Causation of Crime

MICHAEL R. EASLEY

CRIMINOLOGY

CJ102

28 OCTOBER 2014

Crime causation theories can differ significantly from person to person. Some people believe that poverty is the cause of crime, and then you have others that believe the criminal behavior is typically the result of negative responses to what ordinary human characteristics are. There are some theories that are out there also suggest that alcohol and drug abuse and mental health problems are primarily responsible for criminal offenses. This paper will discuss four of the different approaches that might cause crime.

The assessment that crime is a function of the decision-making method in the offender considers the costs and benefits of an illegal act known as the Rational Choice Theory. In this theory, the offender is typically given a choice. They can either choose logically or rationally. This can be determined by the interests of the offender. Also in this theory the offender will offset the cost over the benefit. For example, an offender for the first time, usually a child or a teenager will outweigh the benefits of shoplifting from a store. If the offender shoplifts from the store, then is it worth the new clothes or shoes, over having to spend time in a juvenile facility? That is what the offender has to figure out. Now if you take an adult, who is a repeat offender for stealing cars. This adult can make more money stealing cars, than he or she can make in a day on a regular job. So this offender will decide to steal cars in order to make more money in the long run. They might get caught, but they are willing to take that chance and to make that choice.

Cultural deviance is the major tenet of the cultural deviance theory, what this means is that the conformity to the usual cultural norms of lower class society causes the crime. Many people think that the lower class culture has a distinctive set of values and beliefs, which usually conflict with conventional social norms. Criminality is a look of conformity to lower class sub cultural values. This theory a high amount of lower-class children especially males, who do poorly in school performance. If you have poor school performance, then a conflict amongst dominant middle-class values of the school system and the benefits of lower class adolescences; and most of lower-class male misbehavior is committed in a group context. This is due in part to meeting some basic needs, such as self-esteem and belonging to a group or a gang with similar interests. Societies, who support this route of thinking, tend to believe that delinquency is the result of deteriorating communities.

While some of those support complicated theories for crime causation, others think human characteristics easily explain criminal behavior, which brings up the biological trait theory. The Biological Trait Theory, a branch of contemporary trait theory, this theory focuses on the biological conditions that control human behavior. It seeks to explain up-front the consistencies in individuals' behavior are. These traits are consistent personality characteristics and behaviors displayed in different situations. There are five factors, in the biological trait theory they are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (emotional stability). Up until recently, the bulk of criminological study focused solely on social contributors either reduced or negating the influence of genetic and biological impacts on criminal behavior.

Crime sometimes is connected with poor or abnormal upbringing. Some believe that children who have been molested, exposed to the brutality of an adult, or have been raised by sociopaths are more likely to become criminals than other children. Negative childhood experience may also have an effect. For those that consider this theory, also tend to think that these effects might transfer from one generation to the following.

Criminal actions are often linked to substance abuse, which is a problem that encountered around the world. The need to sustain their habits drives many people to commit illegal acts, such as robbery, theft, and prostitution. A lack of control after consuming intoxicating items often leads to more violent crimes, such as assault, rape, and other heinous crimes.

It's found that the poor upbringing, drug and alcohol abuse, and some other factors can contribute to or can cause mental illnesses as well. It challenged that a considerable number of people who have been convicted of the crimes and afterward imprisoned are in need of some mental health treatment. While the law does tend to see that crimes, in some cases, are caused by psychological problems.

Drug or alcohol misuse, as well as mental diseases, can be deemed essential factors of crime. People with these problems are often repeated offenders also known as recidivists. This means that the criminal that commits crimes and are then incarcerated for that crime, but rather learning their lesson from the justice system, they decide that they are going to commit more crimes. The theories that regard recidivism suggest that this cycle will not be interrupted until the underlying causes are addressed.

Crime that happens in neighborhoods that are economically deprived, are typically significant in size, they tend to have several multi-unit housing such as apartments. These communities also have an enormous number of people regularly moving in and out, a high rate in family disruption, divorce or single-parent families. These instances are said to reduce the ability or the willingness of the community residents to exercise effective social control. These communities accommodate young people with a stake in compliance and socialize young people so that they denounce delinquency and develop self-control.

The populaces of abnormally high crime communities often lack the skill set and the resources to enable them to assist their community. For the most part, they are deprived of many basic needs, and many are single parents, which are struggling with separated parent family responsibilities. They often face troubles in socializing their