An in Depth Look into What Makes People Turn to Crime and the Psychological Profiling of a Criminal
What is it that makes people turn to crime? How is something like this reversed or rehabilitated? There are some that say people commit crimes such as shoplifting out of fear, especially if it prevents starvation. However, the same type of crime also attracts the attention of gangs who will steal whatever they are told to steal and cost stores millions and millions of dollars each year. Both of the aforementioned things are the same crime, yet they are carried for different motives. If caught, should each be treated the same as they committed the same crime?
According to historylearningsite.co.uk, “The oldest known explanatory model of behavior is that of demonology. It used to be thought that criminal behavior was the result of a possessed mind and/or body and the only way to exorcise the evil was usually by some torturous means. The key was a focus on the individual rather than his or her environment or any social forces.” This brings up a further debate. What about the crimi...
...ulture and beliefs. Another reason one might commit a crime, is when people fail to achieve society’s expectations through legal means such as hard work and delayed gratification, they may attempt to achieve success through crime. People also develop motivation and the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Some criminals commit crimes because of the controls that society places on a person through institutions such as schools, workplaces, churches, and families. Sometimes there are occasions where a persons actions goes against what society considers normal, and as a result it is instead considered a crime. Also some criminals continue their criminal acts because they have been shunned by their society because once a person is labeled a criminal, society takes away their opportunities, which in most cases leads to more criminal behavior.
Offender Profiling: A Theoretical Review of the Processes Involved in Deriving Background Characteristics from Crime Scene Actions. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1101296/The_Personality_Paradox_in_Offender_Profiling
When I think of crime I think of an action someone has done that society sees as unfit, whether that action is justifies by the person. Most of the time people don’t really care if the person was stealing so they could feed their family or stealing so they can pay for medical bills, a crime is a crime. Although crime is unlawful there usually is an origin. Some argue that it comes from desperation, which are the usual ordinary crimes you hear on the news, others believe it comes from greed. Where does this constant state of despair come from, research points to poverty. It’s widely known that neighborhoods that struggle in poverty are more likely to be prone to crime. The greed aspect comes from people wanting to make a profit so they join organizations that revolve around crime, which would be organized crime. The greed that makes people do crime is brought by organized crime, while others firmly believe that crime comes from the desperation that poverty causes.
Winfree, T., & Abadinsky, H. (2nd Ed.). (2003). Understanding Crime: Theory and Practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth publishers.
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Bartol, C. R. (2002). Criminal behavior: A psychosocial approach. (6 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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
Criminology has evolved over history into becoming a discipline all its own, along the way it grew and developed from a multiple sources of disciplines to become an integration of various theories. Reasons that seek to explain crime and deviant behaviors has mirrored the time in which research was being conducted and as time continues to change it is to be expected more theories will arise to incorporate past theories to become ever more inclusive. It is important to understand this development from the formulation of theories, the evolution of, the determining factors in testing, particular process such as social learning that are upheld as strong empirically sound theories in order for scholars to continue to advance further studies. But it is unlikely crime will ever be solved completely, for in some instances it is a necessary evil, yet it can be hoped that with the knowledge obtained thus far and that to be discovered crime and deviance might be reduced, prevented and controlled in the future to come.
Historically, crime and criminals have always caught the attention of law-abiding citizens. Whenever there is mention of serial killers or unsolved murders or abductions, psychological profiling, now a household term, floats to the top of the list of concerns (Egger, 1999). Psychological profiling is an attempt to provide investigators with more information about an offender who has not yet been identified (Egger, 1999). Its purpose is to develop a behavioral composite that combines both sociological and psychological assessment of the would-be offender. It is generally based on the premise that an accurate analysis and interpretation of the crime scene and other locations related to the crime can indicate the type of person who could have committed the crime (Egger, 1999).
Criminology is the study of why individuals engage or commit crimes and the reasons as to why they behave in certain ways in different situations (Hagan, 2010). Through understanding the reasons or why an individual commits a crime, one can come up with ways to prevent and control crime or rehabilitate criminals. There exist a large number of criminology theories, some link crime to an individual or person; they believe a person weighs the cons and pros and makes a conscious decision on whether to commit or not commit a felony. Others see the society as having a duty to make sure that its members do not engage in criminal acts by providing a secure and safe living place. Some claim that some people have hidden or dormant characteristics that determine their reaction or behavior when confronted or put in particular negative conditions (Akers & Sellers, 2012). By understanding and studying these theories, together with applying them to people, psychologists and authorities can prevent criminals from committing or repeating crimes and aid in their rehabilitation. As many theories have emerged over time, they continue to be surveyed and explored, both individually and in combination in order for criminologists to develop solutions and eventually reduce the levels and types of crime. The most popular criminology theories emphasize on the individual, positivist and classical traits. This paper will explore the classical theory, which is among the earliest theories in criminology.
The process of inferring the personality characteristics of individuals responsible for committing criminal acts has commonly been referred to as criminal profiling. (Turvey) Criminal profiling can also be referred to as, behavioral profiling because when a profiler creates a profile they refer to the behavior of the offender. The general term criminal profiling can also be referred to as crime scene profiling, criminal personality profiling, offender profiling, psychological profiling and criminal investigative analysis. All the terms listed above are used inconsistently and interchangeably. Modern criminal profiling is owing to a diverse history grounded in the study of criminal behavior (criminology), the study of mental illness (psychology and psychiatry), and the examination of physical evidence (the forensic sciences). (Turvey) There are four very important elements that contribute to the making of a criminal profile. These elements are victimology, wound pattern analysis, crime scene characteristics and criminology. Victimology is the study of victims. The profilers ask themselves questions such as, “Why this person?” and “Was the victim related to their killer or attacker?” Wound pattern analysis is the study of the way the wounds on the victim were made. Crime scene characteristics help to the making of a profile by showing profilers what exactly went on during the crime. Criminology is the study of the crime, criminals and criminal behaviors.
Moreover, Cesare Lombroso, an Italian criminologist rejected that crime was a characteristic of human nature; instead he believed that criminality is inherit. From this conviction, he developed a theory of deviance that a person’s bodily constitution reveals whether an individual is born criminal or not. Crucially, “these born criminals are a throwback to an earlier stage of human evolution with the physical makeup, mental capabilities, and instincts of primitive man” (Ashley Crossman, A.C., 2014, Biological Explanations Of Deviant Behavior).
There are millions of them. Not a single one is the same, no matter how similar they may look. Of course, I am talking about people. Many factors influence the way humans work. They are shaped by parents, peers, and biology. From their mannerisms, to the way their chin points, nurture and nature affect every aspect of human life. There is a debate brewing in the psychological, sociological and scientific communities over which of these two have the higher influence. While most of the members of these communities acknowledge the fact that both nature and nurture affect development, some believe that only one solely determines certain aspects of life, such as gender. Dr. John Money is one of these people; he believes that gender identity is solely a product of rearing. He advocates that when humans are born, they have a blank psychosexual slate. That is to say that, at birth, individuals do not have a gender identity, and they can be raised as either male or female. He does have his skeptics though. Milton Diamond was the first to challenge his beliefs publicly. Nature versus nurture is an argument that has been around for ages, and research is still being done to help to determine which the true winner is.
...theories as to why people do what they do, especially committing crimes. The two popular ones are antisocial personality theory and social structure theory. Out of these two the one that makes most sense is antisocial personality theory. The majority of these people are diagnosed as a psychopath and they have brain amoralities which is causing them to commit crimes. This is a serious issue and most people will not admit that they have a mental disorder or a problem. There will be many theories, researches and arguments as to why people commit crime; criminology is a never ending studying on people and their actions.
I now know that criminology prefer to highlight the correlations between crimes’ social climates and criminals’ psychological states of mind. While some argues that criminal behavior is a result of individuals’ association with criminal peers, other claims that crime is a reflection of an individual’s genetic disadvantages. I have come to learn that there are no universally agreed formulas on decoding crimes and criminal behaviors. What we have, however, is a manual full of academic opinions and subjective views that have emerged alongside of the development of criminology. At the same time, the volume of conflicting perspectives that I have stumble upon in studying criminology reminded me again that the success of our current assessment models has yet to be determined. Thus, the study of criminology is an appropriate practice that will further prepare me to conduct meaningful research on legal studies and to provide accurate and in-depth findings in the near