To what extent are non sociological factors of crime no longer relevant today? Flashcards
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
P - Traditional biological factors of crime have very little relevance today.
e - older biological theories peoples appearances justification. one of the first ones innate predisposal to crime/ born a criminal cesare lombroso. underdeveloped humans. research - post mortems - physical differences.
example?
e - Some characteristics of the “natural born criminal” included; large jaws, forward projection of the jaw, low sloping foreheads, high cheekbones and a flattened or upturned nose. This theory lacked accurate evidence and was quickly disproven, for example in 1913 criminologist Charles Goring carried out a study with over 2000 convicts using a control group, unlike Lombroso, and was unable to replicate Lombroso’s findings. Lombroso’s theory links to other criminal theorists of the past, such as William Sheldon who theorised that crime is more common among muscular athletic people (mesomorphs) than among tall thin people (ectomorphs) or short round people (endomorphs).
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
R - However, modern biological factors of crime could arguably have more relevance today.
e - modern focus differences biological areas eg dna rather than appearance. eg warrior gene. deficiency certain gene; MAOA, which can make individuals more predisposed to violent behaviour under certain circumstances
e?
L - Therefore, biological factors of crime are relevant today to a small extent because traditional biological factors have practically no accuracy to them, and in no way indicate whether a person will become a criminal. However, modern biological factors have some degree of validity as various studies conducted appear to suggest trends of them being influential in someone committing crimes. Although, these modern biological factors are often not solely reason enough for a person to become a criminal and it is only when that person, who is arguably genetically predisposed, is placed in a certain social environment that this biology will be “turned on” and they will commit crimes. Therefore non sociological factors of crime are relevant today to a moderate extent.
e - Han Brunner was a geneticist in the Netherlands who discovered a family where 8 men had repeated aggressive behaviour and found evidence of this gene. One member of this family was Stephen Mobley who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS
P - Sociological factors of crime have a lot of relevance today in explaining crime.
e - sociological theories give reasons why society mat have created criminals, eg emile durkheim’s functionalism. general functionalist view on crime - since it exists necessary function individual/society. collective conscience, society exists because of common behaviour expectations. legal system tests persons actions, by finding them guilty , media reporting on it and public disapproving, what is acceptable behaviour reinforced. Although, he does admit that too much crime is negative for society as he claims it leads to a process called anomie wherein social norms lose their hold over individual/group behaviour.
example?
explain - american sociologist travis hirschi’s control theory - crime result of individual’s attachment to society weakened. attachment - social bonds eg ; attachment (family), commitment (house, marriage), involvement (sports, activities) and belief (religion, politics). Therefore people who lack strong ties to these things would be more likely to commit crimes
example?
e - For example 46% of reports in the media were made up of violent or sexual crimes which in turn leads to a strong disapproval of such crimes in the collective conscience.
e - There is evidence that younger people without so many social ties are the most likely to commit crime with 14-25 being the peak age for criminal activity in the UK. This pattern can similarly be observed internationally, for example in the US, people in the 15–24 age range account for about 40% of all arrests even though they make up approximately 14% of the population.
SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS
R - However, these sociological theories are not without their faults and criticisms.
E - Durkheim’s functionalist view does not explain why some people are more likely to engage in this deviant behaviour than others, and sociologist Robert Merton also believed his concept of anomie to be too vague. functionalism ignores issues of power legal system, benefits rich and powerful not poor and vulnerable.Hirschi’s control theory - stereotyping - typical - young, single and unemployed.
e?
L - Therefore, sociological factors of crime are relevant today to a large extent – more so than biological, and psychological factors such as psychopathy – as they provide logical theories of why crime exists and there are clear patterns and evidence that these theories have truth to them, despite the criticisms they may have. It is undeniable that society and a person’s social environment are highly influential in determining whether they become a criminal whereas a person’s biology being responsible for this is a lot less certain and has less definitive scientific evidence.
e - This pattern of thinking ignores the fact that many crimes are more likely to be committed by those with social connections such as corporate crime, which is very prevalent with the number of reported offences of white collar crime increasing 4% to 641,539 in 2016 up from 617,112 in 2015 in the UK. This demonstrates that control theory further blames marginalised people who are already struggling in an unfair society that often does not support them or provide them with enough opportunity for work.
PSYCHOPATHY
P - Psychopathy, a psychological factor, can be used to explain crime to an extent.
explain?
example?
explain - In addition to this recent studies indicate that traditional prison treatment programmes are not very beneficial to psychopaths and may even make them worse, making the opportunity for reform and leading a normal life even harder.
explain - definition of a psychopath psychiatry is Anti Social Personality Disorder, ASPD, which is an individual who shows patterns of manipulation and violation to others. Some traits of a psychopath include; socially irresponsible behaviour, disregarding or violating the rights of others, the inability to distinguish between right and wrong and difficulty with showing remorse or empathy. This means people with ASPD are a lot more likely to be involved with crime in their lifetimes
e - As a result of these traits psychopaths are overrepresented in prisons with 1% of the population being psychopaths however up to 70% of prisoners have some kind of ASPD. In addition to this 90% of serial killers are psychopaths. Out of the psychopaths that become criminals, compared to those without ASPD they commit a wider range of offences, a greater number of offences and more violent offences. Psychopaths’ more severe run ins with the legal system can be seen in other countries also; among psychopaths released from Canadian prisons the 5 year violent re-offence rate is about 70%, compared to about 30% in the group with low ASPD.
PSYCHOPATHY
R - However, not all psychopaths are criminals.
e - Many psychopaths do not commit any crimes and even use their psychopathic traits to their advantage to succeed in fields such as business or politics. For example, as they lack empathy they would have no problem exploiting people for power and their sense of superiority makes them ideal for leadership roles.
e?
L - Therefore, although not all psychopaths necessarily go on to become killers or commit crimes a large percentage of criminals and violent criminals are psychopaths or display some form of ASPD, making it an influential factor. However, as so few people in the world are psychopaths it is not the most influential factor in causing crime. Therefore non sociological factors of crime are no longer relevant today to a significant extent.
e - According to some expert estimates roughly 4% to as high as 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits. Psychopaths similarly find success in business rather than crime in other parts of the world also, for example Australian forensic psychologist Nathan Brookes studied the traits of corporate leaders and found between 3% and 21% of them display psychopathic traits.
