Biological Positivism Essay
One of the focuses of a criminologist, is to determine the cause of crimes and determine the motivation offences. Throughout history, many criminological theories have been put forth to explain the development of crime, resulting in various modern theories which incorporate the individual, social, structural and cultural reasons for crime. However, one of the first theories of crime advanced, was the concept of biological positivism. Although this theory has gone in and out of favour over the course of history, it should be completely disregarded by criminologists as it is a deeply flawed theory which has little scientific research backing it, and has very little practical utility to reducing crime. Biological positivism was first proposed
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Accepting that crime has a biological basis, alters the implications of punishment, as there is no space for reform or personal growth for the criminal (CITATION – BOOK?) Instead of attempting to alter the behavior of the criminal, different measures are taken such as performing a lobotomy, placing in social isolation, killing, and sterilizing the criminal to prevent future crimes (CITATION - BOOK). However, none of these are moral or appropriate and should be avoided if other actions can have a more positive impact without demeaning the life of the criminal. And other criminological theories can lead to more effective strategies. One example can be noted with armed robbery cases, which can be described by strain theory. This structural theory suggests that individuals commit crime due to the economic restrictions that face they communities (CITATION) and that crime results from the frustration that stems from this economic disparity between with the American dream (CITAITON). When using the biological positivist approach, an individual who commits an armed burglary should simply be locked up, or killed. On the other hand, when using the strain theory approach, a solution to armed robbery might be to improve the social and economic opportunities within the community. Not only does the solution involve an avoiding an unnecessary immoral act, but also results in the improvement of a whole community, and the reduction of armed robberies on a community level as the solution applies to multiple
Accepting that crime has a biological basis, alters the implications of punishment, as there is no space for reform or personal growth for the criminal (CITATION – BOOK?) Instead of attempting to alter the behavior of the criminal, different measures are taken such as performing a lobotomy, placing in social isolation, killing, and sterilizing the criminal to prevent future crimes (CITATION - BOOK). However, none of these are moral or appropriate and should be avoided if other actions can have a more positive impact without demeaning the life of the criminal. And other criminological theories can lead to more effective strategies. One example can be noted with armed robbery cases, which can be described by strain theory. This structural theory suggests that individuals commit crime due to the economic restrictions that face they communities (CITATION) and that crime results from the frustration that stems from this economic disparity between with the American dream (CITAITON). When using the biological positivist approach, an individual who commits an armed burglary should simply be locked up, or killed. On the other hand, when using the strain theory approach, a solution to armed robbery might be to improve the social and economic opportunities within the community. Not only does the solution involve an avoiding an unnecessary immoral act, but also results in the improvement of a whole community, and the reduction of armed robberies on a community level as the solution applies to multiple