Criminology: Biological, Sociological And Psychological Theories Of Crime

In criminology, examining why people commit crime is critical in the ongoing debate of how crime should be handled and prevented. Biological, sociological and psychological theories of delinquency each have evidence to support their respective beliefs. Over the past century, the approach has tended to emphasize more the belief that offenders differ from non-offenders in some physiological way (Conklin, 1998, p. 146). This approach has offered a number of different explanations of delinquency, ranging from glandular malfunctions to learning disabilities, to racial heritage, to nutrition. Explanations for biological theories have gained credibility and there is a belief that biological and sociological theory may be partners in explaining crime

Biological, sociological and psychological theories of delinquency each have evidence to support their respective beliefs. Over the past century, the approach has tended to emphasize more the belief that offenders differ from non-offenders in some physiological way (Conklin, 1998, p. 146). This approach has offered a number of different explanations of delinquency, ranging from glandular malfunctions to learning disabilities, to racial heritage, to nutrition. Explanations for biological theories have gained credibility and there is a belief that biological and sociological theory may be partners in explaining crime and

This theory tried to connect these traits to personality types characterized by laziness, moral insensitivity, and absence of guilt feelings. Individuals with a number of these criminal features or anomalies were thought to be incapable of resisting the impulse to commit crimes except under very favorable circumstances. Many of these assumptions can be traced to the influence of Darwinism. Studies of identical-twins were conducted based on the belief that if genetics determines criminality, when one twin is criminal, the other will also be criminal. These studies provide evidence that genetic structure is not the sole cause of crime given that none of them indicates that 100 percent of the twins studied were identical with respect to criminal behavior (Theories, 2015). Studies conducted on twins over the past 75 years seem to indicate that there may be a genetic factor in delinquency, but the exact nature of the relationship remains undetermined (Fishbein, 1990). The next logical step in studying the relationship between heredity and crime involved studies of children adopted at an early age who had little or no contact with biological parents. Scientists began to look into offense rates and if types of the children resemble those of the adoptive parents or the biological parents. Evidence