Question

1)   Theories have an important place in psychology. We can understand better ourselves and others behaviors and thoughts by looking at the theories. New theories of crime were being studied by psychologists. These theories began to develop in the early 1900s. Your task is to search Biological, Sociological and Psychological Theories of Crime and then you need to write your findings with your own thoughts and words.
Your word limit is 750-1000

Answer 1

key points

• Theories of criminal behaviour
• evaluating theories

Answer
Criminal behaviour is a social act, involving violations of socially defined laws. Some crimes are committed against people directly, including both violent offenses and non- violent offences. Criminal psychologist over the years have tried to explain various factors leading to a criminal behaviour. The biological, sociological and psychological theories of criminal behaviour are :-

1. Biological Theory - These theories view criminal behaviour as the result of genetics, psychophysiology, neurological functioning and biochemistry. The trait theories view criminality is a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. This view is proposed by Cearse Lombroso. Lombroso believed that offenders were atavists. The word atavism refers to “an ancient, ancestral trait that appears in modern life.” He stated, Criminals were Neanderthal‐like beings born, by some unexplained evolutionary glitch, into the modern world (Schechter, 2003). Because offenders were considered “throwbacks to the prehistoric past,” there were certain characteristics that were supposed to be identifiable.
   Each criminal has a unique set of characteristics that explain behavior. Some may have inherited criminal tendencies, some may have neurological problems, and yet other research shows some criminals may have blood chemistry disorders which heighten antisocial activity (Schechter, 2003).There is a definite link between behavior patterns and chemical changes in the brain and nervous system. Schecthter (2003) also stated that "chemical and mineral imbalance leads to cognitive and learning deficits and these factors in turn are associated with antisocial behavior”. Researched studies have lined hypoglycemia to violence and abnormal levels of male sex hormones produce aggressive behaviour. Other physiological correlates of crime and antisocial behaviour are low serotonin, low autonomic arousal, and impaired prefrontal cortical functioning. Many of the genes associated with crime affect the neurotransmitter systems. “A gene that confers sensitivity to dopamine may increase sensation seeking‐which is a characteristic of antisocial behavior” (Wiebe, 2004).

2) Psychological Theory - These theories tends to consider the influence of both dispositional and situational factors.

• Social learning theory( Bandura, 1977) puts forth that criminal activity are learned behaviours that an individual has developed through their previous interactions with the social environment along with several processes such as observing and imitation of criminal behaviour, positive consequences for such behaviour along with realizing that it can lead to desired outcomes.
• Andrew and Bonta(2010) stated that an individual was likely to engage in criminal behaviour in the presence of certain risk factors. These factors are viewed from a developmental perspective meaning some factors will come into play at an early age whereas others may impact the individual later in life. The intensity of factors also depends on the stage of the person’s life. These risk factors include:-

a) Early age of onset for antisocial behaviour

b) negative parenting

c) Temperamental and personal characteristics that are conducive to criminal activity
d)Low levels of school or vocational achievement
e)Antisocial attitudes, values and beliefs
f) Poor use of leisure time and low levels of involvement in prosocial pursuits
g)Association with procriminal peers and isolation from noncriminal associates
h)Abuse of drugs and/or alcohol

• Anti-Social attitudes - attitudes are evaluative judgement that a person makes about an issue, an object, an event, or a person. Thus a attitude toward a crime shows the pattern of behaviour. Five elements that include these attitudes are:-

a) high tolerance for deviance in general
(b) rejection of the validity of legal authority and institutions
(c) use of cognitive distortions (e.g. rationalization, denial) to make one’s antisocial behavior acceptable
(d)interpretation of a wide range of environmental stimuli as a reason for anger
(e) a style of thinking that is generally antisocial.

3 Sociological Theories - These theories explain in relation to society such as class, poverty, and social inequity. Person's socioeconomic status, determined by education, occupation, income and neighbourhood characterstics explains substantial variablity in criminal behaviour.

• Strain theory (Cohen,1960) - Criminal behaviour is caused by undue strain experienced as a result of pathological social structures (like social inequality, poverty) that prevents a person from achieving the middle- class expectations for material success which in turn person engages in socially deviant behaviour.
• Sub-culture theory (Wolfgang & Ferracuti, 1981) - states that person who engages in criminal activity are merely conforming to the hedonistic, hostile, and destructive values of lower class culture.

These were the few theories that highlights the biological, social and psychological factors of criminal behaviour. Over the years many researches have beecn conducted to study, evaluate and understand the phenomenon for the betterment of individual and society.

Evaluating the biological, psychological and social theories.

All the theories in their fields of work followed a different approach and gave their own conclusions of criminal behaviour. The psychological orientation is individualistic, viewing problems arising out of early life experiences and trying to treat the individual having problems, instead of focusing on who will become deviant. The main differences are that biological approaches focus on nature (genes), using brain scans, twin studies, while psychological/behaviorist approaches focus on nurture (environment), using experiments and research. ​​​​​​Whereas the social theories take into consideration the factors relating to society or the persons interaction and experiences in his/her environment. The psychological approach took into consideration both the aspects that influence ones behaviour dispositional and situational factors and as Hoge (2001) noted, social ecological model explains crime as a function of the interaction among multiple "forces operating at the level of the individuals, their immediate social environment, and more distal factors within the larger social environment. Therefore, factors donot operate individually to influence our behaviour rather all factors together implies as the determining forces reflecting in an individuals behaviour. As stated behaviour occurs within a notion of person and environment.
Table 1 shows psychological and biological theories of crime characteristics.