Theories of Crime Causation Notes

Social Norms

Social norms are unwritten rules regarding acceptable beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors within a group or culture. They provide order and predictability in society.

Ethics

Ethics, or moral philosophy, concerns itself with what is morally good/bad and right/wrong. It applies to systems or theories of moral values/principles.

Mind

Mind encompasses intellect and consciousness, including thought, perception, memory, emotion, will, and imagination. It includes both conscious and unconscious cognitive processes, particularly reasoning and the stream of consciousness.

Human Behavior

Human behavior is influenced by genetics, culture, individual values, and attitudes.

Criminal Behavior

Criminal behavior is intentional and violates criminal law; it deviates from standard human behavior.

What is Crime?

  • Legal definition: An act or omission violating public law.

  • General definition: Any violation of existing policies, laws, rules, regulations, or standard norms.

Why Society is Interested in Crimes?

  1. Pervasive.

  2. Expensive.

  3. Destructive.

  4. Reflective.

  5. Progressive.

Who is a Criminal?

  1. Legal definition: A person convicted of a crime by a competent court.

  2. Sociological Definition: A person who violated a social norm or one who acted an anti- social act.

  3. Psychological definition: A criminal is one who violated rules of conduct due to behavioral maladjustment.

Explanation to Criminal Behavior

  1. Single/ Unitary Cause

  2. Multiple Factor Theory

  3. Eclectic Theory

General Approaches in the Study of Crimes

  1. Biological approach

  2. Psychogenic approach

  3. Multifactor approach

Subjective Approaches.

Deals with the biological explanations of crime:

  1. Anthropological approach

  2. Medical approach

  3. Biological approach

  4. Physiological approach

  5. Psychological approach

  6. Psychiatric approach

  7. Psychoanalytical approach

Objective Approaches

Study of groups, social processes, and institutions influencing human behavior:

  1. Geographic Approach:

    • Topography

    • Natural resources

    • Geographical location

    • Climate

  2. Ecological approach:

    • Migration

    • Competition

    • Social discrimination

    • Division of labor

    • Social conflict area

  3. Economic Approach:

    • Financial insecurity and inadequacy

  4. Socio-cultural Approach:

    • Economics

    • Education

    • Politics

    • Religion

Contemporary Approaches

Emphasis on scientific explanation of crime and criminal behavior.

History of Crime Causation

  • Antique Philosophy (Aristotle): Crime is poverty-related; poverty is "the mother of all revolutions and crime."

  • Medieval Philosophy (Francis Bacon): "Opportunity makes a thief"; criminality depends on social situations.

  • French Renaissance Philosophy (Voltaire & Rousseau): Introduced the concept of free will; crime equates to hedonistic behavior and failure to meet social contract obligations.

Fundamental Schools of Thought in Criminology

  1. Classical school

  2. Neo-classical

  3. Positivist

Classical Theory

Human behavior is rational, people choose right from wrong, and crime results from the belief that its benefits outweigh the potential consequences. Humans act on free will.

  • Utilitarianism: Actions should maximize happiness for the greatest number. Human beings are hedonistic and act only in their own self- interest.Felicific calculus, or moral calculus is used for estimating the probability that a person will engage in a particular kind of behavior.

  • Deterrence theory: An individual’s choice to commit or not to commit a crime is influenced by the fear of punishment.

Neo Classical Theory

Understanding individual differences of the perpetrators, not all perpetrators should be treated in the same manner, because the evident differences exist among them. Crime is a result of many conditions that have ultimately influenced on the perpetrators to commit it.

Positivist Theory

Emphasizes observation, comparative method, and experimentation in understanding human behavior and society. Behavior is determined by external forces, such as mental capabilities and biological makeup. This theory further argued that human behavior is pre-disposed and fully determined by individual differences and biological traits meaning it is not freewill that drives people to commit crimes.

  • Atavism: latin word atavus means ancestor, claimed a return to a primitive or subhuman type of man, characterized physically by a variety of inferior morphological features reminiscent of apes and lower primates, occurring in the more simian fossil men and to some extent, preserved in modern “savages”.

Five Fold Scientific Classification of Criminals

  • Born or instinctive criminal

  • Insane criminal

  • Passionate criminal

  • Occasional criminal

  • Habitual criminal

Four types of Criminals on the Basis of Moral Deficits

  • Murderer

  • Lascivious criminal

  • Violent Criminal

  • Thief

Biological Theories

Link between certain biological conditions and an increased tendency to engage in criminal behavior.

  • Atavistic Theory of Crime: Criminals have ‘atavistic’ (i.e. primitive) features.

  • Sheldon’s Somatotype Theory: Proposed a strong correlation between personality and somatotype (i.e. physique).

    • Ectomorph

    • Mesomorph

    • Endomorph

  • Ernest Kretschmer’s Classification correlate physique and character

    • Pyknic type

    • Asthenic type

    • Athletic type

    • Dysplastic type

  • PHYSIOGNOMY THEORY study and judgement of a person's outer appearance

  • PHRENOLOGY based on the belief that human behavior originated in the brain.

Psychological Theories

An individual’s mind set, the way he thinks of any particular crime, or his behavior towards the society or an individual plays a vital role.

  • Charles Goring: Relationship between crime and flawed intelligence. Criminals are more likely to be insane, to be unintelligent, and to exhibit poor social behavior.

  • Gabriel Tarde: Individuals learn from each other and ultimately imitate one another.

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Originated by Sigmund Freud, mental growth starts from childhood.

Elements or Structures

  • Id: Pleasure principle,represents the unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and other necessities. Concerned with instant pleasure or gratification while disregarding concern for others

  • Ego: Reality principle, guides an individual’s actions or behaviors to keep him or her within the boundaries of society.

  • Superego: Morality, it develops as a person incorporates the moral standards and values of the community; parents; and significant others, such as friends and clergy members.

Behavioral Theory

Social learning theorist Albert Bandura (BOBO DOLL THEORY. Human behavior is developed through gaining and learning experiences while growing up.

Cognitive Theory

Focuses on how people perceive the world and how this perception governs their actions, thoughts and emotions. Moral development:

  • Pre-conventional level

  • Conventional level

  • Post-conventional level

CONTAINMENT THEORY

States that a person is either pushed or pulled into a crime.

Sociological Theories

STRAIN THEORY

Societal structures can pressure individuals into committing crimes. Misalignment between the “cultural goals” of a society (such as monetary wealth) and the opportunities people have to obtain them.
According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.

GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

Agnew's general strain theory acknowledges that events which are perceived to be especially negative by those who experience them are positively correlated with a greater likelihood of criminal behavior

  1. Loss of positive stimuli

  2. Presentation of negative stimuli

  3. The inability to reach a desired goal.

STRAIN THEORY OF SUICIDE results from conflicting and competing pressures in an individual's life.

DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

Developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.

Differential association provides the context in which learning occurs. The most important contexts for learning criminal behavior include peer groups and family units.

DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT THEORY

Individuals may teach others to engage in crime through reinforcement and punishments.

  • Positive Reinforcement:behavior results in something good

  • Negative Reinforcement: behavior results in the removal of something bad

NEUTRALIZATION THEORY

Advanced by Sykes and Matza, portrays the delinquent as an individual who subscribes generally to the morals of society but who is able to justify his own delinquent behavior through a process of “neutralization”:

  • Denial of responsibility

  • Denial of injury

  • Denial of victims

  • Appeal to higher loyalties

  • Condemnation of condemner

SOCIAL CONTROL OR SOCIAL BONDING THEORY

Those persons who have strong and abiding attachments to conventional society are less likely to deviate than persons who have weak or shallow bonds.

  • Attachment

  • Commitment

  • Involvement

  • Belief

Types of Control:

  1. Direct

  2. Indirect

  3. Internal

  4. Control through needs satisfaction

LABELING THEORY

Focuses on the official reaction to crime:

  • The Creation of a stigma

  • The Effect on self-image

Two Stages of Deviance:

  1. Primary deviance

  2. Secondary deviance

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

Explains community differences in crime rates based on structural and cultural factors.

Characteristics of Communities where crime is more likely to happen:

  • Economically deprived

  • Large in size

  • High in multiunit housing like apartments

  • High in residential mobility

  • High in family disruption

CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY

Conformity to lower class society causes crime. Lower class subculture has a unique set of values and beliefs, which are invariably in conflict with conventional social norms.

DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY

People from low socioeconomic backgrounds who have few opportunities for success will use any means at their disposal to achieve success.

RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

Individuals use their self-interests to make choices that will provide them with the greatest benefit.

THEORY OF IMITATION

Origins of deviance were similar to the origins of fads and fashions

  • The Law Of Close Contact

  • The Law Of Imitation Of Superiors By Inferiors

  • The Law Of Insertion

DIFFERENTIAL IDENTIFICATION THEORY

With whom does the individual subjectively choose to identify, criminals or noncriminals?

ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY

Crimes occur when these three elements converge

A. Motivated Offender

B. Suitable Victims

C. Lack of Capable Guardian

ECONOMIC THEORIES

Economists argue that crime is a result of individuals’ making choices between using their scarce resources of time and effort in legitimate or in illegitimate activities.

CAPITALIST THEORY

Marxists argue that the economic system of capitalism itself causes crime

BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL CRIMINOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY

Attempts to understand criminal behavior by considering the interactions between biological (e.g., genetics, hormones, physiology, brain structure/functioning).

POLITICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

Differences among theories of crime causation are associated with their affinities with conservative, liberal, or radical political ideologies.

RADICAL THEORY

Radicals assume that political offenders are reasoning people who perceive and resist the oppressive and exploitative nature of liberal democratic capitalist society.

DEVELOPMENTAL/ LIFE-COURSE THEORIES

Focus on offending behavior over time and on dimensions of the criminal career and make an effort to identify risk and protective factors that relate to life- course patterns of offending.

TERRIE MOFFIT'S TWO-PATH THEORY

Moffit proposes that there are two groups of people who commit crimes:

  • life-course-persistent offenders

  • adolescence-limited offenders

LOEBER’S THREE-PATHWAY MODEL

  1. Authority conflict

  2. Covert pathway

  3. Overt pathway

THEORIES ON WOMEN OFFENDERS

  1. Masculinity Theories

  2. Opportunity theories

  3. Marginalization theories

  4. Chivalry theory

CHIVALRY HYPOTHESES

Women who commit crime are awarded more lenient sentences than males who commit crime

OTTO POLLAK (THE CRIMINALITY OF WOMEN)

Argued that the types of crime that women commit are under- represented in statistics.

FREDA ADLER (THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION HYPOTHESIS)

As women take on more dominant positions in society and adopt more traditional male roles, Female Criminality will increase.

CLARICE FEINMAN AND NGAIRE NAFFINE – (ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION)

Increased crime by women is directly related to the absence of real and meaningful opportunities for women

LOMBROSO AND FREUD

Lombroso viewed female criminals as having an excess of male characteristics.

Environmental Theories of Crime

Crime is influenced by a person's spatial environment.

  • North and South Pole- Quetelet

  • Approach to Equator- Montesquieu

  • Temperature

  • Henry H. Goddard - Feeblemindedness cause crime

  • KALLIKKAK FAMILY TREE- Henry H. Goddard

  • JUKE FAMILY TREE- Richard Dugdale

  • SIR JONATHAN EDWARDS FAMILY TREE- Descendants of the Good

  • AUGUST AICHORN’S WAYWARD YOUTH- Development of child is crucial

  • DAVID ABRHAMSEN’S CRIMINAL MIND- crime formula

  • CYRILL BURT’S YOUNG DELINQUENT- general emotionality, Callous Offenders

  • WILLIAM HEALY'S INDIVIDUAL DELINQUENT- frustration causes emotional discomfort

  • WALTER BROMBERG'S CRIME AND MIND- emotional immaturity