Describe the characteristics of crime
Criminal behavior is defined by Andrews and Bonita as acting in a way that is
prohibited by law and against the rules of the state. A criminal can be called
a career criminal, when they are habitual offenders that look to crime as the
primary method of financing their lives, and they are often said to have
common psychological traits. It has been found by Muncie McLaughlin that
there are higher levels of crime that was is assumed – most people consider
themselves law-abiding citizens, but generally most people will have
committed enough low-level (e.g. speeding or littering) crimes to serve up to
6 years in prison.
There are said to be 10 common traits of criminals, that were identified by
Chase. One of them is rationalization – where criminals are seen to divert
blame to others and question the motives of others. For example, “if they
didn’t want me to steal their TV, they shouldn’t have left their front door
unlocked”. Another trait is impulsivity – criminals are often seen to have an
inability to control themselves, their impulses and their temperament. They
may quickly jump into a crime, without thinking threw the consequences of
their actions. Invincibility is also seen where a criminal has an inflated sense
of optimism and believes they will never be caught. For example, they may
think “we might as well steal that car, it's not like the police will ever find out
it was us”. A fourth example often seen is cognitive laziness, where criminals
choose the path of least resistance where they make poor, not well thought
out decisions. For example, they may enter a house without checking there
is no alarm.
Farr and Gibbons proposed 7 types of crime: property predatory crime,
fraudulent crime, interpersonal violence general, interpersonal violence
sexual, transactional vice, order disruption, and mundane crime.
Interpersonal violence general are actions that threaten or cause harm, and
this refers to murder, kidnapping, torture and assault. Property predatory
crime can involve arson, vandalism, car theft and burglary. Mundane crime is
where actions range from minor code violations to more serious ones. This
can include not paying for a TV license, fishing without a license or having an
overload on a lorry. There are many types of crime, violent and non-violent,
that people may engage in. People with the characteristic of minimalization
may commit property predatory crime (theft) - this is where people under-
exaggerate the consequences of their actions. This will reduce any negative
emotions of guilt, as they do not feel bad for the victim, as they often
rationalize that they deserve the stolen object more. High extraversion can
,explain both violent and non-violent crime, as a criminal is under-aroused so
seek stimulation through crime to increase their cortical arousal. They
choose to engage in dangerous activities and commit any crime (e.g. order
disruption) to excite themselves. High psychoticism can explain
interpersonal violence general and sexual (assault) - as people are seen to
be impulsive and lack empathy. So, they would engage in a violent crime
without planning it and would not show remorse for the victim.
,Describe the inherited criminality explanation for crime (BIO)
The genetic argument to explain criminal behavior proposes that one or
more genes predispose individuals to crime. The evidence for a genetic
component to crime, for example, comes from twin studies where MZ
(identical twins, sharing 100% of their genes) and DZ (non-identical twins,
sharing 50% of their genes) twins are compared. Raine reviewed research on
the delinquent behavior of twins, and found 52% concordance for MZ twins,
compared to 21% concordance for DZ twins.
Two genes have been especially linked to criminal behavior – MAOA and
CDH13. Brunner et al looked at 28 male members of 1 Dutch family and
analyzed their genes. He found that they shared a gene that led to
abnormally low levels of MAOA, and this could explain the high rates of
violent crimes seen in the family, such as assault and attempted murder.
Tiahonen et al observed 900 offenders and found evidence of low MAOA and
also low activity of the CDH-13 gene. He estimated that 5-10% of all violent
crime in Finland was due to abnormalities in these 2 genes. Modern
understanding of genetic influence no longer proposes a few genes on their
own will determine criminal behavior, instead current thinking in terms of
epigenetics proposes an interplay between environmental factors and
genetic predisposition. Epigenetics believe that an environmental trigger
(e.g. stress) will act as an epigenome and switch on or off genes = diathesis
stress. Those who are more vulnerable to stress (due to childhood
maltreatment) will have a higher predisposition to crime. Caspi et al followed
1000 people from babies to age 26 and found 12% had low activity of the
MAOA gene. All these people had experiences of some form of childhood
maltreatment and were responsible for 44% of violent convictions in the total
sample.
Criminal genes may also cause differences in the brain and brain functioning.
This was investigated by Raine, who reviewed 71 pieces of research using
braining imaging techniques on criminals and found violent criminals has
reduced functioning of the prefrontal cortex – which is responsible for
regulating emotions and controlling behavior and impulsive desires. Seo et al
suggested that low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin may predispose
an individual to impulsive aggression and crime, partly because this
, neurotransmitter normally inhibits the prefrontal cortex, and dopamine
hyperactivity may enhance this effect. This leads to them not
comprehending the consequence, and therefore feeling less fearful of
committing a crime. In addition to this, both very high or very low levels of
noradrenaline have been associated with aggression, violence and crime by
Wright et al. Noradrenaline helps people to react to threats, fight or flight,
and very low levels of noradrenaline could result in someone having a
reduces ability to perceive threats and feel invincible – e.g. “the police will
never catch me”. Opposingly, very high levels of noradrenaline may lead to
someone impulsively engaging in a crime, such as theft or assault.
Evaluate the inherited criminality explanation for crime (BIO)
One strength of suggesting that criminality is inherited is that it is a
scientific, and through providing a systematic approach to verifying new
knowledge, the explanation has much supporting evidence. For example,
Raine found a higher concordance rate in MZ twins of 52% compared to DZ
twins of only 21% for delinquent behavior of twins, suggesting a genetic link
to criminal behavior. This is further supported by research by Crowe, who
found a similar increase in risk of criminality in adopted children who had a
criminal biological parent. This is a strength, as supportive evidence for
genes causing criminality has been seen consistently, suggesting that this
explanation for crime can be relied upon. However, this evidence does not
demonstrate a clear cause and effect relationship between genetics and
crime, instead it merely suggests a link between the 2. This means that we
cannot determine whether it is the cause of crime, or whether it just causes
an increased risk of criminal behavior.
One weakness of the suggestion that criminality is inherited is that it lacks
construct validity, which means the measures for crime are too narrow to
explain the complex behavior. Most of the genetic research on criminal
behavior relates to violent crime (interpersonal violence general), and
ignores other non-violent crimes, such as fraudulent crime. For example,
Brunner et al found that those with the ‘warrior’ MAOA gene are more likely
to be involved in violent crimes such as rape and murder. This research was
done on 28 male members of 1 Dutch family. This is a weakness, as
supporting research ignores other types of non-violent crime meaning the
research cannot be generalized to all criminal offences. This limits the
supporting research for genetics being a predisposition to crime, as there are
many other types of crime that have not been linked to any genes or
