1. Current Issues Topic #11: Social Interactions
Analyzes the causes of Criminal behavior and its impact

2. What Causes Crime?
It is difficult to control or reduce crime without knowing what causes it.
Criminology: The scientific study of the nature, extent, cause and control of criminal behavior.

3. There are various theories about what causes crime:
Choice Theory
Biological Theories
Psychological Theories
Sociological Theories
Conflict Theories
Integrated Theories
Victimization Theories

4. Choice Theory
Belief that people commit crime when they perceive benefits of law violation outweigh the threat and pain of punishment.
Belief that criminals use Rational Choice in deciding to commit crime.

5. Biological Theories
Belief that crime is caused not so much by human choice but by inherited and uncontrollable biological and psychological traits.
Intelligence
Diet
Personality
Body Build

6. Psychological Theories
1. Psychoanalytic Theory
2. Behavioral Theory
3. Cognitive Theory

7. Psychoanalytic Theory
Belief that the development of personality in early life influences behavior for the rest of a person’s life.
Belief that criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities.

8. Behavioral Theory
Belief that people commit crimes when they model behavior after others they see being rewarded for the same acts.
Belief that behavior is enforced by rewards and extinguished by punishments.

9. Cognitive Theory
Belief that individual reasoning processes influence behavior.
Reasoning is influenced by the way people perceive their environment, and by their moral and intellectual development.

10. Biological & Psychological Theories Practical Implications
If criminals are inherently “flawed”, Incarcerate them to protect the public
Similarity to the Crime Control Perspective
Different From Rehabilitation Perspective
Help people not responsible for their actions

11. Sociological Theories
Sociological explanations of crime are the most common because:
Crime patterns have a definite social orientation
Why are sociological theories of crime so important?
They make the connection between social factors and crime:
Poverty
Unemployment

12. Social Structure Theory
Contends social strata are created by the unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige
Obvious social class distinctions in America-
Upper, Middle and Lower Class
Conflicts and problems of urban social life and communities control the crime rate
How do fix this: If poverty and strain cause crime, efforts to improve economic opportunity should be able to help reduce crime.

13. Strain Theory
Contends that members of the lower class experience animosity when their means to achieve culturally defined goals, like wealth and financial success, are insufficient.
Inability of lower class to achieve culturally defined goals results in alternative solutions(Crime) to meet their need for success.

14. Social Process Theories
Theories that people learn to commit crime by exposure to Antisocial Behaviors
Belief criminal behavior depends on experience with rewards and punishments
Rewards for deviance leads to crime

15. Labeling Theory
Belief that society produces criminals by stigmatizing some persons as deviants.
Labeled persons come to accept that as their identity.

16. Social Control Theory
Belief that most people do not violate the law due to social bonds to family, peers, school and other institutions.
Also believe that if the bonds weaken or are absent, crime may result.

17. Political Theories Conflict Theory
View that crime results from the rich and powerful imposing their moral standards and economic interests on the rest of society.

18. Integrated Theories
1. Latent Trait Theory
2. Developmental Theory

19. Latent Trait Theory
Belief that some people have a personal characteristic that controls their likelihood to commit crime.
Low Intelligence
Impulsive Personality
Genetic Defect

20. Developmental Theory
Belief that the reasons people commit crime and its frequency change during the course of their lives.
As people mature, the factors that influence behavior change:
Building social capital (positive relationships that foster self worth and inhibit crime) and social bonds reduces long term criminality
Life events help terminate or sustain criminal careers

21. Causes Of Crime: Theories Of Victimization
Some theories of crime examine the role victims play in provoking or encouraging crime.
1. Lifestyle Theory
2. Routine Activities Theory

22. Lifestyle Theory
Theory that some people become victims because their lifestyle increases exposure to criminal offenders
Partying and drug use increases likelihood of violent crime involvement

23. Routine Activities Theory
Theory that crime is a product of three factors
Motivated Offenders
Suitable Targets
Lack of Capable Guardians(security devices, police)