Theories Of Criminal Behaviour And The Factors That Contribute To Them

Theories of Criminal Behaviour and the Factors that Contribute to them
There are three theories that are thought to contribute to criminal behaviour. These are; biological, sociological and psychological. The two that I will be looking at are biological and psychosocial.
Crime is when a person breaks a formal code of conduct. They can be formally punished for the crime that they have committed. An act that is unlawful in one country may not be deemed a crime in another country.
The psychological theory behind criminal behaviour takes a scientific based approach. The theories are designed to look at the reasons why an individual becomes a criminal. They concentrate on the individual and not from the perspective of society. They look at how the person was raised by their family, their mental state, and how they learned to become a criminal.
The social learning theory looks at the way that people learn and how they learn criminal behaviour. The theory proposes that someone’s behaviour is leaned and maintained by rewards and punishments. Behaviour is encouraged by rewards and the expectation of rewards. Crime is seen as a learned behaviour, normally from being raised in a criminal environment, or a failure of the socialisation process, where by children and adults learn from others, that teaches children right from wrong. The social learning theory is based on the view that criminal behaviour is learned, and is in no way different from any other learning experience they you may have. There is the belief that criminal behaviour can be lessened by taking away rewards for the behaviour and instead instilling punishment.
Psychoanalytical theory was discussed by Sigmund Freud in the 19th and 20th centuries. Everyone has unruly and potential criminal forces in their unconscious mind. He said that we all have natural urges that can turn into criminal actions, unless they are repressed. But this repression can lead to new problems. He says that as children we are socialised to subdue these natural impulses by those around us, normally our parents. He also claims the human personality contains of three different parts: the id, the ego and the super ego. The ego is there to balance the demands of the id, without offending the super ego. Freud thought that crime arose when a child did not mix properly, which led to a poorly developed ego, that couldn’t fully control the id, and leading to criminal behaviour. It is also believed that early childhood events can destroy people’s personality and make people a criminal in later life.
The biological theory links crime to biological inheritance and genes. It takes into account the history of suicidal tendencies, drug and alcohol abuse, cruelty to animals, emotional behaviour, depression, child abuse and an unnatural liking for firearms. This is because evidence suggests that there are many similarities between serial killers, when taking these aspects into account.
Cesare Lombroso was known for studying characterology, which is the study of the relationship between mental and physical characteristics; for example, characterology may look at the way a person behaves and the way a person looks. Lombroso looked at the shape of Italian prisoner’s heads and measured them in relation to the heads non-criminal military personnel, arguing that the physical shape of their heads and faces determined them as being born criminals. His work was considered ground-breaking and even now it still has a place in the work of criminology.
In response to Lombroso’s findings, in 1913 Charles Goring compared the physical measurement of English convicts and non-convicts. He found no evidence in his study that supported Lombroso’s theory. The sample that Lombroso used included people with serve learning disabilities and didn’t take into account the fact that poverty could of caused their physical appearance, not their genes.
William Sheldon carried out research in the 1940’s and proposed that general body shape was the main determinant of personality and behaviour. His research involved collecting over 4,000 photos of male students and 650 possible personality traits. With this information he determined that there are three basic body builds; mesomorph, endomorph and ectomorph. He looked for correlations including temperament and body shape, and delinquency and body shape. He spent eight years carrying out detailed studies, and concluded that the average delinquent tended to be more mesomorphic and rarely ectomorphic. In 1950, Glueck carried out studies that showed mesomorphs were over represented in a delinquent population of 500. In more recent work in the UK, it showed that serious crimes were committed by people who were generally smaller in height than non-delinquents. But in 1973 West and Farrington found no connection between delinquency and body shape.
There is now more of a focus on genetics providing a biological explanation for criminal behaviour, than on physical shape.
Genetic determinism is the belief that genes solely decide physical features of a human being. Normally, females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y chromosome. A genetic abnormality can occur which can give a person an extra Y chromosome. Studies have suggested that this extra Y chromosome causes high levels of aggression in some people, which can account for criminal behaviour. There are also links between a version of male gene and criminal behaviour. It is believed that these conditions can be treated with drugs, therefore criminality maybe treated. However, this may lead young people being labelled as possible criminals before they have even committed a crime. Also, governments might attempt to fight crime with these drugs, instead of trying to solve some of the social problems that could be causing criminal behaviour.
Biological determinism is the belief that all features of a human being, including behaviour, are controlled by biological factors. Any possible influences from people or the environment are ignored. So it would be said that children of criminal are also likely to be criminals.
The blank slate view treats a new-born baby as a blank slate with no innate characteristics. Babies learn from experience as they grow up, and these experiences will decide how they turn out. There is also a belief of free will, and that criminals are criminals because they are choosing to be.