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reasons why people engaged in criminal behavior
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“Charlie, there are two kinds of thieves in this world: the ones who steal to enrich their lives and those who steal to define their lives.” (Gray 2003) There are many ways a criminal can enrich or define their lives with crime, and the ways they enrich or define their lives with crime almost always has something to do with their motive. These motives can range from revenge to crime being the only thing they know how to do to greed, and many, many more.
Revenge is an extremely common motive to become a criminal, and The Italian Job and “Girlfriend’s Revenge Case” bring this motive to life. In The Italian Job, Stella (Charlize Theron) says something that clearly displays her motive—revenge—for becoming involved in crime: “’I want to see the look on that man’s [Steve] face when his gold is gone. He took my father from me, I’m taking this.”’ (Gray 2003) She didn’t care about the money, she didn’t care about the consequences; all she cared about was taking vengeance on her father’s killer. In “Girlfriend’s Revenge Case”, Barbara Wu tries to get her boyfriend (Dennis Lin) to kill an ex-...
...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.
When theft occurs, it affects a community and hits them hard, hence the rationale that Dante placed thieves in the eighth circle of hell. Politically, thieves corrupt communities. They teach people not to trust others. For example, almost everyone locks his or her doors. If people trusted each other and thieves did not exist, there would be no need to take precautionary measures such as locking doors. Citizens of a town with a history of stealing can never rest. They remain on alert making sure they are not the next victims of a theft.
Why do people commit crime? This is a question many people have asked themselves for the past century. Over the years, many theorists, like Travis Hirschi and Edwin Lemert, have identified possible reasons for why people commit crimes. While each of these theories differ from one another, all point us to an understanding of the paths that bring individuals to commit crime.
The TV show, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, often addresses criminal deviance such as rape and murder. In the episode, “Scorched Earth,” an African immigrant maid becomes a rape victim of a rich, Italian prime minister named Distascio (Wolf). This episode highlights how status can affect perception of certain deviant behaviors. Additionally, it addresses contemporary America’s values toward types of deviant acts, and sanctions that go along with them.
Robert Merton (1938) argued that members of American society are socialised to want the culturally defined goals such as the ‘American dream’ where success is attributed to material wealth. When they are denied access to the legitimate means, they resort to illegitimate means such as criminality and deviance to attain what they have been taught to want. (Lanier&Henry,1998) It could be argued that America is organised for crime due to its overwhelming significance placed on material success. This may explain why America has the highest rate of imprisonment, in 2000 approximately two million men and women were serving prison sentences. (Fleisher&Decker,2006) Similarly, Toy and Stanko (2008) identify that being part of a society that attributes achievement with material wealth are other factors which may influence becoming gang affiliated. (Harris et al, 2011)
...ommit crimes every day just for the sake of committing a crime; in other words, they have periods of no criminal behavior. So, their rational choice is to turn to burglary only when they are desperate for money. In essence, they have chosen burglary as their line of work.
Serial killers are only motivated by sex; this is a misconception because not all serial murders are sexually-based. There are many other motivations for serial murders, including anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention seeking. For instance, a former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Lee Boyd Malvo killed primarily for anger and thrill motivations (“Serial Murder”). In addition, serial killers are all the same is also a misassumption. There are different type of serial murders including motives, visionary, mission-oriented, power/control, and hedonistic. Each has their own motivations and reasons to kill, but hedonists murdered for lust/sexual, thrill/rush, comfort/profit, or all three categories. First and foremost, a serial killer is defined
There are numerous ideas in the area of criminology that attempt to interpret the causes behind why people commit crimes. Social process idea is one such idea and affirms that criminal actions are taught by viewing criminalistic actions by others (Schmalleger, 2012). The four kinds of Social method theories are Social learning idea, Social command idea, labeling idea, and dramaturgical viewpoint. Throughout this term paper, we will gaze at two of these theories, Social discovering theory and the Social command theory. This essay will converse about the Social method theory's significance to criminology, as well the history of its development.
Nature versus nurture has been argued in attempt to understand how criminals behave. The theory of what influences psychopath and serial killers’ violent and destructive pathways has not been agreed on till this day. Criminals such as psychopaths and serial killers have been researched for the past two decades. Scientists have found that genetics is a determining factor of who becomes a serial killer. It is important to understand the determinants involved within a serial killer, because if these social and environmental causes are discovered, they can be altered and controlled to reduce crime (Lykken, 1993). With more studies, we would therefore prevent mass murders and could assist in significant reductions of crime within society.
Rapper Jay Z once proclaimed, “I'm a hustler baby. I just want you to know... it ain't where I been, but where I'm about to go.” Although he wasn't referring to criminals in the hit song, his words strike a chord in regards to the “Hustlers” discussed in, “Burglars on the Job.” There are a plethora of internal and external factors that motivate a person to commit crimes such as burglary, but through background factors alone we cannot say for certain why a crime was committed by a select person. It is vital to study and begin to understand why people commit crimes as well as how they view their behavior. History and statistics have shown that simply adjusting our justice system to neutralize these offenders has had little to no impact on crime in our nation. Professors Richard T. Wright and Scott Decker risked their lives to further an academic study that sheds light on the perspective of burglars and how they interpret what they do. Many theorists believe that criminals are utilitarian and carefully weigh the potential costs and rewards of their illegal actions (p4). These two gentlemen, however, postulated that there are multiple facets of criminals to discover and consider through intimate contact in the field. While Chambliss and Polsky were hesitant to work “In the wild,” Wright and Decker felt that this was the best way to collect accurate data. They preferred to observe burglars in their natural habitat rather than speak with already incarcerated offenders in criminal justice system surroundings. One of only a small handful of studies involving active burglars, the book describes the motivation, considerations, and choices that burglars make throughout each stage of crime. Follo...
From a sociological perspective, explanation for criminality is found in two levels which are the subculture and the structural explanations. The sociological explanations emphasize aspects of societal arrangements that are external to the actor and compelling. A sociological explanation is concerned with how the structure of a society, institutional practices or its persisting cultural themes affect the conduct of its members. Individual differences are denied or ignored, and the explanation of the overall collective behavior is sought in the patterning of social arrangements that is considered to be both outside the actor and prior to him (Sampson, 1985).
Throughout history a lot of expects have tried to understand why some people feel the need to commit crimes, even though there have been harsh laws inforced for thouse who commit crimes. These people have come up with theories as to why people commit crimes. in order to understand these theories we have to understand what a crime is and also understand the definition of theories.
A social status, whether you like it or not, can drag you into or out of a life of crime. A dead-broke bum with no house is forced to steal food in order to stay alive, and steal clothing in order to stay warm. Of course, you could suffer and not break any laws, but the immediate need would usually outweigh the consequences. You may not be literally forced into a life of crime, but it just might be the best choice you have. Being in such need makes stealing seem much more attractive than it would if you had no need to steal.
Human antisocial behaviour is complex and trying to understand it has always proven to be a daunting intelligent task, especially in modern culturally diverse societies. Crime, broadly defined as behaviour through which individuals obtain resources for others through uncouth means, presents as one of the most refractory internal social dilemmas. Understanding individual criminal acts such a murder, rape or motives behind them is intricate, rather their behavioral definitions and causes offers a more clear platform for argumentative reasoning. Criminal behaviour, regardless of manner, involves use of barbaric methodologies to obtain symbolic or material resources. Criminal behavior results from methodical processes that involve intricate interactions among isolated, societal, and environmental factors in people’s lives.
Theories that are based on biological Factors and criminal behavior have always been slightly ludicrous to me. Biological theories place an excessive emphasis on the idea that individuals are “born badly” with little regard to the many other factors that play a part in this behavior. Criminal behavior may be learned throughout one’s life, but there is not sufficient evidence that proves crime is an inherited trait. In the Born to Be Bad article, Lanier describes the early belief of biological theories as distinctive predispositions that under particular conditions will cause an individual to commit criminal acts. (Lanier, p. 92) Biological criminologists are expected to study the “criminal” rather than the act itself. This goes as far as studying physical features, such as body type, eyes, and the shape or size of one’s head. “Since criminals were less developed, Lombroso felt they could be identified by physical stigmata, or visible physical abnormalities…characteristics as asymmetry of the face; supernumerary nipples, toes, or fingers; enormous jaws; handle-shaped or sensible ears; insensibility to pain; acute sight; and so on.” (Lanier. P. 94). It baffles me that physical features were ever considered a reliable explanation to criminal behavior. To compare one’s features to criminal behavior is not only stereotypical, but also highly unreliable.