Classical Theories Vs Psychological And Physical

“Monster”, a 1999 novel by Walter Dean Myers, is an incredible story told through the fictional movie script of a boy on trial for murder and robbery. It’s an intriguing read that triggers deep thought and empowers the hearts within all. A book notable for its messages against implicit bias, encouraging the notion of truth within yourself, you can speculate on its events from start to finish and beyond. But it’s worth pondering of its connection to real life. Does “Monster” truly reflect the criminal justice system of our country’s society today? Read on to discover the shocking answer.

Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytical) theory was developed by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800’s and has gained increasing popularity in the history of criminality (Siegel, 2005). Freud believed that every individual carries “[the] residue of the most significant emotional attachments of our childhood, which then guides our future interpersonal relationships” (Siegel). Freud theorized that the personality is a three-part structure made up of the id, ego, and super ego. These three components work together in creating a behavior. The id creates the demands, the ego put the demands created by id into a larger context using reality, and finally the superego suppresses the id and attempts to make the ego behave morally, rather than realistically. Psychodynamic theory is significant to criminology because it explains “criminal” or “abnormal” behavior is the result of irregular development of the psyche.

Racial inequality is growing. Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. My research will examine the U.S. criminal justice policies and how it has the most adverse effect on minorities. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of a total population of 1,976,019 incarcerated in adult facilities, 1,239,946 or 63 percent are

The people of a minority group who are at a greater risk of being subjected to the criminal justice system are the African Americans and Hispanics. It is not surprising these two groups are more prone, yet throughout the remainder of this paper, certain concepts/themes will be further analyzed from a chosen film to portray the reality minorities face with and in the criminal justice system and society.

Psychology is a discipline that involves monitoring mental processes and behaviour scientifically. Psychologists try to delve into the basic functions of a person and animals cerebral activity. This usually involves studying relationships, emotions, personality and many more areas of a person or animals day to day life. Psychology tends to steer towards finding reasons for a person or animals actions in an attempt to resolve them.

Criminological theories have evolved considerably in terms of their interpretations of crime and deviance. Shifting away from the classical and neoclassical schools of criminology, we move towards a scientific approach that explains criminal behaviour as “determined by biological, psychological and social” (William & McShane, 2018: 25) factors. The question of what causes conformity and deviance is one that is asked by all positivist theorists. It is through the various positivist theories that we are able to answer this question and analyze both conforming and deviant behaviour, while simultaneously providing explanations for such behaviour. In the film Boyz N the Hood, we can see that crime is rampant, and through the multiple positivist

Mass incarceration has grown and developed so much, that it’s come to define and create fear in America’s minority communities. “America contains approximately 5% of the world’s population, but has 25% of the world’s incarcerated.” (DeVernay, 2016) There’s always been an underlying tension between minorities and authorities, and that’s due to the unjust discrimination they face in the eyes of the law.

Joan Petersilia (2000), in her report “Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System” to the US department of Justice shows the statistics on black arrests and incarcerations in USA. According to Joan, of the 12 percent of black population in US, almost 50 percent of the African Americans in major cities face an arrest for index offense in their lifetime as compared to only 14 percent of whites. Over 18 percent of black people in US serve a jail term as compared to a low number of whites, about 3 percent. A computerized information system known as Offender Based Transaction Statistics (OBTS) that analyses information of criminal processing from arrest to the sentencing stage shows a summary of male incarcerations in three states, Michigan, Texas and California. The data reveals that out of the crime committed through violence, 44 percent proportion of blacks are arrested out of which 53 percent of blacks are imprisoned. In the property crime, out of 29 percent proportion of blacks arrested, over 41 percent of blacks are imprisoned. Considering all the felonies, the proportion of African Americans arrested forms about 32 percent where the number imprisoned for the felonies is 48 percent (Joan,

When looking at the United States population statistical data from the United States 2010 Census, it showed that Asians made up 5%, Blacks made up 13%, Native Americans made up 2.9%, Hispanics made up 16%, and whites made 66% of the total population of the United States (2011) . When comparing this data against each other there is a disproportionate over representation of minorities in prison when comparing to the United States population. This leads to the sad conclusion that when it comes to the criminal justice system, race is still a factor in the law. The criminalization minorities tends to favor those that are of lighter skin with Asians and Whites getting incarcerated at lower percentages with the Model Minority myth helping in this process with the Asian inmates. The myth creates an anti-black ideology when explaining the Asian criminal justice system patterns where Blacks are seen deviant and seen as the problem minority needed to be taken care of and by consequence are incarcerated at a higher

Psychology is the scientific “study of the mind” (Gross, 2015) and behavior, which includes the study of humans and animals. There are various approaches in modern psychology. A theoretical approach is a perspective (view) about human behavior, there may be several different theories within an approach, but they all share these common assumptions and principles. (McLeod, 2007). A theory is an attempt by theorists to try to explain behavior. Theories are not facts but can be verified by testing. Theories can then be evaluated which I aim to do through this essay, where I will briefly explain the theoretical approaches in psychology and aim to focus on an analysis for each perspective which consist of the psychodynamic, humanist, cognitive and behavioral approaches where I will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each approach separately.

Many vulnerable individuals perform or act according to the dominant norms of the society, however, biological positivism specifies unlawful acts to be the cause of inherited characteristics. The biological positivist theory of criminology consists of different concepts, mainly focusing on whether genetic factors are influences to criminals and anti-social behaviour. The first concept, ‘biochemical abnormality’, designates abnormalities inside the organs and the

Classical criminology is a way of looking at rational behaviour and free will. This approach was developed in the 18th century and early 19th century and they intended to establish a clear and legitimate criminal justice system based on equality for all. Positivist criminology is based on the understanding of crime and criminology, and its basic concept is based on the decision of behaviour. There are two types of positivists who seek to explain crimes and misinterpretations: biologics and psychological positivism. The origins of positivism and the two interrelated developments started in the nineteenth century.

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

I chose Gestalt Psychology for my first perspective, it is how people experience objects and perceive things as a whole. Gestalt allows us to look at everyday objects and distinguish them from their surroundings. Without the Gestalt Theory people would see every atom that made up a whole object. As I look at my computer screen, I do not see every little atom, I see the screen as a whole. From this perspective, learning objects as a whole instead of each individual part is beneficial because it allows us to open our minds for new learning experiences. However, there may be things in life that do not provide enough visual clues to determine what it is supposed to be.

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,.