Some Theories of Crime

Biological Theories have been related to crime for a long time. The Biological Theory talks about how one’s brain has an impact on committing crime or not. Dr. Jim Fallon, a neuroscientist from California talks about the biological influences in a brain. He believes that the combination of three major aspects can determine whether someone is psychopathic or not. Fallon states a combination of genes, damage to the person 's brain and the environment surrounding the individual will have the biggest impact on a person (Fallon, 2009). A real world example of the biological theory in full effect was the crimes of David Berkowitz, aka “Son of Sam. Berkowitz was accused and found guilty of killing over 6 people in New York City. After being convicted and locked up for a few years, studies had shown that Berkowitz had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Berkowitz also claimed that his neighbor’s dog, Sam had told him to do the killings as well (Biography). Comparing the Biological theory to my own life was pretty simple because there is a genetic factor that runs in my dad’s side and that is tempers. Tempers tend to flare fairly easy, and luckily so far there has no issues with the law, however like Fallon had said, with the right combination, anyone is possible to commit a crime at any time. I feel like in a biological theory, this would have a major impact on my life

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

Richard Ramirez is an infamous serial murderer who terrorized Los Angeles, California in 1985. The media gave him the name the “Night Stalker” when he was on his vicious rampage of forcing himself into the homes of his victims late at night and committing his heinous crimes. Though he was only convicted of thirteen murders, he had many more victims. His crimes were so random, disorganized, and impulsive that the law enforcement officials of Los Angeles had no luck finding Ramirez for months as he grew increasingly more violent. (Tripod.com, 2012) Finally, in August of 1985, the police had enough information from many of his victims to release a sketch of him to the media. The sketch had only been on the news for one

Most people get killed over what is known as the “Code of The Street.” In the movie it shows that their code of the street was revenge. They killed Ricky Doughboy and his friends killed them. It also shows that violence and crime happens all over something petty. In one scene in the movie they show Ferris walking into Ricky

Sociological theories of crime contain a great deal of useful information in the understanding of criminal behavior. Sociological theories are very useful in the study of criminal behavior because unlike psychological and biological theories they are mostly macro level theories which attempt to explain rates of crime for a group or an area rather than explaining why an individual committed a crime. (Kubrin, 2012). There is however some micro level sociological theories of crime that attempts to explain the individual’s motivation for criminal behavior (Kubrin, 2012). Of the contemporary

Richard Ramirez nick-named the night stalker, was an American serial killer who broke into homes all across California raping, torturing, and murdering victims. Ramirez's first known murder took place on June 28, 1984 when he attacked 79 year old Jennie Vincow, who was viciously sexually assaulted, stabbed and murdered during a burglary in her home. Ramirez's second known killing occurred almost nine months after his first attack. On March 17, 1985, he attacked Maria Hernandez, who escaped him, and then instead killed her roommate, Dayle Okazaki. He also shot and killed Tsai Lian Yu the same evening. This spree started a media frenzy that dubbed Ramirez the valley intruder. Ten days later, on March 27, Ramirez murdered 64 year old Vincent Zazzara and Zazzara's wife, Maxine. Ramirez used an attack style that would become a pattern for the him. Vincent was shot first, then Maxine was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death. Ramirez also gouged out Maxine Zazzara's eyes.

Between June 1984 and August 1985, a serial killer by the name of Richard Ramirez aka " The Night Stalker" became notorious in Southern California. Ramirez in his acts of crime would invade houses as the victims were asleep and attack them. He murdered over 13 people and assaulted many other. During the hunt for Ramirez citizens were on high alert so when he was fleeing the scene of the crime a teenager noticed a suspicious vehicle and managed to get most of the license plate number and notified the police. The police were able to find an abandoned vehicle and obtain a finger print and match it to 25-year-old Richard Ramirez and now obtained an image of him to put in the media. A week later, Ramirez was pointed out by citizens and captured

There are many perspectives in which one can analyze and understand why a person decides to commit a crime. Some perspectives are social learning theory, strain theory, classical and rational choice theory, deterrence theory, biological and psychological positivist theories, among others. However, for the purposes of this paper, the biological and psychological theories will be discussed.

As we have already learned, it is an important aspect that we understand the robber’s mind when they committed their crimes, chose their targets, and what had resulted afterward. The typical offender cannot arise without a motive, a prime target, or a physical confrontation with their victim. After one study was conducted by Wright and Decker, they found that 100% of the offenders felt it was worth taking the risk of robbing someone which ultimately led to them being caught. When most robberies occur, the offenders prefer to carry a weapon of some sort. One researcher found that an offender mentioned during an interview that he only used a knife during his robbery spree because nobody would let him use their gun. Wright and Decker

Understanding patterns and motivation of crimes is important for solving the mysteries surrounding them. In this sense, theories can be used to explain crime phenomena and answer the questions involved. Through theory, important aspects surrounding a crime can be discovered. Therefore, understanding the patterns and motivations of crimes can be helpful towards preventing their occurrence. This paper focuses on robbery as a type of crime. The two theories that are applied to robbery, in this case, are strain theory and social disorganization theory. Robbery usually involves unlawful taking of property from an organization or an individual through use of force or threat of force. There may also be

Richard Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on February 29, 1960.Richard Ramirez father was a Mexican national and was also a former Juarez policeman, who later became a laborer on the Santa Fe railroad. Richard Ramirez father Julian Ramirez father was a hard working man who would get extremely angry, because of distress. Because of distress he would physically abuse people in the household including Richard Ramirez. Another person who impacted Ramirez life significantly is his older cousin Miguel Ramirez also known as mike. Mike was a U.S. Army Green, Beret combat veteran who often bragged to Richard Ramirez about the gruesome things he had done in the Vietnam War. Mike showed photos of his victims including woman that he had raped. Richard Ramirez, who had been smoking marijuana since the age of ten, formed a strong connection with his cousin mike over many joints and gruesome war stories. Mike also taught Richard some of his military skills, such as killing with stealth and surety. During this time of connection between the two, Richard began to seek escape from his father’s abuse by sleeping at a local cemetery.

a. Imagine asking 100 strangers to describe a criminal. Predict whether those descriptions would be likely to focus on street criminals, or the variety of topics covered in this video.

A theory is an explanation of why or how things are related to each other (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Additionally, a theory is defined as a plausible or scientifically acceptable principle, or a body of principles, offered to explain phenomena (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Furthermore, crime theories examine and attempt to identify relationships among humans, criminal behavior, and specific factors such as biological factors, psychological factors, sociological factors, and economic factors (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Since we have defined a theory, let us further discuss how theories are created beginning with the components of a theory.

Every theory of crime has at least 2-3 meta-theoretical levels above it. The fundamental issues are usually addressed at the approach level, and are often called the assumptions, or starting points, of a theory, although the term "assumptions" more strictly refers to the background or domain boundaries one can draw generalizations about. Above the approach level is the Perspective level, the largest unit of agreement within a scientific community, and in fact, the names for the scientific disciplines. Perspectives are sometimes called paradigms or viewpoints, although some people use the term paradigm to refer to untestable ideologies such as: (1) rational choice; (2) pathogenesis; (3) labeling;

Biological theory states that the individual will have certain traits will be transmitted from parent to children through genetics and not from social learning. Along with the juvenile having similar facial characteristics, which some believe also predisposes them to criminal behavior (Palmerin, 2012).