Comprehensive Notes on Biological, Individualistic, and Sociological Theories of Criminality
Physiological Theories of Criminality
Lombroso: Born Criminals Theory * Key Idea: The central premise is that criminals are physically different from non-criminals and are born with a predisposition to crime. * The Study: Cesare Lombroso conducted his research by measuring the heads and faces of a large number of criminals to identify physical patterns. * Findings: He concluded that criminals were more likely to possess specific physical anomalies, including large jaws, long arms, and aquiline noses. * Atavism: Lombroso described criminals as "atavistic," meaning they are throwbacks to a more primitive, pre-social stage of human evolution. Characteristics include being impulsive and having a reduced sensitivity to pain. * Sub-categories of Criminals: * Insane Criminals: Those whose criminality is due to mental instability. * Epileptic Criminals: Those influenced by neurological conditions. * Criminaloids: A group whose criminal behavior is primarily a product of their environment rather than purely biological traits. * Evaluation of Lombroso: * Strength: He was the first individual to apply scientific methods (measurement and observation) to the study of crime. * Strength: His work highlighted the importance of maintaining clinical and historical records for criminal analysis. * Strength: His focus moved the conversation toward crime prevention rather than purely punitive measures. * Limitation: Scientific follow-up has failed to find evidence linking specific facial features directly to criminality. * Limitation: He did not use a control group of non-criminals to validate his findings. * Limitation: His work contains inherent racism, as it equates criminal traits with qualities of "savages" or non-Western societies.
Sheldon: Somatotypes Theory * Key Idea: This theory proposes that a person's somatotype (body type) is directly related to their likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior. * The Study: Sheldon examined different body types and correlated them with the propensity for criminality. * Somatotype Classifications: * Endomorph: Described as rounded and soft-bodied with a lack of muscle. Personality traits include being sociable, relaxed, and outgoing. * Ectomorph: Described as thin and fragile with a lack of fat and muscle. Physical features include a flat chest, narrow hips, thin face, and narrow shoulders. Personality traits include being self-conscious, thoughtful, and emotionally restrained. * Mesomorph: Described as muscular and hard-bodied with little fat, strong limbs, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist. Personality traits include being adventurous, assertive, domineering, and sensation-seeking. * Findings: Sheldon found that the Mesomorphic somatotype was most likely to be criminal. * Reasons for the Link: Mesomorphs are often attracted by risk-taking; their physical build and assertiveness provide necessary assets for successfully carrying out crimes. * Evaluation of Sheldon: * Strength: Other independent studies have replicated these findings. * Strength: Research indicates that the most serious delinquents tend to have the most mesomorphic body types. * Limitation: Criminality is likely a complex interaction between biology and the environment, rather than biology alone. * Limitation: A mesomorphic build might be a result of a criminal lifestyle (e.g., manual labor or physical training) rather than the cause of it. * Limitation: Social class could be the underlying factor causing both a mesomorphic build (through manual labor) and higher offending rates. * Limitation: People with mesomorphic builds may be subject to labeling by society, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Genetic Theories of Criminality
Twin and Adoption Studies * Key Idea for Twins: If criminal behavior is genetic, monozygotic () twins, who share of their DNA, should show higher rates of shared criminality than dizygotic () twins. * Twin Study Findings (Christiansen): Found a concordance rate in criminality of for twins compared to only for twins. * Key Idea for Adoption: Adoptees share the environment of their adoptive parents but the genetic makeup of their biological parents. If criminality is genetic, the behavior of the child should more closely match the biological parents. * Adoption Study Findings (Mednick et al.): Found that the concordance rate for criminality with biological parents was compared to for adopted parents. * Evaluation of Twin and Adoption Studies: * Strength: Both types of studies provide empirical support for genetic explanations of behavior. * Strength: Adoption studies are particularly useful because they help isolate the effects of genes from the environment. * Strength: The research design of adoption studies is considered logical for testing "nature versus nurture." * Limitation: If criminality were purely genetic, twins would have a concordance rate; the current rates suggest other factors are at play. * Limitation: It is nearly impossible to fully isolate genetic effects from environmental ones. * Limitation: Adopted children are frequently placed in environments similar to those of their biological families, confounding the results.
Jacob’s XYY Study * Key Idea: This theory posits that males with syndrome (an extra male chromosome) are genetically predisposed to criminality. * The Study: Jacob et al. compared the frequency of syndrome among imprisoned criminals to the general population. * Findings: A higher-than-average proportion of prison inmates were found to have the chromosomal pattern. * Physical and Cognitive Features of ("Super-male"): Tended to be very tall, well-built, with low intelligence, high levels of aggression, and a tendency toward violence. * Evaluation of Jacob’s XYY Study: * Strength: Jacob et al. established an association between the syndrome and violent behavior in prisoners. * Strength: Price and Watmore found links between and property crimes specifically. * Limitation: The presence of the syndrome does not automatically prove it is the causal factor for crime. * Limitation: Men with often fit the physical stereotype of a "violent offender," which may lead to biased treatment (Labeling Theory). * Limitation: The lower intelligence associated with the syndrome might simply make these individuals more likely to be caught. * Limitation: The syndrome is extremely rare, so it cannot explain a significant portion of total crime.
Brain Injuries and Disorders & Biochemical Explanations
Brain Injuries and Disorders * Injuries: Traumatic brain injuries can drastically alter personality and are statistically more common in prison populations. * Case Study: Phineas Gage: A construction foreman who had a metal rod pass through his brain. Though he survived, his personality changed fundamentally, illustrating the brain's role in behavior. * Disorders: Various organic brain diseases have been linked to anti-social or criminal conduct, including Dementia, Encephalitis Lethargica, brain tumors, and Huntington’s Chorea. * EEG Evidence: Electroencephalogram () readings of psychopathic criminals often show abnormal patterns compared to the general population. * Evaluation: * Strength: Specific extreme cases demonstrate that brain damage leads to behavioral shifts. * Strength: Correlation exists between abnormal brain activity () and psychopathy. * Limitation: Crimes directly caused by brain disease or injury are rare; the individual's original personality remains a more significant factor. * Limitation: Brain injury in prisoners might be a result of a criminal lifestyle (e.g., getting into fights) rather than the original cause.
Biochemical Explanations * Sex Hormones (Males): Ellis and Coontz noted that testosterone levels peak from puberty to the early , which correlates with the period of highest criminal activity in males. * Sex Hormones (Females): Fluctuations in hormones during Pre-menstrual Tension (), Post-natal Depression (), and lactation have been used as successful legal defenses for reduced self-control. * Blood Sugar: Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) has been linked to increased aggression and is also associated with alcohol abuse. * Substance Abuse: Both illegal and prescription drugs, along with alcohol, are heavily linked to increased aggression and crime. * Other Substances: Exposure to Lead and food additives like Tartrazine have been linked to hyperactivity. Deficiencies in Vitamin B have been associated with erratic behavior. * Evaluation: * Strength: These factors are recognized by legal systems in court proceedings. * Limitation: Biological processes often require an environmental trigger to manifest as criminal behavior. * Limitation: Some studies have failed to find a direct link between testosterone and physical aggression. * Limitation: Issues like infanticide might be better explained by social isolation rather than hormonal changes alone.
General Criticisms of Biological Theories * Environmental Neglect: Theories often overlook the necessity of environmental triggers. * Sample Bias: Research is typically limited to convicted criminals, meaning it does not account for criminals who are never caught. * Gender Bias: The vast majority of biological research focuses on male criminality, leaving female patterns unexplained. * Social Construct: These theories seek universal biological truths while ignoring that the definition of crime varies across cultures, time, and locations.
Individualistic Theories: Psychodynamic Theories
Freud: Psychoanalysis * Key Idea: Personality and future behavior, including criminality, are determined by early childhood experiences. * Structure of Personality: * Id: The instinctive, animalistic part of the mind that is selfish and seeks immediate pleasure. * Ego: Functions as a referee between the Id and the Superego, attempting to satisfy Id impulses in socially acceptable ways. * Superego: The conscience or moral center. Acting against it causes guilt and anxiety. * Link to Crime: Anti-social behavior stems from an abnormal relationship with parents (neglectful, harsh, or lax). This leads to unresolved conflicts and an underdeveloped or malfunctioning Superego: * Weak Superego: Results in less guilt and a higher likelihood of acting on Id impulses. * Harsh Superego: Leads to an individual craving punishment to alleviate an overwhelming sense of guilt. * Deviant Superego: The individual is socialized correctly but into a deviant or criminal moral code. * Evaluation: * Strength: Emphasizes the importance of early socialization and family dynamics. * Limitation: Unscientific and subjective; it relies on the interpreter’s opinion of an unconscious mind that cannot be measured.
Bowlby: Maternal Deprivation Theory * Key Idea: There is a critical link between the loss of a maternal bond and later anti-social behavior. * Attachment: To develop normally, a child requires a continuous, close relationship with a primary caregiver from birth to age . * Separation: Breaking this bond can lead to Affectionless Psychopathy (inability to form meaningful relationships) and criminal behavior. * Evidence (44 Thieves Study): Bowlby studied juvenile thieves. He found that had suffered maternal deprivation before age , compared to only in a non-delinquent control group. * Evaluation: * Strength: Provided empirical evidence involving thieves to support the theory. * Limitation: Retrospective studies rely on participant memory, which can be flawed. * Limitation: It does not explain why the other of the thieves were delinquent despite having no maternal deprivation.
Individualistic Theories: Eysenck’s Personality Theory
Key Idea: Criminality results from a specific personality type characterized by high levels of Neuroticism and Extraversion.
Personality Dimensions: * Extraversion vs. Introversion (): Extraverts have a nervous system that requires high stimulation, leading them to seek excitement through rule-breaking. * Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability (): Neurotics have high anxiety levels, making them harder to condition or learn from punishment. * Psychoticism (): Added later; High scores indicate cruel, insensitive, and aggressive individuals who lack empathy and may be prone to serious mental illness.
Evaluation: * Strength: Points to measurable tendencies that align with offending behavior. * Limitation: Farrington found that studies show prisoners are actually not often extraverted. * Limitation: Eysenck used self-report questionnaires, which can be invalid if participants lie.
Individualistic Theories: Learning Theories
Sutherland: Differential Association Theory * Key Idea: Crime is learned through imitation and attitudes acquired within groups that favor law-breaking. * Normalisation: In certain workplaces or peer groups, criminal behavior is normalized through shared justifications. * Evaluation: Explains why crime often runs in families but fails to explain why not everyone in a criminal environment turns to crime.
Skinner: Operant Learning Theory * Key Idea: Behavior followed by a reward (positive reinforcement) is repeated; behavior followed by an undesirable outcome (punishment) is stopped.
Bandura: Social Learning Theory * Key Idea: Behavior is learned by imitating "models" (people of higher status or those seen being rewarded). * Bobo Doll Study: Children were found to be more likely to imitate violent behavior when they saw an adult model being rewarded for it. * Evaluation: Highlights the importance of role models but is criticized for being based on lab studies (lacking validity) and being deterministic (ignoring free will).
Individualistic Theories: Cognitive Theories
Yochelson and Samenow: Criminal Personality Theory * Key Idea: Criminals possess "faulty thinking" patterns which make them prone to crime. * Study: Conducted on male offenders, mostly in psychiatric units. * Thinking Errors: Identified markers such as super-optimism, lack of empathy, a victim stance, uniqueness, and a need for power and control. * Evaluation: Led to the development of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles () and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy ().
Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory * Key Idea: Morality develops in stages. Criminals are often "stuck" at an immature level where they only consider rewards and punishments rather than the impact on others. * Levels of Development: Progresses from childhood to adulthood. * Evaluation: Supported by Thornton and Reid regarding planned crimes (theft) rather than impulsive ones (violence).
Sociological Theories: Functionalism
Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory * Key Idea: Crime is an inevitable result of inadequate socialization and "anomie" (normlessness). * Four Functions of Crime: 1. Boundary Maintenance: Reinforces social norms by uniting members of society against wrongdoers. 2. Social Change: Deviance allows for the introduction of new ideas that help society progress. 3. Safety Valve: Kingsley Davis suggested prostitution allows for a release of sexual frustration without destroying the nuclear family. 4. Warning Light: Deviance signals that an institution or society is not functioning correctly, prompting reform. * Evaluation: First to acknowledge crime’s positive social roles, but ignores the negative impact on victims.
Merton’s Strain Theory * Key Idea: Crime occurs when there is a mismatch between society’s goal (wealth) and the legitimate means to achieve it. * Adaptations to Strain: * Innovation: Accepting the goal but using illegal means (utilitarian crime). * Ritualism: Giving up on the goal but sticking to the rules out of habit. * Retreatism: Rejecting both goals and means (e.g., vagrants, drug users). * Rebellion: Replacing goals and means with new ones to change society.
Sociological Theories: Subcultural Theories
Cohen: Status Frustration * Process: Working-class boys fail in the school's middle-class hierarchy, experience status frustration, and form subcultures. * Inverted Values: They gain status within the group by turning mainstream values upside down (doing "bad" becomes "good").
Cloward and Ohlin: Three Subcultures * Criminal: Occur in neighborhoods with established criminal networks; youths are "apprenticed." * Conflict: Occur where no stable criminal network exists; status is earned through gang violence and territory. * Retreatist: Formed by those who fail in both legitimate and illegitimate structures ("double failures"); focus on drug use.
Sociological Theories: Interactionism and Labelling
Key Idea: Crime is a social construction. No act is inherently criminal until labeled so by others.
Concepts: * Primary Deviance: Trivial, unlabelled acts where the offender doesn't see themselves as criminal. * Secondary Deviance: Acts that result from the label. The label becomes the person’s "master status." * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (): Living up to the label. * Deviance Amplification Spiral: Attempts to control deviance lead to more deviance (e.g., Cohen’s Mods and Rockers study). * Typifications: Police ideas of what a "typical" criminal looks like, leading to differential enforcement.
Sociological Theories: Marxism
Key Ideas: * Criminogenic Capitalism: Capitalism inherently causes crime through exploitation, poverty, and the promotion of greed/consumerism. * Selective Law Enforcement: Laws protect the private property of the rich. White-collar crimes are often ignored while street crimes are prosecuted heavily. * Carson Study: Found that out of companies that broke safety laws, only were prosecuted. * Ideological Function: Laws like Health and Safety give capitalism a "caring face" while distracting from deeper inequalities.
Sociological Theories: Realism
Right Realism: * Causes: Biological differences, inadequate socialization (underclass/lone mothers), and Rational Choice Theory (). * Felson’s Routine Activity Theory (): Crime requires a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a "capable guardian."
Left Realism (Lea and Young): * Causes: Relative deprivation (feeling poor compared to others), marginalization (unemployed youth with no voice), and subcultures. * Goal: Reduce crime by making society fairer.