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Biological Theories Of Crime Causation Essay

1005 Words5 Pages

Biological theories of crime causation once accepted the theory that man operates based on free will and rational thought when they choose what and what not to do (Siegel, 2000). Today, criminality is viewed as a function of people’s interactions with organization, institutions, and processes in society. All people have the potential to become criminals if they maintain destructive social relationships (Siegel, 2000). Biological theories of crime causation make the fundamental assumption that the brain is the organ of the mind and the location of personality. Franz Gall was the first Western writer to firmly locate the roots of personality in the brain (Schmalleger, 2012).
Biological theories of crime causation make several assumptions such as the basic human behavior including the idea that to a degree criminal tendencies are genetically based (Schmalleger, 2012). Other assumptions are that differences in gender and race may vary the types of crime and that human behavior, including criminality, may be passed from generation to generation allowing that a desire for crime may be …show more content…

Things such as a compulsive person who is neat, orderly, and maybe somewhat rigid is likely to behave in a certain way in different aspects of their life (Schlesinger, 2009). The difference between non-criminals and criminals would be based on the genetic, physical, mental and personality traits (Schlesinger, 2009). The development of investigative profiling or behavioral analyses has been a natural result of the psychological principles of crime causation (Schlesinger, 2009). The administering of psychotropic medication even forced when necessary, along other behavioral changing policies would be implemented. Rehabilitative programs using cognitive behavioral therapy is often used today in the prison

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After reading chapters one and two of the Psychology in Everyday Life book and learning about the four big ideas in psychology, and also while trying to figure out the contributing factors of Andrea Yates’ murder of her children. I have to focus in on and think about big idea two, the biopsychosocial approach, that integrates three levels which are biological, psychological and social/cultural; all together these factors influence and give insight into behavior and mental processes. (CITE BOOK) After reviewing these, the psychological factors that I believe to have contributed to Andrea Yates’ murder of her children are, firstly biological, Andrea had a genetic predispositions, which means Andrea had an increased likelihood of developing

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While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the

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Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.

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This theory clearly rules out the effect of inherited or innate factors, and the last is the cognitive theory, which is based on how the perception of an individual is manifested into affecting his or her potential and capability to commit a crime. (Psychological theories of crime) Relating these theories to the case under study, it’s clear that the behaviour can be traced most times to faulty relationships in the family during the first years of

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In criminology, differential association is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior. The differential association theory is the most talked about of the learning theories of deviance. (DAT). (Sutherland) (Sociological Theories of Crime and Their Explanation on Crime , 2007) Theories of criminality are most commonly derived from human behavior.

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Most was derived from the assumption that behaviors such as; criminal and otherwise, are inherited. Which means that criminals are biologically different than non-criminals. One of the earliest explanations was known as Phrenology which was in the mid-1700’s to mid-1800’s, which viewed the shape and size of the brain and skull as determinants of criminal tendencies. The next early positivist explanation for deviance was in 1876, Cesare Lombroso’s theory of “Atavism” and “The Born Criminal” This was the 1st Major Application of this new science to the study of criminals and deviance.

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Fifth, the specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable. Sixth, a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law. Seventh, Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. Eighth, the process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. Lastly, while criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

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Why do people commit crimes? What goes through their minds before they actually commit a crime? These are questions asked from society to criminologist every time one decides they want to commit a crime. Criminologists has given us different crime causations, theories, to explain the answer to these questions. A theory is a speculation about how phenomena, behavior, or process are caused and what takes place after the cause is determined (Anderson, 2015).

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Today, there are proven facts that people who have parents that are criminals have a high chance of becoming criminals themselves. Not only can people become criminals because of their family but they can also become criminals because of the environment that they surround themselves in. This is where nature versus nurture comes into play. A person’s nature is their genetic makeup, basically meaning that a person’s nature is the genes they get from their parents. Also, a person’s genotype, one’s genetic makeup based on the sequencing of the nucleotides we term, provides them with physical traits that set the stage for certain behaviors (56).

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Criminal behaviour has always been an interest for psychologists, for they could never quite come to a conclusion between nature and nurture. Research concerning this topic has been organized for many years and due to the never ending debate, is still being conducted. I have decided to read and write about this myself, for I was genuinely curious about the matter and wanted to be a part of the research, as I felt responsible to do so. I believe that in order to stop something, it must be discussed and scrutinized. What effects do genes have on criminal behaviour, why do peer pressure and habitat influence a person to commit crimes and are men really more violent than women?

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Furthermore, the psychology of criminal behavior, psychology, and criminology all have a primary objective of achieving an understanding of the variation in the criminal behavior of individuals (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Empirically, the study of variation in criminal behavior is done by the studying of covariates (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). The primary covariates that PCC studies are biological, social, and psychological (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Although, criminology tends to assess criminality at an aggregate level, in comparison to the psychology of criminal conduct’s focus on an individual level. Additionally, a psychology of criminal conduct involves applying what is learned by the studying of psychological information and methods to the predicting and influencing the propensity of criminal behavior on an individual

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Where external and internal factors play a part and they are fated to be a criminal. The scientific grounds are offenders and people who have not yet offended can be given help, and they can be diagnosed by experts and receive treatment needed to not offend (Cavadino, 2007

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These individuals are likely to believe that the better way to reduce crime is to give criminals a harsh punishment. A positivist theory tries to explain that several biological and social factors may lead to criminal behavior. For example, there might be a lack of poverty and education in some places in which could result in a cause of higher crime rates but can be reduced if employment and educational opportunities are being suggested. Last theory is Individual trait, in which suggests that the most distinguishable differences between noncriminal and criminals are physiological and biological. Therefore a suggestion for this would be to limit the interaction between the ones who have the same

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Though he was influenced by Darwin, Lombroso misunderstood his work and considered criminals evolutionary throwbacks of primitive forms (Mazzarello, 2011). Trait theory has evolved over time from Garofalo’s sociological tilt (crime is an immoral act that is injurious to society) to Enrico Ferri (focused on social and economic factors that motivate criminals) to a modern, biosocial trait theory, which theorizes each person is mentally and physically unique, does not possess equipotentiality (equal potential to learn and achieve), and has developed traits at birth or soon after that affect social functioning and affect criminal behavior. Physical, environmental, and social conditions work in concert to produce behavior. The last part of the theory states, instincts affect learning (rape or desire of males to control

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