Good Example Of Essay On Crime Causation

For a long time crime was blamed on social issues such as unemployment and to personality disorders as the root of criminal behavior. Impulsiveness and lack of empathy are the key indicators of criminal behavior. Psychology in criminal psychology tries to explain criminal behavior as a result of individual factors that lead to criminal thoughts and underdeveloped cognition. Psychoanalysis of crime causation is constructed using the following assumptions:
- Human psychology cannot be generalized to population aggregates; however it should focus on the individual for analysis.
- The driving element to psychology is personality as it reveals the trait for particular reactions to given situations or events. Consistency in conduct, sentiment and thought enables study of psychology.
- Criminal intent develops from an unfit or abnormal personality.
- Criminal activities despite its being unacceptable in society can be used to satisfy given individual needs to the criminal.
- The criterion for normality is determined through social consensus i.e. what the majority of the people conceive as normal or appropriate.
The six major theories of physiology which to try explaining the mental position to crime causation are as listed and explained below:
- Biological.
It concentrates on the biology of human anatomy and physiology and its contribution to behavior of an individual. Psychology revolves around mental health; therefore, here theories focus on the brain and nervous system with an eye on change brought about by evolution and genetics over time. Biology in criminal causation also aims to shed light on the connection between criminal parents and their children with criminal behavior, therefore, hereditary psychological traits.
- Social cultural theories.
Social cultural psychology deals with how humans think about each other and how they interact within themselves. It states that behavior is learned, consciously or unconsciously, from those who surround an individual through communication. Bad child raising methods in society by giving a bad example or setting destructive norms will cause children to adopt wrong behavior. A criminal society will only bear potentially criminal children. Criminal behavior is learned from others especially from people considered most intimate or closest to the subject, on issues like motives, rationalization and crime commission itself.
- Cognition
Cognitive psychology studies the mental processes that constitute a mental activity, thus elements such as perception, attention, reasoning, problem solving, learning and emotion are closely scrutinized. Criminals are said to have under-developed moral gauge beyond the pre-conventional level. Morality by humans is also learned from those we interact the most, like friends and family through observation or verbal means, therefore there is always a criminal group around the offender who have criminal tendencies amongst us. Offending is a rational decision done after considering the merits and demerits of committing a crime or offense. An impulsive individual won’t be able to reason soundly despite their flaming emotions before making a decision on how to react. A criminal lacks inhibition against offending when the emotion or thought arises.
- Humanism
Humanism in psychology seeks to analyze the whole person unlike the behaviorism or psychoanalytic schools, focusing on exclusively human issues like personal growth, self-actualization, death, freedom and meaning. Offenders are usually impulsive and delinquents therefore in their quest of fulfilling these needs do so criminally
- Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is the study of the mind and interpreting events aimed at resolving unconscious conflict majorly. It suggests that those with criminal behavior most probably will have deep-seated psychological issues: this is proof of antisocial behavior that come from bad child rearing methods by parents or family issues.
- Behaviorism
Behaviorism theories explain that the behavior of an individual is determined by the interaction with different environmental stimuli and, the pain or pleasure derived from their reactions. It studies the visible reactions and the underlying environmental factors. Since character is developed from childhood and learned from those in proximity whom are family and friend, criminal behavior develops from learning them from family or due to psychological issues that lead to antisocial behavior e.g. broken families. Behavior is conditioned through the rewarding and punishment method, therefore children would act appropriately depending on the pain or pleasure that may follow.