Theoretically criminology is the attempt to understand crime and previous patterns. Criminology is also describe as an interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behavior that includes its forms, causes, legal aspects and control. The Criminology is regarded more as a behavioral or social science that studies the causes of criminal behavior and the social response to crime. Criminology has many areas of research that includes for example the incidence, forms, causes and consequences of crime, as well as social and governmental regulations and reaction to crime.
Classical Criminology was implemented in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. “The most prominent members of this theory were Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham” (Crimetheory.com). Beccaria was known as law reformer; transforming the criminal justice system in Euro and indirectly brought it into the United States and rest of the world. On the other end Jeremy Bentham supported Beccaria and shared ideas and common theories about criminology and criminal behaviors, where both agreed that criminal conducts could be understood and well controlled.
The classical school theory of criminology basically considers human nature rational and hedonistic where human beings acts caused self interest but at the same time rational and capable of creating new laws and punishments in a way where people would understand peaceful and non criminal conducts. Biological criminology theory maintains that the basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality are constitutionally or physiologically based and often inherited. Multiple studies of genetic behaviors have proved that genetic and environmental contributions are a big caused for individ...
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...tims were from young girls to mature elder men and women, therefore his kind of behavior could determine the modus operandi, mental weakness, along with other needs of the killer. Ramirez suffered a personality disorder characterized by antisocial behavior and lack of affection due to his drug addiction and behavior.
My reflection while doing research and leaning about Ramirez behavior and conduct are that if Ramirez during his early 20’s was incarcerated for drug issues, he should be treated in jail before being release back to society. Once the treatment had been completed successfully then have the prisoner put back to society with the main purpose to have rehabilitated inmates that will never commit crimes again. Make sure to help then incorporate to society with the support of a job in any trade and provide housing until completely independents.
Forensically speaking there is no evidence that proves that Ramirez had any mental disorders. Although he does have the characteristics of someone who is a sociopath, such as compartmentation . However, what intrigued me about Ramirez wasn’t just the murder himself, but what motivated him to commit his murders and the theory of nature versus nurture. Richard did not have a strong foundation as a child because he was being raised by an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who appeared to not protect Richard from the father, this is the perfect foundation in creating a serial killer. The pivotal moment when Ramirez became a serial killer was when he watched mike murder his wife because he associated murder with sex. Who knows what would have happened to Richard if Mike was not in his life. He could have still had psychological issues but he could have turned out not to be a
Ramirez was born in 1960 to his Mexican immigrant parents Julian and Mercedes Ramirez. He was the youngest out of his five siblings of 3 boys and 2 girls. He grew up in El Paso, Texas, where he had a relatively normal childhood to start off with. Even though Ramirez seemed to be on a down hill spiral, his father always maintained that Ramirez was a "good boy". At the age of 12 he started to spend a lot of time with his cousin Mike, a Vietnam veteran, his cousin would show him pictures of women he had raped and tortured during his time in Vietnam. Mike would sometime take Ramirez out to the desert at night to show him how to sneak up on animals and kill them. Ramirez was taught how to use a knife and where the vital spots were on the animals. Some believe that the turning point in Ramirez's life may have been when he witnessed his cousin murder his wife. At the time Ramirez was 13 and was smoking pot with his cousin Mike when his wife came in and allegedly started to "nag" him on getting his life together and getting a job. Mike then took out a gun and shot her in the face. The blood of Mikes wife spattered onto Ramirez. After Mikes conviction Ramirez became fascinated with the photos that Mike had showed him. From being a bright young stude...
1. There are a couple of differences and similarities between the classical and biological theories of criminology. The biological theories of crime support the idea that an individual commits a crime due to their biological make-up and had criminal tendencies because of certain abnormalities that an individual may have had and not because the offender in their right mind chose to commit the crime. The classical theory has the belief that every individual has their own right in the way in which they act upon, so they commit a crime because they choose to do so, not because it is in their biological make-up.
Criminology is the scientific study of the causes and prevention of crimes. Criminology also uses a vast amount of theories to explain peoples’ actions, mental state, and their drive for committing crimes. Some crimes have monetary benefits, while other crime are committed in revenge or in spite of another, which would be called crimes of passion. Because it can be sometime difficult to understand why certain crime are committed, the only thing we can do is use theories to better decipher thoughts, morals, and reasons behind committing crimes.
There were multiple experiences within Ramirez’s childhood that crafted him into the serial killer he once was. His father was abusive to him and his siblings. When Ramirez was two, he had two severe head injuries. These head injuries were
This paper explores three criminological theories as to why Jeffrey Dahmer committed his crimes. Although these approaches vary in terms of defining the cause of crime, one thing is certain, there is no single cause of crime; the crime is rooted in a diversity of causes and takes a variety of forms depending on the situation in which the crimes occur. However, the published articles vary in their definitions and uses of Criminological Theory. Rawlins (2005) suggest that the criminal phenomenon is too complex to be explained by a single theory. Other theories suggest differently and; therefore, have varying explanations. This paper examines the Psychological, Biochemical, and Social Process theories to slightly explain Jeffrey Dahmer’s actions.
Not only is criminal justice used to prepare college students, but the study of criminal justice as a scientific discipline, known as criminology is used to make policies. Criminology is used to study crimes and the impacts that they have on society by using the scientific method to research crime control policies. According to Akers, Sellers & Jennings (2017), Several areas that criminology focuses on are the types of crimes committed, the frequency in which crimes are committed, where the crimes occur, and the measures that government takes to react to criminal activities. The research determined through experiments, investigation, and reviews are usually of delinquent youth to determine crime prevention strategies to policies in order to reduce crime during childhood and adulthood. Laws and political stances are largely affected through the criminal justice policies and practices that are implemented through scientific research (Foster,
We can all agree that serial killers are unpredictable scary people but when it comes to why they kill, everyone has a different view. In my research paper I will get into the mind of a serial killer and try to figure out what exactly sets them into uncontrollable rage.
Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals. It is also a study that is constantly changing due to the people in our society, which political, economic and spiritual views of individuals come into consideration. Robert Agnew, an important man to the world of criminology, he was born on December first, in 1953, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Agnew fortunately is still living, and ages sixty years of age. He Attended Rutgers College, a school in New Jersey, where he received his Bachelors of Arts in sociology, although both his Masters and PhD in sociology he obtained in University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Sociology being the study of the functioning of human society. Agnew discovered his passion for teaching after her worked as a teacher’s assistant and served as Associate Editor to Social Forces Journal for a couple years. Agnew started teaching at Emory University, the courses he taught varied from criminology to the introduction of sociology. In addition to teaching, Robert Agnew wrote many books and articles about either criminology or sociology. He was also involved in both field’s sociology and criminology through academics, and contributed to them greatly. Although his best contribution was his development of the general strain theory. A theory in which Agnew elaborated on and decided to adjust his perspective. Having gone through bad experiences in one’s life, can influence in the way that a certain individual thinks, and can lead them towards a life involving crime in their everyday lives.
The statement suggests that those with no history of violence within their family and/or those who had a good upbringing will most likely not go on to commit violent crimes. At first this does seem like a reasonable suggestion to make. However, once we look deeper into this topic we uncover more complex explanations that are used to understand the phenomenon that is violent crime. Psychological perspectives are widely used throughout the world of criminology in order to help comprehend why crime is committed and the patterns that occur between the type of offender and type of crime. There perspectives are broken down into four main areas within psychology; Biological/Evolutionary, Social/Learning theory, Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic and finally
There are many different aspects of criminal justice policy. One in particular is the different theories of crime and how they affect the criminal justice system. The Classical School of criminology is a theory about evolving from a capital punishment type of view to more humane ways of punishing people. Positivist criminology is maintaining the control of human behavior and criminal behavior. They did this through three different categories of Biological studies, which are five methodologies of crime that were mainly focused on biological theories, Psychological theories, which contains four separate theories, and the Sociological theories, which also includes four different methods of explaining why crime exists. The last theory is about Critical criminology. Their goal was to transform society in a way that would liberate and empower subordinate groups of individuals.
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.
Before one can begin talking about what the “Biological Theories” of Criminology are, one must first understand what were the early understandings of crime. The earliest theories tended to focus on supernatural or religious causes, which is where the ideas of witches and witchcraft came into play (e.g., the Salem Witch trials), which today seem ludicrous to even believe in. However, most crime cases focused on the assumption that these criminals were possessed, rather than it being their rational choice to commit the crime, which is where the unconventional, to say the least, treatments came into place, such as exorcisms, burning, or trephining (i.e., making a hole in the scull of the deviant to release the evil spirits from their body… wonder how that worked out?). This explanation soon fell out of favor within the community when individuals (e.g., Lombroso and H.H. Goddard) began finding more conclusive explanations and moved on to explain that it was the individual’s fault, but not necessarily their choice; they used the descriptions of phrenology/physiognomy (which was based off of Darwin’s theory of evolution) and the
Criminology centers its attention on the criminal as a person, his behavior, and what has led him or her to a life of crime. Criminology seeks to understand the criminals' genetic makeup, to learn whether there is an inherited tendency to crime. It also takes into consideration such issues as the individuals socioeconomic background, family background, educational opportunities, and childhood associations.
I now know that criminology prefer to highlight the correlations between crimes’ social climates and criminals’ psychological states of mind. While some argues that criminal behavior is a result of individuals’ association with criminal peers, other claims that crime is a reflection of an individual’s genetic disadvantages. I have come to learn that there are no universally agreed formulas on decoding crimes and criminal behaviors. What we have, however, is a manual full of academic opinions and subjective views that have emerged alongside of the development of criminology. At the same time, the volume of conflicting perspectives that I have stumble upon in studying criminology reminded me again that the success of our current assessment models has yet to be determined. Thus, the study of criminology is an appropriate practice that will further prepare me to conduct meaningful research on legal studies and to provide accurate and in-depth findings in the near