VARIOUS CAUSES OF CRIME

CAUSATION

Guided by- Submitted by-

Dr. Pallavi Singh Ankit Kumar
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR B.A.LL.B.(Hons.), 7th sem.
(School of Law and Governance) Enrol. No. CUSB1713125007
 What is Crime?

• The term crime is derived from the Latin word

“crimen” meaning offence and also a wrong-doer.
• Crime is considered as an anti-social behaviour
• A public wrong.
• An act of offense which violates the law of the state
and is strongly disapproved by the society.
• Crime is defined as acts or omissions forbidden by
law that can be punished by imprisonment or fine.
 Crime Causation
• Crime Causation is an complex field. It deals with
action of the offender from which specific injury or
effect arose.
• There are several causes which make an individual
turn into a criminal. Criminologists have always
differed in their views regarding crime causation.
Biological, Psychological, anthropological,
socio- economic, cultural environment and such other
causes are the causes of crime causation.
Approaches of Causes of Crime
Causation
• There are mainly two approaches to explain the causes of crime
causation-
• subjective approach, and

• objective approach.

• Subjective approach of the causes of crime causation supports the

theory of criminality which is founded on bio- physical
consideration of criminals.
• Objective approach of the causes of crime causation is more inclined
to explain criminality in terms of social factors.
 Subjective Approach
• This approach has eventually lead to the evolution of
typological school of criminology which suggests that there
are certain personality type of criminals who take to
criminality because of their heredity, psychopathic and bio-
physical traits.
• It is thus clear that subjective aspect of crime causation
includes-
• Anthropological causes
• Biological causes
• Psychological causes.
• Psychiatric causes.
• Anthropological Causes- It suggests the criminals are less
evolved than others and can't control their urge to commit
crimes. This idea says criminals come from a group of humans
who regressed in evolutionary advancement.
it was suggested by Italian criminologist and psychiatrist
Cesare Lombroso.
• Biological Causes(Heredity and Crime) :
• Explanations of human behaviour in terms of heredity go far
back in antiquity and are based on the common-sense
observation that children tend to resemble their parents in
appearance, mannerisms and dispositions.
• Lombroso views that heredity was the sole cause of criminal
behaviour of the offender. Lombroso asserted that there are
certain criminals who imbibe criminality by birth.
• Psychological Causes- Various studies establish a nexus
between mental deficiency and criminal behaviour. It
introduces the concepts like "mental age" and "Intelligence
Quotient" (IQ) and its influence on criminal behaviour.
• Henry H. Goddard found mental deficiency in almost half of
all criminals while Goring was convinced that mental
deficiency was a major cause in all criminal behaviour except
the ones requiring some cleverness as in the case of fraud.
• Psychopathy and Crime-
• Certain types of criminals are labelled as psychopaths. They
are aggressive criminals who act impulsively with no apparent
reason for indulging in criminal activities. They are generally
person who have no definite plan and therefore, indulge in
uncalled for behaviour.
 Objective Causes
•American criminologists explain the criminality in terms of social
factors. It is objective in their approach. It insists on analysis of
socio- economic, ecological, topographical and cultural
environment under which crime usually generates.

• Socio- Economic Causes- It is closely related to poverty, social

exclusion, wage and income inequality, cultural and family
background, level of education and other economic and social
factors that may affect individual’s propensity to commit crimes
such as cultural characteristics, age and sex.
•Geographical Causes of Crime: High residential mobility is
associated with a higher crime rate. More taverns and alcohol
stores, as well as more gambling and tourist establishments, in an
area are positively related to criminality.
• Cultural environment causes- During 1940s to the beginning
of 1960 lower-class criminality received considerable
sociological interest and a number of theories were advanced
purporting to explain high deviant behaviour particularly by
the lower-class people.
• Richard A. Cloward and Loyd F. Ohlin define delinquent
subculture as "one in which certain forms of delinquent
activity are essential for the performances of the dominant
roles supported by the sub-culture. A lower class youth
realises that their socialisation experiences have not prepared
them for the challenge. It is that disparity between what lower
class youth are led to want and what is actually available to
them is the source of a major problem of adjustment. Hence,
they choose to react against the mainstream culture of the
society.