Criminal Behavior: The Risk Factors In American Society

Elements such as social-environmental, psychological, parental and family are risk factors in the American society that have an effect on determining if actions can be defined as criminal. Edwin Sutherland was a criminologist who believed crime plays a key role in forming an impact in an individual's society. He rationalized that “criminal behavior is learned behavior” (C.R. Jeffrey, 1965). Criminal behavior is not genetic which means that if an individual is born into a family of criminal's, the chances of he or she becoming a criminal is at a higher risk but does not necessarily mean he or she will be involved in criminal acts throughout their lifetime. The environment individuals surround themselves in and live in, influences their way of

The criminal activities these individuals can be involved in can range from theft, robbery, burglary, stealing/dealing drugs,etc. The environment in which they grow up in causes them to enact in these irrational behaviors. Individuals are not aware of any other way of life which results in them getting into trouble and having a criminal record. It is stated that “poverty can lead to high levels of stress that in turn may lead individuals to commit theft, robbery, or other violent acts. Moreover, poverty may lead to an actual or perceived inferior education, which would cause youth to count on less access to quality schools, jobs, and role models(Ludwig,1). This will lower the opportunity costs of crime and cause there to be a greater affiliation of the youth association themselves with gangs and spending time on the streets. Societies where there is high levels of unemployment will cause crime rates to be at a greater risk. This is due to individuals having no job which means they do not have a source of income coming in causing them to be more likely to have to enact in criminal behavior to get the needs that are essential to

An individual's personality drives behavior within themselves. This is because it is a principal motivational element. It is said that “Crimes can result from abnormal, dysfunctional or inappropriate mental processes within the individual’s personality” (“Criminal Behavior”, n.d.). An individual may act in a criminal way or enact in irrational, criminal behavior because he or she feels it is needed. The mind is what is telling the individual to commit the crime. Social consensus can illustrate what is considered “normal” or “adequate” in society by the greater number of individuals in a certain social group. Mental processes that are different from the standard or norm can be provoked from factors such as “diseased mind, inappropriate learning or improper conditioning, the emulation of inappropriate role models, and adjustment to inner conflicts”. (“Criminal Behavior”, n.d.). Psychological the mind of this individual is not in the righteous state causing them to believe the criminal way he or she is acting is how everyone else is acting. Observing past behaviors of this individual helps to determine how his or her future way of acting will be. Individuals get too carried away by his or her emotions which causes him or her to act in a certain criminal