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Essay / How Luis Carlos Galan Was Killed in Colombia , became involved in the political and social systems of the country. As a result, Colombians found themselves plunged into a period of violence and insecurity; Many public leaders who have confronted drug cartels and suggested an extradition treaty with the United States have been threatened, blackmailed and even murdered. During the summer of 1989, the Liberal Party, wishing to put a definitive end to this situation, announced Luis Carlos Galán as its candidate for the 1990 elections. Galan "openly criticized the drug trafficking gangs in Colombia and placed the conclusion of 'an extradition treaty with the United States and the total crackdown on organized crime among the top priorities of his presidency' (Corbett). Galán held rallies across the country, always highlighting those who were his administration's priorities, and quickly became not only the leading candidate in the elections, but also the face of hope for millions of Colombians. On the evening of August 18, 1989, in the town of Soacha, seconds before giving his speech, Galan “was machine-gunned by an assassin in the crowd as he went on stage during a crime in front of around 10,000 people” (Corbett).Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIn a matter of seconds, the aspirations and expectations of millions of Colombians shook. Trying to imagine a bright future for the country was not easy, and now that the man who had inspired millions of them and convinced them that the war on drugs would soon be over was gone, it was mission impossible. Understanding why someone would commit such a crime and drag an entire nation into one of its bloodiest and most violent times has been a very difficult task, but perhaps a few criminological theories could help this process. Rational choice theory and the subculture of violence are two of many individual-level theories of crime that could help the world understand the reasons for Galan's assassination. During the Enlightenment, in reaction to old supernatural theories and harsh punishments used by the criminal justice systems of the 1700s, Cesare Beccaria and other classical theorists proposed the first scientific explanation of crime, known as classical theory. . This theory states that "people act rationally, choosing actions that result in the greatest pleasure and the least pain [and that] people will be deterred from committing a crime if the pain associated with punishment outweighs it." the pleasure associated with crime” (Cornish and Clarke 20). ). Since classical theory accepts the idea that all people are equally motivated to commit crime and that all are equally rational, Ronald V. Clarke and Derek B. Cornish propose an updated version of this theory recognized as choice theory rational. Rational choice theory. recognizes that offenders benefit from criminal activity through their own choices and decisions, but clarifies that this decision-making process is influenced by "a certain measure of rationality, although limited by time limits and the availability of relevant information" ( Cornish and Clarke 410). . In other words, the theory recognizes that not everyone is equally rational and that people measure the costs and benefits of involvement in crime differently. Rational choice theoryalso takes a specific approach to crime, meaning that Cornish and Clarke are aware that different situations and choices lead to different crimes and argue that "ignoring these differences may well amount to reducing a person's ability to identify fruitful points of intervention” (Cornish and Clarke 422). Finally, "rational choice theorists assert that a complete explanation of crime must distinguish between "criminal involvement" and "criminal events" where the former decides whether or not to engage in crime and the latter does reference to the time the crime occurs (Cornish and Clarke 411). On the other hand, subculture theories suggest that there is something different. about the cultures of certain communities that could help explain why people engage in criminal activity. American crime theorists of the first half of the 20th century helped "develop the concept of a criminal subculture and link it to social problems such as poverty and inequality" (Services and Rashmee). These early subcultural theories were primarily influenced by the middle-class economic prosperity experienced in the post-war periods, thus challenging oppositional or negativist views as well as pro-crime values. It was not until the late 1960s that Marvin E. Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti developed a thesis on the subculture of violence in which they discussed the idea that populations from lower socioeconomic classes had higher rates of violence. In this thesis, Wolfgang and Ferracuti stated that these upper class rates of violence could be due to the pro-violent values that arise within a group of likely-minded people who oppose the dominant culture broader framework to which they belong, as well as its values and standards. According to the report, these subcultures resort to violence in response to threats to their reputation and honor. It is used as a social control mechanism for protection and survival where all members of the subculture are required to engage in violence. As might be expected, offenders belonging to a violent subculture participate in violence very frequently, with little hassle and almost no guilt (Wolfgang and Ferracuti). Wolfgang and Ferracuti concluded that this specific tension in violence "is a collective phenomenon, a normal experience for poor, non-white men" (Services and Rashmee) who are part of this particular division. Additionally, Elijah Anderson supports Wolfgang and Ferracuti's statements. . In his book Code of the Street, Anderson explains how the origin of subcultures is directly linked to their content and suggests a set of informal rules known as the "code of the street." The code encourages people to engage in violence and criminality in order to preserve their honor and defend their reputation (Anderson). As is evident, these two theories, rational choice and subculture of violence, provide explanations for crime at the individual level and take into account the importance of the situations people find themselves in and how these affect the decisions they make. According to rational choice theory, there are constraints that force individuals to act accordingly and a number of factors that also influence their assessments of the costs and benefits of crime, such as their "level of self-control, their beliefs morals, their tensions, their emotional state and their capacity to act accordingly. association with delinquent peers » »..
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