Criminal Etiology

A division of criminology which attempts to provide scientific analysis of the causes of

crime. In the study of criminal etiology, two objects should be considered: the man and
his criminal behavior in relation to criminal or penal law.

Three Types of Explanations to the Existence of Criminal Behavior

1. Single/ Unitary Theory - the crime is caused by only one factor. It may be biological,
sociological or psychological. This theory is no longer used at present.
2. Multiple Factor Theory - crime is produced by two or more factors
3. Eclectic Theory - in one situation, crime resulted by one or more factors while in other
instance, it is caused by another set of factors.

Approaches in the Study of Criminal Behavior

Subjective Approaches

1. Anthropological – the study of the physical characteristics of an individual offender

with non-offenders in attempt to discover differences covering criminal behavior.
2. Medical – the application of medical examinations on the individual criminal to explain
the mental and physical condition of the individual prior and after the commission of the
crime.
3. Biological – the evaluation of genetic influences to criminal behavior.
4. Physiological – the study on the nature of human being concerning his physical
needs in order to satisfy his wants. It explains that the deprivation of the physical body
on the basic needs is an important determiner of the commission of crime.
5. Psychological – it is concerned about the deprivation of the psychological needs of
man, which constitute the development of deviations of normal behavior resulting to
unpleasant emotions.
6. Psychiatric – the explanation of crime through diagnosis of mental diseases as a
cause of the criminal behavior.
7. Psychoanalytical – the explanation of crimes based on “Freudian Theory”, which
traces behavior as a deviation of the repression of the basic drives.

Objective Approaches

1. Geographic – it considers topography, natural resources, location and climate leads

an individual to commit crime.
2. Ecological – it concerned with the biotic grouping of men resulting to migration,
competition, social discrimination, division of labor and social conflicts as factors to
crime.
3. Economic – it deals with the explanation of crime concerning financial security of
inadequacy and other necessities to support life as factors to criminality.
4. Socio-Cultural – those that focuses on institutions, economic, financial, education,
political and religious influences to crime.
5. Contemporary – modern study of the criminal and criminal behavior pour emphasis
on scientific methods which involves psycho-analytical, psychiatric and sociological. An
explanatory perspective that merges concepts drawn from different sources.

Personalities involved in the Study and Development of Criminology

1. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1894) - is an Italian writer, who collected and presented the
principles of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and other eighteenth century writers and
philosophers pertaining to crime and punishment into a small book entitled “Crimes and
Punishment”, which was published in 1764. In his book “An Essay of Crimes and
Punishment” advocated and applied doctrine penology, that is to say make punishment
less arbitrary and severe; that all persons who violated a specific law should receive
identical punishment regardless of age, sanity, wealth, position or circumstance.
2. Cesare Lombroso (1836-1909) – father of modern criminology who advocated the
positivist theory, that crime is essentially a social and moral phenomenon and it cannot
be treated and checked by imposition of punishment.
3. Charles Goring - an Englishman, after a study and checking of the positive school,
made a comparative study of several thousand of criminal and non-criminals published
in 1913, his interpretation and conclusions found out that there was no anthropological
criminal type; there are no stigmata of crime the criminal population or among
themselves by particular physical characteristics. His study proved to the satisfaction of
most scholars that criminals do not constitute a distinct born type that can be identified
by a certain stigmata, the one who studied the case of 2,000 convicts, and found that
heredity is more influential as determiner of criminal behavior than environment.
4. Enrico Ferri – his greatest contribution was his attack on the classical doctrine of free
will. He believed that criminals could not be held responsible for their crimes because
they did not choose to commit crimes but, rather, were driven to commit them by
conditions in their lives.
5. Alphonse Bertillon – one who originated a system of classifying criminals according to
bodily measurements (anthropometry).
6. Edwin Sutherland – an American authority in criminology, who in his book “Principles
of Criminology” considers criminology at present as not a science. He advocated
“Differential Association Theory”, which maintains that the society is composed of
different group organization, the society consists of a group of people having
criminalistic tradition and anti-criminalistic tradition, and that criminal behavior is learned
and not inherited.
7. Raffaele Garofalo (1852-1934) - another Italian authority in criminology, who
developed a concept of the natural crime and defined it as a violation of the prevalent
sentiments of pity and probity. According to his theory, natural crimes are found in all
human societies. He traced the roots of criminal behavior not to physical features but to
their psychological equivalents, which he called “moral anomalies”.
8. David Durkheim – advocated “Anomie Theory” that focused on the sociological point
of the positivist school which explains that the absence of norms in a society provides a
setting conducive to crimes and other anti-social acts.
9. Robert Park – advocated “Human Ecology Theory”. It is the study of the
interrelationship of people and their environment. This theory maintains that crime is a
function of social change. It also maintains that the isolation, segregation, competition,
conflict, social contact and social hierarchy or people are the major influences of
criminal behavior and crimes.
10. Ernest Kretschmer – a German psychiatrist who originated “Somatotyping” and
distinguished the three types of body physique as:
 Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders
 Athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular, course bones
 Pyknic – medium height, rounded figure, massive neck, broad face
11. William H. Sheldon – popular of his own somatotyping theory. He combines the
biological and psychological explanation to understand deviant behavior. Sheldon’s
somatotyping theory, maintains the belief of inheritance as the primary determinants of
behavior and the physique is a reliable indicator of personality. Three types of body
physique are:
 Ectomorphy - thin physique, flat chest, delicacy through the body, slender, poorly
muscled. They tend to look more fatigue and withdrawn.
 Mesomorphy – athletic type, pre-dominance of muscles, bone and connective
tissue, normally heavy, hard and firm, sting and tough, active and aggressive and
they are most likely to commit crimes.
 Endomorphy – a type with predominance of soft roundness throughout the
regions of the body. Persons with typically relaxed and comfortable disposition.
12. Tennenbaum, Lemert, Becker – advocates of “Labeling Theory” that explains about
social reaction to behavior. The theory maintains that the original cause of crime cannot
be known, no behavior is intrinsically criminal, behavior becomes criminal if it is labeled
as such.
13. Charles Darwin – his theory of evolution claimed that humans like other animals are
parasite. Man is an organism having an animalistic behavior that is dependent on other
animals for survival. Thus, man kills and steal to live.

The Criminal Formula

In explaining the birth of criminal behavior, we must consider three factors:

Criminalistic tendency (T), the total situation (S), and the person’s mental and
emotional resistance to temptation (R). These factors then can be put into formula
as:

C=T+S
R

Where:

C – Crime/ Criminal Behavior (the act)

T – Criminal Tendency (desire intent)
S – Total Situation (opportunity)
R – Resistance to Temptation (control)
 The formula shows that a person’s criminal tendency and his resistance to them
may either result in criminal act depending upon, which of them is stronger. This means
that a crime or criminal behavior exist when the person’s resistance is insufficient to
withstands the pressure of his desire or intent and the opportunity.

In understanding this, the environment factors such as stress and strains are
considered because they contribute in mobilizing a person’s criminal tendency and the
individual’s psychological state while resistance to temptation arises from the emotional
intellectual and social upbringing and is either manifestation of a strong or weak
character.