Standard Operational Definitions Of Crime

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A theory is an explanation, it tells why of how things are related to each other (Bohm & Vogel, 2010..) A theory of crime explains why or how a certain thing or certain things are related to criminal behavior (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) For example, some theories assume that crime is a part of human nature, that human beings are born evil (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) In those theories, human nature is the thing explained in relation to crime (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) Other theories, assume that crime is caused by biological things (such as below-normal intelligence, satisfaction, of basic needs), sociological things (for instance, social disorganization, inadequate socialization), economic things (such as poverty, unemployment), or some combination of all four …show more content…

Nominal definitions are “dictionary definitions” assigned to concepts to clarify what the concepts ean to a researcher and to make possible general discussion about them (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) The generally accepted nominal definition of the concept of crime, for example, is a violation of the criminal law (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) Operational definitions describe how concepts are or will be measured for research purposes (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) Standard operational definitions of the concept of crime include the category of “offenses known to the police” as reported in the FBI’s uniform crime reports or data on victimization surveys (Bohm & Vogel, …show more content…

Offenses known to the police refer to crimes that are sometimes discovered by the police, but more generally are reported to the police and officially recorded by the police and sent to the FBI (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) Data from the national crime victimization surveys are based on interviews in which respondents are asked whether they have been victims of certain crimes during the past six months, and if they have they are asked to provide information about experience (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) Most crime theories assume those nominal and operational definitions; however interactionist, radical, and some critical theories question their usage (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.)
Interrelated concepts are called propositions (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) An example of a proposition that interrelated that concepts of poverty and crime is “as poverty increased, crime increases” (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) The particular relationship is referred to as a positive linear relationship (Bohm & Vogel, 2010.) A positive linear is one in which concepts increase or decrease together in a relatively straight-line fashion (Bohm & Vogel,