Sociology and Psychology Theorists

Introduction to Criminology

• Criminology is the study of crime as a social phenomenon, including the process of making laws, breaking laws, and society's reaction to breaking laws.
• Criminology encompasses the study of crimes, criminals, and the efforts of society to prevent and repress them.

Definition of Criminology

• According to Edwin H. Sutherland, criminology is the entire body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.
• Criminology is a body of knowledge regarding crimes, criminals, and the efforts of society to prevent and repress them.

Scope of Criminology

• Study of the origin and development of criminal law
• Study of the causes of crimes and development of criminals
• Study of other sciences that examine criminal behavior using scientific methods

Criminologist

• A criminologist is a person who has a degree in Criminology, has passed the examination for criminologists, and is registered as such by the Board of Examiners of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Origin of the Word "Criminology"

• The term "criminology" came from the Latin word "crimen" meaning crime and the Greek word "logos" meaning to study.

Principal Divisions of Criminology

• Etiology of Crimes: scientific analysis of the causes of crimes and criminal behavior
• Sociology of Law: investigation of the nature of criminal law and its administration
• Penology: study of the control of crimes and the rehabilitation of offenders

Is Criminology a Science?

• According to George Wilker, criminology cannot yet be considered a science because it has not yet acquired universal validity.
• Edwin H. Sutherland hoped that criminology will become a science in the future since the causes of crimes are almost the same, which may be biological, environmental, or a combination of the two.

Nature of Criminology

• Applied science: criminology has established universally accepted principles and concepts that are used by other fields of study.
• Social science: criminology studies crime as a social phenomenon.
• Dynamic: the concepts of criminology and their applications adapt to changing times.
• Nationalistic: the study of criminology takes into consideration the history, culture, and social aspects of a nation.

Schools of Thought in Criminology

Demonological Theory

• Asserts that a person commits wrongful acts due to the fact that they are possessed by demons.
• Believes that individuals have no free will and are controlled by supernatural forces.

Classical School of Criminology

• Grew out of a reaction against the barbaric system of law, punishment, and justice in Europe.
• Believes that individuals have free will and choose to commit crimes after weighing the consequences of their actions.
• Fear of punishment can deter individuals from committing crimes.

Highlights of Cesare Beccaria's Ideas

• Proposed the abolition of torture as a legitimate means of extracting confessions.
• Believed that punishments should be clear, certain, and proportionate to the crime.
• Advocated for the prompt administration of punishment to prevent further crimes.
• Believed that the aim of punishment should be to prevent the criminal from committing new crimes and to deter others from doing likewise.

Jeremy Bentham

• Believed that individuals always act in such a way to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
• Developed the concept of utilitarianism and the felicific calculus.
• Founded the concept of utilitarianism, which assumes that all our actions are calculated in accordance with their likelihood of bringing pleasure and pain.

Positivist School of Criminology

• Believes that the causes of behavior can be measured and observed.
• Focuses on the scientific study of the individual differences among criminals.
• Claims that people are passive and controlled by biological and environmental factors.

The (Un) Holy Three of Criminology

• Cesare Lombroso: recognized as the "Father of Modern and Empirical Criminology"
• Enricco Ferri: focused on the influences of psychological and sociological factors on crime
• Raffaelle Garofallo: treated the roots of criminal behavior not to the individual's moral responsibility, but to the social and environmental conditions in which they live.

Cesare Lombroso

• Recognized as the "Father of Modern and Empirical Criminology"
• Applied modern scientific methods to trace criminal behavior
• Believed that criminals are distinguishable from non-criminals due to the presence of atavistic stigmata and recognizable hereditary traits.

Enricco Ferri

• Focused on the influences of psychological and sociological factors on crime
• Believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible because they did not choose to commit crimes, but were driven to commit crimes by conditions in their lives.

Raffaelle Garofallo

• Treated the roots of criminal behavior not to the individual's moral responsibility, but to the social and environmental conditions in which they live.

Physiognomy and Phrenology

• Physiognomy: the study of the external formation of the skull in relation to the person's personality and tendencies toward criminal behavior
• Phrenology: the study of the external formation of the skull in relation to the person's personality and tendencies toward criminal behavior

Somatotype

• Refers to the study of body build in relation to temperament and personality and the type of offense a person is most prone to commit
• Ernst Kretschmer: distinguished three principal types of physiques: asthenic, athletic, and pyknic
• William Herbert Sheldon: formulated his own group of somatotype: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph### Biological Theories of Crime Causation
• Classified criminals as Murderers, Violent Criminals, Deficient Criminals, and Lascivious Criminals
• Heredity: the transmission of traits from parents to offspring
• Physiognomy: the study of facial features and their relation to human behavior

Intelligence as a Factor in Criminality

• The classic studies of the Juke and Kallikak families showed that feeblemindedness or low-intelligence can be inherited and transferred from one generation to the next
• Alfred Binet developed the first IQ test to measure the capacity of individual children to perform tasks or solve problems in relation to the average capacity of their peers
• IQ classifications:
  • Borderline: IQ 71-84
  • Mild: IQ 50-55 to approx. 70
  • Moderate: IQ 35-40 to approx. 50-55
  • Severe: IQ 20-25 to approx. 35-40
  • Profound: IQ below 20-25

Psychological Theories

• Sigmund Freud: recognized as the Father of Psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalytic theory: criminality is caused by an imbalance of the three components of personality (id, ego, and superego)
• Id: instinctual drives governed by the "pleasure principle"
• Ego: the sensible and responsible part of an individual's personality governed by the "reality principle"
• Superego: serves as the moral conscience of an individual, structured by what values were taught by parents, school, and community
• Psychosexual stages of human development:
  • Oral stage: usually during the first year of life when the child attains pleasure by sucking and biting
  • Anal stage: focus on the elimination of bodily wastes during the second and third years of life
  • Phallic stage: genitals
  • Latency: begins at age 6, feelings of sexuality are repressed and the focus is on external factors
  • Genital: the feeling of sexuality is expressed
• Oedipus complex (boy): stage of development when male children begin to have sexual feelings for their mothers
• Electra complex (girl): stage of development when female children begin to have sexual feelings for their fathers

Mental Disorders

• Neuroses: a common type of mental disorder used to explain criminal behavior
  • Anxiety: characterized by feeling anxious, fearful, or apprehensive
  • Obsessive-compulsive behavior: people who suffer from this have unwanted, intrusive, and repetitive thoughts or behaviors
  • Phobia: excessive and unexplainable fear of something
  • Depression: extreme feeling of low morale, sadness, loneliness, self-pity, despair, rejection, boredom, and pessimism
• Psychoses: a more serious type of mental disorder
  • Schizophrenia: characterized by distortions or withdrawal from reality, disturbances of thought and language, and withdrawal from social contact
  • Paranoia: characterized by delusions of grandeur, persecution, or reference

Sociological Theories

• Social structure theories: refer to environmental factors such as the kind of rearing or family upbringing, quality of teaching in school, influences of peers and friends, and conditions of the neighborhood
• Social disorganization theory: popularized by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, crime in urban areas is more prevalent due to impersonal relationships and lack of social control
• Strain theory: holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally obtain them
• Cultural deviance theory: gives emphasis on the concept of culture and sub-culture, deviant behavior which results in criminal behavior among its members

Social Process Theory

• Refers to a group of theories which point to the individual's socialization process as the cause for the commission of crimes

• Social learning theory: criminal behavior is learned through socialization

  • Differential association theory: criminal behavior is learned through association with other individuals
  • Differential reinforcement theory: behavior is learned through rewards or punishments
  • Neutralization theory: individuals justify or neutralize their criminal behavior

• Social bond theory: views crime as a result of individuals with weakened bonds to social institutions

  • Attachment: refers to the degree to which an individual cares about the opinions of others
  • Commitment: refers to the individual's investment in conventional society
  • Involvement: refers to the individual's participation in conventional activities
  • Belief: refers to the individual's adherence to conventional moral values### Criminology Theories

• Commitment refers to an individual's investment of energy and emotion in conventional pursuits, such as getting good grades.

• Involvement refers to the amount of time an individual spends on a conventional pursuit.

• Belief refers to the acceptance of the norms of conventional society.

Differential Reinforcement Theory

• States that an individual's behavior depends on how people around him react towards his behavior.
• An act that is rewarded is repeated; an act that is punished will be avoided.

Neutralization Theory

• Introduced by David Matza and Gresham Sykes.
• Also known as "drift theory".
• States that people know when they are doing something wrong, but they rationalize and justify their actions.

Rational Choice Theory (Right Realism Theory)

• States that crime is a function of a decision-making process in which the would-be offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act.

Relative Deprivation Theory (Left Realism Theory)

• Closely associated with anomie theory.
• Suggests that crime happens when individuals or groups see themselves as being unfairly disadvantaged compared to others.

Social Control Theories

• Maintain that everyone has the potential to become criminal, but most people are controlled by their bonds to society.
• Social control refers to the agencies of social control, such as family, school, religion, government, and laws.

Labeling Theory

• States that people become criminals when significant members of society label them as such and they accept those labels as a personal identity.

Developmental Theory

• States that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics.

Routine Activities Theory

• States that victimization results from the interaction of three everyday factors: the availability of suitable targets, the absence of capable guardians, and the presence of motivated offenders.

Types of Crimes

• Crimes mala in se: acts that are inherently evil (e.g., murder, robbery)
• Crimes mala prohibita: acts that are prohibited only because there are laws forbidding them (e.g., traffic violations, illegal possession of firearms)

Criminological Classifications of Crime

• Acquisitive crimes: crimes in which the offender acquires or gains something (e.g., robbery, estafa, bribery)
• Destructive crimes: crimes that result in destruction, damage, or death (e.g., arson, murder, homicide, damage to property)

Characteristics of Criminals

• Professional criminal: a highly skilled criminal who is engaged in large-scale criminal activities and usually operates in groups.
• Situational criminal: a person who gets involved in criminal acts because the situation presents itself.

Other Criminology Concepts

• Aging out phenomenon: the process by which individuals reduce the frequency of their offending behavior as they age.
• Cycle of violence: victims of crime, especially victims of childhood abuse, are more likely to commit crimes themselves.
• Victim precipitation theory: the view that victims may initiate, either actively or passively, the confrontation that leads to their victimization.