Criminal Behavior
The question of why do people become criminals has numerous potential answers and boils down to what the individual answering the question believes. Crimes can be committed in various ways with varying intent. Criminal behavior can be the result of both internal and external factors. Humans from all walks of life can and have become criminals, each with varying intent for committing a crime. On its own, the word criminal covers a lot of territory in the criminal justice system. Criminals can be a teenager found guilty of petty theft in a convenience store or a coordinated, pre-planned mass shooting resulting in the deaths of hundreds.
What drives a human to become a criminal depends on the individual committing the crime.
Factors that may affect criminal behaviour may include a persons upbringing from parents and educational upbringing which are the main types of factors, Although,there are some times when people are conditioned to believe that the crime is right and not against the law or different politcal beliefs may insight violence and/or rebellion.
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
No human being is born with an innate desire to commit crime; growing up in an impoverished community with subpar education and little opportunity
Theories of crime causation get to the fundamental characteristics of human nature. Theories of crime causation can be separated into trait theories and choice theories. Both types of theories make valid points about the causes of crime, yet they are have different implications for preventing the causes of crime. Thesis: Trait theories and choice theories both assume that humans are self-interested, but their conceptions of self-interest limit the applicability of each to certain types of crime. Trait theories appear more suited for explaining the causes of violent crime, whereas choice theories are more appropriate to property crimes or economic crimes.
Most criminals are rational decision makers. If the criminals are motivated by social forces, they are still making the rational decision to commit the crime; they considered the personal and situational factors before the crime. Their personal factor would be why they are doing this; their situational factors is where. As for the criminals that are motivated by uncontrollable urges, some of them developed those urges based on the onset of crime. Some emotional drives are irrational, such as violence in the heat of the moment; some psychological drives are irrational such as a mania (e.g. kleptomania, pyromania).
There has always been a fascination with trying to determine what causes an individual to become a criminal? Of course a large part of that fascination has to do with the want to reduce crime, and to determine if there is a way to detect and prevent individuals from committing crime. Determining what causes criminality is still not perfectly clear and likewise, there is still debate as to whether crime is caused biologically, environmentally, or socially. Furthermore, the debate is directly correlated to the notion of 'nurture vs nature'. Over time many researchers have presented various theories pertaining to what causes criminal behavior. There are many theories that either support or oppose the concept of crime being biological rather
What determines criminal behavior? Are they born to be a natural born killer, is it in their genes, or is it a learned behavior? There are multiple factors resulting in criminal behavior, from genes to environmental factors. Although it is said and believed that criminal behavior is biologically determined there are even more learned or environmental factors that play a role in criminal behavior.
The majority of sociological theories believe, that the criminal behavior mainly is influenced by a combination of the social surrounding, political and economic factors. Offenders are not necessarily viewed as bad people, these theories tend to look at the social context of a person’s situation, examining his race, neighborhood, intelligence, education, family, political and media influence, income level, job and career, childhood history to determine why did he/she become criminal.There are many different theories seeking to explain criminal behavior such as Social Structure Theory (which itself consists of Social disorganization, Strain, and Cultural deviance theories) differential association, the theory of anomie, neutralization theory, Social Control Theory and many others. I don’t think this would be an acceptable reason for crime because this is something that an individual has learned from their surroundings and or peers this wasn’t something beyond their
As human beings we all see and hear about crimes from a day to day basis. We all question why we have crime and what makes a person commit a crime.
Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. 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.
The causes of crime seem to be indefinite and ever changing. In the 19th century, slum poverty was blamed; in the 20th century, a childhood without love was blamed (Adams 152). In the era going into the new millennium, most experts and theorists have given up all hope in trying to pinpoint one single aspect that causes crime. Many experts believe some people are natural born criminals who are born with criminal mindsets, and this is unchangeable. However, criminals are not a product of heredity. They are a product of their environment and how they react to it. This may seem like a bogus assumption, but is undoubtedly true.
There are many theories that try to explain why crime is committed. There's the strain theory, the Social disorganization theory, the Different association theory and many others. But the one that I think best explains why crime is committed is the social bond theory. It is very straightforward and it explains what leads to a crime. The social bond theory states that a person's view toward a society determines if a person will be a criminal or not. This theory has some downsides to it but I will try to defend it against some theories. I will also try to defend this theory against some criticism.
Other criminal acts are due to how much will power and individual has to obey the law which is known as the Social control theory. Social theorists claim that a person’s actions and feelings of strong emotions are influenced by internal and external forces. People who do not have well valued morals and lack self control are more likely to commit a crime. Individuals that are poor, do not have a good job, and or do not have a close and respectable support system of friends and family, do not have much to lose. Everyone needs to obtain some sort of social tie or bond in their life otherwise the person has no boundaries for themselves. Travis Hirschi states, “Lawbreaking is often the most immediate source of gratification or conflict resolution, and no special motivation is required to explain such behavior” (Hirschi, 1969). If a person has nothing else going
People commit crimes for various reasons. These various reasons got to do with social, economic, and cultural reason. These factors trigger an individual to do criminal activities. Social reasons are peer pressure, and school failure. Economic reasons are poverty. Cultural reasons are hatred. The combination of these factors is behind a person who commits crimes.
do think that committing crimes is a symptom of abnormal psychological behavior. The reasons behind the committing of the crime can vary. Doesn't matter if it's an abnormal biological cause or an environment cause, both would contribute to the cause of the criminal acts. A criminal's actions and behaviors can be caused by biological methods like an imbalance in hormones, the genetics they were born with and how their body reacts to both physical and mental stress. Environmental effects on a persons life can also affect them and this includes: how the person's parents raised them, where they live and their financial status.