How would you describe the various participants in a criminal event? How does each contribute to an understanding of the event?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The main participants in a criminal event are the offender, the victim, the justice system, and society. Each contributes to a criminal event in various ways.

Offenders bring various background features (personal life experiences, biology and genetic inventory, distinct personality, personal values and beliefs, skills and knowledge) as well as foreground contributions such as a particular motivation, a specific intent, or a drug-induced state of mind.

Background contributions to the criminal event by the criminal justice system include the system's failure to prevent criminal activity, to adequately identify and inhibit specific offenders prior to their involvement in crime, and to prevent the release of convicted criminals who later become repeat offenders. The failure of system-sponsored crime-prevention programs also helps set the stage for the criminal event. Proper system response, on the other hand, may reduce crime. Immediate foreground contributions by the justice system include various features of the situation, such as the presence or absence of police officers, the availability or lack of official assistance, the willingness of police officers to intervene in pre-crime situations, and police response time.

Victims' lifestyles may provide a background that fosters victimization. However, victim-precipitation offenses are those that involve active victim participating in the initial stages of a crime and that take place when the soon-to-be victim instigates the chain of events that culminates in the victimization.

Finally society (the general public) contribute formally to the criminal event through legislation defining crimes and by delineating which forms of activity are to be thought of as criminal. Less formal contributions arise out of generic social practices and conditions (poverty, poor education, discrimination, etc.) that block pathways to success and through socialization. Society, through the divergent values and expectations it places on people, property, and behavior under particular conditions, may provide the motivational basis for many offenses.