1. THEORIES OF CAUSATION OF CRIME
Biological theories of crime,
Psychological theories of crime,
Sociological theories of crime,
Social-Psychological theories of crime.

2. introduction
Psychologists argue that in order to do something about the crime problem, we must first understand its causes.
Their aims are in conformity with that of Criminologists‘.
The questions are – Why does crime happen? What motivates people to commit illegal acts?
Several theories are advocated to answer these questions For example in case of theft, the biological explanations say that the thief has bad genes and the psychological explanations may maintain that he has a personality defect.

3. Like wise the sociological explanations may argue that he‘s got in with a bad crowd. These kind of explanations led to different kinds of theories:
Biological theories of crime,
Psychological theories of crime,
Sociological theories of crime,
Social-Psychological theories of crime.

4. Biological Theories
Biological theories of crime causation (biological positivism) are based on the belief that criminals are physiologically different from noncriminals. The cause of crime is biological inferiority.

5. biological inferiority
According to biological theories, a criminal’s innate physiological makeup produces certain physical or genetic characteristics that distinguish criminals from noncriminals.

6. Heredity Studies
Several studies have attempted to determine if criminality is hereditary by studying:
family trees
statistics
identical and fraternal twins
adopted children
All of these methods fail to prove that criminality is hereditary, because they cannot separate hereditary influences from environmental influences.

7. Modern Biocriminology
Ongoing research has revealed numerous biological factors associated either directly or indirectly with criminal or delinquent behavior:
chemical, mineral, and vitamin deficiencies in the diet
diets high in sugar and carbohydrates
hypoglycemia
continued…

8. Hormones
Criminal behaviors have also been associated with hormone abnormalities, especially those involving:
Testosterone (a male sex hormone)
Progesterone and estrogen (female sex hormones)
Administering estrogen to male sex offenders has been found to reduce their sexual drives.

9. Psychological Theories
There are many theories regarding psychological causes of crime, including:
Intelligence and crime
Psychoanalytic theories

10. Psychoanalytic Explanation
Psychoanalytic theories of crime causation are associated with the work of Sigmund Freud who believed that people who had unresolved deep-seated problems were psychopaths.

11. psychopaths
Persons characterized by no sense of guilt, no subjective conscience, and no sense of right and wrong. They have difficulty in forming relationships with other people; they cannot empathize with other people. They are also called sociopaths or antisocial personalities.

12. Sociological Theories
Sociologists emphasize that human beings live in social groups and that those groups and the social structure they create influence behavior.
Most sociological theories of crime causation assume that a criminal’s behavior is determined by his or her social environment and reject the notion of the born criminal.

13. social disorganization
The condition in which the usual controls over delinquents are largely absent, delinquent behavior is often approved of by parents and neighbors, there are many opportunities for delinquent behavior, and there is little encouragement, training, or opportunity for legitimate employment.

14. Anomie or Strain Theory
Robert Merton in 1938 wrote about a major contradiction in the U.S. between cultural goals and social structure. He called the contradiction anomie.

15. anomie
For Merton, the contradiction between the cultural goal of achieving wealth and the social structure’s inability to provide legitimate institutional means for achieving the goal.

16. Anomie or Strain Theory
Merton argued that the limited availability of legitimate institutionalized means to wealth puts a strain on people. People adapt through:
Conformity—playing the game.
Innovation—pursuing wealth by illegitimate means.
Ritualism—not actively pursuing wealth.
Retreatism—dropping out.
Rebellion—rejecting the goal of wealth and the institutional means of getting it.
continued…

17. Social-Psychological Theories of Crime
Social-psychological explanations of criminality view it as a learned behavior, acquired through the process of social interaction. Among these, as an example of control theory, Reckless‘ containment theory sees social pressure as controlling crime. In contrast, social-learning theory places more emphasis on reinforcement of responses, learned from observing the rewards and the punishments others receive for their acts.

18. Learning Theories
Edwin H. Sutherland—in his theory of differential association—was the first 20th-century criminologist to argue that criminal behavior was learned.
This theory, modified, remains one of the most influential theories of crime causation.

19. differential association
Sutherland’s theory that persons who become criminal do so because of contacts with criminal patterns and isolation from anticriminal patterns.

20. Learning Theories
Among the policy implications of learning theory is to punish criminal behavior effectively, according to learning theory principles. This is not done effectively in the U.S.
Probation does not function as an aversive stimulus.
Most offenders are not incarcerated.
continued…

21. Learning Theories Punishment is not consistent and immediate.
Offenders are generally returned to the environments in which their crimes were committed.
There is no positive reinforcement of alternative, prosocial behaviors.

22. Social Control Theories
The key question in the social control theory is not why people commit crime and delinquency, but rather why don’t they? Why do people conform?

23. Social Control Theories
The most detailed elaboration of modern social control theory is attributed to Travis Hirschi who wrote the 1969 book, Causes of Delinquency.

24. Social Control Theories
Hirschi argued that delinquency should be expected if a juvenile is not properly socialized by establishing a strong bond to society, consisting of:
Attachment to others
Commitment to conventional lines of action
Involvement in conventional activities
Belief in the moral order and law