THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

a. Recall and explain the fundamentals of crime causation with emphasis on biological or medical,
psychological, psychiatric, and sociological determinism
b. Enumerate and distinguish biological and psychological theories of crime causation.
c. Apply and illustrate sociological and economic theories in understanding the causes of crimes.
d. Explain and correlate bio-psychosocial theories of the causes of crimes.
e. Understanding theories on female offenders.

Perspectives of Crime Causation

In the field of criminology, it is an undeniable fact that there are multiple factors which lead the individual to
commit crime. Understanding these factors is also the same when we speak of the perspective of crime causation. This
lesson will only discuss the classical, biological, process, conflict, biosocial, and psychological perspectives.

1. Classical Perspective
● viewed crime as a product of situational forces
● that crime is a function of freewill and personal choice.
● The three principles of punishment that became the trademark of Beccaria's classical deterrence doctrine
include:
○ Swift - punishment must be swift to be effective.
○ Certain - people must know they will be punished for their illegal behavior –that they cannot
evade the strong arms of the law. That no one may take as substitute for the punishment of the
one who violated the law.
○ Severe - must be severe enough to outweigh the rewards of the illegal action - severity and
proportionality are sometimes at odds especially since each person is different in terms of what
constitutes a "severe" punishment. It also stressed out that crime problems could be traced not to
bad people but to bad laws (Adler et. al, 2012).

Biological Perspective
● The focus of the study is mainly on the individual person itself. It may answer the question of why a person
becomes a criminal.
● regarded crime as the product of internal forces.
○ For example: A person who is suffering from kleptomania.

3. Process Perspective
This perspective claims that crime is a product of socialization or interaction of one person to another. That crime
is a function of upbringing, learning and control. Parents, teachers, environment, mass media and peer groups may
influence behavior. This concerns how a person becomes a criminal.

4. Conflict Perspective
Conflict perspective stressed the causes of crime based on economic and political forces. Crime is a function of
competition for limited resources and power. Law is a tool of the ruling class in order to control the lower class. It is
designed to protect the wealthy people. Crime is a politically defined concept.

5. Biosocial Perspective
Biosocial perspective seeks to explain the onset of antisocial behavior such as aggression and violence by
focusing on the physical qualities of the offenders. It concentrated mainly on the three areas of focus: biochemical (diet,
genetic, hormones, and environmental contaminants), neurological (brain damage), and genetic (inheritance)
(Siegel, 2007).

6. Psychological Perspective
Psychological perspective expressed that criminal behavior was the product of “unconscious” forces operating
within a person’s mind. That conflicts occur at various psychosexual stages of development might impact an individual’s
ability to operate normally as an adult. That if the aggressive impulse is not controlled, or is repressed to an unusual
degree, some aggression can “leak out” of the unconscious and a person can engage in random acts of violence (Bartol,
2002).

BIOSOCIAL THEORY
1. Biochemical Factors
Stresses about the relationship between antisocial behavior and biochemical makeup and that body chemistry
can govern behavior and personality, including levels of aggression and depression. For example, exposure to
lead in the environment and subsequent lead ingestion has been linked to antisocial behaviors (Siegel et. al,
2007).
a. Hormonal Levels
i. Another area of biochemical research emphasizes that antisocial behavior allegedly peaks in the
teenage years because hormonal activity is at its highest level during this period.
ii. Research also suggests that increased levels of the male androgen testosterone are
responsible for excessive levels of violence among teenage boys.

2. Neurological Dysfunction
Another concentration of biosocial theory is neurological, or brain and nervous system, structure of offenders.
a. Minimal Brain Dysfunction
i. It is defined as the damage to the brain itself that causes antisocial behavior injurious to the
individual’s lifestyle and social adjustment. Children who manifest behavior disturbances may
have identifiable neurological deficits, such as damage to the hemispheres of the brain.

3. Genetic Influences
a. Parent-Child Similarities
i. Donald J. West and David P. Farrington
ii. A number of studies found out that parental criminality and deviance do, in fact, powerfully
influence delinquent behavior. made a study and they found out that a significant number of
delinquent youths have criminal fathers.
 b. Sibling and Twin Similarities
i. Biosocial theorists have compared the behavior of twins and non-twin siblings and found out that
the twins, who share more genetic material, are also more similar in their behavior.

c. Adoption Studies
i. Sarnoff Mednick and Bernard Hutchings were forced to conclude based on their study that
genetics played at least some role in creating delinquent tendencies. Adoptees share many of the
behavioral and intellectual characteristics of their biological parents despite the social and
environmental conditions found in their adoptive homes (Siegel et. al, 2007).

EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Evolutionary theory
● explains the existence of aggression and violent behavior as positive adaptive behaviors in human evolution;
these traits allowed their bearers to reproduce disproportionately, which have had an effect on the human gene
pool (Siegel et al, 2007).
○ For example, if the child witnessed that his father beats her mother by the time his father is under the
influence of alcohol; then the child will assume that it is good to beat somebody and when the time comes
the child becomes a husband the same situation will be applied to his wife.

Cheater theory
● suggests that a subpopulation of men has evolved with genes that incline them toward extremely low parental
involvement
● men are sexually aggressive who use their cunning to gain sexual conquests with as many females as possible.
Because females would not choose them as mates
● use stealth to gain sexual access -cheating- including such tactics as mimicking the behavior of more stable
males.
● Psychologist Byron Roth notes that these cheater-type males may be especially attractive to younger, less
intelligent women who begin having children at a very early age. It explains male aggressiveness (Siegel et al,
2007).

R/K Selection theory

● all organisms can be located along a continuum based upon their reproductive drives. Those along the “R” end
reproduce rapidly whenever they can and invest little in their offspring;
● Those along the “K” end reproduce slowly and cautiously and take care in raising their offspring.
● K-oriented people are more cooperative and sensitive to others
● R-oriented people are more cunning and deceptive. People who commit crimes seem to exhibit R-selection
traits, such frequent sexual activity (Siegel, 2004).

JUKES FAMILY

Advocates of the inheritance school, such as Henry Goddard, Richard Dugdale, and Arthur Estabrook, traced
several generations of crime-prone families (referred to by pseudonyms such as the “Jukes” and the “Kallikaks”), finding
evidence that criminal tendencies were based on genetics. Their conclusion: traits deemed socially inferior could be
passed down from generation to generation through inheritance (Siegel, 2011).

According to Richard Louis Dugdale in his book, “The Jukes": A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease and
Heredity, Also Further Studies of Criminals, stated the origin of the stock of the “Jukes”, there was a hunter, a fisher, a
hard drinker, and a jolly-man named Max who was also a descendant of the Dutchess settler. Two of Max’s sons married
two out of six sisters (Jukes). The whereabouts of the sixth sister is nowhere to be found. Of the five that are known, three
had illegitimate children before marriage. One is called “Ada Juke” but publicly known by many as “Margaret, the mother
of criminals”. Ada Juke had one bastard son, who is the progenitor of the distinctively criminal line; 52.40% or 84 of the
descendants of Ada are into harlotry (prostitution). Dugdale as cited in Adler (2010) found out among the thousands of
descendants that there were 280 paupers, 60 thieves, 7 murderers, 40 other criminals and 40% sons who have
venereal disease. With that, Dugdale (1841-1883) made some tentative inductions based on his study of the Jukes family
line when it comes to committing crime:
1. The burden of crime is found in the illegitimate lines;
2. The legitimate lines marry into a crime;
3. The eldest child has a tendency to be the criminal of the family;
4. Crime chiefly follows the male line; and,
5. The longest lines of crime are along the line of the eldest.

Arthur H. Estabrook working out of the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, New York gave a picture
of the Jukes in 1915, almost forty years after Dugdale. Estabrook says that they have the "same" traits of
feeblemindedness, indolence, dishonesty, and licentiousness (extravagance). He says this is because wherever
they go they tend to marry persons like themselves. When they marry into better families they show stronger restraint
(Foxe, 1945).

KALLIKAK FAMILY

Dr. Henry H. Goddard (1866-1957), a prominent American psychologist together with Elizabeth S. Kite
conducted a study entitled the “Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeblemindedness,” wherein they traced the
family tree of revolutionary war soldier “pseudonym Martin Kallikak, Sr.” The former had an illegitimate son named
Martin Kallikak Jr., the great-great grandfather of Deborah (an 8-year old girl who was interviewed by Goddard). Deborah
gained admission at the Training School at Vineland because she did not do well at school and might possibly be feeble-
minded. And from him (Martin Kallikak, Jr.) have come 480 descendants: 143 were or are feeble-minded, while only 46
have been found normal. The rest are unknown or doubtful. Among these 480 descendants, 36 have been illegitimate.
There have been 33 sexually immoral persons, mostly prostitutes. There have been 24 confirmed alcoholics, 3 epileptics,
82 died in infancy, 3 were criminals, 8 kept houses of ill fame. These people have married into other families, generally of
about the same type, so that we now have on record and charted eleven hundred and forty-six individuals. Of this large
group, Goddard have discovered that 262 were feeble-minded, while 197 are considered normal, the remaining 581
being still undetermined (Goddard, 1916).

Ernst Kretschmer (1888-1964)

Body Physique Description Psychiatric Disorders

Asthenic lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders Schizophrenia

Athletic medium to tall, strong, muscular, coarse bones Schizophrenia

Pyknic medium height, rounded figure, massive neck and broad face Bipolar (Manic Depression)

Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor T. Glueck

The above-mentioned article by Glueck and Glueck showed that 60.1 percent of the delinquent group compared
to 30.7 percent of the nondelinquents are mesomorphic (with "relative predominance of muscle, bone and connective
tissue") and, at the other extreme, 14.4 percent of the delinquents compared to 39.6 percent of the controls were found to
be ectomorph (with relative predominance of linearity and fragility and, in proportion to their mass, with "the greatest
surface area and hence relatively the greatest sensory exposure to the outside world"). A distinguished authority in the
field, who is a trained anthropologist, Professor C. Wesley Dupertuis, is lavish in his praise of the work of Glueck couples
(Glueck, 1960).

Earnest A. Hooton
He classified those characteristics into sociological, psychological, physical, morphological, and pathological
areas. For example, according to Hooton:
● criminals are less often married and more often divorced
● criminals often have tattoos
● criminals have thinner beards and body hair, and their hair is more often reddish-brown and straight
● criminals often have blue-gray or mixed colored eyes, and less often dark or blue eyes
● criminals have low sloping foreheads, high nasal bridges, and thin lips
● criminal’s ears often have rolled helix and a perceptible Darwin’s point

He suggested that human somatotype (body shape and physique) can even determine which type of crime a
person will commit:
● tall-slender men are predisposed for murder and
robbery;
● tall-medium heavy men for forgery;
● tall-heavy men for first-degree murder;
● medium height-heavy for antisocial behavior,
● short-slender for burglary and larceny;
● short-medium heavy for arson;
● short-heavy men for sex offenses.

NATURE THEORY
Nature theory holds that low intelligence is genetically determined and inherited. This was supported by Henry
Goddard in his studies in 1920 that many institutionalized people were what he considered “feebleminded” and
concluded that at least half of all juvenile delinquents were mentally defective. In a similar vein, William Healy and
Augusta Bronner tested a group of delinquents in Chicago and Boston and they found that 37 percent were subnormal in
intelligence. Bronner and Healy concluded that delinquent boys were 5 to 10 times more likely to be mentally deficient
than delinquent boys. Thus, many criminologists agreed with the predisposition of substandard individuals toward
delinquency (Siegel et al, 2007).

CLASSICAL THEORIES
Classical theories of crime causation hold primarily that the people’s decision to commit crime is a matter of
choice. Because it was assumed that people had free will to choose their behavior, those who violated the law were
motivated by personal needs such as greed, revenge, survival, and hedonism. Utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria
and Jeremy Bentham argued that people weigh the benefits and consequences of their future actions before deciding on
a course of behavior. Potential violators would stop their actions if the pain associated with a behavior outweighed its
anticipated gain; conversely, law violating behavior seems attractive if the future rewards seem far greater than the
potential punishment (Siegel et al, 2007). These are the theories under classical:

1. Rational Choice Theory

a. derived mainly from the expected utility model in economics, has become a "hot" topic in criminology,
sociology, political science, and law. The rational choice theory posits that one takes those actions,
criminal or lawful, which maximize payoff and minimize costs (Akers, 1990).

2. Routine Activity Theory

a. This theory was created by Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus K. Felson, with the 1979 publication of their
seminal article “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach.” They 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 a suitable target that is not protected by capable guardians (Siegel et al, 2007).
Routine activity theory—also sometimes referred to as lifestyle theory—has proven to be one of the
more useful theories for understanding criminal victimization and offending patterns in the late 20th and
early 21st centuries.

3. General and specific deterrence theory

a. General deterrence theory is aimed at making potential criminals fear the consequences of crime
showing that crime does not pay. It focuses on potential offenders and that these offenders must receive
punishment in a severe, swift and certain way. It is also manifesting societal deterrence which aimed to
 target would-be offenders (Siegel et al, 2007). For example: imposing long prison sentences or in the
Philippines lifetime imprisonment for violent or heinous crimes.
b. Specific deterrence theory holds that if offenders are punished so severely, the experience will
convince them not to repeat their illegal acts. Its main targets are those offenders who have already been
convicted and it also claimed that punishing more criminals will reduce their involvement in criminal
activity (Siegel et al, 2007).

4. Victim precipitation theory

Victim precipitation theory viewed that some people may actually initiate the confrontation that eventually leads
to their injury or death. It was first presented by Von Hentig (1941) and applies only to violent victimization. Its
basic premise is that by acting in certain provocative ways, some individuals initiate a chain of events that lead to
their deaths (Walsh, 2012). For example, a wife who was able to kill her husband because the husband kept on
beating her by the time he got drunk is one example. The husband became a victim in this case since the
perpetrator (the wife) is just acting based on self-defense.
a. Active precipitation occurs when victims act provocatively, use threats or fighting words, or even attack
first the offenders (Siegel, 2012). For example, when the person who shouts and utters profane language
at his enemy but the latter has a knife and stabs the former to death.
b. Passive precipitation occurs when the victim exhibits some personal characteristic that unknowingly
either threatens or encourages the attacker (Siegel, 2012). For example, Bee who has tattoos all around
his body may be a threat to somebody especially if Bee is already drunk. Even though he did nothing
wrong, the other person got threatened and attacked B leading either to his injury or immediate death.

5. Incapacitation theory
a. Incapacitation theory stands to reason that if more criminals are sent to prison the crime rate should go
down; keeping known criminals out of circulation (Siegel et al, 2007). This theory supported the idea of
imprisonment of criminals.

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES

Psychological theories expressed that criminal behavior was the product of “unconscious” forces operating
within a person’s mind. Conflicts occur at various psychosexual stages of development might impact an individual’s ability
to operate normally as an adult and that if aggressive impulse is not controlled, or is repressed to an unusual degree,
some aggression can “leak out” of the unconscious and a person can engage in random acts of violence (Bartol, 2002).

Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904) in his theory of imitation believed that people learn from one another through a process of
imitation (Siegel, 2004). These are some of the theories under psychological:

1. Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychology was originated by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-
1939) and is still considered as one of the prominent theories in psychology. This holds that the human
personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes developed in early childhood. It argues that human
personality contains three major components, namely: id, ego and superego.
a. Id- dictates the needs and desires (it operates under pleasure principle).
b. Superego – counteracts the id by fostering feelings of morality (morality principle). It is divided into two
(2) parts: conscience and ego ideals.
c. Ego – evaluates the reality of a position of these two extremes (reality principle). If these three
components are properly balanced, the individual can lead a normal life. But if one aspect of the
personality governs at the expense of the others, the individual exhibits abnormal personality traits
(Siegel et al, 2007). For example, upon entering the room you find out that there is a wallet full of money.
If you will take the wallet and will not tell anyone that it’s you who found it; your conscience, one of the
parts of superego (morality principle) is not working because it didn’t intervene your id (pleasure
principle) and did not tell your ego (reality principle) that the wallet is not yours, why take it?

2. Behavioral theory was originally created by John B. Watson and popularized by Burrhus Frederic Skinner
commonly known as B.F. Skinner. Some psychologists agree that behavior is controlled by unconscious mental
processes determined by parental relationships developed early in childhood as what Freud believed but others
do not, like Watson and Skinner. This theory concerned the study of observable behavior rather than unconscious
processes. It focuses on particular stimuli and how people respond toward that stimulus. It maintains that human
actions are developed through learning experiences; that behavior is learned when it is rewarded and
extinguished by negative reactions or punishment (Siegel, 2004).

3. Social learning is the branch of behavior theory most relevant to criminology. It was created by Albert S.
Bandura (1973), a Canadian psychologist who argued that people are not actually born with the ability to act
violently but that they learn to be aggressive through their life experiences. The experiences include personally
observing others acting aggressively to achieve some goal or watching people being rewarded for violent acts on
television or in movies. Bandura claimed that people learn to act aggressively when, as children, they model their
behavior after the violent acts of adults. For example, the boy who sees his father repeatedly strikes his mother
with impunity is the one most likely to grow up to become a battering parent and husband (Siegel, 2004).

Social Learning and Violence

Bandura (1973) believed that violence was something learned through a process called behavior
modeling. Aggressive acts are usually modeled after 3 principal sources:
i. Family members. Bandura reports that family life showing children who use aggressive tactics
have parents who use similar behaviors when dealing with others.
ii. Environmental experiences. People who reside in areas where violence is a daily occurrence are
more likely to act violently than those who dwell in low-crime areas whose norm stresses
conventional behavior.
iii. Mass media. Films and television shows commonly depict violence graphically. Moreover,
violence is often portrayed as an acceptable behavior, especially for heroes who never have to
face legal consequences for their actions (Siegel, 2004).

4. Cognitive Theory
 a. A branch of psychology that studies the perception of reality and the mental process required to
understand the world we live in. It focuses on mental processes- the way people perceive and mentally
represents the world around them. Adolescents who use information properly, who are better conditioned
to make reasoned judgments, and who can make quick and reasoned decisions when facing emotion-
laden are the ones that can avoid antisocial behavior choices. Cognitive perspective contains several
subgroups: the moral and intellectual development branch, which is concerned how people morally
represent and reason about the world.

b. Jean Piaget (1896-1980), a Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a systematic study of the
acquisition of understanding in children based on his cognitive development theory. He hypothesized that
a child’s reasoning processes develop in an orderly manner, beginning at birth and continuing until age
12 and older and it has 4 stages (Siegel et al, 2007).

5. Moral Development Theory

a. Lawrence Kohlberg (1973) expanded Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and applied the concept of
development stages to issues in criminology. His theory of moral development was dependent on the
thinking of the former (Piaget) and the American philosopher John Dewey. He suggested that people
travel through stages of moral development and that it is possible that serious offenders have a moral
orientation that differs from those law-abiding citizens. He and his associates found out that criminals
were found to be lower in their moral judgment development than non-criminals of the same social
background. Moral development theory suggests that people who obey the law simply to avoid
punishment or who have outlooks mainly characterized by self-interest are more likely to commit crimes
than those who view the law as something that benefits all of society and who honor the rights of others.

6. Intergenerational transmission theory stated that criminal and antisocial parents tend to have delinquent and
antisocial children, as shown in the classic longitudinal surveys by Joan McCord in Boston and Lee Robins in St.
Louis. The most extensive research on the concentration of offending in families was carried out in the Cambridge
Study in Delinquent Development. Having a convicted father, mother, brother, or sister predicted a boy's own
convictions, and all four relatives were independently important as predictors (Farrington et al., 1996).

7. Alternative theory beats the famous saying that says, “Opposite charges attract.”
a. An alternative theory focuses on assortative mating; female offenders tend to cohabit with or get married
to male offenders. In the Dunedin study in New Zealand, which is a longitudinal survey of over one
thousand children from age three, Robert F. Krueger and his colleagues found that sexual partners
tended to be similar in their self-reported antisocial behavior. Children with two criminal parents are likely
to be disproportionately antisocial. There are two main classes of explanations concerning why similar
people tend to get married, cohabit, or become sexual partners. The first is called social homogamy-
convicted people tend to choose each other as mates because of physical and social proximity; they meet
each other in the same schools, neighborhoods, clubs, pubs, and so on. The second process is called
phenotypic assortment-people examine each other's personality and behavior and choose partners who
are similar to themselves.

8. Differential association-reinforcement
a. Ernest Burgess and Ronald Akers (1966) combined Bandura’s social learning theory and Sutherland’s
theory of differential association to produce the theory of differential-association reinforcement. This
theory suggests that (1) the presence of criminal behavior depends on whether or not it is rewarded or
punished and (2) the most meaningful rewards and punishment are those given by groups that are
important in an individuals’ life – the peer group, the family, teachers in school and so forth. In other
words, people respond more readily to the reactions of the most significant people in their lives. If the
criminal behavior elicits more positive reinforcement or reward than punishment; such behavior will persist
(Adler et al, 2010).

9. Eysenck’s Conditioning Theory

Hans J. Eysenck in his theory of conditioning claims that all human personality may be seen in three
dimensions such as psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism. Those who score high on measures of
psychoticism are aggressive, egocentric and impulsive. Those who score high on measures of
extraversion are sensation-seeking, dominant and assertive. Those who score high on measures of
neuroticism may be described as having low self-esteem, excessive anxiety and wide mood swings

10. Integrated theory has been proposed by James Q. Wilson and Richard Herrnstein. They explain predatory street
crime by showing how human nature develops from the interplay of psychological, biological, and social factors.
The main concept of this theory is the interaction of genes with the environment that some individuals form the
kind of personality likely to commit crimes. According to Wilson and Herrnstein, the factors that made the person
commit crimes are IQ, body build, genetic makeup, impulsiveness, ability to delay gratification, aggressiveness,
and even the drinking and smoking habits of pregnant mothers.

11. Maternal Deprivation and Attachment Theory

a. Maternal deprivation and attachment theory has been devised by British psychiatrist Edward John M.
Bowlby who expressed the notion that a child needs warmth and affection from his/her mother or a
mother substitute. Bowlby emphasized that the most important phenomenon to social development takes
place after the birth of any mammal and that is the construction of an emotional bond between the infant
and his mother. When a child is separated from the mother or is rejected by her, anxious attachment
results. Anxious attachment affects the capacity to be affectionate and to develop intimate relationships
with others. Habitual criminals, it is claimed, typically have an inability to form bonds of affection (Adler et
al, 2010).

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

It explains how a certain individual acquires criminal or undesirable behavior; it describes how the agents of
socialization such as family, environment, schools, mass media and peer groups contribute or affect the behavior of a
specific individual; and it would also somehow manifest as to how a person responded or reacted with regards to the
conduct displayed by other persons whom he or she is socializing with.

The subfields of sociological theories are:

1. SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES – suggest that social and economic forces operating in deteriorated
lower-class areas push many of their residents into criminal behavior patterns. Social structure theory has
three (3) major branches, such as: social disorganization theory, strain theory, and cultural deviance
theory.
2. SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES – which hold that criminality, is a function of individual socialization.
Social process theories also have three (3) major branches, such as: social learning theory, social
control theory, and social reaction theory.

1. SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

Social disorganization theory was created by Chicago-based sociologists Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. Mckay
who links crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics. Crime rates are elevated in highly transient,
“mixed use” (where residential and commercial property exist side by side) and/or “changing neighborhoods” in
which the fabric of social life has become fayed. These localities are unable to provide essential services such as
education, health care, and proper housing and, as a result, experience significant levels of unemployment, single
parent families, and families on welfare and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). Shaw and McKay’s main
contention is that the primary causes of criminal behavior were neighborhood disintegration and slum conditions
to place what they called transitional neighborhoods which refer to the place in Chicago where ridden by
poverty and which suffers high rates of population turnover and were incapable of inducing residents to remain
and failed to defend the neighborhoods against criminal groups (Siegel, 2004).

2. Concentric zone theory was pioneered by Chicago School sociologists Ernest W. Burgess and Robert E. Park;
however, it was Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay noted that distinct ecological area had developed in the city
of Chicago, comprising a series of 5 concentric circles, or zones, and that there were stable and significant
differences in interzone crime rates. The areas of heaviest concentration of crime appeared to be the transitional
inner-city zones, where large numbers of foreign-born citizens had settled. The zones farthest from the city’s
center had lower crime rates. Shaw and McKay’s main assumption is that, even though crime rates changed, they
found that the highest rates were always in central city and transitional areas.

3. Anomie Theory - David Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist introduced the term “anomie”, which derived from
the Greek a nomos which means without norms. According to Durkheim, an anomic society is one in which rules
of behavior (norms) have broken down or become inoperative during periods of rapid social change or social
crisis such as war or famine. Anomie most likely occurs in societies that are moving forward mechanically to
organic solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity is defined as a characteristic of pre-industrial society, which is held together by
traditions, shared values, and unquestioned beliefs. Organic solidarity refers to the post-industrial
system, in which the place is highly developed and dependent upon the division of labor and people are
connected by their interdependent needs for each other’s services and production.

4. Strain Theory
American sociologist Robert K. Merton applied Durkheim’s ideas of anomie to criminology. He holds that
crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally
obtain those goals. Consequently, those who failed to attain their goals because of inadequate means
would feel anger, frustration and resentment, which are referred to as strain and that those people who
are in strain or pressure may develop criminal or delinquent solutions to the problem of attaining goals
(Siegel et al, 2007). Merton developed what he called social adaptation to explain that although some
people have inadequate means of attaining success; other people who have the means reject societal
goals as being unsuited to them. Below are Merton’s five (5) modes of adaptation. The plus (+) sign
means acceptance, negative (-) sign means rejection and + means substituting alternative goals (Siegel,
2004).

Modes of Adaptation Cultural Goals Institutionalized Means

1. Conformity + (Acceptance) + (Acceptance)

2. Innovation + (Acceptance) - (Rejection)

3. Ritualism - (Rejection) + (Acceptance)

4. Retreatism - (Rejection) - (Rejection)

5. Rebellion + (Substitution of Alternative + (Substitution of Alternative

Goal and Means) Goal and Means)

5. Relative Deprivation Theory

This theory clearly emphasizes that a sharp division between the rich and the poor creates an
atmosphere of envy and mistrust. Criminal motivation is fueled both by perceived humiliation and the
perceived right to humiliate a victim in return. Accordingly, lower-class people might feel both deprived
and embittered when they compare their life circumstances to those of the more affluent. The constant
frustration suffered by the deprived individuals because of their economic status may lead to aggression
and hostility and may result to violence and crime (Siegel, 2004).

6. General Strain Theory

Sociologist Robert Agnew reformulated the strain theory of Robert Merton and suggests that criminality is
the direct result of negative affective states – the anger, frustration, depression, disappointment and other
adverse emotions that derive from strain. Agnew tries to explain why individuals who feel stress and
strain are more likely to commit crimes and offers more explanation of criminal activity among all
 elements of society rather than restricting his views to lower-class crime (Siegel, 2004).

7. Cultural Deviance Theory

This theory combines the effects of social disorganization and strain to explain how people living in
deteriorated neighborhoods react to social isolation and economic deprivation. Because of the draining,
frustrating and dispiriting experiences, members of the lower class create an independent subculture with
its own set of rules and values. This lower-class subculture stresses excitement, toughness, risk-taking,
fearlessness and immediate gratification.

8. Delinquent Subculture Theory

a. Albert K. Cohen first articulated the theory in his classic book, “Delinquent Boys.” Cohen’s position was
that delinquent behavior of lower-class youth is actually a protest against the norms and values middle-
class U.S. culture. Because the social conditions make them incapable of achieving success legitimately,
lower-class youths experience a form of culture conflict that Cohen labels status frustration. Status
frustration refers to the state where youths are incapable of achieving their legitimate goals in life because
of the social conditions that they are into such as having poor parents and living in slum areas.

9. Differential Opportunity Theory is the output of the classic work of Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd E. Ohlin’s
“Delinquency and Opportunity.” This theory is a combination of strain and disorganization principles into a
portrayal of a gang-sustaining criminal subculture. The main concept of this theory states that people in all strata
of society share the same success goals but that those in the lower-class have limited means of achieving them.
People who perceive themselves as failures within conventional society will seek alternative or innovative ways to
gain success, such as joining drug syndicates and any other forms of illegal activities.

SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES

1. Drift Theory
Neutralization Theory (1957) is identified with the writings of David Matza and his associate Gresham M. Sykes.
They viewed the process of becoming a criminal as a learning experience in which potential delinquents and criminals
master techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize conventional values and drift back and forth between
illegitimate and conventional behavior. One reason it becomes possible, it’s because of the subterranean value structure
of American Society. Subterranean values are morally tinged influences that have become entrenched in the culture but
are publicly condemned. These are values that are condemned in public but may be practiced privately. Example: viewing
pornographic films, drinking alcohol to excess, and gambling on sporting events.

2. Differential Association Theory

“Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are,” a Mexican proverb that would best describe the
theory of differential association.
Differential association theory was created by American criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland (1939) in his text, Principles of
Criminology. He suggests that people commit crime by learning in a social context through their interactions with others
and communication with them. He believed criminal behavior is learned by interaction with others, and this includes
learning the techniques of committing the crime, and the motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes for committing it.

3. Containment theory
Containment theory was presented by Walter C. Reckless and assumes that for every individual, there exists a
containing external structure and a protective internal structure, both of which provide defense, protection, or insulation
against delinquency (Siegel, 2007).
According to Reckless “outer containment” or the structural buffer that holds the person in bounds.

4. Social bond theory also called (social control theory), articulated by Travis W. Hirschi in his 1969 book, Causes of
Delinquency, now the dominant version of control theory. Hirschi links the onset of criminality to the weakening of the ties
that bind people to society. He assumes that all individuals are potential law violators, but they are kept under control
because they fear that illegal behavior will damage their relationships with friends, parents, neighbors, teachers and
employers.

5. Social Reaction (Labeling Theory)

Labeling theory was created by Howard S. Becker who explains that society creates deviance through a system
of social control agencies that designate (label) certain individuals as delinquent, thereby stigmatizing a person and
encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity. For example: people labeled “insane” are also assumed to be
dangerous, dishonest, unstable, violent, strange, and otherwise unsound. In contrast, negative labels, including
“troublemaker,” “mentally-ill,” and “stupid,” help stigmatize the recipients of these labels and reduce their self-image
(Siegel, 2004).

SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORIES

Social Conflict theory was provided by Karl Marx who finds that society is in a constant state of internal conflict,
as different groups strive to impose their will on others. Those with money and power succeed in shaping the law to meet
their needs and maintain their interests. Those adolescents whose behavior cannot conform to the needs of the power
elite are defined as delinquents and criminals (Siegel, 2007). In short, laws serve as a tool of the upper class to control the
lower class. Though, not all crimes are committed by the lower class, but, most of the time they are the subjects of arrest.
Below are a few theories about social conflict.

1. The Marxist Criminology views crime as a function of the capitalist mode of production. Within this system
economic competitiveness is the essence of social life and controls the form and function of social institutions.
Every element of society: government, law, education, religion, family-is organized around the capitalist mode of
production consisting of the owners of the production (bourgeoisie), the worker (proletariat) and the non-
productive people (lumpenproletariat). The rich (bourgeoisie) use the fear of crime as a tool to maintain their
control over society: the poor are controlled through incarceration; the middle class are diverted from caring about
the crimes of the powerful because they fear the crimes of the powerless. According to Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels, criminals came from a third class in society—the lumpen proletariat—who would play no decisive role in
the expected revolution (Siegel, 2004).
 2. Conflict theory views crime as the outcome of class struggle. The classes that are struggling here are the upper,
middle and lower class (have-nots). Conflict works to promote crime by creating a social atmosphere in which the
law is a mechanism for controlling dissatisfied, have-not members of the society while the wealthy maintain their
position of power. It also viewed that crime is defined by those in power. Power refers to the ability of persons
and groups to determine and control the behavior of others and to shape public opinion to meet their personal
interests. It was first applied to criminology by three distinct scholars: Willem A. Bonger, Ralf G. Dahrendorf,
and George B. Vold. According to Bonger (1916), everyone may desire wealth, but it is only the most privileged
people, with the most capital, who can enjoy luxuries and advantages. And that people care only for their own
lives and pleasures and ignore the plight of the disadvantaged.
a. Ralf Dahrendorf argues that modern society is organized into what he called imperatively coordinated
associations. These associations comprise two groups: those who possess authority and use it for social
domination and those who lack authority and are dominated. And that society is a plurality of competing
interest groups.
b. George Vold was the one who adapted the conflict theory in criminology. He argued that crime can also
be explained by social conflict. Laws are created by politically-oriented groups, who seek the
government’s assistance to help them defend their rights and protect their interests. He found out that
criminal acts are a consequence of direct contact between forces struggling to control society. The direct
contacts that Vold is referring to are: (1) from passing the law; (2) to prosecuting the case; (3) to
developing relationships between inmate and guard; (3) parole agent and parolee-is marked by conflict
(Siegel, 2004).

3. Social Reality of Crime

a. Sociologist Richard Quinney embraced a conflict model of crime who integrated his beliefs about power,
society, and criminality into a theory he referred to as the social reality of crime. According to him, criminal
definitions or the law represents the interests of those who hold power in society. Where there is conflict
between social groups -for example, the wealthy and the poor those who hold power will be the ones to
create the laws that benefit themselves (Siegel, 2004).

4. Left realism theory is most connected to the writings of British scholars John Lea and Jock Young in their 1984
work, “What Is to be Done about Law and Order?” by taking a more “realistic” approach, saying that street
criminals prey on the poor, thus making the poor doubly abused, first by the capitalist system and then by the
members of their own class. Their equation is very simple: relative deprivation equals discontent;
discontent plus lack of political solution equals crime. Young and Lea argued that crime victims in all classes
need and deserve protection (Siegel, 2004).

5. Peacemaking theory by Larry Tifft and Dennis Sullivan in their book entitled, “The Mask of Love” explains that
the only ways to reduce crime are through peace and humanism. Conflict resolution strategies can work. Its
strength is that it offers a new approach to crime control through mediation as the main purpose is to promote a
peaceful and just society. Sullivan suggests mutual aid rather than coercive punishment.

6. Institutive-Constitutive Theory
a. Gregg Barak and Stuart Henry’s institutive-constitutive theory defines crime as the application of harm
to others. People who are defined as committing criminal acts are at the same time being made unequal
or “disrespected”; they are rendered powerless to maintain or express their humanity. In a sense then, the
act of making people “criminals” is a crime.

7. Identity Fusion Theory

a. Identity fusion is defined as a visceral feeling of oneness with the group that is associated with
increased permeability of the boundary between the personal and social self. It was created by William
B. Swann Jr. and Michael D. Buhrmester (2012). The blending of an individual’s personal-self and
social-self with that of a group, has attempted to explain why a person engages in political participation
(Swann et al. 2009). Personal self remains salient; fused persons feel that they both strengthen and draw
strength from the group, resulting in elevated personal agency. Fused persons view the group as “family”
and believe that family membership requires sacrifices. When a family member is imperiled, they
experience emotions akin to when self is imperiled. Result: Strongly fused people will make extreme
sacrifices for the group

BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

· MODEL OF CRIME CAUSATION
o Integration of or combination of both ‘bio’, ‘psycho’, and ‘social’
§ BIO- examines aspects of biology that influence health; these might include things like brain
changes, genetics, or functioning of major body organs.
1. Example: John met an accident and that caused him not to be able to move
freely. Biological change might influence how he feels about himself and may lead to
anxiety or depression.

§ PSYCHO- examines psychological components like thoughts, emotions, or behaviors.

1. Example: John might experience decreased self-esteem, feel inadequate in his
life/job and will lead changes to his behaviors, like avoiding certain situations, staying-at-
home or quitting the job.

§ SOCIAL- examines social factors that might influence the health of an individual like
interactions with others, culture, or economic status.
1. Example: Perhaps John is a new father due to injury; it might reduce his ability to
care for his new baby. Being unable to fulfill this social role might trigger problems with
his wife or other family members. John’s stress could lead to further biological or
psychological problems.

· MORAL INSANITY AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY

o Isaac Ray (1807- 1881)
 § America’s first psychiatrist
§ Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity
o MORAL INSANITY- describe persons who were normal in all aspect except that something was wrong
with the part of the brain that regulates affective responses; Ray questioned whether people could be
held legally responsible for their acts if they had such impairment, because such people committed their
crimes without intent to do so.

o HENRY MAUDSLEY (1835- 1918)

§ English Medical Professor
§ Believed, ‘some people may be considered either insane or criminal according to the standpoint
from which they are looked at’
1. Crime is an outlet in which their unsound tendencies are discharged
o They would go mad if they were not criminals
o They do not go mad because they are criminals

· PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME
o Refers to onset of the menstrual cycle that triggers excessive amounts of the female sex hormones.
(Antisocial and aggressive behavior)
o KATHARINA DOROTHEA K. DALTON (1916-2004)
§ Studied English Women (156 newly adult female prisoners)
1. Females are most likely to commit suicide and be aggressive and otherwise
antisocial just before or during menstruation
o DIANA H. FISHBEIN (1992)
§ ‘Selected Studies on Biology of Antisocial Behavior’
1. Significant number of incarcerated females committed their crimes during
premenstrual phase
2. A small percentage of women appear vulnerable to cyclical hormonal changes
which makes them prone to anxiety and hostility.

· BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME

o DR. C. HENRY KEMPE (1922-1984)
§ ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’ 1962
§ It is a medical diagnosis based on evidence indicating that the child has been subjected to a
pattern of serious and unexplained abuse.
1. Repeated injuries
2. Intentional
3. An isolated act by a stranger would not result in a pattern of successive injuries.
o MYERS (1988)
§ Evidence of past injuries is actually evidence of defendant’s prior bad acts, the consideration of
which may lead the jury to improperly infer that the defendant has propensity or character trait for
committing wrongful acts
§ Battered Child are ineffective witness
o ORFINGER (1989)
§ The victim, if alive, is often too young or lacks the psychological capacity and/or the courage to
testify
§ Prosecution can rarely find an eyewitness to testify, and the accused is often able to fabricate a
plausible explanation for the child’s injuries.
o THE PHYSICIANS MAY BE ALLOWED TO TESTIFY AS TO WHETHER THE INJURED CHILD
SHOWS SIGNS OF ‘BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME’

· BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME (BWS)

o Psychological term used to describe women who are stuck within or have recently left a violent
relationship characterized by the cycle of violence.
o It was modeled after Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome by Vietnam Veterans and later was applied to
people victimized by rape.
o LENORE WALKER (1984)
§ Learned helplessness
§ Cycle of violence emphasizes physical violence but ‘physical abuse rarely occurs without
psychological abuse’
§ 3 Basic Stages to this Pattern:
1. Tension between pairs. During the tension building stage, relatively minor
incidents increase the tension in the relationship and culminate in the eruption of
violence.
2. Violent Incident - The violence may be short lived or last for a few days. Often it
is at this stage that police are notified or legal proceedings begin.
3. Honeymoon or Loving contrition (feeling remorseful and penitent) – This stage
reinforces the woman’s hope that the relationship will get better or is at least salvageable.
Since there is a sincere belief that the violence in the relationship has ended, civil and
criminal legal proceedings may be dropped or otherwise aborted.
§ The cycle repeats itself and violence becomes more intense, the tension building stage
lengthens and the honeymoon stage decreases or disappears entirely. Walker theorizes that it is
at the point when the loving contrition disappears that the woman is best able to leave the
abusive relationship.

· POSTPARTUM STRESS SYNDROME AND POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSIS

o Postpartum Stress Syndrome- causes feelings of anxiety and self-doubt. The woman wants to
become a perfect mother and wife, but at the same time she feels exhausted and overwhelmed.

o Postpartum Depression can come on without warning. A woman does not have to suffer from baby
blues or postpartum stress syndrome first.
 o Postpartum Psychosis (losing contact with reality) is caused by multiple factors is uncommon with
only 1/1000 developing PPP within a few days after giving birth, it can dramatically affect everyone
involved.
§ Hearing voices or sounds no one else hears.
§ Thought of hurting oneself or baby
§ No sleep in 48 hours
§ Cannot care for baby or self
§ Rapid weight loss without trying
§ Couldn’t control thoughts as if someone is controlling her

POLITICAL/ SOCIAL CONFLICT THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

· SOCIAL REALITY OF CRIME
o RICHARD QUINNEY (1970)
§ Embraced a conflict model of crime who integrated his beliefs about power, society and
criminality into the social reality of crime.
§ Criminal definitions or law represents the interest of those who hold power in society.
· Example: The laws against robbery and theft are intended for the poor only because
it protects the property of those in financial power or those who are wealthy.

· LEFT REALISM THEORY (1984)

o JOHN LEA and JOCK YOUNG (1942- 2013)
§ ‘What is to be done about law and order?’
§ Street criminals prey on the poor thus making the poor doubly abused; first the capitalist
system and them by the members of their own class.
§ Their equation is very simple: RELATIVE DEPRIVATION EQUALS DISCONTENT;
DISCONTENT PLUS LACK OF POLITICAL SOLUTION EQUALS TO CRIME.
§ Argued that crime victims in all classes need and deserve protection.
§ Crime happens when a person is being deprived economically plus the governing body in the
community (like barangay chairman) does not know how to render solutions to problems (like
rampant stealing in his barangay). If the thief succeeds in his first stealing, then there’s a big
possibility that he’ll keep repeating his criminal conduct.

· POSTMODERNISM THEORY
o Began in late 1960’s
o It believes that language is value laden and can promote the same sort of inequities that are present in
the rest of the social structure.
§ Those in power are able to use their own language to define crime and law while excluding or
dismissing those who are in position (prisoners/ the poor). The dominant language of the rich and
powerful.

· INSTITUTIVE- CONSTITUTIVE THEORY

o Gregg Barak and Stuart Henry (1996)
o Crime as the application of harm to others.
o People who are defined as committing criminal acts are at the same time being made unequal or
disrespected; rendered as powerless to maintain or express humanity.
o Two (2) aspects of Crime
§ Crime of Repression – occurs when members of a group are prevented from achieving their
fullest potential because of racism, sexism, or some other status bias. Example: Two applicants
in a job position, one with a pleasing personality and other is not. The one with a pleasing
personality was hired.
§ Crime of Reduction – occurs when the offended party experiences a loss of some quality
relative to his or present standing. Example: A rape victim may loss her state of being chaste, that
when she meets a guy whom she adored much; the guy’s parents may hinder their relationship
because of what happened to her.

· CONSERVATISM AND LIBERALISM THEORY

o Conservative Ideologies – assume that the ideal society is one in which authority is unquestioned.
The hierarchy of wisdom and virtue is accepted by all as based on recognizing natural inequalities.
Unfortunately, society is threatened by defective people who cannot or will not accept the authority and
directions of superiors and resort to crime to profit from the labors of others.
o Liberalism assumes that the ideal society is one in which there is equality of opportunity and a
general consensus to accept differences in rewards as the outcomes of fair competition.
o Liberalism is completely opposite of conservatism. Liberalism can be compared to a democratic
government in which everybody’s opinion is respected and that what matters most is fairness and
equality among the populace while in Conservatism can be related to communist form of
government in which the power of the government is absolute and it control the behavior and
actions of its populace.

· RADICALISM
o Envisions the ideal society as one in which people—naturally creative and freedom-loving --- are able
to do as they please in going about their peaceful business, without interference by anyone—especially
those claiming or representing some presumed higher authority.
§ Right Radicalism – emphasizes moral deterioration, reflected in crime rates, as the forerunner
of society’s political and economic collapse into war among racial and other groups fighting to
survive.
§ Leftists’ Radicalism – posit fundamental and ultimately fatal contradictions in the structuring of
capitalist liberal democracy – for example”: The inherent clash between capitalists’ interest in
maximizing profits and workers’ interest in maximizing wages, as well as the contradiction
between capitalists’ interest in minimizing labor costs and their interest in maximizing consumer
purchases.
· IDENTITY INFUSION THEORY
o B. Swann Jr. and Michael Buhrmester (2012)
o Defined as a visceral feeling of oneness with the group that is associated with increased permeability
of the boundary between the personal and social self.
§ Example: If one member of the gang was killed and the other member knew who killed their co-
member then; there is a big possibility that this gang will join forces to take revenge against the
killer. Each member of the gang feels that they are one family within the group. They have a
sense of oneness within the group.

DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

· LIFE COURSE THEORY
o Criminality (dynamic process), according to this view, cannot be attributed to a single cause, nor
does it represent a single underlying tendency because people are influenced by different factors as
they mature.
o Factors
§ Social and economic factors
§ Maladaptive personality (not providing adequate or appropriate adjustment to the environment
or situation)
§ Educational failure
§ Family relations
o Example: 3rd year college student who got pregnant and eventually stopped by the parents from going
to school. After delivering, the student had no intentions in going back to school and is now more
concerned about joining her friends wherever they go, letting the parents take care of her baby.

· LATENT TRAIT THEORY

o Complete opposite of Life Course Theory
o It explains that people change over the life course while latent trait theory claims that people do not
change, criminal opportunities change, maturity brings fewer opportunities.
·
INTERACTIONAL THEORY
o Terence P. Thornberry (1987)
o Borrows the principles of social bond theory by Travis Hirschi

· AGE-GRADED THEORY
o Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub (1993)
§ ‘Crime in the Making’ identifies the turning points in a criminal career. Eg. Marriage and
Career
o The type of crime committed by a certain individual is in consonance with his age or his age governs or
dictates the type of crime to be committed by him.
o AGING- OUT- PROCESS – desistance or spontaneous remission. Example: a person who is a
professional robber and started doing the illegal job at the age of 15 by the age of more or less 75 years
old may stop from committing robbery because of the fact that he could not jump over the fences and or
could not run anymore.

· SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL

o Joseph G. Weis, Richard F. Catalano and J. David Hawkins (2001)
o Focuses on different factors affecting a child's social development over the life course.
o COMMITMENTS AND ATTACHMENTS (SOCIAL BOND)
o The role of the parents is very important since they are the first teachers.
o Children mature within their environment, elements of socialization control their developmental process
and either insulate them from delinquency or encourage their antisocial activities.
§ Factors affecting child’s social development over the life course
1. Every child faces the risk of delinquent behavior, especially those forced to live in
the poorest neighbors and attend substandard schools.
o HOW TO AVOID
§ Child must develop and maintain prosocial bonds
· These are developed within the context of family life, when
parent routinely praise children and give them consistent positive
feedback
2. Parental attachment affects a child’s behavior for life: School experiences and
personal beliefs and values.
o Example: Strong family relationships marks an academic success
3. Children who cannot form prosocial bonds within their family are at risk for being
exposed to deviant attitudes and behavior.
4. Adolescents who perceive opportunities and rewards for antisocial behavior will
from deep attachments to deviant peers and will become committed to a delinquent way
of life.

· GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME

o Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis W. Hirschi
o Considers the criminal offender and the criminal act as separate concepts.
o Crime is rational and predictable
o People commit crime when it promises rewards and minimal threat or pain; threat or punishment can
deter crime.

· DIFFERENTIAL COERCION THEORY

o Mark Colvin (1952- 2017)
o ‘Crime and Coercion’
o Perception of Coercion can begin in early life when children experience punitive form of discipline
including physical attacks, psychological coercion, and negative commands. Eg. Teasing, humiliation,
 whining, yelling and threats
o Two (2) sources of coercion: and
§ Interpersonal Coercion – is direct, involving the use of threat of force and intimidation from
parents, peers and law enforcement officers.
§ Impersonal Coercion – involves pressure beyond individual control, such as economic and
social pressure caused by unemployment, poverty or competition among businesses or other
groups.

· CONTROL BALANCE THEORY

o Charles R. Tittle (1995)
o Deviance increases when there is control deficit and with excessive control; Control imbalance
represents a potential to commit crimes and deviances.

RECOGNIZING THE THEORIES ON WOMEN OFFENDERS

· ADLER’S THEORY OF MASCULINITY
o Freda Adler
§ ‘Sister in Crime: The Rise of a New Female Criminal’ (1975)
o Women are involved in more crime due to the increasing participation of women in social movements
since the 1970’s
o The main premise of this theory is that criminality of women are mainly dependent on the masculinity
behavior of females.
§ Empowered women are involved in more serious violent crime
§ Non-empowered due to masculinity

· OPPORTUNITY THEORY
o Rita J. Simon (1931- 2013)
§ ‘Women and Society’
· Involvement of women in criminal activities is increased when women have different
opportunities
· Showed no difference between male and female in terms of morality, biological
characteristics not being relevant for committing crime.
· Males are more active in crime because of their greater opportunity.
· MARGINALIZATION THEORY
o Meda Chesney-Lind and Kathleen Daly
§ ‘Women and Crime: The Female Offender’ (1986)
§ Marginality (low salary; inadequate job; lower class position; family victimization) of a woman
penetrates criminality in contemporary societies
§ Women are motivated to commit crime as a rational response to poverty and economic
uncertainty.
o Daly
§ ‘Pink Collar Crime’ appears as a counterpart to the ‘white collar crimes’
· Carried out by women whose office jobs can be characterized as being set on low to
medium level, or more simply speaking, at a position as accountants, managers, which
embezzlement from their employers. Women who may not have a carrying, main
functions, but still have enough powers and opportunities to commit fraud or theft at their
jobs.
· CRITICAL FEMINIST THEORY
o also known as Marxist Feminists
o Gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and women and the subsequent exploitation
of women by men.
o The male exploitation acts as a trigger for female criminal or delinquent behavior.
· POWER-CONTROL THEORY
o John L. Hagan (1985)
o Suggests that class influences delinquency and criminality by controlling the quality of family life.
§ In egalitarian (believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and
opportunities), in which the husband and the wife share similar positions of power at home and in
the workplace --- daughters gain a kind of freedom that reflects reduced parental control, will
produce daughters whose law violating behaviors mirror those of their brothers.
· SIGMUND FREUD’S THEORY OF ‘PENIS ENVY’ (1925)
o Stage development experienced only by the female children
o Freudian psychoanalytic theory that proposes that very young girls feel deprived and envious that they
don’t have a penis.
o Women were simply men without penises
· CHIVALRY OR PATERNALISM THEORY
o OTTO POLLAK (1950)
§ ‘Criminality of Women’
§ Women are treated more leniently than men because women are believed to be born
biologically inferior and in need of protection from men.
§ Women viewed as physically weak and inherently sexual.