Handouts in THEORIES and CAUSES of CRIME

NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE
San Nicolas, Candon City, Ilocos Sur
Handouts in
THEORIES AND
CAUSES OF
CRIME
ROSE MARIE CURUGAN DETRAN
FOR NLPSC USE ONLY
OVERVIEW
The course provides students a broad understanding on the existence of crime, criminal and criminal
justice. Theories cover the making and the breaking of the law, criminal and deviant behavior as well as patterns
of criminal activity. Also, theories are useful tools that help us understand and explain why crimes exists in the
community.
This course captures the theoretical perspective of crime causation committed by individuals and
institutions. It provides a wide array of theories from all dimensions and aspects of the person, the society and the
institutions such as political, economic, environmental, social, psychological, biological, women offenders,
biopsychosocial, and life course.
The course focuses on the different theories that explains the criminal behavior and reasons for the
commission of crime. It reviews traditional and new theories of crime that attempt to describe the variety of
deviant and criminal behavior and on “causal relationship between conduct and result". In other words, causation
provides a means of connecting conduct with a resulting effect.
THEORIES AND CAUSES OF CRIME
After the completion of the modules, you should be able to:
1. critique the different criminological theories,

2. evaluate the categories of criminological theories,
3. cite cases related to the different theories,
4. analyze the given cases on the causes of crime and criminal
behavior,
5. explain the causes of crime and criminal behavior and
6. conduct simple research on the theories of crime.
SOCIAL NORMS, HUMAN MIND AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Social Norms
Social norms according to Williamson (2018) will guide individual behavior through the ways other people think
and act. These are the ways the individual expect all the people to act in a given by situation.
It is also an established standard behavior shared by members of a Social groupto which each member
is expected to conform (Collins Dictionary).
Vito & Maahs (2015) stated that norms are guidelines that define the types of behavior of the member of
society that are appropriate or inappropriate in a certain situation.
In simple terms, according to Mondal (n.d.) norms are guidelines which direct our conduct in particular
situation. They are similar to rules and regulations in being prescriptive, although they lack the formal status of
rules.
These rules or social expectations (norms) specify how people should and should not behave in various
situations.
Types of Norms (Crossman, 2019)
1. Folkways
These are norms that stem from and organize casual interactions, and emerge because it is being
practice regularly. We engage in them to satisfy our daily needs, and they are most often unconscious in
operation, though they are quite useful for the ordered functioning of society.
Examples:
Waiting in line. This practice brings order to the process of buying things or receiving services, allowing us
to perform the tasks of our daily lives more easily.
The practice of raising one's hand to take turns to speak in a group will let the participants understand
each other.
✓ Folkways mark the distinction between rude and polite behavior, so they exert a form of social pressure
that encourages us to act and interact in certain ways. However, they do not have moral significance, and
there are rarely serious consequences or sanctions for violating them.
2. Mores
Mores are stricter than folkways, as they determine what is considered moral and ethical behavior; they
structure the difference between right and wrong. People feel strongly about mores, and violating them typically
results in disapproval or ostracizing. As such, mores exact a greater coercive force in shaping our values, beliefs,
behavior, and interactions than do folkways.
Violations of a society’s mores evoke a more serious response from others.

Teenage Pregnancy is an example of violation of mores the woman can be discriminated by society.
3. Taboos
A taboo is a very strong negative norm; it is a prohibition of certain behavior that is so strict that violating it
results in extreme disgust and even expulsion from the group or society.
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Often the violator of the taboo is considered unfit to live in that society. For instance, in some Muslim
cultures, eating pork is taboo because the pig is considered unclean. At the more extreme end, incest and
cannibalism are both considered taboos in most places.
4. Laws
A law is a norm that is formally inscribed by the state and is enforced by police or law enforcement agencies.
Laws exist to discourage behavior that would typically result in injury or harm to another person, including
violations of property rights. Those who enforce laws have been given legal right by a government to control
behavior for the good of society at large.
✓ When an individual violated the law, they will be apprehended and place behind bars or they will be fined
or both.
Ethics and Morals
- Ethics is derived from a Greek word “Ethikos” - The word Morals is derived from a
which means character. Greek word “Mos” which means
custom.
- Ethics are related to right and wrong conduct of
an individual in a particular situation. - Morals are concerned with principles
of right and wrong,
- Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with
the principles of conduct of an individual or - Morals are the social, cultural and
group. It works as a guiding principle as to religious beliefs or values of an
decide what is good or bad. They are the individual or group which tells us what
standards which govern the life of a person. is right or wrong. They are the rules
Ethics is also known as moral philosophy. and standards made by the society or
culture which is to be followed by us
- It is a system of moral principles or moral while deciding what is right.
standards governing conduct. It is a particular
system of principles and rules concerning duty; it - Pertains to character and behavior
is a system of rules and practice applied to a from the point of view of right and
single class of human actions. wrong. The judgment we make
relating to societal principles of right
and wrong behavior.
Why do we need to study ethics?

1. To make decisions (right and wrong ways of doing things)
2. To have an orderly social life.
3. To value life.
VALUES - According to Open Education Sociology Dictionary is an ideal principle that determines what is
correct, desirable, or morally proper in a group or organization.
Human Mind and Human Behavior
The figure above tells us the biological basis of human behavior. Everything we do is always related to our brain.
The actions of a person on a given situation depends on the brain.
MIND – a complex abilities that involved in perceiving, remembering, considering, evaluating, and deciding. Mind
is in some sense reflected in such occurrences as sensations, perceptions, emotions, memory, desires, various
types of reasoning, motives, choices, traits of personality, and the unconscious (Encyclopedia Britannica).
BEHAVIOR – is the way in which someone conducts oneself or behaves (Merriam Webster).
PSYCHOLOGY - The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a
given context (Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary).
APPROACHES OF PSYCHOLOGY
✓ Explains human behavior.
1. Behaviorism (Behaviorist Approach)
- Emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior, to the near exclusion of innate or
inherited factors. This amounts essentially to a focus on learning.
- We learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning
- Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).
Types of Behaviorism
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a. Methodological Behaviorism
- It asserts that the mind is really a blank state when born.
b. Radical behaviorism
- accepts the view that organisms are born with innate behaviors, and thus recognizes the role
of genes and biological components in behavior.
2. Psychodynamic Approach
- This approach sees human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person,
particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.
- It is an approach that regards personality as formed by needs, strivings and desires largely operating
outside of awareness, motives that can also produce emotional disorders.
Example:
A student who forgets to set the alarm clock to wake up in time for the test in the morning may
reflect unconscious test anxiety, dislike for the course, etc., but doesn’t rule out laziness, bad habits, lack of
consciousness.
3. Humanistic Approach
- Humanistic, humanism and humanist are terms in psychology relating to an approach which studies the
whole person, and the uniqueness of each individual.
This approach believes that:

a. Humans have free will; not all behavior is determined.
b. All individuals are unique and are motivated to achieve their potential.
c. A proper understanding of human behavior can only be achieved by studying humans - not animals.
d. Psychology should study the individual case (idiographic) rather than the average performance of
groups (nomothetic).
4. Cognitive Approach
- It is the scientific study of the mind as an information processor.
- Cognitive psychologists try to build up cognitive models of the information processing that goes on inside
people’s minds, including perception, attention, language, memory, thinking, and consciousness
This approach believes that:

a. Cognitive psychology is pure science, based mainly on laboratory experiments.
b. Behavior can be largely explained in terms of how the mind operates, i.e., the information processing
approach.
c. The mind works in a way similar to a computer: inputting, storing and retrieving data.
d. Mediational processes occur between stimulus and response.
The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles information is known as the
computer analogy. Essentially, a computer stores information, uses information, changes information and produces
an output (retrieves information).
Comparison between Behaviorist Approach and Cognitive Approach
https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html
The mediational (i.e., mental) event could be memory, perception, attention or problem solving, etc.
These are known as mediational processes because they mediate (i.e., go-between) between the stimulus and
the response. They come after the stimulus and before the response.
Therefore, cognitive psychologists’ say if you want to understand behavior, you have to understand these
mediational processes.
5. Biological Approach
- this approach believes that our behavior is a consequence of our genetics and physiology. It is the only
approach in psychology that examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a biological and physical point of
view.
A biological perspective is relevant to the study of psychology in three ways:
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a. Comparative method: different species of animals can be studied and compared. This can
help in the search to understand human behavior.
b. Physiology: how the nervous system and hormones work, how the brain functions, how
changes in structure and/or function can affect behavior. For example, we could ask how
prescribed drugs to treat depression affect behavior through their interaction with the nervous
system.
c. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits from its parents, mechanisms of

inheritance (genetics). For example, we might want to know whether high intelligence is
inherited from one generation to the next.
INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES
Background of the Criminological Theory

What is a THEORY?
According to Bohm and Haley (2008) theory is an assumption. That attempts to explain why
or how things are related to each other.
Vito and Maahs (2015) define theory as set of principles or statements that attempt to explain how
concepts are related. While Reid (2009) mentioned that theory is more than an assumption. It involves efforts to
test the reality of thoughts or explanations about how factors (such as gender) related to phenomenon (such as
criminal behavior).
Theories are ideas used to explain facts (Regoli, Hewitt, Delisi, 2017). According to Siegel and Welsh
(2017) a theory can be defined as an abstract statement that explains why certain phenomena or things do or do
not happen.
Theory in simple term, is an explanation of something. Theories are useful tools that help us to
understand and explain the world around us. In criminology, they help us to understand the workings of the
criminal justice system and the actors in the system (Akers & Sellers, 2013).
Criminological theory is the explanation of criminal behavior, as well as the behavior of law
enforcers, lawyers, prosecutor, judges, correctional personnel, victims and other actors in the criminal justice
process. In the case of crime theory, these explains how one or more factors lead to criminal behavior (Vito and
Maahs, 2015).
Classification of theories according to their level of analysis.
MACRO LEVEL THEORY

- This theory of criminal behavior attempts to explain the “big picture” of crime across the world, across
a society or differences in groups.
- It attempts to explain why some neighborhoods have higher crime rates than others, or why some
countries have higher cases of substance use and abuse.
MICRO LEVEL THEORY

- This theory of criminal behavior focuses on a small group of offenders or on individual crime
- This attempt to answer why some individuals are more likely to commit crime than others. Other
authors have used the terms “individual conduct” or processual theories.
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Criteria for Evaluating Theory/ Characteristics of Good Theory
CRITERIA DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

1. Parsimony This refer to how simple and concise is Self-control - it states that a
the explained concept of a theory. person has a low self-control
is often involved in criminal
activity.
2. Scope This refers to the range of phenomena A theory that explains only
(an occurrence) that the theory the age distribution of crime
proposes. has a more limited scope
than one that explains the
How wide is the coverage of the age, race, sex, and class
explanation of the theory distributions of crime
3. Logical Is the extent to which a theory makes The demonological theory

Consistency sense in terms of its concepts and states that a person was
propositions. The is free from possessed by an evil spirit
contradiction the reason for the person to
and is consistent with the data it is commit a crime.
supposed to explain.
4. Testability It is the extent to which a theory can Tautology is based on
be put to empirical, scientific testing. circular reasoning which is
Some theories simply cannot be impossible to test. Like the
tested. lack of conscience as the
cause of crime. How can one
test this?
5. Empirical Validity The extent to which a theory can be The theory is supported by
verified or refuted with carefully research
gathered evidence
6. Policy It is the extent to which a theory can Broken windows theory had
Implication create realistic and useful guidance for an enormous impact on
changing the way that society deals police policy throughout the
with a given phenomenon. 1990s and remained
influential into the 21st
century. Perhaps the most
notable application of the
theory was in New York City.
Several criteria were presented for evaluating a theory, Vito and Maahs (2015) said that an important fact
to keep in mind, however, is that not all criteria are equally important. The figure below shows how different
criteria relate to one another. Testability has already been covered; the remaining criteria include empirical
support, scope and parsimony.
Can the theory be Is the theory Evaluate the theory:

tested? empirically Is the concept of the
YES supported? YES
theory simple and
Is the theory clearly concise?
stated? Does the weight of (Parsimony)
evidence favor the How wide is coverage
Are the concepts theory? of the explanation of
measurable? the theory? (Scope)
N N
O O
Stop here! Stop here!

Not a scientific theory Not a scientific theory
Vito, G.F. & Maahs, J.R. (2015)
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FOUNDATION OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES
DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY
This theory is one of the earliest theories in criminology. In the ancient times, people believed that evil
spirits or demons entered the human soul and made people commit sins. This was the earliest explanation given
regarding crime and criminal behavior.
The cause of crime is demonic possession, God’s will or other supernatural forces. The punishment for
criminals is brutal, corporal punishment designed to calm the God’s, cleanse the community and identify individuals
as deviant.
John Locke and Jean Rosseau challenge the prevailing belief that God or demons directly determined
human behavior. Rather, they believed that God instilled in humans the capacity to exercise free will and the ability
to choose a course of behavior through reason.
This became the general flatform for legal reform by the scholars like Cesare Beccaria.
CLASSICAL THEORY
This assumes that individuals have free will and choose to commit based on rational, hedonistic
decisions; “they weigh out the potential costs and benefits of offending and then choose what will maximize their
pleasure and minimize the pain”.
Crime is the result of rational decision based on a calculation of cost and benefits. The punishment is swift,
certain, severe punishment within the framework of a rational legal system will differ criminal behavior; punishment
should fit the crime.
NEO – CLASSICAL THEORY

This affirms that the cause of crime is “people have free will to do the act, however when it comes to
punishment, it should be individualized for the reason that there are people who commit crime because they don’t
understand right from wrong and likewise, there should be a difference between a recidivist and a first-time
offender.
This is a modification of the classical theory in which it was accepted that certain factors such as insanity
might inhibit the exercise of free will. The neoclassical emphasized the need for an individualized reaction to
offenders.
POSITIVIST THEORY
This assumes that individual are passive subjects of determinism, which means that people do not freely
choose their behavior. Instead, their behavior is determined by factors outside their free will, such as genetics, IQ,
education, employment, peer influences, parenting and economics.
Criminal behavior is determined by biological, social or psychological factors outside of a person’s control.
The primary idea behind this theory is that criminals are born and not made into criminals; in other words, it is the
nature of the person, not nurture, that results in criminal tendencies.
This theory advocates a medical model (and reject the importance of punishment). Individuals are “treated”
based on set of factors that caused them to engage in crime. The punishment (rehabilitation)should fit the individual.
❖ Note: The School of Thoughts are, Classical, Neo-Classical and Positivist. These schools laid the birth of
different criminological theories that brought enlightenment on the different causes of crimes and criminal
behavior.
Categories of Criminological Theories (Siegel, 2010)
Theories Concepts
1. Biological Theories - These theories assume that variation in human physical traits can explain
behavior
▪ They commit crime
or they behave that - Attempt to explain behaviors contrary to societal expectations through
way because they examination of individual characteristics. These theories are categorized within
a paradigm called positivism (also known as determinism), which asserts that
are different from
behaviors, including law-violating behaviors, are determined by factors largely
others beyond individual control.
Biological Theories can be classified into three (3) types.

1. Those that attempt to differentiate individuals the certain
innate (those with which you are born).
2. Those that attempt to trace the sources of differences to
genetic or hereditary characteristics.
3. Those that attempt to distinguish among individuals on the
basis of structural, functional or chemical differences in the
brain.
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2. Psychological - These theories believe that it is the person's thoughts and feelings that dictate
Theories their actions. As such, problems in thinking can lead to criminal behavior.
▪ They behave like

that and commit
crime because
something is in their
head
3. Sociological - These theories described or explain crime in terms of the social environment,
Theories including the family, school, peer group, workplace, community, and society.
▪ The community/ - These theories, however, differ from one another in several ways: they focus
society is to be on somewhat different features of the social environment, they offer different
blamed for their accounts of why the social environment causes crime, and some focus on
behavior explaining individual differences in crime while others attempt to explain group
differences in crime.
4. Choice Theories - These theories assume that criminals carefully chose whether to commit
criminal acts.
▪ They commit crime
because they want - These theories believe that individuals choose to commit a crime, looking at
to “it’s their choice” the opportunities before them, weighing the benefit versus the punishment, and
deciding whether to proceed or not. This cost-benefit analysis primarily focuses
on the idea that we all have the choice to proceed with our actions. Because of
the punishment involved, we are deterred from committing the crime.
5. Developmental - A view of crime holding that as people travel through the life course, their
Theories experiences along the way influence behavior patterns.
▪ This is the pathway - Behavior changes at each stage of the human experience.
to crime
6. Critical Criminology - Views the economic and political forces operating in the society as the
fundamental cause of criminality.
▪ Blame the powerful,
because of money, - The criminal law and criminal justice are seen as vehicles for controlling the
power and politics, poor.
crime is committed
7. Theories of - The role of the victim should not be virtually ignored. The victim is not a
Victimization passive target in crime but someone whose behavior can influence his or her
own fate.
▪ It is because that’s
how they live - Crime victim can be someone who shapes and mold the criminal. The criminal
may be a predator but the victim may help the criminal by becoming a willing
prey.
BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
One behaves differently because they are different structurally.
The cause of crime historically in the perspective of biological theories was biological inferiority.
Biological Inferiority is a criminal's innate physiological makeup that produces certain physical or genetic
characteristics that distinguish offenders from non-offenders. (Bohm & Haley, 2008).
PHYSICAL TRAIT THEORY
A. ATAVISM
Criminal Atavism the idea that delinquents’ manifest physical anomalies that make them biologically
and psychologically similar to our primitive ancestors, savage throwback to an earlier stage of human evolution
(Siegel & Welsh, 2018)
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CESARE LOMBROSO - explained criminal behavior on the basis of biological characteristics and
heredity. Using various physiological and cranial measurements of known criminals, Lombroso developed the
theory that certain persons who engage in criminal behavior are “born criminals.” (this phrase was coined by Enrico
Ferri).
Lombroso an Italian criminologists constructed the first biological theory of crime. He argued that one
can tell how highly evolved the person from his or her physical appearance. Applying Darwin's teachings, Lombroso
theorized that criminals were "atavistic beings" - this is the idea that criminals are throwback to a more primitive
stage of development.
Atavistic or primitive man is a throwback to an earlier stage of human evolution, and will commit crimes
against society unless specifically restrained from doing so. According to him because criminal did not evolve
properly, they possessed stigmata -a distinctive physical features, such as asymmetrical face, an enormous jaw,
large or protruding ears and receding chin which is not found to non-criminals.
Lombroso introduced the idea that criminality was not a matter of sin or free will, but could instead be a
medical problem that is needed to be examined by experts in that field."
Classification of Criminals by Lombroso
1. Born Criminals (Atavism) – these are those who

were physically and mentally inferior that is visible to
the naked eye.
E.g. Those with small skull, large eye socket,
sunken forehead lump on the lower part of the back
of the head. Psychologically, they are insensitive
and have no sense of guilt.
2. Insane Criminals – these are those epileptic or

psychotic or these are those commit crime due to
abnormalities or psychological disorders and they
edit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome are unfit for society. E.g. Idiots and imbeciles.
Images images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org Six figures
illustrating types of criminals Printed text 3. Criminaloids – are persons who commit crime
L’Homme Criminel Lombroso, Cesar due to less physical stamina/ self-control
Published: 1888
4. Criminal by Passion – are individuals who are easily influenced by great emotions like the fit of anger. They act
on impulse with noble ideas in mind. Usually commit common crime. They are extremely affectionate and tend to
feel extreme guilt after committing a crime.
5. Occasional Criminals – are those who commit crime due to insignificant reasons that pushed them to do at a
given occasion.
6. Psuedo-criminals – are those who commit crimes involuntary, non-perverse (always motivated by necessity)
and in self-defense.
ENRICO FERRI is a student of Lombroso; he disagreed with Lombroso’s focus on the physiological,
professing instead to examine the interactive effects of physical factors, individual factors, and social factors and to
blame criminality on a lack of moral sensibility.
He believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible for their crimes because they did not
choose to commit crimes but, rather, driven to commit them by conditions in their lives. He also claimed that strict
adherence to the preventive measures based on scientific methods would eventually reduce crime and allow people
to live together in society with less dependent on the penal system.
RAFFAELE GAROFALO another Italian contemporary, he developed a theory of natural crime, focusing
on those acts that could be prevented or reduced by punishment; he supported the position that the only way to
understand crime was to study it by scientific methods. He also suggested the elimination of individuals who posed
a threat to society, to improve the quality of the society and ensure its survival.
Like Ferri, he believed crime was more the results of a lack in moral sensibilities rather than a
physiological problem.
Types of Criminals according to Garofalo
1. Murderers – those who are satisfied with vengeance/revenge.

2. Violent Criminals – those who commit very serious crimes.
3. Deficient Criminals – those who commit crime against property.
4. Lascivious Criminals – those who commit crimes against chastity.
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B. PHYSIOGNOMY
Physiognomy is the ancient ‘science’ of ‘judging’ or ‘discriminating’ character that is traditionally traced
back to Pythagoras, who allegedly applied it to his prospective students as a means to diagnose their character
traits and intelligence before admitting them to his school. Physiognomy determines person’s character, moral
disposition, or behavior by observing his or her physical characteristics.
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher was the proponent of physiognomy, the practice flourished in many
areas of the world and was taught in universities throughout England until it was banned by Henry VIII in 1531.
The term physiognomy comes from

the Greek words physis, meaning “nature,”
and gnomon, meaning “to judge or to
interpret.” It refers to the evaluation of a
person’s personality or character (i.e., his
or her nature) through an examination of
that person’s outward appearance. Early
physiognomy concentrated on
characteristics of the face through which to
judge the person’s nature.
Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615)

The publication of on Physiognomy in 1586 by Italian scholar Giambattista della Porta once again brought
renewed focus to this belief and practice of the ancient Greeks. Della Porta, often considered the first criminologist,
examined patients during his medical practice and concluded that appearance and character were related.
He approached the study of this relationship from a magico – spiritualistic metaphysical
perspective instead of a scientific one, classifying humans on the basis of their resemblance to
animals.
Example: Men who look like donkeys are similar to donkeys in their laziness and stupidity; men
who resemble pigs behave like pigs.
Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801)

A Swiss pastor who published his painstakingly detailed study of facial fragments in 1783. His
ideas were greatly influence by Della Porta. He concluded that one could determine criminal behavior
through an examination of a person’s eyes, ears, nose, chin, and facial shape.
C. PHRENOLOGY
Phrenology is popularized in the early 19th century, which links the shape and measurement of the skull
to personality traits. Franz Joseph Gall, the founder of phrenology, was the first to use measurements of the head
in order to predict personality traits.
Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828)
A German neuroanatomist and physiologist who pioneered

the study of the human brain as the source of mental faculties. He,
developed the practice of cranioscopy, a technique by which to infer
behaviors and characteristics from an external examination of the
skull (cranium).
According to Gall, a person’s strengths, weaknesses, morals,

tendencies, character, and personality could be determined by the
Phrenology, from the Greek physical characteristics of his or her skull.
words phren, meaning “mind,”
and logos, meaning Gall mapped out the location of 26 “brain organs” on the
“knowledge,” is based on the human skull. A bump or depression in a particular area of
belief that human behavior the skull would indicate strength or weakness in that
originated in the brain. particular area. 10
Example several areas of Gall’s map of the skull were believed to correspond to that person’s
tendencies to engage in criminal or deviant acts. One area corresponded to the tendency to commit
murder; another area corresponded to the tendency to steal.
Johann Spurzheim (1776–1832)

German physician and student of Gall’s, actually coined the term phrenology to replace cranioscopy.
Spurzheim also expanded the map of the brain organs, developed a hierarchical system of the organs, and created
a model “phrenology bust” that depicted the location of the brain organs.
While the German scientists were focusing attention on the brain as an important determinant of individual
behavior, various other scholars were theorizing about the development of man as a biological organism; about the
nature of social and political organizations and about the place of man, as an individual, within those organizations.
The
synthesis of these ideas would significantly advance the progress of research related to biological perspectives of
behavior.
Physiognomy tried to make inferences about character and behavior from outward
characteristics, cranioscopy attempted to correlate those outward physical
characteristics to internal physical characteristics (i.e., skull shape).
SOMATOTYPING THEORY OR BODY TYPE

Somatotyping is the classifying of people into types according to body build. Somatotyping theory relates
distinctive body types to personality characteristics and relates criminal behavior to the body types (Morin,2014).
William Sheldon
He was credited for

developing the first systematic
genetic theory of criminality.
According to William
Sheldon, body built is related to
behavior. He became popular of his
own somatotyping theory.
Sheldon ‘s Somatotyping theory

maintains the belief of inheritance
as the primary determinants of
behavior and the psyche is a
reliable indicator of personality.
Classification of body Physique by Sheldon
1. Endomorph – a type of physique with relatively predominance of soft roundness throughout the regions of the
body. They have low specific gravity. (Round fleshy type)
2. Mesomorph – athletic type, predominance of muscles, bones, and connective tissue, normally heavy, hard and
firm, sting and tough. They are aggressive, and they are the most likely to commit crimes. (Hard muscular types)
3. Ectomorph – thin physique, flat chest, delicacy through the body slender, poorly muscled. They tend to look more
fatigue and withdrawn. (Thin fragile types).
Sheldon claimed that the mesomorphic types were the body types correlating with characteristics
associated with delinquency. The ectomorphs the thin fragile types were the ones likely to avoid crime and take
less risk.
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TYPOLOGIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
Typology is the systematic classification of the types of something according to their common
characteristics.
Carl G. Jung’s Classification:
CG Jung has classified personality on the basis of sociability of character as introverts, ambivert and extraverts.
➢ Introverts are described as people who share characteristics such as shyness, social withdrawal, and a
tendency to talk less. Because of these characteristics these people appear to be self-centered, unable to
adjust easily in social situations. They are not easily suggestible. They are future oriented, very sensible,
and rigid in ideas.
➢ Extraverts share a tendency to be outgoing, friendly, talkative, and social in nature. They prefer social
contacts, generous, sportive, and courageous. They are happy-go-lucky persons and show interest in
present reality than future. They express their feelings openly. Take decisions quickly and act upon
quickly. They are not affected easily by difficulties.
➢ Ambiverts there are only few people who are pure introverts or pure extraverts. The remaining majority
of people possess both the qualities of introverts and extraverts. Such people are called as Ambiverts.
This classification was made by psychologists who came after Jung.
Ernest Kretschmer’s Classification:
German psychologist Kretschmer has attempted to correlate physique and character. From his studies on
mental patients, he found that certain body types are associated with particular types of mental disorders. He has
classified personalities into four types:
a. Pyknic type:
These are people who are short and having round body. They will have personality traits of extraverts.
These people are more prone to suffer from a mental disorder called Manic Depressive Psychosis (MDP).
b. Asthenic type:
These people will have a slender or slim body. They will have the personality traits of introverts. These
people are more prone to suffer from a serious mental disorder called Schizophrenia.
c. Athletic type:
These people will have strong body. They are more energetic and aggressive. They will be strong
enough, determined, adventurous and balanced. They are comparable with ambiverts. They are more prone to
suffer from MDP.
d. Dysplastic type:
These people will have unproportionate body and do not belong to any of the three types mentioned above. This
disproportion is due to hormonal imbalance. Their behavior and personality are also imbalanced.
COMPARISON OF BODY TYPES

Kretschmer Sheldon Characteristics
Asthenic Ectomorph Lean, slim shallow-chested, and tall
in proportion to their weight
Athletic Mesomorph Muscular individual with broad
shoulders, well developed chest,
robust and strong
Pyknic Endomorph Broad, rounded figure, large head,
heavy neck and ruddy face
Dysplastic --------------- Abnormal body built
BIOSOCIAL THEORY
This is a theory that integrates biologically determined traits and environmental stimuli. Biosocial theorist
assumes that combination of personal traits and environment produces individual behavior patterns.
1. BIOCHEMICAL FACTORS
Bio-criminologist believed that exposure to harmful chemicals and poor diet in utero at birth and beyond
may affect their life course.
Another view is that abnormal body chemistry is an indirect cause of anti-social behavior through its
association with abnormal psychological and mental conditions.
A. Environmental Contaminant
Several numbers of environmental exposures are documented resulting to a pattern of

neurobehavioral effects, including lowered IQ, shortened attention span, and increased frequency of antisocial
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behavior. Prenatal and postnatal second-hand smokes (SHS) exposure is also associated with increased rates of
conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity.
Thousands of household items, from shampoo to flooring products contain phthalates, a chemical
compound used in making plastics, which is believed to be dangerous to health. Research shows that exposure to
phthalates is related to childhood misbehavior and improper functioning.
Lead Contamination
Among the environmental contaminants, lead exposure has always been linked to antisocial behaviors
on both the individual and group levels. Research also shows that almost any increased level of lead ingestion is
related to lower IQ scores, a factor linked to aggressive behavior.
Research also shows that lead effects may actually begin in the womb due to the mother’s dietary
consumption of food, like seafoods that are high in lead content already and therefore the infant in the womb is
affected.
Young children with high levels of lead in their blood later displays antisocial behavioral symptoms such
as acting out behaviors and school problems.
Biosocial theory was coined to reflect the assumed links between physical and mental traits, the social
environment and behavior.
B. DIET
Biochemical research linked diet to behavior. Excessive intake of certain substances such as sugar, and
lack of vitamins and proteins have been connected to aggression and antisocial behavior. With this statement what
should parents do? Children’s diet should be monitored. There is also evidence that diet may influence behavior
through its impact on body chemistry.
Some research efforts have linked antisocial behavior to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, food additives,
and improper diet. Research shows that excessive amounts of food dyes and artificial colors or flavors seem to
provoke hostile, impulsive and antisocial behaviors.
It is not only the present diet of the child but it can also be traced back on mother’s prenatal diet. Too
little nutrients on maternal diet during pregnancy may impede child development later in life.
Research conducted in United States and other countries has linked youth violence and misbehavior to
dietary intake. Omega -6 fats found in corn, soybean, cotton seed and sunflower oils is linked to antisocial behavior.
National Institutes of Health scientists found that the murder rate is 20 times higher in countries with highest omega-
6 intake compared to those with the lowest.
Vitamins, minerals, chemicals and other nutrients from fruit, vegetables and whole grain can improve brain
function, basic intelligence and academic performance. In contrast to those lacking in proper diet seem at greatest
risk to crime and delinquency.
It is also possible that poor diet is indirectly related to antisocial activity. Attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) a disorder in which child shows a developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, impulsivity and
hyperactivity. ADHD is linked to delinquency and its cause maybe diet driven. Fast foods, processed meats, red
meat, high-fat dairy products and candy were linked to higher rate of ADHD.
A clear links has been found between diet and hyperactivity, with the main culprits being sugar,
processed and refined foods. These specific foods create unpleasant behavioral effects, highlighting an important
connection between food and characteristics of criminal behavior.
C. HYPOGLYCEMIA
According to free dictionary (n.d.) hypoglycemia is literally translated as low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia occurs
when blood sugar (or blood glucose) concentrations fall below a level necessary to properly support the body's
need for energy and stability throughout its cells.
Some signs of Hypoglycemia
he anti‐social behavior resulting from

hypoglycemia can take many forms and the two
most common and publicly important are violence
against individuals and impaired driving that causes
accidents.
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D. HORMONES
Hormones affect social behavior, often by directly influencing some aspect of brain function, although
there are certainly other routes to influencing behavior.
A new study claims that naughty behavior like fraud, cheating and lying could be predicted and reinforced
by a rise in hormones such as testosterone and cortisol.
Cortisol is often called the "stress hormone" because of its connection to the stress response, however,
cortisol is much more than just a hormone released during stress.
A joint study conducted by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin and Harvard University suggests that
certain hormones such as testosterone and cortisol could play a major role in and be a predictor for a person
committing unethical behavior such as lying, cheating or stealing, according to UT-Austin.
Researchers also discovered that higher levels of this hormone are associated with increased levels of
violence and aggression, both in males and females. Criminal samples have been found to have higher testosterone
levels when compared with noncriminal samples, although these levels were still within normal limits.
❖ "Increase testosterone lowers the fear of punishment while increasing sensitivity to reward. Increase cortisol
is linked to an uncomfortable state of chronic stress that can be extremely devastating". "Testosterone
furnishes the courage to cheat, and elevated cortisol provides a reason to cheat."
Research suggests that increased levels of male androgen testosterone are responsible for excessive
levels of violence among boys. Hormonal sensitivity may begin at early stages of life when the fetus can be
exposed to abnormally high levels of testosterone while in the uterus. This may trigger a heightened response to
the release of testosterone when adolescent male reaches puberty.
EVOLUTIONARY NEUROANDROGENIC THEORY

This theory was proposed by Lee Ellis. The “evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory” focuses on the
hormone testosterone as a factor influencing aggression and criminality and being beneficial during certain forms
of competition. In most species, males are more aggressive than females.
The involvement in crime usually rises in the early teens to mid-teens in correlation with the rise of
testosterone levels.
The theory also states that males have evolved genetic tendencies to produce a high level of
testosterone and other androgens that enhance their competitiveness, often to the point of victimizing others.
2. GENETIC FACTORS
Genetic factor refers to biological factors that are inherited. Another theory which attempts to explain
criminal actions contemplates on the effect of genetics on one’s behavior rather than possible environmental
factors. The emergence of this theory brought about research into family, twin and adoption studies in order to
determine whether genetics had an effect on criminals.
Biosocial theorist also studies the genetic makeup of delinquents. The association of the genes and
crime may either be direct or indirect.
According to the direct view:
1. Antisocial behavior is inherited,
2. The genetic makeup of parents is passed on to children, and
3. Genetic abnormality is directly linked to a variety of antisocial behavior.
It is also possible that indirect: genes are related to some personality or physical traits are also linked
to antisocial behavior.
Y CHROMOSOME THEORY
The XYY syndrome or Jacob’s syndrome is a genetic irregularity that gives the male an extra Y
chromosome. All males inherit two sex chromosomes from their parents, X from mother and Y from father. The Y
chromosome determine the gender.
Normally, people have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Females being XX and males being XY. On rare
occasion, two Y chromosomes pair up with one X chromosome, resulting in a male with an extra male
chromosome. The XYY chromosome give a man almost too much "man power" and results in producing a more
violent person
This theory holds that one with an extra Y chromosome gives them an XYY chromosomal makeup that
creates a strong compulsion in them to commit crimes. The individual with extra Y chromosome is sometimes
called a "super male.
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The super male chromosomal syndrome may act on the brain limbic system (which regulates man’s most
primitive drives, including his impulses toward violence) and somehow help trigger violent criminal acts.
FAMILY STUDIES
Criminologists have commonly used family studies to examine the heritability of antisocial behavior. They
also concluded that violence in generations of families might be genetic.
Sheldon Glueck and Eleonor Glueck used family study design to examine heritability of crime. The
Glueck’s included family histories in their comparisons of delinquents and non-delinquents. They found out that
most delinquent boys came from families characterize by history of delinquency and crime, with criminal father as
the best predictor. (Reid, 2009).
Robert Cloninger and Samuel Guze produce even a stronger evidence for heritability of crime in their
studies of transmission of sociopathy among families. Their work provides compelling evidence that the most
serious form of delinquency are largely inherited.
David Rowe and David Farrington examined the familial transmission of criminal convictions. These
researchers mentioned that paternal criminality is the strongest familial predictor of delinquency in children. This
means that children of murderers or robbers are more likely to commit crime than children of law-abiding parents.
Commonalities with parent and child if antisocial tendencies are inherited, the children of criminal parents
should be more likely to become law violators as compared to the offspring of conventional parents.
Similarities among siblings. If the cause of crime is genetic, the behavior of siblings should be similar
because they share genetic materials. Research shows that if sibling engages in antisocial behavior so do his/her
brothers and sisters, the effect is greatest among same-sex siblings.
While similarity of siblings’ behavior seems striking, what appears to be a genetic effect may also be
explained by other factors like:
♦ Siblings who lived in the same environment are influenced by similar social economic factors.
♦ Deviant siblings may grow closer because of shared interests.
♦ Younger siblings admire their older siblings may imitate the elder’s behavior.
♦ The deviant sibling forces or threatens the brother or sister into committing delinquent acts.
♦ Siblings living in a similar environment may develop similar types of friends; it is peer behavior that is the
critical influence.
The Jukes, Kallikak and Edwards Family: A Look on Their Stories
The Jukes Family
In 1877, Richard Dugdale published a study of a family whom he called the “Jukes” family. The study
first exposed six family members using four different names, all of whom were in jail for one crime or another, their
lineage was traced back to a man named Max whose two sons married two sisters, and whose daughter Ada
became known by the less-than-flattering pseudonym “Margaret, the mother of criminals.” Ada Jukes descendants
are paupers, criminals (habitual thieves, murderers) and prostitutes.
The Edwards Family
Sir Jonathan Edwards was a famous preacher during the colonial period. When his family tree was
traced, none of the descendants was found to be criminal. It was said that practically no lawbreakers, some are
lawyers, judges , college presidents and professors, physicians, clergymen, missionaries, and theological
professors, officials elected to public office, including mayors, governors, several members of congress, senators,
and a vice president, others have attained prominence in authorship or editorial life, with books of merit and army
or navy officers.
The Kalikak Family
Henry Goddard, conducted a study and published a book in 1912, tracing the descendants of a man
whom he called Martin Kallikak, a fictitious name for a Revolutionary war soldier.
Martin Kallikak produced two different lines of lineage, one with a supposedly "feebleminded" bar maid
with whom he had had sexual relations and one with his wife, reputed to be an honest Quaker woman.
The offspring from the two women generated two lineages that could not have been more different. The
pseudonym "Kallikak" was taken from two Greek words: kallos, meaning beauty (referring to the descendants of
the Quaker woman) and kakos, meaning bad (referring to the descendants of the feebleminded bar maid).
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RESULT
Feebleminded Girl Quaker woman
489
143 – feebleminded 4, 967
36 – illegitimate 2 – alcoholic
3 – epileptics 1 – convicted for religious offense
3 – criminals 15 – died infancy
8 – keep brothels No criminal or epileptic
82 – died in infancy All are mentally normal
46 – normal
TWIN STUDIES
Another method to evaluate the influence of hereditary on behavior is the twin studies. If behavior is
inherited it is expected to find the same behavior among people with identical genes. Monozygotic twins (MZ) is
known as identical twin, share the same DNA and come from one fertilized egg. Dizygotic twins (DZ) is known as
fraternal twins, the twins came from the two separate eggs fertilized at the same time.
If a genetic factor truly plays a role in determining delinquency MZ twins should be more alike than DZ
twins. This similarity is called concordance, occurs when both twins share a characteristic. Example: Annie and
Anna are both delinquent, there is concordance as to delinquency, but if Anna is the only delinquent the discrepancy
is called discordance.
Johannes Lange published the first study of twins and criminality. He examined 37 twin pairs including 13
MZ twins, 17 DZ twins, and 7 pair who could not be classified. In each pair, at least one twin had been in prison. In
10 of the 13 MZ pairs, the other twin had also been in prison, whereas only 2 of the 17 DZ pairs had both twins
served prison sentence.
Karl O. Christiansen completed the earliest comprehensive twin study in Denmark. He computed the
criminal concordance rates for the sample and found much greater concordance among crime and criminal careers
for MZ twins than DZ twins.
David Rowe and Wayne Osgood examined the genetic and environmental causes of antisocial behavior
using sample of 168 MZ twins and 97 same sex DZ twin pairs. The researchers explored the frequency with which
the youth committed assorted interpersonal (violent), property and nuisance offenses the earlier year. Their
research revealed that more
than 60 percent of the variation in antisocial acts and delinquent peer associations was accounted for genetic
factors.
David Rowe in his subsequent study, he examined environmental and heredity components of antisocial
behavior. In his investigation, common family environment which includes social class, child rearing styles, parental
attitudes and other factors did not influence antisocial behavior but heredity did.
Marshall B. Jones and Donald R. Jones also studied twins, concluded that their similar behavior, along
with that of nontwin siblings could be the result of the “contagious nature of antisocial behavior” rather than genetic
background. The greater the prevalence of antisocial behavior in a family or community where youth especially boy
is growing, the greater the risk the boy will be affected.
ADOPTION STUDIES
Comparing the behavior of adopted children with that of their biological parents is another way to determine
whether the delinquency is an inherited trait. If the criminal behavior of the child is similar with their biological parents
(whom they have never met) than that of the adopted parents (who brought them up), it would indicate that tendency
toward delinquency is inherited rather than shaped by the environment.
Sarnoff A. Mednick, Gabrielli, and Hutchins conducted adoption studies using a sample of about 72,000
from Denmark adoption register. They found that criminal behavior was higher among adoptees who had only
criminal biological parents, in comparison with adoptees with only criminal adoptive parents, but the highest
incidences of criminality were among adoptees with both biological and adopting parents.
NEUROLOGICAL FACTORS
Relationship of brain activity and behavior is another area of interests among biocriminologists. Studies
conducted in US and other countries have indicated that the relationship between impairment in executive brain
functions (such as abstract reasoning, problem solving skills, and motor behavior skills and aggressive behavior is
significant.
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Children who suffer from neurological deficits from birth are believe to also suffer from a number of
antisocial behavior traits throughout their life course ranging from habitual lying to antisocial violence.
Guido Frank a research psychiatrist in his research indicates that aggressive adolescents, commonly
boys frequently misinterpret their surroundings, feel threatened, and act inappropriately aggressive. They tend to
strike back when being teased, blame others when getting into fight and overreact to accidents. Frank’s research
helps explain what goes on in the brains of some teenage boys who responded with inappropriate anger and
aggression to perceived threats.
Stephanie H.M van Goozen, Graeme Fairchild and Gordon T. Harold (2008), examine the
underlying role of stress-response systems in the link between early social adversity and juvenile antisocial
behavior, and propose that children with genetically and/or perinatally based neurobiological deficits have
problems in activating these systems and therefore experience difficulties in regulating affect and behavior. They
also mentioned that childhood-onset antisocial behavior is an important predictor of chronic and serious forms of
antisocial behavior in later life
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that affects mood, which in turn can affect criminal behavior.
The part of the brain associated with or emotions is called the Amygdala. It is believed that damage to the
Amygdala can have an effect of criminal behavior. [3] This may be because the person concerned would have a
limited fear and conditioning response, thus fear of punishment would not deter them from committing a crime.
The Hippocampus is where we store our memories. Damage to this area could mean we do not remember
being punished for our crimes, and so would commit them again and again.
The Frontal Cortex, as the name suggests, is to the front of our brain and would also appear to be involved,
among other functions, with our self-control.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES
Psychological theories explain that criminal behavior is a result of individual differences in thinking
processes. There are different psychological theories, but they all believe that it is the person's thoughts and feelings
that dictate their actions. As such, problems in thinking can lead to criminal behavior (Boyd,2014).
PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY
This theory is centered on the notion that an individual’s early childhood experience influences his or her
likelihood for committing future crimes.
Psychodynamic theory suggests that criminal offenders are frustrated and aggravated. They are constantly
drawn to past events that occurred in their early childhood. Because of a negligent, unhappy, or miserable
childhood, which is most often characterized by a lack of love and/or nurturing, a criminal offender has a weak (or
absent) ego. Most important, research suggests that having a weak ego is linked with poor or absence of social
etiquette, immaturity, and dependence on others.
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory is centered on the belief that human behavior is influenced by an
unconscious mind. Freud believed that every human has a collection of unconscious thoughts and urges, many of
which are unpleasant, that influence behavior and experiences.
Sigmund Freud, explain criminal behavior as follows:

a. The actions and behavior of an adult are understood in terms of childhood development.
b. Behavior and unconscious motives are intertwined, and their interaction must be unraveled
if we are to understand criminality.
c. Criminality is essentially a representation of psychological conflict."
Three divisions of psyche: Id, Ego and

Superego
Superego – The part of personality that

represents the moral code of the person has
acquired. It develops based on the morals an
Id – The original system of the personality individual learns from parents and from society.
that is present at birth and is responsible for a It is responsible for feelings of guilt and shame
person's instincts. It consists of blind,
17
unreasoning, instinctual desires and motives. It and is what is called the “conscience.” It includes
represents the individual’s basic biological and a person's sense of right and wrong and guides
psychological drives. These include the libido, a people's judgments.
term Freud used to describe the full range of
sexual energy found in animals. It is fueled by the The superego incorporates the values and
“pleasure principle”- idea that every wishful morals of society which are learned from one's
impulse should be satisfied immediately, parents and others. It is similar to a conscience,
regardless of the consequences. which can punish the ego through causing
feelings of guilt.
Ego – The problem-solving dimension of

the personality. The ego is considered to be part
of both the conscious and unconscious minds. It
deals with reality differentiating it from fantasy.
The ego operates according to the reality

principle, working our realistic ways of satisfying
the id’s demands, often compromising or
postponing satisfaction to avoid negative
consequences of society. The ego considers
social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in
https://www.simplypsychology.org/pers
deciding how to behave.
onality-theories.html
BEHAVIORAL THEORY
Behavioral theory proposes that behavior reflects our interaction with others throughout lifetime. This theory
is based on the fundamental idea that behaviors that are reinforced will tend to continue, while behaviors that are
punished will eventually end.
The core concept to behavioral theory is conditioning, which refers to a form of learning that involves stimuli
and rewards. When a person’s actions are reinforced through conditioning, the behavior is learned. Environment is
also a major factor in the development of behaviors.
One of the leading behaviorists was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. He argued that behavior is a consequence
of the reinforcements and punishments it produces.
Skinner coined the term Operant Conditioning as a branch of Watsons Classical Conditioning and studied
it by conducting experiments using animals, namely rats, placing them in what he called the "Skinner Box."
Operant Conditioning consists of changing behavior by the use of reinforcements which are given after the
desired response is achieved.
There are three types of responses that can follow behavior:
• Neutral operant: Responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the prospect of a
behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.
Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
• Punishers: Response from the environment that decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.
Punishment weakens behavior.
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Examples:
Positive reinforcement is adding a pleasant stimulus to enhance behavior.

Positive Reinforcement Pleasant Stimulus Desired Behavior
Parents will give their child a Motorcycle The child will study hard
motorcycle, if the child pass
all his/her subjects
The parents praise their son Praise The son will practice and
for playing badminton play badminton
Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant stimulus to enhance behavior.

Negative Stimulus Unpleasant Stimulus Desired Behavior
Scolding or Nagging the son Scolding or nagging Help in house chores
for not helping in house
chores
Erin’s cellphone was Captured cellphone Study hard
captured for getting a low
grade in all her subjects
COGNITIVE THEORY
Cognitive is defined as an ability to process information.
Cognition has to do with one's ability to learn information quickly,

memorize, and understand information they receive. Therefore, cognitive
theories of crime fall under the psychological theories of criminal behavior.
Cognitive theories of crime explain criminal behavior as a defect in

moral thinking, thought processes, and mental development.
Cognitive theories also help us to understand how an individual's personality and intelligence level are
linked. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with the way people perceive and mentally represent the world in
which they live.
SUBDISCIPLINE OF COGNITIVE THEORY
Information Processing Approach
Some researcher focuses on how people process and store information, viewing the operation of human
intellect as similar to the way computers analyze available information, the emphasis is on information processing.
The information processing approach is based on a number of assumptions, including:
a. Information made available from the environment is processed by a series of processing systems (e.g.,
attention, perception, short-term memory);
b. These processing systems transform, or alter the information in systematic ways;
c. The aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie cognitive performance;
d. Information processing in humans resembles that in computers.
Scholars are concerned with the process of those three stages (i.e., acquisition, retention, and retrieval).
Moral Development Theory

One theory within the cognitive framework focuses on moral and intellectual development. Jean Piaget
(1896–1980) hypothesized that the individual reasoning process is developed in an orderly fashion. Thus, from birth
onward an individual will continue to develop. Another pioneer of cognitive theory is Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–
1987), who applied the concept of moral development to criminological theory. Kohlberg (1984) believed that
individuals pass through stages of moral development. Most important to his theory is the notion that there are
levels, stages, and social orientation.
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=quiz-7-j-e
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According to Kohlberg moral development proceeds along three levels.

• Preconventional level – children’s entire lives are governed by rules established by others, usually
children’s parents. At this level children are almost entirely self-interested and generally obey rules to avoid
punishment.
• Conventional level – children adopt and abide by the rules of others and will at times subordinate their
own interest to conform to others. At this level, there is increase appreciation of social norms and the
recognition of the social order.
• Postconventional level – people learn how to create their own rules in terms of the values and ethical
principle they have chosen to follow. At this stage, people also recognize their involvement in the tacit social
contract that bind people in a society.
Personality Trait Theories
This approach assumes behavior is determined by relatively

stable traits which are the fundamental units of one’s personality.
Traits predispose one to act in a certain way, regardless of the
situation. This means that traits should remain consistent across
situations and over time, but may vary between individuals. It is presumed
that individuals differ in their traits due to genetic differences.
These theories are sometimes referred to a psychometric theory,
because of their emphasis on measuring personality by using
psychometric tests. Trait scores are continuous (quantitative) variables.
A person is given numeric score to indicate how much of a trait the they
possess.
Eysenck’s Personality Theory

British psychologist Hans Eysenck proposed a theory of personality based on biological factors, arguing
that individuals inherit a type of nervous system that affects their ability to learn and adapt to the environment.
Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of Personality

1. Introversion/Extraversion: Introversion involves directing attention to inner experiences, while
extraversion relates to focusing attention outward on other people and the environment. A person high in
introversion might be quiet and reserved, while an individual high in extraversion might be sociable and outgoing.
2. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability: This dimension of Eysenck’s trait theory is related to moodiness
versus even-temperateness. Neuroticism refers to an individual’s tendency to become upset or emotional, while
stability refers to the tendency to remain emotionally constant.
The Four Temperaments
The four temperaments were
conceptualized many years ago in one of the
oldest known systems of personality types.
People were categorized by their mood.
1. The Melancholic is best known as the
brooding, thoughtful, sensitive and
contemplative type.
2. The Choleric is finally most associated with
strength, aggression, passion and productivity.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-
3. The Phlegmatic is best understood as the
theories.html slow-moving, careful, methodical, self-bettering
type.
4. The Sanguine as the cheerful, positive,
mindful type.
3. Psychoticism: Later, after studying individuals suffering from mental illness, Eysenck added a personality
dimension he called psychoticism to his trait theory. Individuals who are high on this trait tend to have difficulty
dealing with reality and may be antisocial, hostile, non-empathetic, and manipulative.
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Allport’s Trait Theory
Gordon Allport worked through two of the most comprehensive English language dictionaries available.
From these dictionaries, the researchers extracted around 18,000 personality-describing words, which they then
reduced to approximately 4,500 personality-describing adjectives. These adjectives were then described as
observable and relatively permanent personality traits.
Allport then divided these traits into a three-level hierarchy. These were:
1. The Cardinal Trait
Cardinal traits were the most dominant, but also the rarest. Such traits are so intrinsically tied to an
individual's personality that the person becomes almost synonymous with those qualities.
Cardinal traits often develop later in life and serve to shape almost all aspects of an individual's purpose,
behavior, and attitudes. Historical figures are often thought of in terms of their cardinal traits.
Examples:
- Mother Teresa is strongly associated with goodness and charity. Today, her name is virtually
synonymous with those traits.
- Adolph Hitler is associated with evil, and his name evokes the embodiment of ruthlessness and
depravity.
- Einstein is known for being genius, and today his name is often used as a synonym for brilliance.
- Machiavelli (ruthlessness)
- Christ-like (good, faithful, holy)
- Ebenezer Scrooge (greedy)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (justice and equality)
- Abraham Lincoln (honesty)
- Sigmund Freud (psychoanalytical)
2. The Central Traits
Allport believed that central traits are much more common and serve as the basic building blocks of most
people’s personality. If you think of the major terms you might use to describe your overall character; then those
are probably your central traits. You might describe yourself as smart, kind, and outgoing. Those are your central
traits.
Allport believed that most people have about five to ten central traits and that most people contain many of
these traits to a certain degree.
Examples:
Smart, kind, honesty, friendliness, generosity, anxiety, and diligence.
3. The Secondary Traits
The secondary traits were the third category of traits that Allport described. Such personality traits that tend
to present themselves in certain situations.
Examples:
An individual who might normally be a pretty easy-going person, can become short-tempered when he
was placed under a lot of pressure. Such traits often reveal themselves only in certain situations.
A normally cool, collected person, might become very anxious when faced with speaking in public.
Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Traits Theory
Raymond Cattell (1965) disagreed with Eysenck’s view that personality can be understood by looking at only
two or three dimensions of behavior. Instead, he argued that it was necessary to look at a much larger number of
traits in order to get a complete picture of someone’s personality.
Cattell took a statistical, measurable approach to studying personality rather than utilizing observational and
qualitative data. He wanted to apply factor analysis to personality. To do this, he categorized data into three parts
to achieve a large, comprehensive method of sampling. The three data types were:
• Life Data (L-data): Information about an individual's everyday behaviors and their behavioral patterns. This
included things such as the grades they received in school, their marital status, social interactions, and
more.
• Experimental Data (T-data): Recorded reactions to standardized experiments in a lab setting, designed to
test study participant's response to certain situations.
• Questionnaire Data (Q-data): Responses to questions about the participant's behavior and feelings. This
data was introspection based and provided a deeper look at the person's personality that is not always
clear through behavioral data.
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Cattell regarded source traits are more important in describing personality than surface traits.
Big 5 Personality Traits
Trait theories of personality have long attempted to pin down exactly how many personality traits exist.
Earlier theories have suggested a various number of possible traits, including Gordon Allport's list of
4,000 personality traits, Raymond Cattell's 16 personality factors, and Hans Eysenck's three-factor theory.
However, many researchers felt that Cattell's theory was too complicated, and Eysenck's was too limited
in scope. As a result, the five-factor theory emerged to describe the essential traits that serve as the building blocks
of personality.
Openness
This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight. People who are high in this trait also
tend to have a broad range of interests. They are curious about the world and other people and eager to learn new
things and enjoy new experiences.
People who are high in this trait tend to be more adventurous and creative. People low in this trait are often
much more traditional and may with abstract thinking. struggle
Conscientiousness
Standard features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-
directed behaviors. Highly conscientious people tend to be organized and mindful of details. They plan ahead, think
about how their behavior affects others, and are mindful of deadlines.
Extraversion
Extraversion (or extroversion) is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and
high amounts of emotional expressiveness. People who are high in extraversion are outgoing and tend to gain
energy in social situations. Being around other people helps them feel energized and excited.
People who are low in extraversion (or introverted) tend to be more reserved and have less energy to
expend in social settings. Social events can feel draining and introverts often require a period of solitude and quiet
in order to "recharge."
Agreeableness
This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and
other prosocial behaviors. People who are high in agreeableness tend to be more cooperative while those low in
this trait tend to be more competitive and sometimes even manipulative.
Neuroticism
Neuroticism is a trait characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability.
Individuals who are high in this trait tend to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and sadness. Those low
in this trait tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient.
Humanistic Theory
This theory assumes that human beings are basically good even though they are sometimes influenced by
society to act badly.
Abraham Maslow believed that human being is motivated by hierarchy of need in which individual’s basic
needs must be satisfied, failure to satisfy these basic needs will lead to the person’s engagement in abnormal
behaviors (commission of crime) in order to gratify the basic needs. On the other hand, in order for the individual to
achieve its full potential which is self – actualization the other needs must be satisfied. The five (5) types of needs
is shown on the figure below.
22
1. Physiological Needs
It is a need at the bottom of the hierarchy compiled by Maslow. This need is the most basic need for
human beings. Because it is the basic needs humans will make various efforts to meet the basic needs. If
basic need was met, they try to get the next need.
2. Safety (Security) Needs

This need is related to feelings of freedom from fear or in other words this is a need to gain security,
protection, stability, and order. To fulfill this need, human beings make the rule of law and the law as a
container to get self-protection.
3. Social Needs
After humans reach the basic needs and safety needs in life, then humans will reach the needs in social
life. An example of this need is that human tends to want to be loved and accepted in society life.
4. Self Esteem Needs

After humans reach social needs, then humans will move to meet the needs of self-esteem. In this case,
people will usually compete with others to gain status in society either as a ruler or a winner so that they
will feel appreciated with that status.
5. Self-Actualization Needs
In Maslow's hierarchy the need for self-actualization is a necessity at the highest level of human need. To
meet this need, human beings tend to strive to increase the potential and ability that exist within them
optimally.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Sociological theories emphasize the relationship of criminal behavior to social structure or the organization
of the society. These theories also described or explain crime in terms of the social environment, including the
family, school, peer group, workplace, community, and society. These theories, however, differ from one another in
several ways: they focus on somewhat different features of the social environment, they offer different accounts of
why the social environment causes crime, and some focus on explaining individual differences in crime while others
attempt to explain group differences in crime.
Social Process Theories
Social process theory views criminality as a function of people's interactions with various organizations,
institutions, and processes in society; people in all walks of life have the potential to become criminals if they
maintain destructive social relationships.
1. Differential Association Theory
Differential association theory proposes that people learn values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for
criminal behavior through their interactions with others.
It is a learning theory of deviance that was initially proposed by sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 and
revised in 1947.
This theory asserts that criminal behavior is learned primarily within interpersonal groups and that youths
will become delinquent if definitions they have learned favorable to violating the law exceed definitions favorable to
obeying the law within the group.
Nine Propositions of Differential Association Theory
Sutherland’s theory doesn’t account for why an individual becomes a criminal but how it happens.
1. All criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned through interactions with others via a process of communication.
3. Most learning about criminal behavior happens in intimate personal groups and relationships.
4. The process of learning criminal behavior may include learning about techniques to carry out the behavior
as well as the motives and rationalizations that would justify criminal activity and the attitudes necessary to
orient an individual towards such activity.
5. The direction of motives and drives towards criminal behavior is learned through the interpretation of legal
codes in one’s geographical area as favorable or unfavorable.
6. When the number of favorable interpretations that support violating the law outweigh the unfavorable
interpretations that don’t, an individual will choose to become a criminal.
7. All differential associations aren’t equal. They can vary in frequency, intensity, priority, and duration.
8. The process of learning criminal behaviors through interactions with others relies on the same mechanisms
that are used in learning about any other behavior.
9. Criminal behavior could be an expression of generalized needs and values, but they don’t explain the
behavior because non-criminal behavior expresses the same needs and values.
23
2. Social Learning Theory
Ioannoulga.blog
This theory view that behavior is modeled through observation, either directly through intimate contact
with others, or indirectly through intimate contact with others, or indirectly through media; interactions that are
rewarded are copied, where as those that are punished are avoided.
Social learning suggests that children who grow up in a home where violence is a way of life may learn to believe
that such behavior is acceptable and rewarding. Even if parents tell children not to be violent and punish them if
they are, the children will still model their behavior on the observed parental violence.
Posits that delinquency is learn through close relationships with others; it asserts that children are born”
good” and learn to be “bad” from others.
Learning theories hold hat children living in even the most deteriorated areas can resist inducements to crime if
they have learned proper values and behavior. Delinquency, by contrast, develops by learning the values and
behavior associated by criminal activity.
Learning Deviant Values

L
Norms and values are E Significant others, such
transferred to youths A as parents, peers, hold
through learning R values that condone
experiences. N criminal and delinquent
behavior.
I
N
G
Delinquent Behavior Exposure
Youths learns the T Youths are exposed to
attitudes, techniques, H deviant norms and values
values and perceptions E while in intimate
needed to sustain contact with significant
O
delinquent behavior. others.
R
Y
According to social learning theory, people engage in crime because of their association with others who
engage in crime. Their criminal behavior is reinforced and they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime. They
essentially have criminal models that they associate with. As a consequence, these individuals come to view crime
as something that is desirable, or at least justifiable in certain situations. Learning criminal or deviant behavior is
the same as learning to engage in conforming behavior: it is done through association with or exposure to others.
In fact, association with delinquent friends is the best predictor of delinquent behavior other than prior delinquency.
Three mechanisms by which individuals learn to engage in crime according to social learning theory.
1. Differential Reinforcement of Crime
Differential reinforcement of crime means that individuals can teach others to engage in crime by reinforcing
and punishing certain behaviors. Crime is more likely to occur when it 1. Is frequently reinforced and infrequently
punished; 2. Results in large amounts of reinforcement (such as money, social approval, or pleasure) and little
punishment; and 3. Is more likely to be reinforced than alternative behaviors. Studies show that individuals who are
reinforced for their crime are more likely to engage in subsequent crime, especially when they are in situations
similar to those that were previously reinforced.
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2. Beliefs Favorable to Crime
On top of reinforcing criminal behavior, other individuals can also teach a person belief that are favorable
to crime. Surveys and interviews with criminals suggest that beliefs favoring crime fall into three categories. First
is the approval of certain minor forms of crime, such as gambling, “soft” drug use, and for adolescents, alcohol
use and curfew violation. Second is the approval of or justification of certain forms of crime, including some
serious crimes. These people believe that crime is generally wrong, but that some criminal acts are justifiable or
even desirable in certain situations. For example, many people will say that fighting is wrong, however, that it is
justified if the individual has been insulted or provoked. Third, some people hold certain general values that are
more conducive to crime and make crime appear as a more attractive alternative to other behaviors. For example,
individuals who have a large desire for excitement or thrills, those who have a disdain for hard work and a desire
for quick and easy success, or those who wish to be seen as “tough” or “macho” might view crime in a more
favorable light than others.
3. Imitation of Criminal Models
Behavior is not only a product of beliefs and reinforcements or punishments that individuals receive. It is
also a product of the behavior of those around us. Individuals often model or imitate the behavior of others,
especially if it is someone that individual looks up to or admires. For example, an individual who witnesses someone
they respect committing a crime, who is then reinforced for that crime, is then more likely to commit a crime
themselves.
3. Social Control Theory
Why do people obey the law? Control theory is one point of view that attempts to answer this question.
The theory starts with the premise that people are essentially interested in satisfying their needs and desires and
do not want to experience negative consequences. They particularly do not want to have others look poorly on
them and risk losing support and approval from those in their life. Control theory identifies these bonds we have
with others as a main reason most people do not violate laws.
Control theory has also been used to explain why most people do not engage in other deviant behavior.
Deviant behavior is acting in a way that does not fit in with the norms of society. Deviance may or may not also be
criminal behavior, actions that violate the law. For instance, dancing on the sidewalk by myself may not violate any
laws, but the behavior could be considered deviant, depending on the circumstances.
A. Social Bond Theory or Social Control Theory (Travis Hirschi)
This perspective states that members in society form bonds with other members in society or institution in
society such as parents, pro-social friends, churches, schools, teachers, and sports teams. The social bonds are
the ties that bind people to society, including relationships with friends, family, neighbors, teachers and employers
and affection that develop between children and key people in their lives; commitment to social norms of behavior
and to succeed in regards to such values as getting good education, a good job and being successful; involvement
in activities; and finally, that most persons are brought up to believe in and respect the law.
According to Hirschi, there are four elements that prevent deviance. If all these elements are present and
equal, deviance will be prevented.
INVOLVEMENT: Involvement decreases boredom and feelings of detachment.
COMMITMENT: Commitment to a social group or organization fosters a sense of social responsibility as well as
duty and honor.
BELIEF: People with strong religious beliefs and affiliations have a stronger sense that their life holds unique
purpose.
ATTACHMENT: The formation of attachments with other human beings can stand in the way of deviant behavior.
A securely attached individual is more likely to understand the concept of respect.
25
Conforming Behavior
ATTACHMENT COMMITMENT BELIEF INVOLVEMENT
Family Future Honesty School Activities

Friends Career Morality Sports Teams
Community Success Fairness Community
Personal Goals Patriotism Organizations
Responsibility Religious
Groups
Criminal Behavior
According to Hirschi’s version of social control theory, having a strong bond to society helps neutralize the
lure of delinquency.
B. Containment Theory (Walter C. Reckless)
This theory stresses that we live in the society that provides variety of opportunities for conformity or
nonconformity and that there are inner and outer forces of containment that restrain a person from committing a
crime: the inner forces stem from moral and religious beliefs as well as from a personal sense of right and wrong;
the outer forces come from family members, teachers, or others who influence the individual to some degree.
The effectiveness of containment forces can be influenced by external factors such as effective supervision
and internal factors such as a good self-concept. Reckless work also focused on “push-pull” forces as explanations
of deviant behavior, including “internal” pushes such as discontent and rebellion and “external” pulls such as
delinquent acquaintances.
The inner control system consists of moral and religious beliefs, personal sense of "right" and "wrong",
integrity, a strong self-concept (consciousness)
The outer control system consists of figures of influence (family, teachers, etc.), authorities (like police
authorities).
PUSH and PULL Factors
C. Self-control Theory
Self-control theory argues that it is the absence of self-control rather than the presence of some force or
factor such as poverty, anomie, opportunities for deviance, delinquent peers, exposure to definitions favorable to
deviance, etc. that leads to deviance.
Self-control theory rejects the notions that deviance is learned, that deviance may be economically
motivated, or that deviance can result from effort to achieve social status.
In short, self-control theory suggests that deviance simply results from the individual’s inability to effectively
control his/her impulses.
26
4. Societal Reaction Theory or Labelling Theory
Labeling theory states that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them.
This theory is most commonly associated with the sociology of crime since labeling someone unlawfully deviant
can lead to poor conduct. Describing someone as a criminal, for example, can cause others to treat the person
more negatively, and, in turn, the individual acts out.
This theory views that youths may violate the law for a variety of reasons, including poor family relations,
peer pressure, psychological abnormality, and pro-delinquent learning experiences. Regardless of the cause of
individuals’ delinquent behaviors are detected, the offenders will be given a negative label that can follow them
throughout life. These labels include “troublemaker”, “juvenile delinquent”, “mentally ill”, “junkie” and more.
5. Neutralization Theory or Drift Theory
Neutralization Theory, or Drift Theory as it is often called, proposed that juveniles sense a moral obligation
to be bound by the law. Such a bind between a person and the law remains in place most of the time, they argue.
When it is not in place, delinquents will drift.
David Matza and Gresham Skykes suggest that delinquency hold values similar to those of law-abiding
citizen but they learn techniques that enable them to neutralize those values and drift back and forth between
legitimate and delinquent behavior. Drift is a process by which an individual moves from one behavioral extreme
to another, behaving sometimes in an unconventional manner and at other times with constraint.
Sykes and Matza suggest that juveniles develop a distinct set of justifications for their behavior when it
violates accepted social rules and norms. These neutralization techniques allow youths to drift away from the rules
of the normative society and participate in delinquent behaviors. While most adolescents accept the rules of society,
they learned these techniques to release themselves temporarily from moral constraints.
5 Techniques of Neutralization
1. Denial of Responsibility – Delinquent will propose that he/she is a victim of circumstance and that
he/she is pushed or pulled into situations beyond his/her control. (“It wasn’t my fault!”).
2. Denial of injury – Delinquent supposes that his/her acts really do not cause any harm, or that the victim
can afford the loss or damage. (“Why is everyone making a big deal about it; they have money!”).
3. Denial of victim – Delinquent views the act as not being wrong, that the victim deserves the injury, or
that there is no real victim. (“They had it coming to them!”)
4. Condemnation of the condemners – Condemners are seen as hypocrites, or are reacting out of
personal spite, thus they shift the blame to others, being able to repress the feeling that their acts are
wrong. (“They probably did worse things in their day!”)
5. Appeal to higher loyalties – The rules of the society often take a back seat to the demands and loyalty
to important others. (“My friends depended on me, what was I going to do?!”)
Sykes and Matza’s theoretical model is based on the following four observations.
• Delinquents express guilt over their illegal acts.
• Delinquents frequently respect and admire honest, law – abiding individuals.
• A line is drawn between those they can victimize and those they cannot.
• Delinquents are not immune to the demands of conformity.
Social Structure Theories
Social structure theories assert that the disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of
crime. The theories state that neighborhoods which are “lower class” create forces of strain, frustration and
disorganization that create crime.
1. Social Disorganization Theory
This theory was recognized early in twentieth century by sociologist Clifford Shaw and Henry Mckay.
According to social disorganization theory, disorganized areas cannot exert social control over acting-out
youth; these areas can be identified by their relatively high level of change, fear, instability, incivility, poverty and
deterioration, and these factors have a direct influence on the area’s delinquency rate. It is not, then, some
individual property or trait that is the cause of delinquency, but the quality an ambiance of the community in which
adolescents are forced to reside. In the areas where there is no sense of collective efficacy, delinquency rates
will be controlled no matter what the immediate economic situation.
27
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2. Anomie Theory
Advocated by Emile Durkheim, anomie is normlessness produced by rapidly shifting moral values, this
occurs when personal goals cannot be achieve using available means.
Anomie refers to a breakdown of social norms and it is a condition where norms no longer control the
activities of members in society. Individuals cannot find their place in society without clear rules to help guide them.
Changing conditions as well as adjustments in life leads to dissatisfaction, conflict, and deviance.
3. Strain Theory
This contend that certain classes are denied legitimate access to culturally determined goals and
opportunities and the resulting frustration, results in illegitimate activities or rejection of the society’s goal.
According to sociologist Robert Merton, although most people share common values and goals, the
means for legitimate economic and social success are stratified by socio economic class. Consequently, these
youths may either use deviant methods to achieve their goals or reject socially accepted goals or substitute
deviant ones.
* Sources of Strain according to Robert Agnew
Strain caused by the failure to achieve positively valued goals: This of strain, similar to what Merton
speaks of his theory anomie, is a result of the disjunction between aspirations and expectations. This type of
strain occurs when a youth aspires to wealth and fame but, lacking financial and educational resources, assumes
that such goals are impossible to achieve.
Strain caused by the disjunction of expectations and achievements: Strain can also be produced
when there is a disjunction between achievement and expectation. When people compare themselves to peers
who seem to be doing a lot better financially or socially (such as making more money or getting better grades),
even those doing relatively well feel strain. For example, when a high school senior is accepted at a good
college, but not a “prestige school” like some of her friends, she will feel strain. Perhaps she is not being treated
fairly because the “playing field” is tilted against her: “Other kids have connections.” She may say.
Strain as the removal of positively valued stimuli from the individual: Strain may occur because of
the actual or anticipated removal or loss of positively valued stimuli from the individual. For example, the loss of a
girl – or boyfriend can produce strain, as can the dealt of a loved one, moving to a new neighborhood or school,
and the divorce or separation of parents. The loss of positive stimuli may lead to delinquency as the adolescent
tries to prevent the loss, retrieve what has been lost, obtain substitutes, or seek revenge against those
responsible for the loss.
Strain as the presentation of negative stimuli: Strain may also be caused by the presence of negative
or noxious stimuli. Included within this category are such pain-inducing social interactions as child abuse and
neglect, crime victimization, physical punishment, family and peer conflict, school failure, and interaction with
stressful life. Children who are abused at home may take their rage out on younger children at school or become
involved in violent delinquency.
4. Differential Opportunity Theory
Delinquent subcultures, according to Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, flourish in the lower-classes and
take particular forms so that the means for illegitimate success are no more equally distributed than the means for
legitimate success.
28
They argue that the types of criminal subcultures depend on the area in which they develop. Ohlin and
Cloward stated that the varying form of delinquent subcultures depended upon the degree of integration that was
present in the community.
Three types of delinquent gangs by Cloward and Ohlin:
1. The Criminal Gang. Emerge in areas where conventional as well as non-conventional values of
behavior are integrated by a close connection of illegitimate and legitimate businesses. This type of gang is stable
than the ones to follow. Older criminals serve as role models and they teach necessary criminal skills to the
youngsters.
2. The conflict/violent gang. Non-stable and non-integrated, where there is an absence of criminal
organization resulting in instability. This gang aims to find reputation for toughness and destructive violence.
3. The Retreatist Gang. Is equally unsuccessful in legitimate as well as illegitimate means. They
are known as double failures, thus retreating into a world of sex, drugs, and alcohol.
4. Class Conflict Theory
According to Richard Quinney and William Chambliss, conflict theory is based upon the view that the
fundamental causes of crime are the social and economic forces operating within the society. The criminal justice
system and criminal law are thought to be operating in behalf of rich and the powerful social elites, with resulting
policies aimed at controlling the poor. The criminal justice establishment aims at imposing standards of morality
and good behavior created by the powerful on the whole of society. Focus is on separating the powerful from
have nots who would steal from others and protecting themselves from physical attacks. In the process the legal
rights of poor folks might be ignored. The middle class are also co-opted; they side with the elites rather than the
poor, thinking they might themselves rise to the top by supporting the status quo.
THEORIES OF VICTIMIZATION
1. Victim Precipitation Theory
Victim precipitation is a criminology theory that analyzes how a victim's interaction with an offender may
contribute to the crime being committed. The theory is most associated with crimes like homicide, rape, assault,
and robbery.
The phrase 'victim precipitation' was first introduced by 20th century criminologist Marvin Wolfgang, in his
article entitled Victim Precipitated Criminal Homicide. In this theory, Wolfgang describes the victim as the first in
the homicide drama to use physical force against his subsequent slayer.
Like all criminology theories, victim precipitation relates to how and why crime happens. While most
theories focus on the acts and intentions of the offender, victim precipitation seeks to understand the interaction
between the victim and the offender.
This theory claims that, the victim initiates confrontations that eventually lead to his/her own victimization.
This is the most seen scenario in case of homicides, sexual assault, and other violent crimes.
Under this theory, the victim is viewed an active participant in the crime. This happens in two ways
1. The victim is the participant in the crime who acts first; Research of Wolfgang’s has given rise to the
phenomenon of victim blaming.
Victim blaming is when the victim of a crime is held responsible, in whole or in part, for their own
victimization.
2. The victim encourages or provokes the offender to commit the crime. These are the primary
components of the victim precipitation theory. Another reason victims are blamed is through
attribution error.
Attribution error occurs when individuals over-emphasize personal characteristics and devalue
environmental characteristics when judging others, resulting in victim blaming.
Example:
Cain and Abel are having a drink at a bar. Abel owes Cain money, and as the night progresses, Cain
becomes increasingly agitated with Abel's failure to pay his debt. Finally, Cain snaps-- he shouts at Abel from
across the bar, and then charges at him, brandishing a pistol. He fires a shot toward Abel, barely missing his
head. Abel pulls a knife and stabs Cain to death as the two wrestles on the floor.
Under the victim precipitation theory, Cain's participation in his own death can be analyzed by applying
the theory's two components. First, Cain was the initial aggressor- he started the verbal altercation, and he started
the physical altercation when he fired his pistol at Abel. Second, Cain clearly provoked Abel-- he ran towards him
aggressively, intending to kill or seriously injure him.
29
Victim precipitation theory also relates to interactions that make a victim susceptible to crime. This
application of the theory is known as victim facilitation, and it concerns situations where a victim's negligence or
carelessness makes them more vulnerable to criminal conduct.
Example:
Imagine that college freshman Dolly Driver is late to class. She parks her car in an alley several blocks
from campus. She's never parked there before, and she knows the alley is adjacent to a high-crime area. In her
frenzy to get to class on time, Dolly leaves her car unlocked. An hour later, Carl Carjacker finds the unlocked car
unlocked in the alley. He quickly and easily jumpstarts Dolly's car and drives away.
2. Deviant Place Theory
This theory is known as ecology theory, it examines characteristics of the people and the population as
well as the lack of informal social controls, including neighbors not looking out for each other. The lack of formal
controls is limited to no law enforcement presence in the neighborhood.
The social disorganization of a victim's neighborhood environment can increase the chances of being a
target for an offender. Social disorganization involves high crime areas, lack of parental control, high population
in a small geographic area, poverty, or drug sale. This type of deviant place and the location of the victim to the
area increases the likelihood of victimization.
3. Lifestyle Activities Theory/ Lifestyle Theory
This theory identifies a person that, because of bad judgment, places themselves in vulnerable situations,
doesn't secure their property, or other routine activities that increase the risk of victimization. These routine
activities include professional and personal lifestyle activities.
Lifestyle theory shows victims’ exposure to their own lifestyle choices. This exposure can lead them to the
criminal attacker and situations with their own choices. Examples of such actions are as follows: going out at night
alone, living in a bad part of town, associate with known felons, promiscuous, excessive alcohol use, doing drugs,
going down a dark alley, etc. Crimes taken place are not random, but a part of the lifestyle choices the victim has
portrayed. This impulsive behavior or low self-control comes at a high risk for victimization. (2006) This style of life
offers more opportunities for the crime to occur.
Patterns and repetition of the average normal life can also lead to victimization. (Schmalleger, 2015) People
are creatures of habit. An attacker can easily access an individual’s weakness through the repetitious daily activities
and the frequency of the transaction. The frequency, type of activity, the location, and the specific times can open an
individual to the high risk of victimization. The next theory introduces itself because of a specific location.
4. Routine Activities Theory
The routine activity theory was developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson.
This theory viewed that crime is a normal function of the routine activities of modern living; offenses can
be expected if there is a motivated offender and suitable target that is not protected by capable guardians.
The routine activities approach gives equal weight to the role of both the victim and the offender in the
crime process. Criminal opportunity is significantly influenced by the victim’s lifestyle and behavior. The greater
the opportunity for criminals and victims to interact, the greater the probability of crime; reduce interaction the
opportunity for crime to decline.
Factors affecting Routine Activities Theory

a. Lack of capable guardian
b. Suitable Target
c. Motivated Offenders
Prepared by: Reviewed by:
ROSE MARIE C. DETRAN, MSCrim JEFFSON G. NAUNGAYAN, MSCrim

Instructor Program Chairperson, BSCrim
30

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NORTH LUZON PHILIPPINES STATE COLLEGE

San Nicolas, Candon City, Ilocos Sur

ROSE MARIE CURUGAN DETRAN

FOR NLPSC USE ONLY

After the completion of the modules, you should be able to:

1. critique the different criminological theories,

SOCIAL NORMS, HUMAN MIND AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Types of Norms (Crossman, 2019)

Violations of a society’s mores evoke a more serious response from others.

Why do we need to study ethics?

Human Mind and Human Behavior

This approach believes that:

This approach believes that:

A biological perspective is relevant to the study of psychology in three ways:

c. Investigation of inheritance: what an animal inherits from its parents, mechanisms of

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

Background of the Criminological Theory

Classification of theories according to their level of analysis.

MACRO LEVEL THEORY

MICRO LEVEL THEORY

Criteria for Evaluating Theory/ Characteristics of Good Theory

CRITERIA DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

3. Logical Is the extent to which a theory makes The demonological theory

Can the theory be Is the theory Evaluate the theory:

Stop here! Stop here!

Vito, G.F. & Maahs, J.R. (2015)

FOUNDATION OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

NEO – CLASSICAL THEORY

Biological Theories can be classified into three (3) types.

▪ They behave like

One behaves differently because they are different structurally.

PHYSICAL TRAIT THEORY

Classification of Criminals by Lombroso

1. Born Criminals (Atavism) – these are those who

2. Insane Criminals – these are those epileptic or

1. Murderers – those who are satisfied with vengeance/revenge.

The term physiognomy comes from

Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615)

Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801)

A German neuroanatomist and physiologist who pioneered

According to Gall, a person’s strengths, weaknesses, morals,

Johann Spurzheim (1776–1832)

SOMATOTYPING THEORY OR BODY TYPE

He was credited for

Sheldon ‘s Somatotyping theory

Classification of body Physique by Sheldon

TYPOLOGIES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Carl G. Jung’s Classification:

Ernest Kretschmer’s Classification:

COMPARISON OF BODY TYPES

Several numbers of environmental exposures are documented resulting to a pattern of

he anti‐social behavior resulting from

EVOLUTIONARY NEUROANDROGENIC THEORY

The Jukes, Kallikak and Edwards Family: A Look on Their Stories

The Jukes Family

The Edwards Family

The Kalikak Family

Sigmund Freud, explain criminal behavior as follows:

Three divisions of psyche: Id, Ego and

Superego – The part of personality that

Ego – The problem-solving dimension of

The ego operates according to the reality

There are three types of responses that can follow behavior: