FIELD THEORY OF CRIME (FROM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRIME COUNTERMEASURES - SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, PROCEEDINGS, 1977, BY JOHN S JACKSON - SEE NCJ-56184)

• NCJ Number: 56197
• Author(s): H A LANG
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: Ores Publications
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS ARTICLE FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1977 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRIME COUNTERMEASURES DISCUSSES THE APPLICATION OF MATHEMATICAL MODELING TECHNIQUES TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE FIELD.

Abstract

THE CONCEPT OF THE SCIENCES OF MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING, AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS CAN BE APPLIED TO THE FIELD OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE. FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A RESEARCH ENGINEER, MATHEMATICAL AND STATISTICAL CONCEPTS ARE DISCUSSED FOR THE APPLICATION OF SEVERAL SCIENCES TO CRIME PREVENTION IN ORDER TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE AND UNIFIED CRIME-FIGHTING TOOL. ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS ARE PRESENTED WHICH REPRESENT THE EQUILIBRIUM OF PHYSICAL QUANTITITES, AND BY ANALOGY, THE SOCIAL PRESSURES OF MINORITIES AND MAJORITIES IN OUR CULTURE. IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, THE CONCEPTS OF PRESSURE AND STRESS HAVE PRECISE MEANINGS WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORIES, BASED ON PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS, ARE USED TO DEVELOP MORE COMPLEX EQUATIONS. CREATED FROM THE WATERGATE POLITICAL CRISIS, EXAMPLES ARE USED TO COMPARE THE OPPOSING PRESSURES OF POLITICAL PARTIES TO THE TENSIONS STUDIED IN MECHANICS. A MARKED DISSONANCE BETWEEN PERSONS IS SHOWN TO RESULT IN RELEASING SOCIAL PRESSURES THROUGH CRIME. A FIELD THEORY IS PRESENTED IN WHICH POTENTIAL VICTIMS AND CRIMINALS ACT WITHIN A FIELD THAT HAS CHARACTERISTICS BORROWED FROM THE SCIENCE OF ACOUSTICS. THE POSSIBILITY OF CRIME IS SEEN TO INCREASE IF THE FIELDS OF THE ACTORS BEGIN TO COINCIDE. SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THE FIELD THEORY IN LAWS ARE GIVEN. A GRAPH, FOOTNOTES, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED. (TWK)