Crime(extra)

What is the crime?

A crime is an act, that a person does, which is against the laws of a country or region. A person who does this is called a criminal.
The basic idea of what things are called "crimes" is that they are thought to be things that might cause a problem for another person. Things like killing another person, injuring another person, or stealing from another person are crimes in most countries. Also, it can be a crime to eat some types of food, such as meat of rare exotic animals, marijuana leaves, or mushrooms that contain psychedelic drugs.
When some criminals make money from crime, they try to stop the police finding out where the money came from by money laundering.

Function of crime

Sociologist have long been interested in the functions of deviance and crime for the social order. Following Durkheim, functionalists argue that crime or the reaction to it (punishment) brings people together, thereby building social solidarity and cohesiveness, which in turn decreases crime. Recently, theory and research on the fear of crime argue, to the contrary, that crime or the reaction to it (fear) does not bring people together; rather it constrains their social interaction, thereby undermining instead of building social solidarity and cohesiveness. Additionally, opportunity (routine-activities) theory and research suggest that constraining social interaction to safe sites and times limits the opportunities for crime.

This article attempts to combine the fear-of-crime and opportunity (routine activities) research traditions in one model. The model first examined is a recursive one in which robbery constrains social interaction that affects other crimes. Then a nonrecursive model where robbery constrains social interaction that affects both other crimes and robbery is examined. Results suggest a model in which crime becomes stabilized through a negative feedback loop,as proposed by funcionalists, but through processes more akin to the proposed in routine-activities theory. As robbery increases, so does the fear of crime that constrains social interaction. Although possibly undermining social solidarity, this process constrains opportunities for crime, thereby decreasing both robbery and other crimes.