Social Problems: Exploring the Main Types

Social Problems: Exploring the Main Types

Introduction

A social problem is a condition considered by some members who live in a particular community as being undesirable. The big population generally agrees about some social problems, such as murders and robbery. Other social problems are viewed differently, dependent on the different groups of people in a society (Chiricos, 2006). An example is; teenagers who play loud music at home, their parents and other people (especially the more advanced in age) may consider it an undesirable social condition.

A construct in the context of social problems can hence be a social issue that is a direct or indirect result of social human activity, either individual or group work. There are four main social problems; crime, violence, drug abuse, and environmental problems. The other social problems are very closely related to the above.

Crime

A crime is the deviant breach of rules and laws for which some governing authority (through institutions like the police power) ultimately prescribes a conviction and some form of punishment (Chiricos, 2006, p. 6). All societies have there different ways of describing crime in diverse ways. Whilst every offense violates the law, not every offense is considered a crime. For instance, violation of civil laws is seen as “an infraction” or as “an offense”.

Crime can be classified into two categories; violent and non-violent.

Non-violent crime does not involve the use of force or violence to achieve the intended results. Most of these crimes are hence categorized as offenses or infractions. Common amongst non-violent crimes are; cybercrime and fraud.

Cybercrime is also called computer crime. In this case, the offender uses computers and the internet as his or her means to steal money or a person’s identity. Cybercrimes comprise rather prestigious violations, especially those surrounding hacking, official document violation, and infant pornography. Confidential information and data can be lost or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise, using the internet, this is identity theft.

Computer felony comprises a wide variety of potentially unlawful actions. Generally, it is divided into two categories: crimes that directly target computer networks or devices and crimes facilitated by computer networks or devices, the primary target here is independent of the computer network or device (Chiricos, 2006). Cybercriminals are undeterred by the prospects of arrest and prosecution; they lurk on the Net as an ever-present menace to the financial health of businesses, customers’ trust, and an emerging threat to nations’ security.

When it comes to violent crime, this is very diverse; robbery and rape are the most common. Rape is when the victim is forced to has involuntary sexual intercourse and has happened to both men and women of any age. In most cases, rape is not sex but power. Mainly, a rapist uses verbal intimidation, violent force or a combination of both to have mental and physical control over his or her victim. Rape is a crime, as long as it is forced and involuntary. It does not matter if the person who committed it is known to the victim (a family member a date, or an acquaintance), or a stranger (McConnell International LLC, 2000). Women and children are most vulnerable and are often endangered in the places where or with people whom they should be safest with: within their families. Most of these victims are faced with terror at a place they should be assured of their own security, home. The victims of rape suffer both body and mental torture. Usually, the victims do not speak out about the attacks because they are often facing threats. This is a denial of human rights and their lives endangered by the ever-present threat of violence (McConnell International LLC, 2000).

Robbery is seen as a crime, the violent taking of one’s property, through intimidation, violently or the use of both, as compared to fraud often considered as theft, which is ‘more acceptable’. Robbery is dissimilar from easy theft since the criminal uses aggression and bullying. In most countries, robbery with violence is considered a capital offense and its punishment severe. Even though the death sentence has been abolished in many countries, capital offenders are faced with another form of maximum sentence, life imprisonment

Violence

Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or another. Violence is used world-over as a means to manipulate. This makes it a source of concern for both state laws and societal cultures that make efforts to either suppress or stop it. It differs from being a physical assault amid two inhabitants where a minor wound may direct to the conflict that may to genocides wh