personal criminological theory

PERSONAL CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY

As I am about to enter this criminology course , I would like to share my theories on what influences an individual to commit an unlawful act such as a crime . Several factors may trigger an individual to perform an illegal act . My insights are derived from personal observation of individuals that I had the opportunity to deal with and get to know in my everyday activities . I will describe each factor with specific examples and explanations in to provide a full

Based on my personal observations , I would suggest

that one factor that influences an individual to commit a crime is personality dis (Blair and Cipolotti , 2000 . A person who can not distinguish what is right from wrong tend to do anything he wants to do , regardless of its effect on other people , as well as himself . In other circumstances , an individual with a particular personality dis enjoys seeing and subjecting people in pain hence he will aggressively pursue the option of targeting potential victims and torture or kill them . A person may also have an anti-social inclination due to some psychological imbalance . If he is provoked by a person within his small environment he gets emotionally hurt and upset and quickly decides that he has to defend himself from the intruder thus choosing to assault the other individual

Another factor that may influence an individual to commit a crime is his developmental background . Children who are brought up in the presence of crime , anger and harshness tend to absorb the same mindset and emotions when they grow up as adults . Children of criminals perceive that their family is normal because that is what they observe everyday hence they think that robbery and murder are common activities in everyone 's lives (Caspi et al , 2002

Social behavior is also another factor that influences criminality Certain individuals incorporate violence and aggression in their personalities hence performing criminal acts will be no different from their normal attitude and activities . Specific societies around the world that perceive criminals or potential criminals based on the physical features of an individual . For example , large-framed men with evil-expressing facial appearances are quickly categorized as hoodlums in developing countries while good-looking men are easily equated as kind and compassionate individuals . As for females , those that appear with traces of masculinity in their faces and parts of their bodies are also categorized as possible criminals

My assumptions are congruent with early criminological data of Earnest A . Hooton (1887 - 1954 , who is a highly acclaimed physical anthropologist and evolutionist . Much of his work focused on interindividual variations based on physiological and anatomical characteristics , including measurements of buttock-knee lengths as the main basis for constructing seats for the Pennsylvania railway trains Hooton was also recognized for his concepts in primatology and comparative anatomy as basis for explaining differences in the human as well as primate species . He was successful in describing a primary race , of which can be further subdivided in several racial subtypes . He...