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Biological factors related to criminal behaviour essay
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Criminal behaviours have always been a focus for psychologists. It is the responsibility for an individual genetic makeup that makes them criminal. Are we born or made a criminal?. ? Genetics, societies and the environment are accountable beyond in every criminal. Researchers mainly Cesare Lombroso stated that criminality was heritable and B.F. Skinner declared it is the development of behavioural changes called operant conditioning behind the criminalist. The main root causes for the crime factors environment such as poverty, racism and unemployment etc.
In 19th and 20th century, the Italian physician Cesare Lombroso also called as a father of modern criminology. He had studied scientifically, Italian prisoners and army personal. He
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In 1939, American criminologist Earnest Hooton disagreed with Lombroso's examinations and he extended his theory more to body types theory such as mixed eye colour, reddish hair and big tall men were most likely to become murders. William Sheldon, the American psychologist and physician, advanced the theory that equals Lombroso's idea. He suggested the psychological makeup of the humans had biological foundations. He found three different types of human body shapes which were, endomorphs, mesomorphs and ectomorph. People with Mesomorph body shapes are more likely to demonstrate criminal behaviour. He concluded that a person's body shape – if it is square and muscular - could result in a personality that would be aggressive, agitated and have more tendency to criminal behaviour (Thomas J 2-5-2008,Article History).
Modern scientific studies, criticised Lombroso's theory because he did not use of any of non-criminal control groups. His research material were deceased people with psychological or chromosomal abnormalities. 'They claim that he has not distinguished adequately between criminality and pathology'. 'Most criminal activity in Lombroso's theory was the complete result of the environmental factors such as poverty and poor
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F Skinner was one of the most influential of American psychologists; He has to deal with how we get to more complex sorts of behavior .He studied about the changes of behavior and discovered it is the idea of shaping, then he summarized that theory and declared to certain behaviourism that affecting in a personality that is called operant conditioning .The positive and negative reinforcement and also the punishment affecting or controlling one's character and that will lead to further consequences .This operant conditioning also called as instrumental condition can be equally affecting both human and animal behavior. Psychological reaction towards an object or an event by a person or an animal can be modified by learning. This has been wildly applied in clinically, teaching as well as the development program .
The involuntary behaviors such as, increase the heart rate and the emotional changes also may affect personality. Personality disorder have become essential in the diagnosis of each persons with antisocial behaviour. These disorder does not the first evidence for criminals. Psychological and Social changes affecting a person from lenient character to
Due to an increased surge of criminality in many cities during the 1900s, eugenicists began to focus on the role of genes in determining criminal behavior. Many lived by the motto “culture does not make the man, but man makes the culture.” This essentially stated that the less fortunate tend to create and gravitate towards poverty stricken environments. While scientists did not totally weigh out the environmental influence on criminality, they did believe the main cause of criminal behavior was defective genes.
Nature versus nurture has been argued in attempt to understand how criminals behave. The theory of what influences psychopath and serial killers’ violent and destructive pathways has not been agreed on till this day. Criminals such as psychopaths and serial killers have been researched for the past two decades. Scientists have found that genetics is a determining factor of who becomes a serial killer. It is important to understand the determinants involved within a serial killer, because if these social and environmental causes are discovered, they can be altered and controlled to reduce crime (Lykken, 1993). With more studies, we would therefore prevent mass murders and could assist in significant reductions of crime within society.
In the 1800s Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), Italian criminologist, wrote in his book L'Uomo Delinquente (187...
Trait theory views criminality as a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. It is based on a mix between biological factors and environmental factors. Certain traits alone cannot determine criminality. We are born with certain traits and these traits along with certain environmental factors can cause criminality (Siegel, 2013). According to (Siegel, 2013), the study of sociobiology sparked interest in biological or genetic makeup as an explanation for crime and delinquency. The thought is that biological or genetic makeup controls human behavior, and if this is true, then it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses crime or conventional behavior. This theory is referred to as trait theory (Siegel, 2013). According to Siegel (2013), due to the fact that offenders are different, one cannot pinpoint causality to crime to just a single biological or psychological attribute. Trait theorist looks at personal traits like intelligence, personality, and chemical and genetic makeup; and environmental factors, such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood conditions (Siegel, 2013). There are the Biosocial Trait theories an...
The biological approach does not explain all people, what about the people with these characteristics that do not resort to crime, or what about other people who commit crimes who do not possess any of these characteristics. I believe like many criminologists Lombroso was looking for a solution to solve criminal behavior and came up with the theory of physical traits linked to criminal behaviors based on some similarities with no real way to test the theory. I think there are many different reasons why people commit crime, such as opportunity, mental illness, family influence, low economic standing and drug dependence. Theories based on these characteristics in my opinion better describe why people resort to criminal behavior over having certain physical
They also explore the myths about the connection between genetic factors and criminal behavior. The first myth they looked at was “Identifying the Role of Genetics in Criminal Behavior Implies That There Is a “Crime Gene.”” This myth is dismissed because of the unlikelihood that that a single gene is responsible for criminal behavior. The second myth they look at is “Attributing Crime to Genetic Factors is Deterministic.” This myth is also easily dismissed because of the fact that just because someone has a predisposition to a certain behavior doesn’t mean that the person will take on that behavior.
Ceasare Lombroso is one of the first scholars that developed ideas to explain the reasons why some people behaved more deviant than others or committed crimes. Lombroso conducted research on several prisoners measuring facial features and skull size. He later published a book called “the criminal man in 1876” (Dwyer, 2001 p.15). Lombroso believed that there was two different types of human beings, those who had evolved properly and another which did not. They were more primitive an...
The Father of Criminology. Lombroso studied at three different universities, where he “tried to relate certain physical characteristics, such as jaw size, to criminal psychopathology” (Sabbatini). He believed that all sociopaths and criminals had certain physical characteristics that resulted
In conclusion it is shown through examinations of a average criminals biological makeup is often antagonized by a unsuitable environment can lead a person to crime. Often a criminal posses biological traits that are fertile soil for criminal behavior. Some peoples bodies react irrationally to a abnormal diet, and some people are born with criminal traits. But this alone does not explain their motivation for criminal behavior. It is the environment in which these people live in that release the potential form criminal behavior and make it a reality. There are many environmental factors that lead to a person committing a crime ranging from haw they were raised, what kind of role models they followed, to having a suitable victims almost asking to be victimized. The best way to solve criminal behavior is to find the source of the problem but this is a very complex issue and the cause of a act of crime cannot be put on one source.
Advances in technology began the interest in the possibility of crime being related to genetics. As technology continues to thrive, the stronger the argument becomes that criminal behavior is caused by genetic make-up. In a Wall Street Journal article of April 27, 2013 Stanton Samenow states, “Brain-imaging techniques are identifying physical deformations and functional abnormalities that predispose some individuals to violence.” The article hails the rising field of “neurocriminology” as revolutionizing our understanding of violent behavior. Neorocriminology and biocriminology go hand-in-hand, both involving studying the physical and mental elements in crime an...
Lombroso tried to show a relationship between criminal behaviour and physical characteristics. Lombrosco suggested that an individual was predisposed to becoming a criminal, as a result of internal or innate characteristics, rather than environmental factors. Lombroso observed both criminals and non- criminals by their physical abnormalities, such as physical measurements and examinations. He concluded that most prisoners show the same physical abnormalities, which supported his claim that they were of the same criminal type. Abnormal characteristics may have included; large jaws, high cheekbones, large ears and extra toes and fingers.
Criminality constitutes strategic mannerisms characterized by apathy to misery inflicted on others, egocentricity and depressed self-control. Habitual criminal behaviour seeks to satisfy the offender’s desires for material prestige, power or pleasurable feelings regardless to damage inflicted to victim or society. Such behaviors extend mistrust, fuel prejudice, and largely corrupt social cohesion. Biological, psychological and environmental attributes are thought to heavily influence antisocial and criminal behaviour. Numerous studies have proven that active emulation, genetic predispositions and psychosocial labeling are all complementary to development and expressions of criminal behaviour. There has historically been a myriad of theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour through different perspectives, all which constitute intricate paradigms that play a role in expressio...
After Comte and Darwin developed their theories about the world, they were followed by several criminologists who also believed that science could answer many of the problems that were present in society, particularly in the field of criminology. One of these men was Cesare Lombroso, who was the first to actually focus on criminology as a science (Adler et al 2012). Lombroso believed criminals could be identified because of physical differences between them and non-criminal members of society (Adler et al 2012). In order to recognize these people he created what he called the "atavistic stigmata" which are characteristics exhibited by humans who were less developed (Adler et al 2012:66). Individuals who exhi...
Theories that are based on biological Factors and criminal behavior have always been slightly ludicrous to me. Biological theories place an excessive emphasis on the idea that individuals are “born badly” with little regard to the many other factors that play a part in this behavior. Criminal behavior may be learned throughout one’s life, but there is not sufficient evidence that proves crime is an inherited trait. In the Born to Be Bad article, Lanier describes the early belief of biological theories as distinctive predispositions that under particular conditions will cause an individual to commit criminal acts. (Lanier, p. 92) Biological criminologists are expected to study the “criminal” rather than the act itself. This goes as far as studying physical features, such as body type, eyes, and the shape or size of one’s head. “Since criminals were less developed, Lombroso felt they could be identified by physical stigmata, or visible physical abnormalities…characteristics as asymmetry of the face; supernumerary nipples, toes, or fingers; enormous jaws; handle-shaped or sensible ears; insensibility to pain; acute sight; and so on.” (Lanier. P. 94). It baffles me that physical features were ever considered a reliable explanation to criminal behavior. To compare one’s features to criminal behavior is not only stereotypical, but also highly unreliable.
“Lombroso implies that criminal tendencies are something a person has at birth” (Conklin, 2010, p. 106). One major concern with Lombroso’s theory was the unintended stereotyping. Moreover, it created environment for prejudice and discrimination. For instance the different race and ethnicity could easily be indentified a potential criminal. This theory in turn created a mistrust of certain people in society. Lombroso theory was also flawed because he did not a proper test group in his research. His theory did lend to the development of c...