2. Theories of Crime
Undoubtedly, worldwide problems today
about criminality is attributed to issues present in
the society where prominent theories of crime
causation are strain theory, in which people
commit crimes to get relief from strain or stress
and or trauma, and control theory, which claims
that others force people to do crimes. The social
learning theory is the idea that people learn to
do crimes through their constant association
with others especially their peers.
3. Understanding Crime
• Inside and out of the country, municipality, barangay and
family, crime is prevalent and ubiquitous. Sometimes, the
non-acceptance of the nature and how it is being done
create another crime environment. Educated and
uneducated alike, known and prominent personalities or
not, Christian and non-Christians, healthy and the
gruesome, poor and wealthy are all possible crime
suspects and victims. With this, it is imperative therefore
to recognize the sources and origins of crime.
4. Some of the crime causes;
misunderstanding of family members
materialism/people who focus on material
things rather than blood relation
Position/designation conscious
Greedy of power and authority
Lifestyle (needs vs wants)
recognition
5. The Anomie Theory
The Anomie Theory
• Emile Durheim defined anomie (normlessness) as the
breakdown of social order as a result of the loss of standards of
values. Based on this theory, crime is normal.
• Anomie is a sociological term meaning “personal feeling of a
lack of norms; normlessness”. It describes the breakdown of
social norms and values. It was popularized by French
sociologist Emile Durkheim.
Causes:
Disrespect t elderly and parents
No values nurtured
“come what may” idea
Abuse of freedom
6. WHAT ARE THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS
RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIMINALITY?
• Broken families
• Poor parenting
• Low quality educational experiences
• Delinquent peer relations
• Poverty
• Lack of equal economic opportunity
• Inadequate socialization
8. Social Disorganization Theory
• Social Disorganization refers to the breakdown in traditional social
control and organization in the society, community, neighborhood, or
family so that deviant and criminal activity result. It states a person’s
physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the
behavioral choices that a person makes. At the core of social
disorganization theory, is that location matters when it comes to
predicting illegal activity. It is most often applied to urban crime. It
simply focus on the immediate social environment, like the family, peer
group, and school.
• This is macro theory looking across different communities or
neighborhoods because it focused on the larger social environment,
especially the community on the total society. It attempts to explain
why some groups- like communities and societies- have higher crime
rates than other groups.
• It seeks to explain community differences in crime rules by identifying
the characteristics of communities with high crime rates and draws on
social control theory to explain why these characteristics contribute to
9. Characteristics of communities where
crime is more likely to happen:
• 1. economically deprived
• 2. large in size
• 3. high in multiunit housing like apartments
• 4. high in residential mobility (people frequently move
economically deprived high in multiunit housing like apartments
into and out of the community)
• 5. high in family disruption (high rates of divorce, single-parent
families).
• Proponents: Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay
• Profile: sociologists at the University of Chicago (19203 and
19308)
10. AND MCKAY ALL ABOUT IN RELATION
WITH SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION
THEORY?
• A spatial mapping to examine the residential locations of
juveniles referred to court was conducted and it was found out
that patterns of delinquency were higher in areas characterized
by poor housing, poor health, socio-economic disadvantage and
transient populations. They were able to establish a pattern that
the highest rates of deviance concentrated in the inner city and
diminishing outward from the core of the city. With their findings
they suggest that crime was a function of neighborhood
dynamics and not due to individual actors and their actions.
Factors in a city that have been examined by others include the
poverty rate, unemployment rate, percentage of female headed
households, percentage of those under the age of 18, and
various measures of community involvement.
11. Strain/Anomie Theory
• Proponent: Emile Durkheim
• Profile: One of the founding fathers of sociology
• This theory explains the breakdown of social norms that often
accompanies rapid social change. A concrete example is when
old rules or values are no longer relevant and new values or
rules are in direct conflict with old rules and values. It is also on
this context that, criminal behaviour arises when confronted with
the inability to achieve success and when faced with the strain
that ensues following the realization that personal talents,
training, or desires cannot achieve that which is desire. Merton
states that, Anomie refers to a psychological state of confusion
caused by rapidly changing industrial evolution and
accompanying social dislocation and the effect this change has
on people. This state is popularly conceptualized as
normlessness.
12. Strain/Anomie Theory
• It is a feeling, an attitude, a psychological perspective that
causes those who experience is to feel confused, frustrated,
annoyed angry, hostile, embarrassed, and even resigned or
doomed. He contended that those who feel this way may
attempt to relieve themselves by committing deviant acts while
others may resort to an extreme aggravated resolution and
commit suicide. It can be said as an overreaction but many are
ill equipped with the pushes and pulls they face and for some,
those extreme measures described by him may have been the
only viable solution.
13. • According to Robert Merton (1957), an American sociologist
drew on this idea in explaining criminality and deviance in the
USA arguing that crime occurs when there is a gap between the
cultural goals of a society (e.g. material wealth, status) and the
structural means to achieve these (e.g. education, employment).
This strain between means and goals results in frustration and
resentment, and encourages some people to use illegitimate or
illegal means to secure success. He saw that psychological
stress results from a perceived inability to successfully compete
for social capital. To illustrate, those who have access or
successfully compete for social capital (money), are more
contented (have less anomie), where those who do not are less
satisfied and therefore experience more anomie.
14. • People experience strain or stress, they become upset, and
they sometimes engage in crime as a result. They may engage
in crime to reduce or escape from the strain they are
experiencing. For example, they may engage in violence to end
harassment from others, they may steal to reduce financial
problems, or they may run away from home to escape abusive
parents. They may also engage in crime to seek revenge
against those who have wronged them. And they may engage in
the crime of illicit drug use to make themselves feel better.
15. • Merton developed the concept of anomie to describe this
imbalance between cultural goals and institutionalized means.
He argued that such an imbalanced society produces anomie -
there is a strain or tension between the goals and means which
produce unsatisfied aspirations.
• Merton argued that when individuals are faced. With a gap
between their goals (usually finances/money related) and their
current status, strain occurs. When faced with strain, people
have five ways to adapt:
16. • 1. Conformity: pursing cultural goals through socially approved
means.
• 2. Innovation: using socially unapproved or unconventional
means to obtain culturally approved goals. Example:
dealing drugs or stealing to achieve financial security.
• 3. Ritualism: using the same socially approved means to
achieve less elusive goals (more modest and humble).
• 4. Retreatism: to reject both the cultural goals and the means to
obtain it, then and a way to escape it.
• 5. Rebellion: to reject the cultural goals and means, then work to
replace them.
17. Strain Theory: Robert Agnew (1992)
• Strain may result from the failure to attain a variety of goals. The
theorists focus on the failure to achieve three related goals:
money, status/respect, and for adolescents autonomy from
adults. It explains that the failure to achieve ones goals, strain
may result when people take something one values or present
one with noxious or negative stimuli. Such negative treatment
may upset or anger people and crime may be the result.
18. Major Types of Strain (Agnew)
• (1) others prevent you from achieving your goals, and
• (2) others take things you value or present you with negative or
noxious stimuli.
19. 3. Subcultural Theory
• This theory is linked to anomie and strain exemplifying concepts
of status frustration and differential opportunity, which North
American subcultural theorists used to explain the delinquent
activities of disadvantaged groups in the 19503 and 60s.
• In the study of Albert Cohen in relation with status frustration, he
argued that lower-class youths could not aspire to middle-class
cultural goals and so, frustrated, they rejected them to create
their own sub cultural system of values.
20. Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
(1960)
• built on these ideas, pointing to the differential opportunity
structures available to lower-class young people in different
neighborhoods: criminal (making a living from crime), conflict
(territorial Violence and gang fighting) and retreatist (drugs and
alcohol).
21. Social Control Theory
• This theory does not address the causes of crime, but
rather focuses on why people obey the law. In other
words, it explains conformity rather than deviance. This
theory is associated with the work of Travis Hirschi (1
969), an America social scientist who proposed that
people general conform to social norms due to strong
social bonds. Conversely, they engage in delinquent acts
when these bonds are broken or weak. It is non traditional
criminological perspectives because they seek to explain
why individuals conform to societal norms, and not why
they commit crime.
• It simply suggests that individuals will commit criminal or
delinquent acts when their ties (bonds) to society are
weakened or have broken. When the bonds are strong, an
22. Key components of social bonds are:
• 1. Attachment- How strong or weak is an individuals relationship
with others? Do these others expect certain kinds of behaviour
(such as obeying the law) from this individual? The stronger the
attachment and the stronger the expectations, the more likely it
is that the individual will conform.
• 2. Commitment- The more an individual commits his / herself to
a particular lifestyle (for example, being married, being a parent,
having a job), the more he / she has to lose if he/she becomes
involved in crime (and so deviate from the lifestyle).
• 3. Involvement - This component comes down to time the more
time the individual spends engaging in law abiding behaviour,
the less time he/she has to engage in law breaking behaviour.
• 4. Belief - This relates to upbringing. If an individual has been
brought up to be law abiding, they are less likely to become
involved in crime.
23. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
• Proponent: Edwin E. Sutherland
• This theory emphasized that crime is a result of social learning by
engaging in deviant behaviors by those with whom we socially
interact. It is a learning theory that concentrates on ones associates
and the normative definitions one learns from them.
• Sutherlands Propositions for Differential Association Theory
• 1. Criminal behavior is learned.
• 2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a
process of communication.
• 3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs
within intimate personal groups.
• 4. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a)
techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very
complicated, sometimes very simple, and (b) the speciflc direction of
motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
24. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
• 5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from
definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
• 6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions
favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to Violation
of the law.
• 7. The process of learning criminal behavior by association With
criminal and anti criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms
that are involved in any other learning.
• 8. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and
values, it is not explained by those general needs and values,
because noncriminal behavior is an expression of the same needs
and values.
• 9. Differential association varies in frequency, duration, priority, and
intensity. The most frequent, longest-running, earliest and closest
influences will be most efficacious or determinant of learned
behavior.
25. CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY
• This theory signifies that conformity to the prevailing cultural
norms of lower class society causes crime. Lower class
subculture has a unique set of values and beliefs, Which are
invariably in conflict with conventional social norms. Criminality
is an expression of conformity to lower class subculture] values.
Members of the working class commit crimes as they respond to
the cultural norms of their own class in an effort to deal with
problems of social -middle class- adjustment.
26. THEE MECHANISMS BY WHICH INDIVIDUALS LEARN TO
ENGAGE IN CRIME
Differential reinforcement of crime.
• Individuals may teach others to engage in crime through the
reinforcements and punishments they provide for behavior.
27. Differential Identification Theory
“A person,” according to Daniel Glaser, “pursues criminal
behavior to the extent that he identifies himself with real or
imaginary persons from whose perspetive his criminal behavior
seems acceptable.
• Causes
law enforcers with firearms- expected to kill
public officials- anytime can do corruption
teachers- can always bully and shout to his/her students
managers- can belittle subordinates
28. The Labelling Process Theory
-have their foundations in the various concepts and insights
provided interactionism, phenomology and ethnomethodology
which focuses on three (3) central concerns.
1) there is consideration of why and how it is that some acts
come to be defined as deviant or criminal while others do not.
2) it is recognized that certain people and groups are more likely
to attract a deviant, criminal and stigmatizing labels than
others.
3) it assesses the experience of being laeled for the recipients of
the label.
29. The theory that the formal and informal application of
stigmatizing and deviant “labels” or tags applied to an individual
by society will not deter, but rather instigate future deviant or
criminal acts.
Activity
What happens once a child has been labeled a trouble maker, or
a young man labeled
a thief?
30. Reintegrative Shaming Theory
The process by which an individual is punished, labeled,
and made to feel shame for committing a deviant act, but done in
a way that the individual who is shamed is brought back into the
larger community and restored to a position of respectability.
31. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
• This theory underscored that people learn to engage in crime,
primarily through their association with others. They are reinforced
for crime, they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime, and they
are exposed to criminal models. They view crime as something that
is desirable or at least justifiable in certain situations. Juveniles
learn to engage in crime in the same way they learn to engage in
conforming behavior: through association with or exposure to
others. Primary or intimate groups like the family and peer group
have an especially large impact on what we learn. In fact,
association with delinquent friends is the best predictor of
delinquency other than prior delinquency. However, one does not
have to be in direct contact with others to learn from them; for
example, one may learn to engage in violence from observation of
others in .the media.
32. causes
Victimized by their own loved ones
Family quarrel/ misunderstanding in front of their children
social media such as: Television, and print media, and other
means of violence seen publicly.
33. Overvalued Beliefs
Our own beliefs influence our values, attitudes, and
perceptions. We tend to see what we believe.
Beliefs persevere especially when we find a reason for
their validity, even if there are evidence to show that they are
false.
Causes
based on long overdue practices
handed down tradition
unfathomable faith
34. Feminist Theory
is a major branch of theory within sociology that shifts its
assumptions, analytic lens, and topical focus away from the male
viewpoint and experience and toward that of women.
it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It
examines women’s and men’s social roles, experiences, interests,
chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as
anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies,
psychoanalysis, home economics, literature, education, and
philosophy.
Causes
• Gender inequality
• men’s world identity
35. Four Different types of Feminist
Theory
1) Liberal Feminism- is an individualistic form of feminist theory,
which focuses on women’s ability to maintain their equality
through their own actions and choices
2) Marxist Feminism- refers to a particular feminist theory
focusing on the ways in which women are oppressed through
capitalist economic practices and system of private property.
3) Radical Feminism- is a perspective within feminism that calls
for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy
nis eliminated in all social and economic contexts.
36. What are the instances wherein crime is
more likely to occur?
• (a) is frequently reinforced and infrequently punished;
• (b) results in large amount of reinforcement (e.g., a lot of money,
social approval, or pleasure) and little punishment; and
• (c) is more likely to be reinforced than alternative behaviors.
37. Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement
• a. Positive Reinforcement
• The behavior results in something good some positive
consequence like money, the pleasurable feelings associated
with drug use, attention from parents, approval from friends, or
an increase in social status.
• b. Negative Reinforcement
• The behavior results in the removal of something bad a punisher
is removed or avoided. Example: Suppose one’s friends have
been calling her a coward because she refuses to use drugs
With them. The individual eventually takes drugs with them, after
which time they stop calling her a coward. The individual’s drug
use has been negatively reinforced.
38. Beliefs favorable to crime.
• Other individuals may not only reinforce our crime, they may
also teach us beliefs favorable to crime. Most individuals, of
course, are taught that crime is bad or wrong. They eventually
accept or internalize this belief, and they are less likely to
engage in crime as a result. Some individuals, however, learn
beliefs that are favorable to crime and they are more likely to
engage in crime as a result.
39. Three categories of beliefs favoring
crime.
• 1. Some people generally approve of certain minor forms of
crime, like certain forms of consensual sexual behavior,
gambling, ”soft” drug use, and for adolescents alcohol use,
truancy, and curfew violation.
• 2. Some people conditionally approve of or justify certain forms
of crime, including some serious crimes. They believe that crime
is generally wrong, but that some criminal acts are justifiable or
even desirable in certain conditions.
• Example: Fighting is generally wrong, but that it is justified if
you have been insulted or provoked in some way. Some people
hold certain general values that are conducive to crime. These
values do not explicitly approve of or justify crime, but they
make crime appear a more attractive alternative than would
otherwise be the case.
40. Three categories of beliefs favoring
crime.
• 3. The imitation of criminal models. Behavior is not only a
function of beliefs and the reinforcements and punishments
individuals receive, but also of the behavior of those around
them. Individuals often imitate or model the behavior of others
especially when they like or respect these others and have
reason to believe that imitating their behavior will result in
reinforcement.
• Example: Individuals are more likely to imitate others behavior if
they observe them receive reinforcement for their acts.
41. ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMINOLOGY
• Environmental criminology is the study of crime, criminality, and
victimization as they relate, first, to particular places, and
secondly, to the way that individuals and organizations shape
their activities spatially, and in so doing are in turn influenced by
place based or spatial factors. Further it is a positivist theory
that suggests crime is influenced, if not caused, by a persons
spatial environment which include space (geography), time, law,
offender, and target or victim.
Proponents: Paul and Patricia Brantingham
42. Psychological Theory
• This theory has a general perspective that looks to the
psychological functioning, development, and adjustment of an
individual in explaining criminal or deviant acts. Under this
approach, the criminal act itself is important only in that it
highlights an underlying mental issue (Akers and Seller, 2013). It
focus on the association among intelligence, personality,
learning and criminal behaviour. It further explain criminal
behavior, in part, as factors affecting individuals such as
negative childhood experiences, or incomplete cognitive
development.
43. What are the probes of the psychological theory?
• 1. Charles Goring (1870- 1919)
• Findings:
• 1. There was a relationship between crime and flawed intelligence.
Goring examined more than 3,000 convicts in England.
• 2. Criminals are more likely to be insane, to be unintelligent, and to
exhibit poor social behavior.
• 2. Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904)
• Findings:
• 1. Maintained that individuals learn from each other and ultimately
imitate one another.
• 2. Out of 100 individuals, only 1 was creative or inventive and the
remainder were prone to imitation (Jacoby, 2004).
44.
45. Self-Control Theory (General Theory of
Crime)
This theory constituted a reassertion of the classical
schools initial contention that individuals seek personal
pleasure while avoiding pain (Beccaria, 1764/ 1963) which
simply means that people are motivated by self-interest. Low
self-control was the general, antecedent cause of forceful/
fraudulent acts “undertaken in pursuit of self-interest”
(Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990).
46. Self-Control Theory is a theory about the redirected
attention of criminologists to the family and to what
parents do, or do not do, during childhood that affects
the likelihood of delinquency.
47.
48. What is self-control?
A person’s ability to alter his or her own states and
responses.
Note: Low self-control is the main individual-level source of crime
49. Displacement Theory
Crime displacement is the relocation of crime (or
criminals) as a result of police crime-prevention efforts.
Crime displacement has been linked to problem-oriented
policing, but it may occur at other levels and for other
reasons. Community-development efforts may be a reason
why criminals move to other areas for their criminal activity.
50. What are the factors that causes crime
displacement?
1. offenders motivation
2. offenders familiarity
3. crime opportunity
51. Life Course Theory
also known as the Developmental Theoty which suggests
that criminal behavior is a dynamic process influenced by
individual characterisitcs as well as social experiences, and that
the factors that cause antisocial behaviors change dramatically
over a person’s life span.
52. The theory is the product othe collaborative efforts of Sheldon
Glueck and his wife Eleanor Touroff-Glueck.
Life course theory also recognizes that as people mature,
the factors that influence their behavior change. For example,
some antisocial children who are in trouble throughout their
adolescence may manage to find stabale work and maintain
intact marriages as adults.
53. Latent Trait Theory
is defined as a stable feature, characterisitic, property, or
condition, such as defective intelligence, impulsive personality,
genetic abnormalities, the physical-chemical functioning of the
brain environmental influences on brain function such as drugs,
chemicals and injuries that make some people dinquency-prone
over the life course. Latent theorists such as David Rowe, Wayne
Osgood and Alan Nicewander focus on basic human behavior
and drive such as attachment, agression, violence, and
impulsitivity-all linked to antisocial behavior patterns.
54. Jukes and Kallikak Family
Advocates of the inheritance school, such as Henry H.
Goddard, Richard Dugdale and Arthur Estabrook traced
several generations of crime-prone families finding evidence that
criminal tendencies were based on genetics.
the burden of crime is found in the illegitimate lines;
the legitimate lines marry into crime
the eldest child has a tendency to be the criminal of the family
crime chiefly follows the male line; and
the longest lines of crime are along the line of the eldest
55. Kallikak Family
Dr. Henry H. Goddard, a prominent American psychologist
together with Elizabeth S. Kite conducted a study emtitled the
“Kallikak Family: A study in the Heredity of Feeblemindedness,”
wherein they traced the family tree of revolutionary war soldier
with the pseudonym Martin Kallikak, Sr.”
56. Somatotyping Theory
Is a theory which associates body physique to behavior
and criminality; it began with the work of German psychiatrist
nuerologist, psychopathologist, Ernst Kretschmer who constituted
three principal types of body physiques:
1) the aesthenic- 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
57. William Sheldon
Kretschmer’s work was brought to the United States,
William H. Sheldon, Jr. an American psychologist and physician
who devised his own groups of somatotypes: the endomorph,
mesomorph and the ectomorph.
59. Earnest Hooton
He examined the relationship between personality and
physical type, with regards to criminal behavior. Hooton an
American physical anthropologist believed in Cesare Lombroso’s
theory of the born criminal, according to which criminals could be
identified based on their physical characteristics.
60. According to Hooton
criminals are less often married and more often divorced
criminals often have tattoos
criminals have thinner beards and body hair, and their hair is
more often reddish-brown and straight
criminals often have blue gray or mixed colored eyes, and less
often dark or blue eyes
criminals have low sloping foreheads, high nasal bridges, and
thin lips
criminals ears often have rolled helix and a perci Darwin’s point
61. Physiognomy
came from the Middle English phisonomie, the Anglo-
French phisenomie, from late latin physiognomia.
Giambattista della Porta, also called Giovanni Battista
Della Porta, an Italian physician and natural philosopher, founded
the school of human physiognomy.
62. Phrenology
is a theory of brain and science of character reading, what the
19th century phrenologist called “the only true science of mind.”
it 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 and the 19th-century adherents Johann
Kaspar Spurzheim and George Combe.
63. The basic tenets of Gall’s system were:
the brain is the organ of the mind
the mind is composed of multiple distinct innate faculties
because they are distinct, each faculty must have separate
seat or “organ” in the brain
the size of an organ, other things being equal, is a measure of
its power
the shape of the brain is determined by the development of the
various organs
as the skull takes it shape from the brain, the surface of the
skull can be read as an accurate index of psychological
aptitudesand tendencies
64. Nature Theory
holds that low intelligence is genetically determined and
inherited. This was supported by Henry H. Goddard in his studies
in 1920 that many institutionalized people were what be
considered “feebleminded” and concluded that at least half of all
juvenile delinquents were mentally defectives
65. Lifestyle Theory
a “lifestyle theory of victimization” was developed by
Michael R. Gottfredson, Michael Hindelang, and James Garofalo
in 1987. It argues that because of changing roles (working mother
vs housewife) and schedules (a child’s school calendar), people
lead different lifestyles (work and leisure activities).
66. Victim Precipitation Theory
viewed that some people may actually initiate the
confrontation that eventually leads to their injury or death.
Active precipitation
occurs when victims act proactively, use threats or fighting
words, or even attacks the offenders first
Passive precipitation
occurs when the victim exhibits some personal
characteristics that unknowingly either threaten or encourages
the attacker
67. Incapacitation Theory
stands to reason that if more criminals are sent to prison
or keeping known criminals out of circulation the crime rate
should go down.
68. Psychodynamic Theory
• A theory individual’s personality is controlled by unconscious mental
processes that are grounded in early childhood. Child experiences
influences his or her likelihood for committing future crimes.
• This theory was originated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the
founder of psychoanalysis. He thought that human behaviour,
including violent behaviour, was the product of unconscious forces
operating within a persons mind and felt that early childhood
experiences had a profound impact on adolescent and adult
behaviour. This theory considers that criminal offenders are
frustrated and aggravated and are constantly drawn to past events
that occurred in their early childhood. Because of a negligent,
unhappy, or miserable childhood, which is most often characterized
by a lack of love and/ or nurturing, a criminal offender has a weak (or
absent) ego. Most important, research suggests that having a weak
ego is linked with poor or absence of social etiquette, immaturity,
and dependence on others. Research further suggests that
individuals with weak egos may be more likely to engage in drug
69. • According to Freud, aggression was thus a basic (id based)
human impulse that is repressed in well-adjusted people who
have experienced a normal childhood. However, if the
aggressive impulse is not controlled, or is repressed to an
unusual degree, some aggression can leak out of the
unconscious and a person can engage in random acts of
violence. Freud referred to this as displaced aggression (see
Englander, 2007; Bartol, 2002).
70. THREE ELEMENTS OR STRUCTURES THAT MAKE
UP THE HUMAN PERSONALITY (FREUD)
• (1) The Id (Pleasure Principle)
• It represents the unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and
other necessities over the life span which is concerned with
instant pleasure or gratification while disregarding concern for
others. This is known as the pleasure principle, and it is often
paramount when discussing criminal behavior.
71. (2) The Ego (Reality Principle)
• It is thought to develop early in a persons life. For example,
when children learn that their wishes cannot be gratified
instantaneously, they often throw a tantrum. It compensates for
the demands of the id by guiding an individuals actions or
behaviors to keep him or her within the boundaries of society.
72. The Superego (Morality)
• It develops as a person incorporates the moral standards and
values of the community; parents; and significant others, such
as friends and clergy members. It serves to pass judgment on
the behavior and actions of individuals (Freud, 1933). The ego
mediates between the ids desire for instant gratification and the
strict morality of the superego. One can assume that young
adults as well as adults understand right from wrong. However,
when a crime is committed, advocates of psychodynamic theory
would suggest that an individual committed a crime because he
or she has an underdeveloped superego.
73. What are the types of mood disorders?
• 1 . Conduct disorder Children who have difficulty in following
rules and behaving in socially acceptable ways (Boccaccini,
Murrie, Clark, 8:. Cornell, 2008). It is manifested as a group of
behavioral and emotional problems in young adults. These
children diagnosed with conduct disorder are viewed by adults,
other children, and agencies of the state as trouble, bad,
delinquent, or even mentally ill. The most prominent causes are
child abuse, brain damage, genetics, poor school performance,
and a traumatic event.
74.
75.
76. Signs and symptoms:
• 1. Exhibit aggressive behaviors toward others (Boccaccini 2. et
al., 2008), and cruel to animals.
• 2. Engaged in bullying; intimidation; fear; initiating fights; and
using a weapon, such as a gun, a knife, a box cutter, rocks, a
broken bottle, a golf club, or a baseball bat.
• 3. Teenagers force someone into unwanted sexual activity.
• 4. Property damage may also be a concern; one may observe
these children starting fires with the ultimate intent to destruct
property or even kill someone.
• 5. Other unacceptable behaviors associated with conduct
disorder include lying and stealing, breaking into an individual’s
house or an unoccupied building or car, lying to obtain desirable
goods, avoiding obligations, and taking possessions from
individuals or stores.
• 6. Violate curfews despite their parent’s desires.
• 7. Run away from home and to be late for or truant from school.
77. Possible treatments
• Medical doctor or psychological clinician to consider is
convincing the child to develop a good attitude, learn to
cooperate, trust others, and eliminate fear in their lives.
• Behavior therapy and psychotherapy may be necessary to help
the child learn how to control and express anger. Moreover,
special education classes may be required for children with
learning disabilities. In some cases, treatment may include
prescribed medication, although medicine would ideally be
reserved for children experiencing problems with depression,
attention, or spontaneity/impulsivity.
78. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (Siegal,
2008)
• Children showing defiance; uncooperativeness; irritability; a very
negative attitude; a tendency to lose ones temper; and exhibiting
deliberately annoying behaviors toward peers, parents,
teachers, and other authority figures, such as police officers
(Siegal, 2008)
79. Theories explaining this disorder
• 1. Problems begin in children as early as the toddler years.
• 2. Adolescents and small children who develop oppositional
defiant disorder may have experienced a difficult time
developing independent or autonomous skills and learning to
separate from their primary caretaker or attachment figure. In
essence, the bad attitudes that are characteristic of oppositional
defiant disorder are viewed as a continuation of developmental
issues that were not resolved during the early toddler years.
80. Symptoms
• l. Frequent temper tantrums
• 2. Excessive arguments with adults
• 3. Refusal to comply with adult requests
• 4. Questioning rules
• 5. Refusing to follow rules
• 6. Engaging in behavior intended to annoy or upset others
• 7. Blaming others for one’s misbehaviors or mistakes
• 8. Being easily annoyed by others
• 9. Frequently having an angry attitude
• 10. Speaking harshly or unkindly
• 11.Deliberately behaving in ways that seek revenge
81. Treatment
• 1. Psychotherapy that teaches problem-solving skills,
communication skills, impulse control, and anger management
skills.
• 2. Family therapy focused on making changes within the family
system with the desired goal of improved family interaction and
communication skills.
• 3. Peer group therapy, which is focused on developing
• 4. Medication
• Psychoses. Identified as the most serious mental disturbances
(Siegal, 2008).
82. Examples of Mental Health Disorders
• 1. Bipolar Disorder - It is marked by extreme highs and
lows; the person alternates between excited, assertive, and loud
behavior and lethargic, listless, and melancholic behavior.
83. 2. Schizophrenia
• Individuals often exhibit illogical and incoherent thought
processes, and they often lack insight into their behavior and do
not understand reality. A person with paranoid schizophrenia also
experiences complex behavior delusions that involve wrongdoing
or persecution (Jacoby, 2004). Individuals with paranoid
schizophrenia often believe everyone is out to get them. It is
important to note that research shows that female offenders
appear to have a higher probability of serious mental health
symptoms than male offenders. These include symptoms of
schizophrenia, paranoia, and obsessive behaviors.
84. Behavioral Theory
• It focuses on behaviour modeling and social learning. It maintains
that all human behaviour including violent behaviour is learned
through interaction with the social environment. Behaviourists
argue that people are not born with a violent disposition. Rather,
they learn to think and act violently as a result of their day to day
experiences (Bandura, 1977). These experiences, proponents of
the behaviourist tradition maintain, might include observing friends
or family being rewarded for violent behaviour, or even observing
the glorification of violence in the media. Studies of family life, for
example, show that aggressive children often model the violent
behaviours of their parents. Studies have also found that people
who live in violent communities learn to model the aggressive
behaviour of their neighbours.
85. Four factors help produce violence
• 1) A stressful event or stimulus like a threat, challenge or
assault that heightens arousal;
• 2) Aggressive skills or techniques learned through observing
others;
• 3) A belief that aggression or violence will be socially rewarded
(by, for example, reducing frustration, enhancing self-esteem,
providing material goods or earning the praise of other people);
and
• 4) A value system that condones violent acts within certain
social contexts. Early empirical tests of these four principles
were promising (Bartol, 2002).
86. Cognitive Theory
• This theory signifies that an individual perception and how it is
manifested affect his or her potential to commit crime (Jacoby,
2004). It focus on how people perceive their social environment
and learn to solve problems. The moral and intellectual
development perspective is the branch of cognitive theory that is
most associated with the study of crime and violence.
87. The Sensorimotor Stage
• Ages: Birth to 2 Years
• Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
• The infant knows the world through their movements and
sensations.
• Children learn about the world through basic actions such as
sucking, grasping, looking, and listening.
• Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they
cannot be seen (object permanence).
• They are separate beings from the people and objects around
them.
• They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in
the world around them.
88. The Preoperational Stage
• Ages: 2 to 7 Years
• Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
• Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and
pictures to represent objects.
• Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see
things from the perspective of others.
• While they are getting better with language and thinking, they
still tend to think about things in very concrete terms.
89. The Concrete Operational Stage
• Ages: 7 to 1 1
• Years Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes
• During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about
concrete events.
• They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the
amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall,
skinny glass, for example.
• Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very
concrete.
• Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific
information to a general principle.
90. The Formal Operational Stage
• Ages: 12 and Up
• Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:
• At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think
abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems.
• Abstract thought emerges.
• Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical,
social, and political issues that require theoretical and abstract
reasoning.
• Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general
principle to specific information.
92. • Level I: Pre-conventional Morality
• Age Range: Seen in preschool children, most
elementary school students, some junior high
school students, and a few high school students
93. • Stage 1: Punishment avoidance and obedience
• Nature of Moral Reasoning: People make decisions based on
what is best for themselves, without regard for others needs or
feelings. They obey rules only if established by more powerful
individuals; they may disobey if they aren’t likely to get caught.
Wrong behaviors are those that will be punished.
94. • Stage 2: Exchange of favors
• Nature of Moral Reasoning: People recognize that others also
have needs. They may try to satisfy others needs if their own
needs are also met (you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours).
They continue to define right and wrong primarily in terms of
consequences to themselves.
95. Level II: Conventional Morality
• Age Range: Seen in a few older elementary school students,
some junior high school students, and many high school
students (Stage 4 typically does not appear until the high school
years)
96. • Stage 3: Good boy/ girl
• Nature of Reasoning: People make decisions based on what
actions Will please others, especially authority figures and other
individuals with high status (e.g., teachers, popular peers). They
are concerned about maintaining relationships through sharing,
trust, and loyalty, and they take other peoples perspectives and
intentions into account when making decisions.
97. • Stage 4: Law and order
• Nature of Reasoning: People look to society as a whole for
guidelines about right or wrong. They know rules are necessary
for keeping society running smoothly and believe it is their
dutyto obey them. However, they perceive rules to be inflexible;
they don’t necessarily recognize that as society’s needs change,
rules should change as well.
98. Level III: Post-Conventional Morality
• Age Range: Rarely seen before college (Stage 6 is extremely
rare even in adults) Stage 5: Social contract
• Nature of Reasoning: People recognize that rules represent
agreements among many individuals about appropriate
behavior. Rules are seen as potentially useful mechanisms that
can maintain the general social order and protect individual
rights, rather than as absolute dictates that must be obeyed
simply because they are the law. People also recognize the
flexibility of rules; rules that no longer serve society’s best
interests can and should be changed.
99. • Stage 6: Universal ethical principle
• Nature of Reasoning: Stage 6 is a hypothetical, ideal stage that
few people ever reach. People in this stage adhere to a few
abstract, universal principles (e.g., equality of all people, respect
for human dignity, commitment to justice) that transcend specific
norms and rules. They answer to a strong inner conscience and
willingly disobey laws that violate their own ethical principles.
100. Research Findings of Kohlberg:
• 1. Violent youth were significantly lower in their moral
development than non violent youth even after controlling for
social background
• 2. People who obey the law simply to avoid punishment (i.e., out
of self-interest) are more likely to commit acts of Violence than
are people who recognize and sympathize with the fundamental
rights of others. Higher levels of moral reasoning, on the other
hand, are associated with acts of altruism, generosity and non-
violence (Veneziano and Veneziano, 1992). In sum, the weight
of the evidence suggests that people with lower levels of moral
reasoning will engage in crime and violence When they think
they can get away with it. On the other hand, even when
presented with the opportunity, people With higher levels of
moral reasoning will refrain from criminal behaviour because
they think it is wrong.
101. • 3. Psychological research suggests that when people make decisions, they
engage in a series of complex thought processes. First they encode and
interpret the information or stimuli they are presented with, then they search
for a proper response or appropriate action, and finally, they act on their
decision (Dodge, 1986). According to information processing theorists,
violent individuals may be using information incorrectly when they make
their decisions. Violence=prone youth, for example, may see people as
more threatening or aggressive than they actually are. This may cause
some youth to react with Violence at the slightest provocation. According to
this perspective, aggressive children are more vigilant and suspicious than
normal youth are a factor that greatly increases their likelihood 0f engaging
in violent behaviour. Consistent With this perspective, research suggests
that some youth who engage in violent attacks on others actually believe
that they are defending themselves, even when they have totally
misinterpreted the level of threat (Lochman, 1987). Recent research also
indicates that male rapists often have little sympathy for their own victims,
but do in fact empathize with the female victims of other sexual offenders.
This finding suggests that, because of information processing issues, some
offenders can’t recognize the harm they are doing to others (Langton and
Marshall, 2001; Lipton et al., 1987 ).
• 4. Personality Theory This theory believes that criminal activity is the result
of a defective, deviant, or inadequate personality. In short criminal
behaviour is associated with defective personality traits. Examples of
deviant personality traits include hostility, impulsiveness, aggression, and
sensation-seeking. The criminal does not have the ability to feel empathy,
