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Why do people
commit Crimes?
Theories of Criminology
Positive Theory (Positivism)
 Criminals are born not made
 This is an example of nature, not nurture
 Focused on biological and psychological
factors to explain criminal behaviour
Positivist Theorists
 Cesare Lombroso (1835 – 1909)
 Italian physician and psychiatrist
 What did he think/do?
 Studied cadavers of executed criminals in an effort to
determine scientifically whether criminals were physically any
different from non-criminals
 He believed that people were born criminals and facial
features of criminals included things like enormous jaws and
strong canine teeth.
Pictures of
murderers
that Lombroso
believed
carried facial
features
tied to criminal
activity.
Positivist Theorists cont…
 In the 1960s, positivist criminologists argued that criminal
behaviour lies in abnormal chromosomes
 The XYY theory argued that violent male criminals have an
abnormal XYY chromosome (XY is the normal pattern in males)
 However, researchers soon found out that this was not true and
that criminals had normal chromosomes and that non-criminals
also had abnormal chromosomes.
 The Positivist theory of criminals being born rather than made
died out. There were moral implications with this.
Sociological Perspectives:
Theory of Anomie
 Sociological Theorist: Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
 People who live in cities feel more anonymous and isolated (as
compared to rural life).
 No longer restrained by the strict norms of society (in rural life)
and given the anonymity in a big city certain individuals turned
to crime.
 Durkheim is also a father of functionalism (i.e., everyone has a
role/function in society and that is how society runs/functions.
 Durkheim believes that criminals have a role and are needed for
society to function
 If there were no crime, it would mean that everyone in society was
the same and agreed on everything. This is not ideal and society
would be too comforting – people need a release.
Anomie cont…
Kitty Genovese
Young woman stabbed to death on a street in
New York City -1964
As many as 37 neighbours and bystanders all
heard her screams for help.
No one called the police because they all
thought someone else would take action.
Sociologists call this Diffusion of Responsibility
Sociology cont…
Ecological School
Believed that criminal behaviour was fostered
and encouraged in certain environments.
They studied a number of poor
neighbourhoods and concluded that
communities that suffered from high rates of
poverty and social disintegration were more
likely to condone criminal activity than more
affluent neighbourhoods.
Sociology cont…
Social Conflict Theory
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels argued that
the capitalist society encouraged crime as
people competed for resources and
wealth.
Our society protects those with power and
property. As a result, people who are
economically disadvantaged are more
likely to be punished by our justice system.
The only way to solve the crime problem is
to eliminate the capitalist system.
Social Psychological
Perspective
 Social psychology is the study of the
relations between individuals and
people.
 They are interested in how ‘regular’
people can commit atrocious crimes.
 Stanley Milgram was specifically
interested in how Nazi’s were able to
commit horrible acts of genocide – he
focused on how people could do this just
by following orders.
Psychoanalytical Theory
 Sigmund Freud believed that all humans have
criminal tendencies.
 It is through socialization that these tendencies are
controlled during childhood.
 If a child has an identity problem with his/her
parent, this problem may cause the child to direct
its antisocial tendencies outward and thus
become a criminal.
Strain Theory (Sociology)
 Current societies stress the goals of acquiring wealth, success,
and power.
 However, the means to achieve these goals require education
and economic resources.
 These means are frequently denied or unavailable to those
who are economically disadvantaged or have little
opportunity for formal education.
 Example: Young urban teens yearning for the chance to work
on the streets to sell drugs because they know this is the only
way they can make money.