There are diverse approaches towards the alleviation of crime, depending on the levels to which the community can choose to cooperate and the effectiveness of the law enforcement agencies. One of such approaches is the peacemaking model in criminology. The peacemaking approach towards crime alleviation contrasts itself with the conventional approaches that significantly rely on the effectiveness of the criminal justice system to solve the increasing crime rates (Schmalleger, 2009).
It is obvious that the criminal justice system has failed in crime prevention; this means that there is a need to implement new methodologies towards crime prevention such as the peace-making model. The conventional crime prevention models such as the prison system and the criminal justice system fail to put into consideration the social aspects that compel people to indulge in crime (Wilcox & Cullen, 2010).
The peace-making model attempts to eliminate the oppression and social injustices that are usually associated with the criminal justice system. The model also attempts to eliminate the violence that offenders may face while being subjected to criminal justice and society as a whole. An important aspect of the peace-making model is that that attempts to gain an understanding as to why and what circumstances that forces an individual to commit a crime.
The underlying principle is that crime cannot be controlled and prevented without having an understanding of the factors that compel individuals to get involved in criminal activities. Administering punishment to the offender is not an effective crime prevention approach because it does not address the root cause of the crime (Wilcox & Cullen, 2010).
The peace-making model to crime prevention argues that the occurrence of crime is not in any way related to suffering. Therefore, the model proposes that to end crime, society needs to eliminate the factors that are responsible for causing suffering.
For example, issues such as racism, harassment, and sexism require elimination to reduce crime rates in society. The peace-making approach to criminology claims that the criminal justice system is responsible for increasing crime rates because of the cruel crime prevention policies such as capital punishment, prison sentences that are lengthy and unwarranted, and the unfairness in the justice system itself. According to the peace-making model, the justice system should lay more emphasis on the use of restorative justice rather than administering punishment (Schmalleger, 2009).
The peace-making model focuses on the underlying principles that include conformity to nonviolence, social justice, inclusion, correct means, ascertainable criteria, and the categorical imperative. The model criticizes the use of violence, in particular the death penalty towards crime prevention. Social justice primarily entails the principle of social equity in the criminal justice system. Social variables such as racial orientation, social status, and feminism require eradication to control crime effectively. The concept of inclusion implies that the criminal justice system needs to involve the community during crime prevention.
Correct means imply that offenders should not submit to felonies because of coercion. Ascertainable criteria imply that the language used in the criminal justice system should be much the ordinary language used in the community setup. Integration of the outlined criteria forms the peace-making criminology model. Despite its psychological approach to criminology, there have been criticisms concerning its effectiveness in preventing and controlling crime. This is because its approach to crime prevention significantly relies on the flaws in the criminal justice system (Schmalleger, 2009).
There are diverse ways in which crime control bodies work with the community to aid control and prevention of crime. An example of such an approach is the use of community policing, which whereby the policing approach is a collaborative effort between the community and the crime control agencies (Schmalleger, 2009).
References
Schmalleger, F. (2009). Criminology Today (5th ed.). New York: Pearson/Printice Hall.
Wilcox, P., & Cullen, F. (2010). Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory. New York: SAGE.