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Unit 12: Crime and its effect on society Task 3: Describe two theories of criminal behaviour and the factors that contribute to them.
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Eliska Molcikova Unit 12: Crime and its effect on societyTask 3: Describe two theories of criminal behaviour and the factors that contribute to them.
Biological:
Biological theory is a theory that believes some people are born evil. Some criminologist in
the Nineteenth- century like Cesare Lombroso believes that crime isn’t a characteristic of
human nature, but that criminality is inherited and also believes that “body constitution”-
the physical characteristics of the body can indicate if a person is a criminal or not. Another
man from the mid-1900s (an American psychologists) William Sheldon believed that there
are three types of human bodies types that are prone to commit crime or other anti-social
behaviour.
The three types are:
Ectomorphs (bodies that are thin and fragile) described as being flat-chested, lean,
lightly muscled and small shoulders.
Endomorphs (bodies that are soft and fat) described as having underdeveloped
muscles and a round physique and have difficulties with losing weight.
Lastly- Mesomorphs (bodies that are muscular and athletic) described as hourglass-
shaped if it’s a female or rectangular-shaped in males. They have thick skin and
excellent posture.
Overall, Sheldon believed that mesomorphs body types are the most prone to
commit crimes.
Other factors are:
Hormones
The central nervous system
The personality of the offender
Genetic structure
Family (inherited genes)
Brain
Surgical intervention
The Biological theory is separated into two sections, “Nature” and “Nurture”. These
are two different views why people commit crimes- the views differ from each other
as one (nature) believes that people are born criminals and the other (nurture)
believes that there are certain factors that make a criminal.
Nature:
People are born criminals and don’t develop it over time, as it all depends on the
genetic inheritance- if a parent is a criminal then it increases the likelihood of their
child being one too due to the genetic inheritance.
, Nurture:
Theory that doesn’t believe people are not criminals due to genetic inheritance, but
that lived experiences affect if we will commit crime in our lifetime or not.
The areas that might affect people in committing crime:
Low family income- Not enough money means people might steal things in order to
live their everyday life.
Poor child-rearing techniques- Parents up brining their children in a wrong way
meaning not teaching them what is right and wrong.
Low educational achievements- If a person has no qualifications with no jo and no
money, they are prone to commit crimes.
The early biological theories believed that if you was a certain “ body shape” you
was most likely to be a criminal, but over time these theories have moved their focus
on other factors like family( where you can inherit certain characteristics to become
or will lead you to be a criminal) and focused on other factors that link together. For
example, if you lack basic education then you somewhere in your life will be
unemployed which will impact your behaviour and hormones. It will impact your
emotions as you will be angrier and more desperate therefore you will start to steal
or commit more crimes. These factors link together which result in anti-social
behaviour. Furthermore, modern theories suggest that biological characteristics
don’t directly cause crime but will engage and increase the likelihood of committing
crime and anti-social behaviour.
Rosemary West is one of the most sadistic serial killers in UK as she killed ten young women
along with her husband Fred West, one of her killings was Fred’s daughter and later on her
own daughter. There was never nothing sinister about her which would make it obvious
that she is or have been a horrific murder. Her upbringing hasn’t been easy not even when
her mother Daisy was pregnant with her as the pregnancy was difficult, with both parents
suffering from mental illness. Her mother Daisy had suffered with deep depression caused
by her paranoid schizophrenic husband Bill Letts, who would torture the family. In 1953
Daisy was given a course of electroconvulsive therapy while pregnant with rose. The therapy
is a surge of electricity into the brain which made Daisy black out and have convulsions.
With little research, experts have said the damage of ECT seems unlikely to affect a baby
inside the womb. However, Rose was born with strange behaviour as she would rock her
head for hours and would bash her head against the cot at night. Some believe this
behaviour might have been linked to the ECT treatment, but no one knows for sure. Even
though with two mentally ill parents it could be possible she inherited their behaviour which
later on resulted in her poor performance at school and lead rose to become a loner and a
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