Theories Of Crime In The Movie: Lincoln Lawyer

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The movie I chose to write about was “Lincoln Lawyer”. Throughout this movie there were several scenes that resembled aspects found in some of the theories of crime that I read about in the book. The “main” criminal in this movie, Lewis, committed crimes that may be explained by, Trait Theory, Sociological Theories, Behavior Theory and Psychopath. Trait Theory suggests that the criminal behavior that one may partake in is related to personality traits inherited at birth. “Psychological traits are stable personality patterns that tend to endure throughout the life course and across social and cultural contexts.” (Schmalleger, 2016) This theory also suggests that these traits give criminals “predispositions to respond to a given situation in …show more content…

This theory applies to Lewis because the family that he came from and the money that he comes from makes him believe he can commit crimes and get away with them. In the movie after the mother broke into the house and the defense attorney said that the family set him up she replies that he must not know who they are, implying that the family has some sort of power and the ability to do as they please legal or not. “Social structure theories explain crime by reference to the economic and social arrangements of society.” (Schmalleger, 2016) The fact that Lewis had already committed the same type of crime and was able to get away with it led him to doing it again and feeling invincible to the law. He told his cellmate that he could get away with it …show more content…

The book states that “Stimulus response theory of human behavior, [is] when an individual’s behavior results in rewards or feedback that the individual regards as pleasurable and desirable, then that behavior will likely become more frequent.” (Schmalleger, 2016) Not only was Lewis a murderer but he was a rapist who enjoyed dominating, violating, raping, and terrorizing prostitutes. The second woman he attacked look very similar to the first showing that he had a type that stimulated this behavior in him. Lewis got off sexually on these raping women and in turn it made his attacks more frequent or occur

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