Transcript Why do people commit Crimes?

Why do people
commit
Crimes?
Theories of Criminology
Positive Theory
(Positivism)
 Criminals are born not made
 This is an example of nature,
not nurture
 Focused on biological and
psychological factors to
explain criminal behaviour
Positivist Theorists
 Cesare Lombarso (1835 – 1909)
 Italian physician and psychiatrist
 What did he think/do?
 Studied cadavers of executed criminals in an effort to
determine scientifically whether criminals were
physically any different from non-criminals
 He believed that people were born criminals and facial
features of criminals included things like enormous
jaws and strong canine teeth.
Pictures of
murderers
that Lambarso
believed
carried facial
features
tied to criminal
activity.
Murderer
Sean Penn
See any similarities!?
Does this mean Sean Penn is a Criminal?
Positivist Theorists
 In the 1960s, positivist criminologists argued that criminal
behaviour lies in abnormal chromosomes
 The XYY theory argued that violent male criminals have
an abnormal XYY chromosome (XY is the normal pattern
in males)
 However, researchers soon found out that this was not
true and that criminals had normal chromosomes and that
non-criminals also had abnormal chromosomes.
 The Positivist theory of criminals being born rather than
made died out. There were moral implications with this.
Sociological Perspectives:
Theory of Anomie
 Sociological Theorist: Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
 People who live in cities feel more anonymous and
isolated (as compared to rural life).
 No longer restrained by the strict norms of society (in rural
life) and given the anonymity in a big city, certain
individuals turned to crime.
 Durkheim is also a father of functionalism (i.e., everyone
has a role/function in society and that is how society
runs/functions.
 Durkheim believes that criminals have a role and are
needed for society to function
 If there were no crime, it would mean that everyone in
society was the same and agreed on everything. This
is no ideal and society would be too comforting –
people need a release.
Anomie cont…
 Kitty Genovese
 Young woman stabbed to death on a street in
New York City -1964
 As many as 37 neighbours and bystanders all
heard her screams for help.
 No one called the police because they all
thought someone else would take action.
 Sociologists call this Diffusion of
Responsibility
Sociology cont…
Ecological School
 Believed that criminal behaviour was fostered and
encouraged in certain environments.
 They studied a number of poor neighbourhoods and
concluded that communities that suffered from high
rates of poverty and social disintegration were more
likely to allow criminal activity than more affluent
neighbourhoods.
Sociology cont…
Social Conflict Theory
 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argued that the
capitalist society encouraged crime as people
competed for resources and wealth.
 Our society protects those with power and property. As
a result, people who are economically disadvantaged
are more likely to be punished by our justice system.
The only way to solve the crime problem is to eliminate
the capitalist system.
Social Psychological
Perspective
 Social psychology is the study of the relations
between individuals and people.
 They are interested in how ‘regular’ people
can commit atrocious crimes.
 Stanley Milgram was specifically interested in
how Nazi’s were able to commit horrible acts
of genocide – he focused on how people
could do this just by following orders.
 Milgram Experiment
Strain Theory (Sociology)
 Current societies stress the goals of acquiring wealth,
success, and power.
 However, the means to achieve these goals require
education and economic resources.
 These means are frequently denied or unavailable to
those who are economically disadvantaged or have little
opportunity for formal education.
Psychoanalytical Theory
 Sigmund Freud believed that all humans have criminal
tendencies.
 It is through socialization that these tendencies are
controlled during childhood.
 If a child has an identity problem with his/her parent, this
problem may cause the child to direct its antisocial
tendencies outward and thus become a criminal.
 Psychological Human Development also comes into play
here
Your Turn
 Select TWO newspaper articles that relate
to Canadian Criminal Law. For each:
 Choose one of the theories from class
 Assess the application of your chosen crime
theory – how does your article support or
negate your chosen crime theory?
 Explain using examples from the article
 Reference/attach your articles – hand in your
work (each should be a half page)
Check it
 Give your person a score from 0-4 on the
following:
 Has your person clearly chosen a crime theory?
 Has the person explained the application of their
crime theory to the article?
 Has the person assessed the value of the crime
theory?
 Has the person used examples from the article?
 Has the person attached/referenced their articles?