Running head: CRIME AND INTELLIGENCE 1

Crime and Intelligence

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Author Note
CRIME AND INTELLIGENCE 2

Abstract

Intelligence is one of the prerequisites for leading a successful and prosperous life. As

such, it is imperative to strive for higher intelligence levels. Crime usually results in negative

repercussions such as loss of lives and jail sentences, which are undesirable in the long run. As

per the conclusions of many studies, there is a negative correlation between crime and

intelligence. This knowledge is useful, particularly in the context of coming up with possible

solutions to combat crime rates in a country. Generally, increasing the average education years of a

nation and to ensure a successful leadership through increasing the cognitive abilities of the policymakers

is vital in reducing the crime rates.

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Introduction

Intelligence is the basis for all of the actions we perform and why we perform them. In studying

criminal behavior, intelligence should be the first thing that is measured. Surprisingly, the effects of

intelligence on criminality are something that has not been studied to a great extent. The central question

in studying connections between crime and intelligence is whether the amount of intelligence increases or

decreases the likelihood of committing a crime. Are crime and intelligence negatively or positively

correlated? Another factor to consider in this subject is how race, gender, education, cultural differences

affect intelligence. With the increasing rates of crime in today's society, it has become necessary to find

and control the factors which contribute to crime. If we can identify and control crime rates through IQ

testing and intelligence studies, then it is important to take a closer look at this research to find an

adequate solution. The overall purpose of my paper is to identify the disparities between crime and

intelligence while proposing a solution to use intelligence for decreasing crime rates. I aim to analyze

which factors of intelligence influence criminal behavior. Intelligence is something that we are born with,

but it is also something we can enhance over time. However, some minority groups do not get many

educational opportunities. My research will identify and explain the various factors that play a hand in

crime due to a lack of education. My research will look at the different types of intelligence as well, such

as emotional intelligence, verbal intelligence, and criminal intelligence, while studying the psychological

disorders that can come into play with intelligence. On average, individuals with a higher level of

intelligence are much less likely to commit crimes than individuals with a lower level, and education

plays a massive role in determining the likelihood of criminal behavior.

Generally, it has been established that intelligence can effectively predict many antisocial and

criminal behaviors such as chronic and violent offending. Different scholars, for example, Andrews and

Peterson (1990), have indicated that people with lower levels of intelligence, which is mainly measured

in terms of IQ, have a higher affinity to committing criminal offenses. Even though the findings of this

study were significantly pervasive, it can still be noted that multiples aspects of the relationship between
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intelligence and crime are vague. At the same time, scholars have established different perspectives on the

issue with others explaining that the relationship is curvilinear or discrete with other researchers positing

that the association exhibits a linear or incremental pattern ( Sharma et al., 2015).

According to Beaver and Wright (2011), intelligence and crime are negatively correlated.

Based on the popular argument against intelligence as the factor causing crime firmly explains that the IQ

tests are only useful in approximating the substantial knowledge as well as values and not innate

intelligence. As such, the observation that establishes the fact that various poor people and minority

groups have low scores in the test of intelligence primarily reflects the diverse cultural backgrounds of

such people. At the same time, it is worth noting that these same groups of individuals also commit

relatively more crimes, given that they are subject to various structural disadvantages, including

discrimination and poverty. Besides, the same individuals scoring low on the IQ tests are more likely to

commit crimes, and thus, crime and intelligence are empirically correlated. Therefore, this type of

correlation is not causal; rather, it reveals the biases of culture in the context of intelligence testing.

On the contrary, Freeman (2012) argues that the structural disadvantages that critically increase

crime rates are also crucial in reducing the educational opportunities for individuals. As such, this lessens

a person’s ability as well as motivation to have better scores in the IQ tests. Based on this, it can be

argued that the correlation between crime and intelligence only holds since all of them are rooted in

structural advantages, and this leads to a spurious correlation. In a similar view, Gentry et al. (2016)

postulate that IQ is not a causal factor for crimes because school administrators, as well as teachers,

usually treat students in different ways based on the intelligence level of a student. This ultimately

stereotypes those students with “low” intelligence levels that also reduces their educational opportunities.

Subsequently, such stereotypes and lesser chances ultimately result in feelings of isolation as well as

resentment that align students with delinquent peers and some forms of criminal behavior. In light of this,

“the reaction of the society to intelligence and not any property of intelligence itself, increases criminal

behavior.” The last postulation against IQ explains that if everyone engages in crime with equal
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frequency, the implication is that people with low levels of intelligence will less likely evade police

detection. Thus they would be arrested in most cases. This hypothesis has been empirically supported

given that individual IQ scores have a significant correlation with "officially reported crime as compared

to the self-reported crime.

On the other hand, other scholars like Beaver et al. (2013) have posited a causal explanation

that mainly emphasizes the significance of intelligence, particularly verbal intelligence, more precisely

during the process of childhood socialization. In this case, the socialization among different children

primarily entails constant and maintained verbal communication as well as the understanding of various

abstract symbols. As such, children having poor cognitive as well as verbal skills are less likely to

complete the process of socialization with peers. Based on this, they are exposed to the risk of antisocial

and under controlled behavior. Generally, different empirical studies have significantly supported this

hypothesis of development, which exhibits a strong correlation between crime and verbal IQ. In the same

regard, Groot and van den Brink (2010) connect crime via a performance at school. As such, they

explain that students with low levels of intelligence record poor performance in school, and this leads to

academic frustration among these students. As a result of such frustration, attachments, and commitments

among students to schooling are reduced, and this also weakens the bond between students and school, as

explained by the theory of social control. This finally leads to more determined criminal behavior. It is

worth noting that the hypothesis of school-performance has been strongly supported by various empirical

studies. Based on this, it is the most widely accepted theory that adequately explains the correlation

between intelligence and crime.

In the context of race, it can be noted that the correlation between intelligence and race has

attracted long debates not only in popular science but also in the academic research since the introduction

of IQ testing that occurred in the early twentieth century ( Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). The IQ

testing mainly reveals the environmental factors rather than the genetic factors since no evidence has been

tabled to establish the existence of genetic components in such differences in test scores ( Koenen et al.,
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2006). Therefore, the authenticity of IQ tests as a useful metric for an individual's general intelligence is

subject to dispute. The first tests to establish IQ scores among individuals from various races were

conducted on recruits of the United States Army in the wake of the First World War. As per the findings

of such tests, it was argued that African-Americans had low intelligence as compared to their Anglo-

Saxon white individuals as a result of natural biological variations. Such findings were much disputed

with many people explaining that they were being used to support policies of racial discrimination. The

main implication here is that no empirical studies have established the correlation between intelligence

and race, and thus race does not affect intelligence. At the same time, since the introduction of general

intelligence, many pundits have posited and argued for "no significant sex differences in general

intelligence factor." There is no guarantee that being male or female will boost one’s intelligence. In

summary, like race, sex does not affect the level of intelligence among individuals even though some

studies advocate for the fact that men are more advantaged than female counterparts. The case is similar

to cultural differences among individuals since this as well has little to no effect on the level of

intelligence.

Based on the analysis of Burhan et al. (2014), different factors are vital in influencing the

impact of intelligence on crimes. They include the locality of an individual, especially in urban centers,

which significantly influences the impact of intelligence on crime. This can be explained by the fact that

when an individual lives in a highly-dense urban area, there is a high likelihood of intense competition for

scarce resources, particularly in the highly populated metropolitan regions. This ultimately results in

higher levels of urban among the urban populace, thus leading to an increased rate of crimes within the

urban areas. Other factors include income inequality levels, which is commonly measured through the

Gini coefficient, which is metric national income inequality. As per the reports published by Kennett

(1965), income inequality substantially increases the rates of crime across various countries globally.

Also, lower education levels contribute to the frequency of criminal offenses among people. As discussed

above, it can be argued that increase the expected years of schooling can critically reduce the frequency
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with which individuals commit crimes (Lochner and Moretti, 2004). Unemployment levels of a nation

is also another factor that influences the effect of intelligence on crimes. In this regard, unemployment

can be described as the labor force that is actively searching for a job and is willing and ready to have one

but cannot find any job. Given the research conducted by Guay et al. (2005), there is an empirical

relationship between employment and crime rates. HE postulated that higher rates of unemployment

encourage people to engage in criminal activities such as robbery with violence, burglary, among others.

At the same time, the gross domestic product per capita of a country also has a substantial effect on the

number of crimes being committed. Similar to the rate of unemployment, lower per capita income is more

likely to increase the cases of crimes in a country.

Based on the perspective that intelligence and crime have a negative correlation, the essay

proceeds to suggest the possible ways of reducing crime rates among people, especially those with lower

levels of IQ. The first solution is to embrace and implement the policy of increasing the average

education years of a country. It can be noted that education is one of the most significant precursors of

development, and thus, upholding it will enable a nation to achieve much like producing quality labor

force, which is necessary for economic growth and development. It is expected that when the literacy

level of a country increases, more people are likely to join the labor force and commit to such nation-

building activities with little to no time left to commit a crime. As such, the intelligence levels of

individuals will be increased, and this will effectively reduce crime rates.

Again, there is a need to acknowledge that there is insufficient evidence supporting intellectual

class as the strongest causal factor for crimes as most of the crimes are committed by less intelligent

individuals. As such, another possible solution to combat crime rates is ensuring a successful leadership

of a nation that consists of the intellectual class that includes top leadership ( OVERHOLSER, 1940).

Therefore, the intelligence of this group of people is critical to the competence of the government,

characterized by institutional functionality as well as quality. For example, Moffitt et al. (2011) revealed

that cognitive ability significantly influences the success of United States presidents. People who are
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considerably intelligent are also relatively more innovative as well as productive as they make fewer

mistakes, given that they are superior when it comes to addressing complex issues that call for stronger

cognitive abilities (Moffitt et al., 2011). The implication is that intelligent leadership is crucial in

ensuring and providing efficient solutions to help cope with various forms of disasters. In light of this,

cognitively competent politicians influence and increase the general national intelligence together with

improved institutional functionality and quality across many generations. These may include

administration of the entire government, courts, educational institutions, police, attorneys, and the

military. It can be noted that the intellectual class has the substantial power to reduce the number of

crimes mainly by enhancing the quality and functionality of theses socio developmental as well as legal

institutions in different nations. The study notes that the education system of countries should be

channeled in such a way that it enhances and instills competence in the future leaders together with the

policymakers, which ultimately increases the quality of economic and civic institutions.

Conclusion

The overall purpose of the report was to identify the disparities between crime and intelligence

while proposing a solution to use intelligence for decreasing crime rates. Given the in-depth analysis of

various articles presented in the essay, it is imperative to conclude that intelligence and crime and

negatively correlated. Among the key factors influencing the impact of intelligence on crime include the

percentage of urban dwellers, the gross domestic per capita, unemployment, and income inequality levels

of a nation. It was further established that race gender and cultural differences do not affect intelligence

with education as the only factor impacting the levels of intelligence. To reduce crime rates in a country,

there is a dire need to embrace and implement the policy of increasing the average education years of a

country and to ensure a successful leadership through increasing the cognitive abilities of the

policymakers.
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