Theories of Crime Causation – Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes

Criminology: Scope & Purpose

• Study of perpetrators, prevention, causation, and the social processes that create the label “criminal”.
• Criminologists seek etiological (cause-related) variables behind unlawful behaviour.

“Crime” – Three Complementary Definitions

• Legal: Act or omission violating criminal law; crime legally “exists” only after court conviction.
• Social: Anti-social act injurious to social norms; focuses on harm/detriment, not legality.
• Psychological: Behaviour arising from maladaptive or abnormal adjustment; undesirable due to mental dysfunction.
• Existence debate:
  • Legal view – proven guilt after lengthy court process.
  • Scientific view – begins at report; more realistic yet includes unfounded cases.

Related Legal Terminology

• Offense: Punishable by special statutes (outside Revised Penal Code).
• Felony: Punishable under Revised Penal Code (Philippines).
• Delinquency/Misdemeanor: Minor rule violations, often by youths.
• Mala in se: Universally immoral (e.g., murder); rooted in common law.
• Mala prohibita: Wrong because prohibited (e.g., traffic rules).
• Victimless crime: No direct victim—gambling, prostitution, substance abuse.

Theory – Meaning & Utility

• Ordered set of ideas producing general principles for explanation.
• Equated with thesis/hypothesis; foundation of criminology & CJ.
• Importance:
  • Clarifies relationships between concepts.
  • Guides problem identification & solutions; verified via research.
  • Integrates knowledge within and outside distance-learning field (author’s original context).
  • Directs future inquiry; applicable across times/places.

Historical Roots of Crime Causation

• Aristotle (4th c. BCE): Poverty = “mother of all revolutions and crime.”
• Francis Bacon (17th c.): “Opportunity makes a thief.” Situation shapes action.
• Voltaire & Rousseau (18th c.): Free will; crime as hedonism & failure of social contract.

Demonological & Spiritual Explanations

• Crime = possession by evil spirits; sin against divine law.
• Trial by Ordeal (divine judgment): cold/boiling water, hot iron, combat, bier, red-hot iron.

Macro Classifications of Criminal-Behaviour Theories

• A) Psychological
• B) Sociological
• C) Biological

Six Modern Perspectives

1. Biological
2. Classical (Choice)
3. Process (Learning/Control)
4. Conflict (Economic–political)
5. Biosocial (integration)
6. Psychological

Biosocial Perspective (Person × Environment)

• Personal traits (biochemistry, genes, neurology) interact with parents, peers, schools, neighbourhoods.
• Outcomes: conformity or crime depend on learning & achievement capacity.

Catalogue of General Theories

1. Biological
2. Classical
3. Psychological
4. Sociological
5. Economic
6. Bio-psychosocial
7. Political/Conflict
8. Developmental
9. Women-specific
10. Ecology/Environmental

Biological Theories – Core Ideas

• Crime linked indirectly to genes, hormones, diet, stress; biology ↔ environment.
• Four sub-traditions:
  • Genetic (heredity)
  • Neurophysiological (brain/N.S. damage)
  • Biochemical (diet/hormones)
  • Evolutionary (adaptive aggression)

Biochemical Highlights

• Androgens: Masculine hormones; $\uparrow$ testosterone ↔ $\uparrow$ aggression; dull environmental sensitivity.
• Premenstrual Disorder/Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: Hormonal cycles influence mood; rare postpartum psychosis includes hallucinations or homicidal thoughts (1–2 %).
• Hypoglycaemia: Low blood sugar → irritability, potential violence.

Neurotransmitters – BAS vs BIS

• Behavioural Activation System (BAS): Dopamine-rich “accelerator”; pursues reward.
• Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS): Serotonin-linked “brake”; sensitive to punishment.

Genetic Anecdotes

• XYY “Supermale” Syndrome: Early studies found extra Y in some inmates; later evidence mixed.
• Family Lines
  • Jukes (Max → “Old Horror”): $310$ paupers, $150$ criminals, $7$ murderers, $190$ prostitutes.
  • Kallikak (two branches): feebleminded line vs worthy Quakeress line; supports nature theory.
• Charles Goring: Advocated eugenic controls for carriers of criminal traits.

Body-Type Theories

• Kretschmer: Pyknic (fraud/violence) – Athletic (violent) – Asthenic (petty theft) – Dysplastic.
• Sheldon:
  • Endomorph (viscerotonic, relaxed)
  • Mesomorph (somatotonic, aggressive) – highest delinquency
  • Ectomorph (cerebrotonic, inhibited)

Physiognomy & Phrenology

• Giambattista della Porta / J. K. Lavater: Face predicts character.
• Franz Gall & J. Spurzheim: Skull shape reveals propensities; basis of phrenology.

Other Bio Concepts

• Evolutionary: Low-parental-investment, sexually aggressive male sub-population (Roth).
• Arousal Theory: High stimulation needs → thrill crimes; drugs initially thrill, later pharmacological reinforcement.
• IQ/Nature Theory: Goddard, Healy & Bronner found high “feeblemindedness” in delinquents.

Classical (Choice) Perspective

• Assumption of free will; crime chosen to maximise pleasure, minimise pain.

Rational Choice Theory

• Weighing costs/benefits; law-violation when expected gain > punishment.

Routine Activity Theory (Cohen & Felson)

• Crime = Motivated Offender + Suitable Target − Capable Guardian.

Lifestyle Theory

• Risky choices (walking alone, heavy drinking, associating with felons) raise victimisation; victims & offenders share impulsivity.

Victim Precipitation Theory

• Victim initiates chain leading to harm.
  • Active: provocation/threats.
  • Passive: unwitting traits that entice attacker.

Psychological Explanations

Psychoanalytic (Freud)

• Id (pleasure), Ego (reality), Superego (morality).
• Life (Eros) vs Death (Thanatos) Drives: libido vs aggression/self-destruction.
• Offender categories:
  • Weak Superego (psychopath traits).
  • Weak Ego (immature, gullible).
  • Normal Antisocial (identification with criminal role models).
  • Neurotic Offender (crime to manage emotional disturbance).

Behavioural Learning

• Classical Conditioning – associating stimuli (Watson’s “Little Albert”).
• Operant Conditioning – reinforcement/punishment (Skinner Box).
• Observational Learning – modelling (Bandura).

Social Learning Extensions

• Aggression learned from parents, peers, media, high-crime settings.
• Four cognitive steps: Attention → Retention → Reproduction → Motivation.

Cognitive Development (Piaget)

1. Sensorimotor ($0\text{–}2$ yrs)
2. Pre-operational ($2\text{–}7$)
3. Concrete Operational ($7\text{–}11$)
4. Formal Operational ($11+$) – abstract logic.

• Deficits yield distorted world-view, low empathy, perceived helplessness.

Moral Development (Kohlberg)

• Pre-conventional (punishment/benefit)
• Conventional (social approval/order)
• Post-conventional (principles/justice)
• Lower moral stage $\rightarrow$ higher crime risk.

Differential Association-Reinforcement (Burgess & Akers)

• Criminal acts persist when peer/family rewards outweigh punishments.

Sociological Theories

Social Structure Branch

1. Social Disorganization (Shaw & McKay) – Transitional slums, population turnover, institutional failure.
2. Anomie (Durkheim) – Normlessness during rapid change.
3. Strain Theory (Merton) – Gap goals vs means ⇒ $\text{strain}\rightarrow\text{FRAPS}$ (Frustration, Resentment, Anger, Pressure, Stress); Adaptations: Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, Rebellion.
4. General Strain (Agnew) – Multiple stressors produce negative affect; applies to all classes.
5. Relative Deprivation – Proximity of rich & poor fuels hostility.
6. Cultural Deviance – Lower-class subculture of toughness, excitement.
7. Delinquent Subculture (Cohen) – Status frustration ⇒ Corner Boy / College Boy / Delinquent Boy.
8. Differential Opportunity (Cloward & Ohlin) – Criminal, Conflict, Retreatist gangs form based on available illegitimate means.

Social Process Branch

• Neutralization/Drift (Sykes & Matza) – Offenders share mainstream values but “switch off” guilt via five techniques: Denial of Responsibility/Injury/Victim, Condemn Condemners, Appeal to Higher Loyalties.
• Differential Association (Sutherland) – Crime learned through interaction; “frequency, duration, priority, intensity” of contacts.
• Containment (Reckless)
  • Inner: self-control, positive self-concept, conscience.
  • Outer: laws, parental supervision, cohesive groups.
• Social Bond (Hirschi) – Attachment, Commitment, Involvement, Belief; weak bonds = crime.
• Labeling (Becker, Tannenbaum)
  • Society creates deviance via “tagging”.
  • Negative labels ⇒ stigma ⇒ secondary deviance (Lemert) & “master status”.

Bio-Psychosocial Model

• Health/behaviour = interplay of biological (injury, genetics), psychological (self-esteem, anxiety), and social (roles, SES) factors.
• Feedback loops: $\text{Bio} \leftrightarrow \text{Psycho} \leftrightarrow \text{Social}$.

Environmental & Design Approaches

• Broken Windows (Wilson & Kelling): Visible disorder invites serious crime; early intervention on petty offences.
• CPTED Principles:
  • Natural Surveillance (eyes on street)
  • Access Control
  • Territorial Reinforcement
  • Maintenance & Management (pride of place)
• Human Ecology (Park & Burgess): Social organisation as adaptation within urban “ecosystem”; dominant vs sub-dominant groups.

Conflict & Political Economy Perspectives

• Marxist Criminology: Crime rooted in capitalist production; bourgeoisie mould law to control proletariat.
  • Instrumental Marxism – state = direct capitalist tool.
  • Structural Marxism – state has relative autonomy; may sometimes act against elite.
• Conflict Theory (Bonger, Dahrendorf, Vold): Law reflects power; crime = outcome of class struggle.
• Peacemaking Criminology: Reduce systemic and interpersonal violence via restorative approaches.

Developmental (Life-Span) Theories

• Study onset, continuity, and desistance from birth to death (longitudinal data).

Life-Course Theory

• Transitions & turning points; disruption of trajectories increases crime (e.g., teen pregnancy).

Age-Graded Theory (Sampson & Laub)

• Social capital (marriage, work) can redirect chronic offenders; aging-out or $\text{desistance}$ natural.

Latent Trait Theory

• Stable “master trait” (e.g., low self-control, genetics) present at birth; opportunity, not character, changes with age; early parenting key.

Feminist Perspectives on Crime

• Masculinity Theory (Adler): Women’s liberation ⇒ “masculinisation” ⇒ rise in female violent crime.
• Opportunity Theory (Simon): Workplace access leads to property/occupational crimes.
• Marginalization Theory (Chesney-Lind & Daly): Poverty, low wages, family burden push women into crime.
  • “Pink-collar crime” – low-/mid-level office fraud/embezzlement.
• Critical (Marxist) Feminism: Female crime originates in patriarchal exploitation; women as commodified.
• Power-Control (Hagan): Family structure shapes gendered delinquency; egalitarian families → daughters mirror sons.
• Freud’s Penis Envy: Outdated psychoanalytic view; desire for male anatomy shapes female psychosexual path.

Ecology/Environmental Re-statement

• Ernst Haeckel coined “ecology”; Park & Burgess applied to human communities—spatial patterns, competition, dominance.

Key Numbers & Expressions (Selected)

• Jukes prostitution rate $52.40\,\%$.
• Routine Activity equation: $\text{Crime} = \text{Motivated Offender} + \text{Suitable Target} - \text{Guardian}$.
• Strain frustration chain: $\text{Blocked Goals} \Rightarrow \text{FRAPS} \Rightarrow \text{Crime}$.

Ethical & Practical Take-Aways

• Biological insights caution against deterministic policies (eugenics) but highlight health interventions (diet, hormonal treatment).
• Choice theories justify proportional punishment & situational crime-prevention (CPTED, guardianship).
• Psychological models inform therapy, family support, and media regulation.
• Sociological findings support community development, poverty reduction, and social capital building.
• Conflict theories urge scrutiny of power, inequality, and bias in law enforcement.
• Developmental evidence underscores early-childhood programmes and life-course interventions.
• Feminist perspectives reveal gendered pathways and require equity-oriented policies.