Question 1: One page

Many criminological theories tended to study the “background” of crime, that is, they studied how criminal motivation and behavior evolved over time with regards to the interaction of individual traits, socialization, and structural location. Conversely, Routine Activities theorists focused on the contemporaneous (“here and now”) aspects of the “crime” and the factors that lead to whether a crime would or would not “occur.” Routine Activities theorists posited that given the convergence of three essential ingredients, at a certain place and time, the explanation for the occurrence of predatory crimes and how to deter them could be best understood.

Please respond to the following:

Discuss the merits of the “here and now” approach posited by the Routine Activities theorists versus the merits posited by conventional “background” criminological theorists — in the explanation of predatory crime causation.

Question 2 : One page

Some criminologists suggest that biosocial theories evince promising policy applications in the area of prevention and treatment programs. However, research of some “ promising” biosocial theories have also shown that if a certain diagnostic category is “overly diagnosed” as the “silver bullet” for a particular behavior , such as was the case with the overly diagnosing and “treating” of children with ADHD — it contributed to many misdiagnosed and inappropriately “medicated” children exposed to drugs with serious side effects.

Before responding to the following question, first view this short video: Addiction and Public Health Policy

Discuss why, despite the dangers of “overly diagnosing” a certain category, biosocial theories still show great promise in dealing with substance abuse problems and the development of prevention and treatment programs? Why is “addiction” treated as a crime — rather than a disease?