Are Criminals Born or Made? Essay

Despite the fact that regardless he clutched his own general hypothesis of conceived guiltiness – and in reality included new sorts of lawbreakers and reasons for culpability all through his profession – Lombroso now composed, "In a time in which the objective of science is watchful investigation, the idea of degeneration has turned out to be excessively wide, being utilized, making it impossible to disclose pathologies from cretinism to virtuoso, from hard of hearing mutism to cancer."17 Moreover, the hypothesis' key presumption – the diverse physical and mental cosmetics of ruffians and non-savages – was never methodically concentrated on in the nineteenth century. He gives the readers an analogy that is summarized as a dog left to run wild in the timberland will in a couple of eras return to the sort of his unique wolf-like begetter. This propensity to adjust under exceptional

I believe the theory that best explains why crime happens is the psychoanalytic perspective. I believe this is the best theory because it focuses more on the wants and acts of the criminal rather an their personality or lack of control. The psychoanalytic perspective more accurately describes a reason to why people commit crimes. Not all individuals could be identified from a personality trait or low levels of self control. Therefore, the psychoanalytic perspective would give the best explanation to why crime happens.

Trait theories posit that crime is caused by certain traits, biological or psychological, among individuals which predispose them to crime. These traits control the individual's coping strategies and ultimately result in criminal behavior. Social philosopher Cesare Lombroso, working in the early 1900's, theorized that there were common physical traits shared by criminals. (Glaser, 205-6). These included distinct characteristics in the jaw line, teeth, and nose as cranium of offenders. As a result, public law enforcement viewed offenders as either incapable of reason or as unable to control their animal impulses. (Glaser, 206).

The biological theories are essential to the criminal justice profession so that they won't assume that a person's genetic characteristics cause a person to commit a crime. However, there are born criminals and “these types of criminals are the most dangerous, and can be identified through his or her stigmata or identifying characteristics” (Akers, Sellers, See, & Kieser, 2013, p. 10). Biological theories are the bases for severe criminal behavior mostly found among people who are born with an innate impulse to commit a

When looking at criminal activity and the direct connection to the criminal behavior we see that there have been many research trials that have taken place over the history of humankind (Mishra & Lalumiere, 2008). Two of these research areas that have been developed to attempt to understand the causes of criminal behavior are known as biological and psychological perspectives of crime causation. These two sectors have their principles that are held in their theories as a standard scientific understanding of the basics that each evaluation of criminal behavior is built on (Dretske, 2004).

The second category of explanations for criminal behavior based solely on a human's environment is the theory that receives the most credit, and obviously is backed by the most truth. Endless examples and mountains of proof back this environment theory. To further bash the first category, all of its components are only brought out by their environment. While the level of stress a person can handle is an inherent part of their make-up, how they react to that stress is a learned attribute. Not only reactions to the stress are varied on different social structures, but the types and levels of stress vary as well. For example, a violent minded child who is not capable of dealing with stress well could be born into a rich family and experience no frustrations. On the other hand, if a calm child were born into an abusive environment, he would have a better tendency to snap because of the levels of stress he experiences in that environment.

Over time, other researchers used Lombroso’s work as a foundation for their theories. Charles Goring challenged the work of Lombroso’s evolutionary born criminal by researching and experimenting, which ultimately led to his report that was published in 1913. The publication of Goring’s report, The English Convict concluded there is no such thing as a physical criminal type, in addition there is no difference between criminals and law-abiding citizens; however, Goring still accepted the Lombrosian notion that criminals are born with criminal traits (Akers & Sellers, 2013). Soon after we had E. A. Hooton who conducted an elaborate study of 17,000 subjects in different states and concluded that sociological factors were not important, because criminals are basically organically inferior while William Sheldon, proposed that crime is cause by inherited biological inferiority after looking at the body type of man (Akers & Sellers, 2013).

88-89). The conclusion that Lombroso came up with was that there is a "born criminal type" (Thompson and Bynum, 2010, P. 89). This concept of physical characteristics was used in other fields, like Anthropology to see if people of a certain race were more primitive then others. It is not all that surprising that it was used to try and establish if criminals could be distinguished in the same manner. The concept of individuals being born as a criminal type is still unclear. Of course this concept has been expanded well beyond just looking at physical traits.

All the biological theories are based on the notion that biological markers foreordain criminal behavior. The core of all these theories is that genetic factors or any abnormalities which are inherited or acquired throughout the life, predispose individuals to the criminal behavior. Lombroso’s theory gave life to probably almost every single biological theory that appeared afterward.

Criminologists and sociologist have long been in debate for century's to explain criminal behaviour. The two main paradigms of thought are between 'nature' and 'nurture'. Nature is in reference to a learnt behaviour where a multitude of characteristics, in society influence whether a person becomes deviant such as poverty, physical abuse or neglect. Nurture defines biological features which could inevitability lead to a individuals deviant or criminal behaviour, because criminality is believed by biological positivist to be inherited from a persons parents. However, I believe that criminal behaviour is a mixture of characteristics that lead to deviant acts such as psychological illness & Environmental factors. Therefore, this essay

Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behavior. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment. There are various theories within the biological explanation as to why individuals commit criminal behavior, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory,.

Figuring out why people commit crimes is one of the central concerns of criminology. Do most criminals act rationally after weighing the costs of crime? Is society ever to blame for an individual to commit a crime? Do mental diseases or even genetics factor into whether a person will live a life of crime. Over the years, many people have developed theories to try to answer these questions. In fact, the number of theories of why people commit crimes sometimes seems to equal the number of criminologists. I explore these questions and much more in the paper that follow.

Many people have different theories as to why crime exists. Some believe crime happens because of the individual’s culture, education (or lack there of), or even their race. Others believe crime is associated with whom we surround ourselves with. There are three sociological theories that suggest why crime happens in society; they are social learning theory, social control theory, and social reaction (labeling) theory. These theories suggest it is our relationships and social interactions that influence our behavior.

     In general the definition of a crime is an act punishable by law, usually considered an evil act. Crime refers to many types of misconduct forbidden by law. Crimes include such things as murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, possession or dealing of illegal drugs, being nude in public , drunk driving, and bank robbery. Crime is an act that has been timeless and has been committed practically since the start of time. For example, ever since Cain killed his brother Abel (B.C.), people being charged with witchcraft in the 1600’s, prostitution, to the current crimes of modern day(A.D.). Even though crime has existed throughout time it has progressed and branched out taking many types forms.

Developmental theory is the view that criminality is a dynamic process, influenced by social experiences as well as individual characteristics (Siegel, 2014, p. 228). This theory includes three views of criminal career development. The first being the life course theory which is a theory that focuses on changes in criminality over the life course brought about by shifts in experience and life events (Siegel, 2014, p. 228). The second being propensity theory which is the view that a stable unchanging feature, characteristic, property, or condition, such as defective intelligence or impulsive personality, makes some people crime prone (Siegel, 2014, p. 228). The third view is the trajectory theory. Trajectory theory is the view that there are multiple independent paths to a criminal career and that there are different types and classes of offenders (Siegel, 2014, p. 228).