DEFINITION

- Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our
early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our
surrounding culture. || source: https://bit.ly/3bk46Ps
- Nurture theories involve the belief that the social environment is the main reason why
individuals commit crime, and, secondly, crime occurs and is fostered by biological traits
that eventually lead to criminal behavior. || source: https://bit.ly/3qnZrQP
- Human social environments encompass the immediate physical surroundings, social
relationships, and cultural milicus within which defined groups of people function and
interact.
- Molding behavior based on a set of morals, values and beliefs that are instilled in
individuals during early childhood. These morals, values and beliefs form a system that
facilitates decision making throughout the course of an individuals’ life. || source:
https://bit.ly/3qnZrQP

INFLUENCES
● Family
- As human beings, we learn everything from the family first because they are the
people we spend the most time with, so family reflects on what we do, who we
are and is also a reflection of how we are brought up. || source:
https://bit.ly/38bBwhm
- Children raised in particularly bad situations are at an increased risk for criminal
behavior in both their juvenile and adult years. In fact, research shows that
convicted criminals are likely to have experienced four times as many adverse
childhood events than non-criminals. || source: https://bit.ly/2OozymK
- Families with poor communication and weak family bonds have been shown to
have a correlation with children's development of aggressive/criminal behavior.
- Another indicator of future antisocial or criminal behavior is that of abuse or
neglect in childhood. A statistic shows that children are at a fifty percent greater
risk of engaging in criminal acts, if they were neglected or abused (Holmes et al.,
2001). This has been one of the most popular arguments as to why children
develop antisocial or delinquent behaviors. || source: https://bit.ly/3kSSIgr

● Groups (peers, gangs, fraternities)

- Another significant factor in the development of antisocial or delinquent behavior
in adolescence is peer groups. One of the primary causes can be traced back to
aggressive behavior in young children. When children are in preschool and show
aggressive tendencies towards their peers, they will likely be deemed as an
outcast. This creates poor peer relationships and relegates those children to be
with others who share similar behaviors.
 ● The similar tendencies of these individuals create an environment in
which they influence one another and push the problem towards criminal
or violent behavior

● Negative Social Environment

- Who we are around can influence who we are. Just being in a high-crime
neighborhood can increase our chances of turning to crime ourselves. But being
in the presence of criminals is not the only way our environment can affect our
behaviors.
- Research reveals that simply living in poverty increases our likelihood of being
incarcerated. When we’re having trouble making ends meet, we’re under intense
stress and more likely to resort to crime. || source: https://bit.ly/3ecIeHz
- Families who are less financially sound, perhaps have more children,
and who are unable to consistently punish their children will have a greater
likelihood of promoting an environment that will influence antisocial or delinquent
behavior. || source: https://bit.ly/3kSSIgr

● Racism
-

● (Ineffective) Education
- Research has consistently shown that quality education is one of the most
effective forms of crime prevention and that educational skills can help deter
young people from committing criminal acts. || source: https://bit.ly/3big7EU

● Social Constructs (gender and gender roles) || source: https://nyti.ms/3v1eDqr

- If cultures as different as Japan's and Sweden's, England's and Mexico's, have
sex and age differences in crime, then perhaps we should have suspected from
the start that there was something more fundamental going on than parents
happening to decide to raise their boys and girls differently.
- Moreover, even if we believed that every society has arbitrarily decided to
inculcate aggressiveness in males, there would still be greater criminality among
young males to explain. After all, in some cultures, young boys are not denied
adult responsibilities but are kept out of school, put to work tilling the land and
made to accept obligations to society.
*** RESEARCH: statistics on crimes made by males vs. women (also the
statistics on which crimes are committed by the two genders’

● Social Classes
-

● Age
- As an adult, we have the ability to choose the environment in which to live and
this will either positively or negatively reinforce our personality traits, such as
 aggressiveness. However, children and adolescents are limited to the extent of
choosing an environment, which accounts for the greater influence of
environmental factors in childhood behaviors. || source: https://bit.ly/3kSSIgr

● Media or lack thereof

- An individual who plays or watches a lot of violent video games and movies tend
to do the same thing. [...] As a consequence, [these] individuals come to view
crime as something desirable. || source: https://bit.ly/3kMdwq6
***CASE OF KLEBOLD & HARRIS
- Columbine High School massacre was said to have been hugely
influenced by video games.
-

● Other factors that increases violence:

1. Stressful event/s || source: https://bit.ly/3sWsmwV
***CASE OF RICHARD “The Night Stalker” RAMIREZ
--- found guilty of murdering 13 people
- endured brutal beatings from his father.
***CASE OF OTTIS TOOLE & HENRY LUCAS
--- were believed to have murdered hundreds of people
- victims of physical and psychological abuse; they were made to dress
up as young girls and then beaten.

2. Aggressive skills or techniques learned through observation

3. A belief that aggression or violence will be socially rewarded
4. A value system that tolerates violent acts within certain social contexts

STATEMENTS FOUND

1. from https://bit.ly/38bFLJO

“I believe that even somebody who has criminal genes, biologically, if they are raised up in
happy, secure, supportive and understanding families, who deal with problems that the youth
brings with it, the young person(s) wouldn't push into criminality that easily. So even if they do
fall, they will have a helping hand.”
- On lack of social support (family, school, social authorities)

“Criminals are made because EVERYONE is normal so they CHOOSE to be involved in a crime
--- flawed, so research in case used for rebuttal
**research chem imbalances that develop late;; causes you to commit a crime
**not everyone chooses, some are accidental such as trespassing
2. from https://bit.ly/3bmntHr

“Social and environmental theories of criminal behaviour have been dominant in criminology,
and in public policy.”
--- such as:
1. SOCIAL LEARNING/COGNITIVE THEORY (https://bit.ly/3kSSIgr)
- emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating
the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Social
learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive
factors interact to influence human learning and behavior. ||
https://bit.ly/38fhemQ
2. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION (https://bit.ly/3boko9T)
- is a learning theory which formulates the process as one whereby
criminal behavior is learned in association with those who have
criminal attitudes and values, as compared to associations with
those who have noncriminal attitudes and values.
3. ERIKSON’S THEORY (https://bit.ly/38kmzJE)
- coins the term “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
- through psychosocial development, we learn through trial and
error or mistakes which then gives us knowledge of how to do this,
thus growing and maturing
4. BEHAVIORIST THEORY (John Watson)

RESEARCH FOR REBUTTALS

1. Criminal genes
2. Personality Disorders and Traits || source: https://bit.ly/3rorp0d
3. Biological factors—including variances in autonomic arousal, neurobiology, and
neuroendocrine functioning—have been shown to increase the likelihood that we might
commit criminal acts. || source: https://bit.ly/3ecIeHz
4. “Emphasizing nature (but never nurture) can be dangerous for society as a whole as well
as for the criminal victims” || source: https://bit.ly/3bmntHr
5. “We have seen the problems associated with a child who is diagnosed with ADHD and
how that can influence antisocial or criminal behavior.” || source: https://bit.ly/3kSSIgr
- If the child has b een diagnosed with ADHD or any other disorders, it’s up to the
parents on how they would take responsibility for caring for their child, if the
parents neglect the child, then that would influence antisocial and/or criminal
behavior furthering the point that these types of behavior stems from
environmental and social factors.

Biological theories were rejected and criticize for there lack of crime prevention. according to
white, haines and asquith, biological theories are instrumental in the justifications of the use of
eugenics by the Nazis. It was also used by politicians as their power to keep the people they
want in place. this was used to escape the responsibility of the politicians to their mistakes and
foolish works