger groups of people.
- The Impact of Labelling in School on Crime
In addition, labelling at school plays a big part in how we develop after leaving
education. Rosenthal and Jacobsen suggest the self-fulfilling prophecy results in differences in
achievement. Teachers' unintentional labelling of students determines what they will achieve.
Labelling students negatively (e.g. 'low-achiever' or 'delinquent') will mean they fulfil this role.
Labelling occurs within schools when people are younger, resulting in criminal behaviors at this
age rather than later in life. A key sociological concept in the study or organized crime is that
these industries are organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take on a
corporate form. There are typically senior partners who control profits, employees who manage
and work for the business, and clients who buy the goods and services that the organization
provides. Arrest data show a clear pattern of arrests in terms of race, gender, and class. For
instance, as mentioned above, young, urban, poor, Black and brown people, and historically
marginalized groups overall are arrested and convicted more than others for personal and
property crimes. To sociologists, the question posed by this data is whether this reflects actual
differences in committing crimes among different groups, or whether this reflects differential
treatment by the criminal justice system. Studies show that the answer is “both.” Certain groups
are in fact more likely to commit crimes than others because crime often looked to as a survival
strategy, is linked to patterns of inequality in the United States. However, the process of
prosecution in the criminal justice system is also significantly related to patterns of race, class,
and gender inequality. We see this in the official arrest statistics, in treatment by the police, in
sentencing patterns, and in studies of imprisonment. Governments create laws and policies that
affect the citizens that they govern. There have been multiple forms of government throughout
human history, each having various means of obtaining power and the ability to exert diverse
controls on the population. As of 2017, more than half of all national governments
are democracies, with 13% being autocracies and 28% containing elements of both. Many
countries have formed international political organizations and alliances, the largest being
the United Nations with 193 member states. Humans commit violence on other humans at a rate
comparable to other primates, but kill adult humans at a high rate (with infanticide being more
common among other animals). It is predicted that 2% of early H. sapiens would be killed, rising
to 12% during the medieval period, before dropping to below 2% in modern times. There is great
variation in violence between human populations with rates of homicide in societies that
have legal systems and strong cultural attitudes against violence at about 0.01%. The willingness
of humans to kill other members of their species en masse through organized conflict (i.e., war)
has long been the subject of debate. One school of thought is that war evolved as a means to
eliminate competitors, and has always been an innate human characteristic. Another suggests that
war is a relatively recent phenomenon and appeared due to changing social conditions. While not
settled, the current evidence suggests warlike predispositions only became common about 10,000
years ago, and in many places much more recently than that. War has had a high cost on human
life; it is estimated that during the 20th century, between 167 million and 188 million people died
as a result of war.
Effect of Crime in Society
An interesting theory in relation to the effects of crime is the 'Broken window theory' by. The
theory suggests that if a community accepts a broken window without fixing it, then crime will
slowly increase. The idea behind this is the acceptance of crime. If the window is not fixed, it
shows criminals that vandalism is accepted in that community. This has a knock-on effect which
leads to further low-level crime such as littering and graffiti. Although perhaps small, their
impact sends a message of crime tolerance, therefore paving the way for worse crimes to occur.
Wilson believed the solution to this problem was to deter criminals from committing serious
crimes in an area by having severe punishments for low-level crimes such as these. Stereotyping
can also be seen as an effect of crime. Stereotypes in relation to crime are often assumed from
who we believe will commit a crime. Stereotypes limit certain groups within society and have a
negative effect on how we perceive one another. This is often down to media perception. Quite
naturally, economic and social disparities adversely affect the socioeconomic disadvantaged
group. Socially excluded people have an albatross around their neck: they are prone to
unemployment, underemployment, poor educational attainment and other desperate
circumstances which directly or indirectly hinder the development of their innate requisite skills
or talents which could pave way for a better living condition and consequently dissuade them
from contemplating crime or delinquency. In this regard, both the root and immediate causes of
substance abuse, kidnapping, youth restiveness, political thuggery, campus cultism and terrorism
in Nigeria are strongly linked to social exclusion endemic in the country. For instance, a cursory
look into the historical antecedent of cultism in Nigeria is traceable to social exclusion. Many
Nigerians were dishearteningly excluded from their societal resources by the British colonial
masters. In reaction to this egregious situation in Nigeria, a group of Seven (7) students at the
University College, Ibadan in 1952 formed the Pirate cult/confraternity in order to correct the
anomalies in the system and stem the widespread social injustice meted out not only to Black
students but also the entire Black population in the country. Warner (2003) stressed that some
lower class (socially excluded) people are driven to desperate measures such as crime and drug
abuse because they lack ties to the mainstream culture; this they do to cope with their economic
plight. Giddens (2006), citing Currie (1998), reiterated that the connection between social
exclusion and crime is that legitimate channels for change are bypassed in favor of illegal ones.
Crime is favored over alternative means, such as the political system or community organization.
Anayaba (2012) illustrated that the living standard and welfare of Nigerians have since
independence continued on a downwards progressive slide in the face of though abundant
material and human resources. Poverty (social exclusion) is especially exemplified in the area of
water supply with statistics indicating that less than 40% of Nigerians have access to pipe borne
water while 60% of them obtain their water from rivers, streams and ponds that are sometimes
located many kilometers’ away from their residence. Ironically, this water in most cases is not in
a drinkable condition. Anayaba further lamented that less than half of the national population
cannot afford Three (3) square meals per day. Comfortable living standard and affordable
housing have continued to elude the highest number of Nigerians population both in urban and
rural communities. Health facilities in Nigeria are largely insufficient, not strategically located,
overstretched, underfunded, poorly managed and maintained, ill-equipped and understaffed with
poorly motivated members of staff that lack modern medical capacity to deliver. Also, Nigerian
roads have driven from bad to worst and from manageable condition to inaccessible. It is
estimated that Nigeria ranks next to such densely populated countries as China and India in
accident rates, resulting from poor or bad road network.
CONCLUSION
A crime is any acts or actions perpetrated by being or animal in groups or as individual that is
contrary to legal code or traditional laws of the society. In other words, an act is not seen as
crime or offence except the society see it as such. Societal norms are what decode what is legal
or illegal in sphere(s). crime and legality are social constructs that are fluid and change over
time. There are many different types of crimes, from crimes against persons to victimless crimes
and violent crimes to white collar crimes, cybercrime etc. The study of crime and deviance is a
large subfield within criminology, with much attention paid to the culture conflict table (primary
and secondary conflicts evolution) in society. Law should simply be used to enforce, maintain
and nourish the social contract.

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