Why do people commit crimes? The question seem old but nowadays, people still asking and trying to find the answer. There are two main theories and reasons why people commit crimes: genes and environment.(Sarah.G, 2014) Does criminal gene exist? Is criminal gene just like a hereditary disease ? Researchers proved that some people may born with genes that make them have violent behaviors when they was young. A study published in Molecular Psychiatry has found two genes that make a people commit crimes. By Karolinska Institute in Sweden and examined patterns of criminal behavior and genetics in the Finnish population, the two genes are: MAOA and CDH13 (Genetic Literacy Project, 2014). They appear in the genomes of up to 10% of all violent offenders. CDH13 and MAOA are involved in neural connectivity, and has been linked to impulse control in extremely violent offenders (Genetic Literacy Project, 2014). Last year, a German neurologist said that he have found the part of brain where evil …show more content…
One theory named Sociological theory said that a lot of people commit crimes people they have a lot of strain and struggle in their life (Steven.B, 2015). Geographic theory of crimes said that some people commit crimes because of they live in some specific area that have a lot of crimes or some poor area (Theories of the Causes of Crimes,2009). In those area, the percentage of criminal is more than in other area. Economic theory said that people may like the reward or profit of being criminal, their goal can be money, valuable stuff or power (Theories of the Causes of Crimes,2009). Some people are blind by the power of money, those people if can not control them self, they become criminals. Family disaster is one of the answer for why people commit crimes, too. Almost all children live with abusive parent, separated parents, or children who have poor parental love and care commit crimes (Tholath's Weblog
In her article White Trash, Nicole Hahn Rafter assumes that the relationship between genetics and crime is that genetics is passed through generations and that eventually they distribute throughout the entire population. The authors argue that deviant behavior of each family is identified with distinct characteristics (genes). They make an assumption that if a trait is displayed in more than one generation, then it must be inherited. The heritance of genes coincides with the idea that the distribution of social power is inherited. For example, if your family was wealthy, you would be wealthy, but it your family was poor, you would be poor.
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?
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.
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
In the filed of biology psychology, it is said that there are 3 areas of the brain that are mainly involved in our aggression and violence behavior, which are the hypothalamus, the frontal lobes, and the limbic system. Morley and Hall(2003) have investigated o how the human genes have an influences on their criminal behavior. In their research, they have found a positive relationship between criminal behaviors and genes. Brunner et al(1993) conducted an research on a Dutch family, the result showed that some of the family members from the Dutch family with tendency of aggressive behavior turned out to have mutation occurring in their monoamine oxidase A, a type of neurochemical in the brain. Therefore, we tell say that aggressive behavior is somehow related to human brain structure.
Throughout the years, there have been several theories developed, in the field of criminology, seeking to explain crime and delinquency. Criminology is constantly evolving due to the political and economic views of society. Throughout this change,many theories were created, while other theories are proven to no longer be valid. Each theory whether valid or invalid, takes a different approach in its explanation of crime and delinquency. The question that many have tried to answer is, which theory has the most empirical validity and can best explain why individuals choose to engage in delinquent and criminal activity?
Crime can be defined as an illegal action committed by people and that action is punishable by law. There are many reasons that drive people to commit crime. Some of them would be poverty, depression and other social and mental disorders. For this paper, I chose to write about the Greyhound Bus beheading case. There are many theories that would explain why Vincent Li (the murderer) committed the crime.
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.
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).
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).
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
According to Siegel (2015), trait theory is the view that criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits which can be subdivided into two major categories: those that stress biological makeup and those that stress psychological functioning (p. 109). Biological trait theories includes four different conditions: biochemical, neurophysiological, genetic, and evolutionary. Biochemical factors will include diet, hypoglycemia, hormonal influences, premenstrual syndrome, lead exposure, and environmental contaminants. Neurophysiological factors will include brain structure, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain chemistry, and arousal theory. Genetic causes could stem from parental deviance, adoption studies, and
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
Researchers have invested decades worth of time and data, attempting to answer the question of what causes crime. The study of criminological theory contains a great number of explanations, focused on discovering why exactly, crime occurs. Whether causations are biological, psychological, or sociological in nature, theory has lead us closer to answering the question of why crime happens. Perhaps causations are best explained using hybrid explanations that include a little bit of everything.
There are many phenomena that could cause or correlate with crime. In addition to this, there are many characteristics to these phenomena that cause/correlate with criminal behavior. Furthermore, these characteristics can be individual, sociological, or both that could have an effect on criminal behavior. This paper will take the educational avenue on crime.