Navigating the Complexities of Criminological Theory: Current Obstacles and Emerging Pathways.

Abstract

The establishment of crimes, the analysis of criminal behaviour, and the understanding of the working of the criminal justice system have their credibilities with the aid of criminological theories. They include classical, positivist, or modern theories, or those developed in the context of social disorganization, strain, and routine activity, which would in turn directly influence the formulation of laws, law enforcement, or crime prevention programs and the constitution of new policies (Lilly, Cullen & Ball, 2019). The setting for putting these theories into practice, however, is severely hindered. Criminal behaviour has shown influence from sociocultural, economic, and political changes which often run contradictory to these theories.Criminological theories are more often subject to varying degree of contextual constraints. Theories emerge from a cultural, historical and socio-economic context, and their claim to universality becomes matter of debate. For example, strain theory posits that crime arises in the context of social push towards attaining economic success (Onyige, 2018). The theory might find little explanatory power in understanding crimes in rich countries where such economic pressure is absent. Some theories propounded in the western context are likely to find little use in explaining crime trends in non-western societies that are informed by their own cultural norms and legal systems.