WHY DO PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES? Theories of Criminology

Minds On! Think of as many possible reasons for the following: Why do people commit crime? What are the common characteristics? Who are the people who are victims of crime? What are the common characteristics?

The answer(?)… Read page National Council of Welfare- Justice and the Poor List the characteristics of the people who actually commit crime in Canada

Socio-Economic Status 19 th - 20 th centuries- What was a major concern in Canada? Who are the “underclass”? How is SES typically measured? Summarize John Hagan’s speech from How does a high SES lead to criminal behavior? What has been proven in New Zealand, Great Britain and the USA regarding crime and education? What is IPV?

Early Theories of Criminology Classical Theory- people broke the law because they thought that doing so would advance their own self interests Deviance was the natural result of our rational self interest Prior to this, essentially before the mid 1700’s- criminal deviance was the result of supernatural or demonic forces

Early Theories of Criminology Classical Theory- Set up a system of punishment that would deter people from breaking it Since humans were rational- weight the balance of positive and negative outcomes of their behaviour- the more serious the punishment, the more likelihood of deterrence Punishment should fit the crime- it should be proportional to the harm done to society Remember before the mid 1700’s, people were executed and mutilated for very minor offenses

Early Theories of Criminology What are the Pros of this theory? What are the Cons?

Early Theories of Criminology Positivist School- Influenced by evolutionary theory (Darwin) Controlled observation methods to the study of criminology Widely accepted in the 19 th century despite almost all of the science being terribly flawed Identifying criminals became a simple matter of searching for characteristics of humans who were less developed/advanced in evolutionary terms

MurdererSean Penn See any similarities!? Does this mean Sean Penn is a Criminal?

Early Theories of Crime Positivist School- Not totally a biological application- more an anthropological application Putting a native American within a European civilization would equal criminal behaviour You can still commit crime if you are more advanced, but that becomes a different concern The natural next step of this school is biological school- which attached various genetic characteristics to criminality, not evolutionary status The biological school has terrible consequences

So what about people we call serial killers…

Explanations of Crime Classical School Early Biological Theories (20 th century) Psychological Theories- Freud Psychological Theories- Moral Development (Kohlberg) Eysenck- Personality Theories Antisocial, Social Learning and Psychopathy Strain Theories (Anomie) Cultural Conflict Theory Marxist Conflict Perspective Contemporary Critical Criminology Interactionist Social Control Theory