Theories of Crime Causation

  Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able to: 1.   discuss the concepts of classical theories; and 2.   formulate examples based on real life situations using the concept of the theory. CLASSICAL THEORIES   Classical theories of crime causation hold primarily that the people’s decision to commit crime is a matter of choice. Because it was assumed that people had free will to choose their behavior, those who violated the law were motivated by personal needs such as greed, revenge, survival, and hedonism. Utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham argued that people weigh the benefits and consequences of their future actions before deciding on a course of behavior. Potential violators would stop their actions if the pain associated with a behavior outweighed its anticipated gain; conversely, law violating behavior seems attractive if the future rewards seem far greater than the potential punishment (Siegel et al, 2007)....

  Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able to: 1.   rephrase the concept of nature theory; and 2.  rate the concept of nature theory. NATURE THEORY   Nature theory holds that low intelligence is genetically determined and inherited. This was supported by Henry Goddard in his studies in 1920 that many institutionalized people were what he considered “ feebleminded ” and concluded that at least half of all juvenile delinquents were mentally defective. In similar vein, William Healy and Augusta Bronner tested a group of delinquents in Chicago and Boston and they found that 37 percent were subnormal in intelligence. Bronner and Healy concluded that delinquent boys were 5 to 10 times more likely to be mentally deficient than delinquent boys. Thus, many criminologists agreed with the predisposition of substandard individuals toward delinquency (Siegel et al, 2007). INTELLIGENCE AND CRIME   While it is acknowledged that a range of pers...

  Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able to: 1.   summarize the concept of phrenology; and  2.    identify what part of the brain that shows your strength and weakness. PHRENOLOGY   Phrenology posited that bumps on the head were indications of psychological propensities (Adler et al, 2010). Phrenology is the study of the conformation of the skull as indicative of mental faculties and traits of character, especially according to the hypotheses of Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828), and such 19th-century adherents as Johann Kaspar Spurzheim (1776–1832) and George Combe (1788–1858) ( https:// www.britannica.com/topic/phrenology ). Phrenology was a theory of brain and science of character reading, what the nineteenth- century phrenologists called "the only true science of mind." Phrenology was derived from the theories of the distinctive German-French anatomist and physiologist Franz Joseph Gall . The basic tenets of Gall's system were: 1....

  Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able to: 1. paraphrase the concept of physiognomy; and 2. rate the concept on human physiognomy in today’s generation of criminal offenders ETYMOLOGY OF THE TERM PHYSIOGNOMY   Physiognomy —from the ancient Greek, gnomos (character) and physis (nature), hence “the character of one’s nature”. Middle English phisonomie, from Anglo-French phisenomie, from Late Latin physiognomonia, physiognomia, from Greek physiognōmonia, from physiognōmōn judging character by the features, from “physis” nature, physique, appearance plus gnōmōn interpreter (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary). Giambattista della Porta also called Giovanni Battista Della Porta, (1535-1615) an Italian physician and natural philosopher. He founded the school on human physiognomy. Physiognomy deals with the study of facial features and their relation to human behavior. According to Porta, a thief had large lips and sharp vision. Porta’s findings were in cor...

  Module #14 Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be able to: 1.   rephrase the main concept of somatotyping theory; and 2.    identify the different types of body physique and its relation to crime causation. SOMATOTYPING THEORY Somatotyping theory is a theory which associates body physique to behavior and criminality ; it began with the work of German psychiatrist, neurologist, psychopathologist, Ernst Kretschmer (1888-1964) who constituted three principal types of body physiques: 1)   the asthenic -lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders; 2)   the athletic -medium to tall, strong, muscular, coarse bones; and, 3)   pyknic -medium height, rounded figure, massive neck and broad face (Adler et al, 2010).   Since Kretschmer was a psychiatrist, he related these body shapes to various psychiatric disorders : pyknics to manic depression . Manic depression according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary refers to ...