Characteristics of Criminal Offenders

This can be applied to the behaviors of criminals. According to Fishbein (1990, pg.37), “behavior [is] primarily attributed to inherited predispositions and genetic influences.” Nurture is the environmental influence that shape human behavior (Fishbein, 1990, pg.37). Human genetics and environmental factors contribute to the uniqueness to a person’s behavior. However, there are underlying qualities in a criminal’s historical background. Aspects of the nature and nurturing of a criminal behavior includes some problems with earlier biological explanations and some recent biological explanations which have overcome the weaknesses of

According to the article, offender profiling is a technique for identifying the personality and behavioral features of an offender based on an analysis of he/she committed. There are two types of offender profiling: inductive and deductive profiling. Inductive profiling technique uses an offender profiling from what is known about other offenders (criminals). Deductive profiling deals with the criminal’s evidence relating to him/her. The aim of the research was to examine the utility of offender profiles. To evaluate if the offender profiles with an ambiguous profile will demystify the statements to make them well suited to a potential suspect. Offender profiles have been useful to prioritize suspects in ongoing investigations; however there have been criticisms on profiling. Based on Alison et al., stated that after the study, they generalized that both participants that received genuine and bogus suspects had no significant differences, this correspond well with Barnum- type effect. Therefore, using offender profiles as an investigative tool can be highly suspicious. The study proposed that, like the participants in the early Barnum studies, individuals might have similar results. The correlation between participants’ interpretation of generic personality sketches and officers potential reinterpretation, suggest that police will have a hard time to prioritize a particular suspects because the results come in an extremely large suspects pools that match

Male and female offenders alike are incarcerated every day for various reasons. Some commit violent crimes while others are arrested for drug use or public-order offenses. The difference between the two are the rates at which they are incarcerated, the length or harshness of their sentences, for the same or similar crimes committed, patterns of drug use, and previous correctional history. While men still lead in violent crime rates, 54.3 percent male verse 36.6 percent female, women are more likely than men to serve sentences due to drug-related offenses and other nonviolent property crimes (American Corrections, 2016).

Statistics such as this suggest that defendants who possess traits perceived to be stereotypical of a person of color such as a broad nose, thick lips or a substantially darker complexion, are more likely to receive the death penalty compared to white counterparts accused of committing the same

The courts are reducing punishment for non-violent offenders by putting them in rehabilitation programs (Berenji, B., Chou, T., & D'Orsogna, 2014).The reintegration will help these offenders to become new are whole again. However, resources may be limited these offenders should be offered the chance to participate in these programs. There are lots people who have been locked upon returning back into society it is hard for them to get a job, therefore, they go back to their life of crime. The people that are not violent criminals should at least be given a second chance. The program recidivism constituted studies by researchers to see if it has helped habitual offenders in becoming complete again (Rice, & Harris, 2014). Nevertheless, some may fall back into the system simply these intervention programs will be a great success for the ones who truly want to change their lives. The implementing of these programs is no guarantee that the convicts will not continue to violate the law. The statistic shows that age and sexual violent is a predictor of recidivism. The three strike law is ridiculous because stealing can be an addiction just like drugs are (Bohm, R. M. & Haley, 2011). The cons to the three strike law are that lots children that will grow up without their parents. The non-violent offenders should have mentors to help them get a job and put them in rehabilitation programs to reach the core of their addiction. The pros to this three strike law are that it will help some people to

In the late 1800s studies were performed on individuals in each generation of a family, focusing on criminal activity of each generation. It was suggested that criminal activity in families could be passed from one generations to the next, not by teaching, but by genes passed from parent to child, or through the blood line of a family. This began the development of eugenic criminology which stated the criminality was passed through the blood

Every offender perpetrates offenses based on their own purposes. Everyone has a reason on why they do the things they do. However, some individuals are worse than others, which is why they can’t all receive the same depth of punishment. There seems to be a lack of knowledge about offenders, which makes it very complicated for the criminal justice system to categorize them. In regards of the criminal justice system, the system cannot respond to all crimes with a one size fits all approach.

The Nature and Nurture debate, one of the oldest debates in the history of psychology, questions whether or not criminal behaviour is a result of the nature of a person, meaning something that lies in their genes causing a person to act in a certain way, or nurture, the environment, therefore criminal behaviour as a result of a person’s life experiences (Sincero, 2012). This essay shall look in depth and answer to how the four areas of criminal behaviour, which are biological, sociological, psychological and environmental, as part of the nature and nurture debate, can explain criminality and deviance. This will be done by discussing a number of theories and experiments that have come to the surface over time. Researching the nature and nurture debate, it is shown that the debate continues to interest people today, mainly because of what is thought will be the outcome of these findings, which is preventing people turning to criminal behaviour by understanding people’s genetics, how they were born and avoid situations that lie in the environment to stop them interacting with criminal activities.

Because the fourteen amendment of the U.S. Constitutions has protections against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel punishment, court administrators must be very careful on how to impose the appropriate sentence to offenders, therefore to help court administrators to ensure that they impose the appropriate punishment to offenders they can rely on different tools and factors such as federal sentencing guidelines that are used in federal courts, state laws, the offender’s criminal history, and the role of the offender during the crime among other factors (FindLaw).

The biological theories are an essential to criminal justice professionals to explain why the genetic characteristics of the human being's body chemicals and evolutionary aggressive criminal conduct have been proposed as explanations for crime; however, to distinguish criminals from non-criminals without adding the value judgment. (Bohm & Vogel, 2011) “Biological theories can be understood as a broad, science-based, anthropological approach to understanding criminality” (Swan, 2017, para. 4). It is important to understand the body type based on the functions of the brain. Therefore, there are several different methodologies to describe the physical differences between criminals and non-criminals such as physiognomy, phrenology, criminal anthropology, the study of the body types, heredity, and scientific technologies that examine the brain function and structure to give the criminal justice profession another look into an individual before a biased take.

Children are a precious gift that many people are blessed with. Unfortunately, many children are thrown into environments and situations that no one should ever be faced with. Children are often born into families of crime or live in a criminal environment. The question that everyone is wondering, does genetics play a role in a criminal behaviors and actions or does an environmental factor play a role in criminal behaviors. The big debate of nature versus nurture will be discussed.

Genetic influences on behavior can affect the criminal justice system. If a person is convicted of a crime with a mental disorder they have diminished responsibility for the crime and may not be held accountable because of their behavior and since this is the case should then genes affecting your behavior be treated the same way(“Genetics and Human Behaviour: The Ethical Context”).

Researchers have also looked at criminal behavior from a genetic aspect. In fact, "behavioral genetic research has show that genes influence individual differences in a wide range of human behaviors -cognition, academic achievement, personality and temperament (including such traits as aggression and hostility), psychopathology, and even vocational interests and social attitudes" (Meadows, 2010, P.16). There may in fact be a connection between how an individual is wired and the behavior that results. This does not necessarily mean that some individuals are inevitably going to become a criminal. However, some individuals may simply have a greater tendency "to be more aggressive and thus less likely to control emotions absent some type of positive interventions" (Meadows, 2010, P. 16). Furthermore, genetic research looks at the heritability of certain disorders and specific genes that

Another study carried out on twins, were twins separated at birth through adoption. The studies wanted to see if growing up in different environments with different families had any impact on whether or not the twins grew up to be deviants. (Blackburn, 1993a) Psychologists wanted to work out if there was interaction between the environment in which they grew up in and their genes. Schulsinger (1972) carried out the first adoption study in Denmark. His theory was to compare adopted adults, some adults had been diagnosed as psychopaths and others hadn’t. There was a lot of criticism regarding his theory because Schulsinger used his own criteria to diagnose particular adults with psychopathic behaviour. Another criminologist who developed a theory around adoption was Crowe, he studied those that came from families with criminal backgrounds, but had been raised with a different family through adoption. Crowe wanted to analyze the results and see if there were any connections between your parents offending and you growing up to be an offender, even if you were raised by other parents with different values. Chemical and hormonal imbalances, bran injury and brain dysfunctions are other biological explainations of crime.

The research findings of Herrnstein & Wilson are not only conclusive to the claims of Lombroso, but also correlate with Sheldon's (1949) declaration of somatotypes relating to criminality. In an attempt to authenticate the notion of hereditary criminal predisposition, Lange's (1931) study of twins concluded identical twins share innate criminal tendencies, however; the results were less conclusive with fraternal twins; whereby evidencing the possibility of hereditary criminality.