If the person did not count upbringing and cognition, it would be up to someone’s biology, as to whether they committed crime. After all it is a known fact that crime runs in families and so if your parents are criminals, you have a high percentage of becoming one as well. In conclusion, the biological approach does provide an explanation of criminal behaviour, to a certain extent. However, other approaches do need to be considered such as upbringing and someone’s cognition, when stating why people turn to
DD121 An Introduction to the Social Sciences Richard Curtis TMA01: What forms of evidence have been used by social scientists in studies of crime? Essay Plan: Introduction: • What is crime? Act punishable by law/Evil or injurious act • Difference between – Social Scientific understanding & Individual understanding • Social scientific approach is just one way of looking at crime – most are based on an individual approach • What essay is about Main body: • Increase in recorded crime 1930 – 2000 • Were all crimes reported? Domestic violence/easier to report technology? • Quantitative evidence – recorded crime levels over time • Qualitative evidence – Interviews, observations & surveys • Increased reporting of crime (Maguire 1997) • Offenders as % population by gender & age • Area where we live – (Social Trends, 2002, pp.154-5).
Crimes then would result from abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes within the personality of the individual. 5. Criminal behavior may be purposeful for the individual insofar as it addresses certain felt needs. 6. Defective, or abnormal, mental processes may have a variety of causes, i.e., a diseased mind, inappropriate learning or improper conditioning, the emulation of inappropriate role
Background Research on Criminology Criminology is the scientific study of crime its causes and how to resolve it. One common theory of criminology is the psychological theory. This theory explains crime in the mind set of the criminal. The psychological theory of crime is basically that some people are born with a mind which is intended to do harm to others. In other cases some criminals are born with the lack of humility, which is the ability to put yourself in the situation of the person who you are doing harm to.
• The basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality, may be passed on from generation to generation. In other words, a penchant for crime may be inherited. • Much of human conduct is fundamentally rooted in instinctive behavioral responses characteristic of biological organisms everywhere. Territoriality, condemnation of adultery, and acquisitiveness are but three examples of behavior which may be instinctual to human beings. • The biological roots of human conduct have become increasingly disguised, as modern symbolic forms of indirect expressive behavior have replaced more primitive and direct ones.
Lombroso stated that born criminals could be recognised because they possessed certain ‘stigma’, an example of this would be big ears, big lips, prominent cheeks bones, extra visible wrinkles, extra fingers or toes, irregularity of the head or face. A male with more than 4 of these anomalies is labelled a born criminal. Females can also be born criminal but they only need as little as 3 to inherit the title of a born criminal. (Lombroso 1876 cited in Akers 1999) This theory of criminal behaviour helped and inspired other criminologists come up with biological theories on criminal behaviour, but it has been proved that Lombroso’s theory on the born criminal is wrong. Charles Goring made an experiment of comparing prison inmates with soldiers, professors, university undergraduates and hospital patients and he found no differences between the 37 physical traits and behaviour, he concluded that ‘there was no such thing as a physical criminal type.’ (Akers,
Individuals who are exposed to these traits influence the social environment. It is said that individual traits and social environment work together to influence crime and may vary among individuals. Some of the traits may include low intelligence, irritability, low reserve, and a lack of sympathy for others. These traits are genetically based and play an important role in explaining why individuals start offending at an early age. It is said that individuals who have these traits may have parents with the same traits.
This assumption is known as the social control theory which was developed by Travis Hirschi. In this theory Hirschi asks the question why people follow the law. For Chucky, Burnz, and Freshy this theory suggests that they may have engaged in criminal activity when their bond to society has weakened (Ortiz, 2011). There are four important interrelated aspects of this theory that could constrain these individuals behavior: attachment, commitment, involvement, and
Crime as defined by Winterdyk, “is a socially constructed concept used to categorize certain behaviours as requiring formal control and warranting some form of social intervention” (Winterdyk, 2006, p. 491). Individuals that commit these criminal acts are believed to have made a specific choice in the matter. The benefits and consequences have been weighed therefore the criminal has made the choice, but what other circumstances can have a role in this decision? It is understood that social structures, social processes and human biology can all have an affect on the outcome of our individual acts. However the biological flaws of persons are not as significant as one may think.
Impact of Criminal Justice Administration on Minority Civil Rights APA The Impact of Criminal Justice Administration on Minority Civil Rights Introduction The criminal justice practice and the administration procedures are designed to protect the rights of the people in society and to guard the innocent people who are blamed to be involved in criminal activities. The criminal justice administration practices as well as the justice providing institutions are developed in order to have the control over various social aspects that create disturbances in society. Countries that do not have a criminal justice administration system and judicial system have a high level of crimes reported. The reason behind this is that the criminal