Theories of Criminal Behavior

Trying to evaluate theories for criminal behavior is a losing proposition, yet man must continue to search for his darker side. From "The devil made me do it" to a bad childhood, there are plenty of excuses for criminal behavior. The trick is to identify solid theories rather than excuses. One of the most intense disagreements will occur when people argue whether environment or heredity is responsible for a criminal bent. While it is doubtful you can correctly identify all theories of criminal behavior, there is no doubt you can get an insight why people break the law.

Instructions

History

1. 

   Crime has been around forever. People will often do what they have to do to get what they want. There was political murder during Caesar's reign; there was serial killing with Jack the Ripper; the Wild West boasted the Great Train Robbery; there has been organized crime, gangs and confidence games. Drugs have been sold in great quantity since the 19th century. Some acts that were historically criminal, such as gambling, have been legalized.

Features

1. 

   Theories of criminal behavior are studied on two levels. The first level is the sociological way people look at their environment, and the other is the psychological way they look at their environment.
   Sociologically, a person will be impressed by proximity, the imitation of those over them, their understanding of behavior--right or wrong--and the behavior of those they look up to
   Psychological factors of crime include anger, fear, poverty, drug use, mental illness, gang membership, bad decisions, excitement and laziness, to name just a few.

Theories/Speculation

1. Theories of criminal behavior fall in to two categories. They involve either genetics or environment. Those who say genetics believe that crime is a decision, while those who argue that it is environment claim that any given person did not have a fair chance. The problem with both theories is they have been routinely disproved by studying twins living in the same environment, where one turns to crime and one does not.
   Eschewing that set of arguments one could make a case for people choosing bad people to associate with. However, there are those who would argue further, that all things considered, crime ultimately boils down to a personal decision to commit criminal acts.
   Finally, many people think a person rejecting religious or moral concepts prevents one from understanding good decisions.

Misconceptions

1. It is often thought that all crime is preplanned. While a lot of the crime committed is preplanned, there is a lot of crime that is committed on the spur of the moment out of passion or anger.

Prevention/Solution

1. In looking at the solution for criminal behavior, it must be studied in a joint environmental/genetic effort. Currently, criminals are housed in prisons. They present a large amount of information, since criminal activity continues to be fostered in the prison system.
   Additionally, it must be studied whether or not education can come to bear on the situation. Criminals who are put to death should be encouraged to leave their brains for study as well as perhaps lowering prison sentences for those who will cooperate in studies.
   While this may sound somewhat "hardhearted," if society truly wants to learn how to prevent crime, the only place to learn about crime is from criminals.

Warning

1. Looking back to the great societies like Rome, Greece and Persia, that there was a deterioration in their mores and their ability to effectively deal with crime before they failed. The United States has to make a more serious effort to aggressively fight crime; the country is just a few hundred years old and already having major problems with crime.

Resources

• Biological Roots of Criminal Behavior
• Social Learning Theory