Why do people committ crime

Roy Gentry
Dr. James Wright
Sociology 3800
16 August 2014
Over thousands of years, every society created by man struggled with the problem of crime. The one provocative question from Jack the Ripper to O.J. Simpson is why do people commit crime? In most of our modern societies, laws have been developed over time, to maintain order. I personally think the law forms a social contract between individuals and society. I know that there are many competing theories on why people commit crime. I personally believe that they all can be summed up and placed into three broad categories. The three classifications I believe then can be placed into are biological, psychological and sociological. I personally think people commit crimes for a variety of reasons: peer pressure, opportunity, greed, poor moral judgment and character; They fail to see the benefits of adhering to the law conventional social values; The opinion that everyone commits some type of crime; The more that society perceive a particular criminal behavior as reasonable or acceptable, the less likely that it will be considered evil two prime examples are the legalization of marijuana, or prohibition.

Is it biological, hereditary is it in our genes? Is it psychological or due to traits in our personality? Is it due to socialization - do we learn it, from other people? Is it explained by our bonds to society? Is it because of where you were raised; or is it because of imbalances in our society? Does a lack of religious morals have anything to do with it? I have always been fascinated with why people commit crime in our society we can answer who, what, when and where but the last question why usually goes unanswered and drives us mad!
The first category is biological I know most-biological theories have faded as society becomes more enlightened. I am saying brain damage, bad genetics, poor diet, and gender. Males are the predominate class of criminal offenders due to aggressive behavior that is encouraged in our society. While I believe some crimes are caused by biological imbalances, I believe there has to be a tipping point from society. The opportunity the victim the time and place and an imbalance in the odds which favor success. Like most detectives, I find the study of psychology of criminal behavior fascinating and the most-dangerous kind of criminal. This leads us to the second part of my theory.

The second category I will put forward is psychological. I think this class or reason to commit a crime is the worst and most dangerous. I place psychopath and sociopaths in this category. I put people who are impulsive enjoy the power of controlling others these criminals get a rush of adrenaline high. Serial killers and rapist fall into this category. Most of these people are loners whether it is due to the nature or nurture. I do not think we will ever know if society or psychologically caused these people to become criminals.
The last category on the list is sociological. I think where you grow up and your socioeconomic status, peer pressure and education make a great deal of difference in whether an individual will become a criminal. Gang fall into this category, petty crime I personally think our prison system makes this worse because all it does is make better criminals. I think most criminals start in this class. This leads me to my theory.
My theory after a lifetime in criminal justice and my education in college is very simple old Caesar Baccara had it right people weigh the good against the bad, in other words, is a crime worth the time. It all boils down to personal choice.