The Science of Criminology: Understanding the Mind of a Killer

Luis was growing up into the life of gang banging, gaining a reputation in San Gabriel by being scouted into bigger gangs in the area. Increasing his involvement in the gang by stealing form stores, to eventually being part of premeditated arson and murders. Luis was well on his way to a life in prison or worse, death. By growing up during a time of racial discrimination, options were limited to becoming a factory worker or gangster. Luis met

Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, cause, and control of criminal behavior (Siegel 4). Criminology is not just understanding criminal actions but also studying how to correct and prevent crime, overall. There are five major Criminological theories, (1) Classical Theory, (2) Positivist Theory, (3) Marxist / Conflict Theory, (4) Sociological Theory, and (5) Multifactor / Integrated Theory.

Eventually Richard Rodriguez develops bitterness towards his parents. For being uneducated and ignorant, His thirst for knowledge has transformed him into someone who holds a distain for those without knowledge or esteem. Then he transforms into someone who feels guilt over his success. His family life has turned into an atypical situation where there is very little closeness between him and the other members of his family. This is caused by his increasing want to distance himself from what he believes to be uneducated.

The classical school of criminology is foundationally based upon the history of crime and punishment. Throughout history, crime was dealt with in an extremely harsh and inhumane manner. Criminals and suspected criminals were quartered, burnt at the stake, tortured, and subjected to other forms of extreme violence. These methods were used to get a confession or punish people for even minor crimes such as theft. The people of the Enlightenment period of the late 1600 's paid attention to this behavior and this is why a

Richard Ramirez was born on February 29, 1960 in El Paso, Texas. Richard was a mexican/american serial killer waiting for his death at San Quentin state prison. Richard was known for “Richie” or “The Night Stalker”.

Richard Ramirez’s chances at a normal life were greatly reduced by biology, but his environment certainly did not lead him toward a good future. Julian was a very abusive father and Richard witnessed him beating his older brother on several occasions. In spite of the violence and negativity that he faced every, people in his life thought of him as “a good boy” until he was about ten years old. (Bruno, 2012) Around that time, Richard’s Cousin Michael, a former Green Beret for the United States military, returned to El Paso from Vietnam. Richard and Mike spent most of their time together doing drugs and discussing the violence that Mike experienced during his deployment. Mike told him about the women who he beat, tortured, and raped just for pleasure, and Richard was very intrigued with his gruesome details and photos. At age

Some of the events in Jeffrey Dahmer’s childhood can be seen as a direct line to his personality. When he was little he was a curious and extroverted child. However, after he

Criminology is the definition of our crime today, it defines many aspects and elements that challenge our common sense understanding of crime. The term ‘Criminology’ was first introduced into the English language in Garland 1988 by a criminologist Havelock Ellis (jones, 2013, pp. 2-3). However criminology was present in the 1860’s as Henry Maudsley a medic that worked in the prison systems to study insane and feeble - minded criminals (jones, 2013, pp. 2.) Criminology gives an understanding to those that seek justice although some victims may prevent crime or encourage it to gain the same significance. The reasoning of crime has changed considerably over the past 40 years, some say it was the change of the criminal justice system abolishing Capital punishment in 1965, or just the development in different legislations. Making punishment more psychological rather than physical punishment may have increased the velocity of the crime rate today as some may argue it is less harsh. Criminology is one to justify these changes to prevent criminal offences. Criminology is enforced to understand and analyse the extent of offences and how legislation is formed and put into practice. Development in crime in our

A full police operation yielded no solid evidence, and Ramirez repeated his attack pattern on the couple, William and Lillie Doi in April 1985. Over the next two month period Ramirez's murder rate increased rapidly, killing another dozen victims in a frenzy of burglary, assault and

Everyone growing up has experienced forms of pressure to participate and soon regretting their decisions. Luis Rodriquez is no exception, detailing the extent in his autobiography called Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. Luis Javier Rodriguez, born in El Paso in 1954 and a former Los Lomas Chicano Animal Tribe gang member, has led an extensive life filled with criminal activity to activism in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. When he was just a young teen, Luis Rodriguez joined the Los Lomas Chicano Animal Tribe gang. During his time in the gang, he developed an extensive criminal record, even getting arrested for “assault with intent to commit murder” at only seventeen years old after four people were shot. He was

On March17 , 1985 Richard had bought a .22-caliber revolver from a guy off the street (Carlo). He also had stolen a car from a gas station then hopped on theLos Angeles freeway looking for his next vicim. While on the freeway he seen Maria Hernandez driving her gold Camaro home after having dinner at her boyfriend’s in Monterey Park (Carlo). Hernandez was a petite , attractive brunette with large round eyes and clear olive skin (Carlo). When she exited the freeway she made her way to a residential community of 46,000 in the suburbs of Rosemead. Ramirez followed her for three blocks until she slowed down to make a right into a new condominium community on Village Lane. Maria exited her car holding her keys and brown leather pocketbook. When she went to pushed the button to close the garage door , Ramirez snuck in and dropped his AC/DC hat.

1). Criminology arose from the social scientific community over the year and has since come into its own discipline, it examines the entire process of lawmaking, law breaking, and law enforcing” (as cited in Akers, & Sellers, 2013). Criminology seeks to discover the depth of crime at both the micro and macro levels, from the individual’s natural biological and psychological characteristics, the nurturing of social and structural institutions, to policy, prevention and control.

This essay will be comparing the competing ideologies of two key thinkers in criminology; Cesare

Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals. Criminological theories have provided empirical insight into factors that explain crime. However, as research developed they noticed that not just one theory can adequately explain crime and delinquency. In the early stages of research, they found the neoclassical theory that evolved from the classical school theory that made the assumption of “free will,” and that humans acted on rational choice. It was later developed that biological theories rejected the idea of “free will” and believed that human behavior could be due to genetics or human development starting at a young age. I will be going into better detail about the theories and their underlying assumptions, and how both theories play a significant role into our current knowledge of crime today.

Criminology is the scientific study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. Criminological research areas include the incidence of crime as well as its causes and consequences. They also include social and governmental regulations and reactions to crime. Nation master.com (2013) highlights that “in criminology the positivist school has attempted to find scientific objectivity for the measurement and quantification of criminal behaviour”. The Positivist School of thought presumes that criminal behaviour is caused by various internal and external factors which are outside of the individual 's control. The scientific method was introduced and applied to the study of human behaviour. Positivism can be broken up into three segments which include biological, psychological and social positivism Nation master (2013)