Theories of Crime Causation PDF

Theories of Crime Causation John Carlo G. Geronimo RCrim yummy 1. BIOLOGICAL THEORIES These refers to the set of theories that point to physical, physiological and other natural factors as the causes for the commission of crimes of certain individuals. These explain the existence of cri...

Theories of Crime Causation John Carlo G. Geronimo RCrim yummy 1. BIOLOGICAL THEORIES These refers to the set of theories that point to physical, physiological and other natural factors as the causes for the commission of crimes of certain individuals. These explain the existence of criminal traits associates an individual’s evil disposition to physical disfigurement or impairment.  Physiognomy – the study of facial features and their relation to human behavior. 1. Giambiatista Dela Porta - founder of human physiognomy - according to him criminal behavior may be predicted based on facial features of the person. 2. Johann Kaspar Lavater - supported the belief of dela Porta - he believed that a person’s character is revealed through his facial characteristics.  Phrenology, Craniology or Cranioscopy – the study of the external formation of the skull in relation to the person’s personality and tendencies toward criminal behavior. 1. Franz Joseph Gall - he developed cranioscopy which was later renamed as phrenology 2. Johann Kaspar Spurzheim - assistant of Gall in the study of phrenology. - He was the man most responsible for popularizing and spreading phrenology to a wide audience.  Physiology or Somatotype – refers to the study of body built of a person in relation to his temperament and personality and the type of offense he is most prone to commit. 1. Ernst Kretschmer - formulated his own body types: asthenic, athletic, pyknik and dysplastic. 2. William Herbert Sheldon - his body types include: ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. 3. Earnest Hooton - tall thin men tend to commit forgery and fraud; - undersized men are thieves and burglars; - short heavy person commits assault, rape and other sex crimes -Whereas mediocre (average) physique flounder around among other crimes. -He also contended that criminals are originally inferior and that crime is the result of the impact of environment.  Physiology or Somatotype According to Kretschmer According to Sheldon asthenic – characterized as ectomorph – tall and thin thin, small and weak. and less social and more athletic – muscular and intellectual than the other strong. types. pyknic – stout, round and mesomorph – have fat. well-developed muscles and dysplastic – combination of an athletic appearance. two body types endomorph – heavy builds and slow moving. WHICH IS WHICH?  Heredity – It is the transmission of traits from parents to offspring. Karyotype Studies - It is the examination and comparison of chromosomes. -Some scientists have claimed that men with an extra male, or Y, chromosome may be more likely to commit criminal acts than the general population this genetic disorder in known as XYY Syndrome  Nature Theory - It argues that intelligence is largely determined genetically; that ancestry determines I.Q.; and that low intelligence as demonstrated by low I.Q., is linked to criminal behavior. Nurture theory - is the idea that a person's behavior is influenced by their environment, not just their genetics. - It refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are including our early childhood experiences; how we were raised; our social relationships; and our surrounding culture. - People select, modify and create environments correlated with their genetic disposition. 1. Richard Louis Dugdale - conducted a study of the Jukes family by researching their family tree as far back 200 years. He discovered that most of the ascendants of the Jukes were criminals. 2. Henry Goddard - he traced the descendants of the Martin Kallikak from each of his two wives and found a distinct difference in terms of quality of lives of descendants. He coined the term “moron”. 3. Charles Goring - he believed that criminal traits can be passed from parents to offspring through the genes. - there is no such thing as criminal physical inferiority - he proposed that individuals who possess criminal characteristics should be prohibited from having children. 4. Francis Galton - He developed “Eugenics” or the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. Developed largely as a method of improving the human race. 5. Schulsinger (1972) - He found criminality in adoptive boys to be higher when biological fathers had criminal records. 6. Hutchings and Mednick (1977) - They studied 1,145 male adoptees with criminal record and found that the criminality of the biological father was a major predictor of the child’s behavior. 7. Sir Jonathan Edwards - He was a famous preacher during colonial period. His family tree was traced, none of the descendants was found to be criminal. Out of his pedigree many became vice president of the United States, Governor, Members of the Supreme Court, famous writers, preachers and teachers.  Bio-Chemical Crime, especially violent, is a function of diet, vitamin intake, hormonal imbalance, or food allergies. a. Dalton’s study of “Menstruation and Crime” found that nearly half of the crimes of her sample of female inmates had occurred during menstruation or pre-menstruation. (PRE-MENSTRUAL SYNDROME) b. In Schauss’s study comparing nutritional differences of delinquents and nondelinquents, the surprising major difference found was that delinquents drank more milk. C. HYPOGLYCEMIA - Low blood sugar also has been claimed to be linked to impaired brain function and violent crime  PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES refers to the theories that attribute criminal behavior of individuals to psychological factors, such as emotion and mental problems. psychologists have considered a variety of possibilities, defective conscience, emotional immaturity, inadequate childhood socialization, maternal deprivation and poor moral development. CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY -The science of behavior and mental processes of the criminal. It focused on the individual criminal behavior - how it is acquired, evoked, maintained and modified. Both the environmental and personality influences are considered, along with the mental processes that mediate the behavior. Common Types of Insanity a. Dementia Praecox - A collective term for mental disorders that begin at or shortly after puberty and usually lead to general failure of the mental faculties with the corresponding physiological impairment. Also known as Schizoprenia. b. Manic Depressive - characterized by mania and mental depression. c. Paralysis - condition of helpless inactivity or inability to act. d. Senile - mental deterioration often accompanying old age (Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease). Alienist - This term is applied to a specialist in the study of mental disorders. Hallucination - An apparent or false perception without any corresponding external object, especially in psychiatry, any of the numerous sensations, auditory, visual or tactile experienced without external stimulus and caused by mental derangement, intoxication or fever hence, may be a sign of approaching insanity. Delusion - A false belief; an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument; typically, a symptom of mental disorder. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - A psychological disorder in which a child shows developmentally inappropriate impulsivity, hyperactivity, and lack of attention. Classes of Mental Deficiency IDIOTS - Person whose case there exist mental defectiveness of such a degree that they are unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers. Their mentality is compared to a two years old person. IMBECILES - persons in whose case there exist mental defectiveness which thought not amounting to idiocy, is yet so pronounced that they are incapable of managing themselves or their affairs. Their mentality is like a child of 2 to 7 years old. FEEBLE-MINDED PERSONS - those whose case there exist mental defectiveness which thought not amounting to imbecility, is yet so pronounced that they require care, supervision and control for their own or for the protection of others, or in the case of children, they appear to be permanently incapable by reason of such defectiveness or receiving proper benefit from the intrusion in ordinary schools. MORAL DEFECTIVENESS - Person wherein defect exists coupled with strong vicious or criminal propensities, and who require care and supervision, and control for their own or for the protection of others.  INTELLIGENCE AS A FACTOR IN CRIMINALITY The classic studies of the Juke and Kallikak families were among the first to show that feeblemindedness or low-intelligence can be inherited and transferred from one generation to the next. Numerous test were also conducted that lead to the development of the use of IQ tests as a testing procedure for offenders. The very first results seemed to confirm that offenders had low mental abilities and they were found to be mentally impaired. ALFRED BINET – a French psychologist who developed the first IQ test. - the test measured the capacity of individual children to perform tasks or solve problems in relation to the average capacity of their peers.  Sigmund Freud FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS / PSYCHODYNAMICS - known for his psychoanalytic theory* - according to him, criminality is caused by the imbalance of the three (3) components of personality: the id, the ego, and the superego. ID – follows the pleasure principle EGO – reality principle SUPEREGO - the conscience 1. ID – this stands for instinctual drives; it is governed by the “pleasure principle”; the id impulses are not social and must be repressed or adapted so that they may become socially acceptable 2. EGO – this is considered to be the sensible and responsible part of an individual’s personality and is governed by the “reality principle”; it is developed early in life and compensates for the demands of the id by helping the individual guide his actions to remain within the boundaries of accepted social behavior; it is the objective, rational part of the personality 3. SUPEREGO – serves as the moral conscience of an individual; it is structured by what values were taught by the parents, the school and the community, as well as belief in God; it is largely responsible for making a person follow the moral codes of society  Sigmund Freud – suggested that criminality may result from an overactive conscience that results in excessive guilt feelings. A defect in the character formation of delinquents drives them to satisfy their desires at once, regardless of the consequences.  Psychosexual Stages of Human Development Eros - The most basic human drive present at birth (the instinct to preserve and create life); expressed sexually. Oral Stage - Usually during the first year of life when the child attains pleasure by sucking and biting (Birth to 1st year) Anal stage - Focus on elimination of bodily wastes during the second and third years of life (1 to 3 years old) Phallic Stage - During the third year when child focuses their attention on their genitals (3rd to 6th year). Oedipus Complex - A stage of development when male begins to have a sexual feelings for their mother. Electra Complex - A stage of development when girls begins to have a sexual feelings for their father. Latency - Begins at age 6; feelings of sexuality are exposed until the genital stage begins at puberty. This marks the beginning of adult sexuality (6th year to puberty). Genital - This is the last stage of freud’s psychosexual theory of personality development and begins in puberty. It is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving one to one relationship with another person in our 20’s. Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self-pleasure like during phallic stage (puberty to adulthood) Fixated Person - It exhibits behavior traits characteristics of those encountered during infantile sexual development e.g., an infant who does not receive enough oral gratification during the first year of life if likely as adult engage in such oral behavior as smoking, drinking, or drug abuse and others.  SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES sociological factors refer to things, places and people with whom we come in contact with and which play a part in determining our actions and conduct. These causes may bring about the development of criminal behavior.  Emile Durkheim - He stated that crime is a normal part of the society just like birth and death. - proposed the concept of “anomie” or the absence of social norms. It is characterized by disorder due to lack of common values shared by individuals, lack of respect for authority and lack of appreciation for what is acceptable and not acceptable in a society. Anomie (B-A-N) - is a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals. This is characterized by breakdown of social order, absence of social norms and normlessness. Logomacy - a statement that we would have no crime if we have no criminal laws and that we could eliminate all crime merely by abolishing all criminal laws.  Gabriel Tarde - introduced the theory of imitation which proposes the process by which people become criminals. - according to this theory, individuals imitate the behavior of other individuals based on the degree of their association with other individuals and it is inferior or weak who tend to imitate the superior and strong.  Copycat Crime Is a criminal act that is modeled or inspired by a previous crime that has been reported in the media or described in fiction.  Adolphe Quetelet -founder of cartographic school of criminology. - founder of moral statistics. - First Scientific Criminologist - Father of Modern Sociological and Psychological Statistics  Thermic Law propensity for crime among younger adults and males, and the tendency of crimes against persons to increase in summer and property crimes to predomination winter  Andre Michael Guerry Founder of the Ecological or Cartographic School of Criminology relying exclusively upon shaded areas of maps in order to describe and analyze variations in French official crime statistic. CRIME MAPPING  Albert Adler -Founder of individual psychology and coined the term inferiority complex. -Criminality was a fear of inferiority and a compensatory drive for power and superiority over his victim to compensate for his own inferiority.  Erik Erikson -Described the so called Identity Crisis -Criminality may be the result of an inadequate development of a sense of identity or the result of an inadequate development of a sense of inferiority or inadequacy. Many offenders, especially gang members, commit their crimes to gain notoriety or a reputation. In this view, they do so to overcome their sense of inferiority or inadequacy.  Erich Fromm Erich Fromm argues that the root of criminality is in the need for belongingness, Isolation and aloneness are major threats. Children, especially, need security; they need to feel that they belong in a family. But as individuals mature, they are impelled by another motive-the desire for freedom, to escape from the restrictions that provide the security. Thus, delinquent behavior may satisfy the need for belongingness. That may explain why so many delinquencies are committed by groups of youth. Adult criminality may be committed out of a desire for freedom. MODERN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION - environmental factors such as the kind of rearing or family upbringing, quality of teaching in school, influences of peers and friends, conditions of the neighborhood, and economic and other societal factors are believed to be contributory to crime and criminal behavior.  1. SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES - refers not only to the physical features of the communities but also to the way society is organized. - include such things as level of poverty and unemployment and the amount of crowded housing which are believed to affect behavior and attitudes of individuals which in turn contribute to their commission of crimes. - also called social environment - includes social disorganization theory, strain theory and cultural deviance theory.  SUB THEORIES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE A. SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION B. ANOMIE AND STRAIN THEORY C. CULTURAL DEVIANCE A. Social Disorganization Theory - popularized by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. - according to this theory, crimes in urban areas are more prevalent because residents have impersonal relationships with each other. - increase in the number of broken families and single parenthood are also very common in disorganized communities. - another feature of disorganized community is poverty as evidenced by poor living conditions such as rundown houses, unsanitary and unsighty streets and high unemployment rates. This theory focuses on the development of high-crime areas associated with the disintegration of conventional values caused by rapid industrialization, increased migration, and urbanization. Indicators of social disorganization include high unemployment, school dropout rates, deteriorated housing, low-income levels, and large members of single-parent households. B. Strain Theory* (ROBERT MERTON) - strain refers the individual’s frustration, anger and resentment. - holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally obtain them. This also argues that the ability to obtain these goals is class dependent; members of the lower class are unable to achieve these goals which come easily to those belonging to the upper class. Consequently, they feel anger, frustration and resentment, referred to as STRAIN. Four Possible adaptation to strain: Innovation - The innovator buys into the culturally approved goals of society but pursues them through unacceptable means. Ritualism - This describes a person who, over time, abandons the goal of financial success. Despite this, they continue to embrace the accepted means. Retreatism - A retreatist is a social dropout. This type of person will not resort to illegitimate means to achieve widely shared goals. This individual simply withdraws from society. Rebellion - These are individual who oppose both culturally dominant goals and the means to achieve these goals. The rebel seeks to establish a new social order and embraces a different cultural goal. C. Cultural Deviance Theory (THORSTEN SELLIN ET. AL) - gives emphasis on the concept of culture and sub-culture. - according to this theory, because people in the lower class feel isolated due to extreme deprivation or poverty, they tend to create a sub-culture with its own set of rules and values. This is characterized by deviant behavior which result in criminal behavior among its members. Sub-cultural values are handed down from one generation to the next in the process called Cultural Transmission.  2. 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. These theories cite interaction with people and experiences and exposure to different element in the environment as primary factors to criminality. 3 SUB THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS a. Differential Association Theory b. Differential Reinforcement Theory c. Neutralization Theory A. *Differential Association Theory - formulated by Edwin Sutherland - this theory states that criminal behavior is learned through socialization and influence. - criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. B. Differential Reinforcement Theory (CONDITIONING THEORY) - according to this theory, individual’s behavior depends on how people around him react toward s his behavior. - an act that is rewarded is repeated; an act that is punished will be avoided. C. Neutralization Theory - introduced by David Matza and Gresham Sykes. - sometimes referred to as “drift theory” - according to this theory, people know when they are doing something wrong, however, they rationalize and justify their actions. This rationalizing is what we called “neutralization”.  3. SOCIAL REACTION THEORY* - more commonly called labeling theory. - it states that people become criminals when significant members of society label them as such and they accept those labels as a personal identity. Authors: Frank Tennenbaum, Edwin Lemert, Howard Becker  4. 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 or church, government and laws and other identified authorities in society. - there are two (2) sub-theories: containment theory and social bond theory. A. Containment Theory - proposed by Walter Reckless - he stated that inner and outer containments help prevent juvenile offending. - containment means the forces within and outside the individual that has the power to influence his actions. - inner containments include positive self-concept, tolerance for frustration and an ability to set realistic goals. - outer containments include family. B. Social Bond Theory* - propagated by Travis Hirschi - this theory views crime as a result of individuals with weakened bonds to social institutions. - according to this theory, there are four (4) elements of social bonds: attachment, commitment, involvement and belief.  FOUR TYPES OF BONDS (BIAC) 1. belief – refers to acceptance of the norms of conventional society. 2. involvement – refers to the amount of time an individual spends on a conventional pursuit. 3. attachment – refers to the degree to which an individual care about the opinions of others. 4. commitment – refers to an individual’s investment of enrgy and emotion in conventional pursuits, such as getting good grades.