Introduction
It is evident that the early biological theories on criminology seemingly adopted a one-sided inclination to the Darwinian views of evolution. The theories downplayed other social and economic factors that trigger an individual to adopt a deviant personality. Later, sociology came forth providing irrefutably challenging evidence that evolution alone was not a factor that triggered a criminal character, but the influence of the society through its subcultures as a factor that affected the future decisions of an individual (Crawford, 2013).
Life-Course and Evolutionary Neuroandrogenic Theory
The life-course theory is an investigative paradigm that looks into the influence that early events of an individual life has had on their future decisions, thereby describing their involvement in crime. The life events nurture the individual such that the person’s course of behavior can be described as a factor of the events. Several individual traits can be acquired through association in cases where the society justifies or condones a crime such as honor killings in Arab communities. In this regards, the culture implicates the behavior to every individual within the geographical location, such that every individual who visits the place is likely to be assimilated into the criminal activities. Also, the education and economic factors have had significant effects on the society with the most educated and economically developed societies showing much more refined means of handling conflicting matters. According to Ttofi and Farrington (2012), one factor can’t necessarily constitute a personal character but the sum total influence of the factors that nurture the person to enact a specific course of behavior.
On the other hand, the evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory makes use of genetics and biology to examine their contribution to criminal activity. Genetics and biology of human beings generally describe the nature of the individual. The theory asserts that more males than females engage in criminal activity due to an evolved high-level production of testosterone that increase their competitiveness. At adolescence, individual competitiveness leads them to adopt crude means of victimization or suppression. As they advance to adulthood, their behavioral means of competitiveness shift from crude to refined forms. As described by Salvatore and Aguirre (2010), it is the learning ability of the individual during this transition period that determines how fast the individual shifts from the crude to the refined forms of competitiveness that are benchmarked with minimal suppressive traits.
Conclusion
As stated by Beaver, Barnes and Boutwell (2014), the natural or biological criminology factors of an individual interact with the traits acquired during the individual’s life course before deciding to commit a crime. In this respect, nature and nurture notions are inseparable as the criminal justice system cannot achieve its goals without examining the effects of each aspect on the other.
References
Beaver, K. M., Barnes, J. C., & Boutwell, B. B. (Eds.). (2014). The nurture versus biosocial debate in criminology: On the origins of criminal behavior and criminality. SAGE Publications.
Crawford, A. (Ed.). (2013). Crime prevention policies in comparative perspective. Routledge.
Salvatore, R. D., & Aguirre, C. (Eds.). (2010). The birth of the penitentiary in Latin America: essays on criminology, prison reform, and social control, 1830-1940. University of Texas Press.
Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2012). Risk and protective factors, longitudinal research, and bullying prevention. New directions for youth development, 2012(133), 85-98.
