THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION AND PREVENTION

• EARLY SCHOOL OR
THEORIES OF CRIMINOLOGY

A. PRE-CLASSICAL/DEMONOLOGICAL/
SUPERNATURAL THEORY
- Crime is a result of demonic possession or the evil abuse of freewill.
- result of Black Magic (by Witch Craft).
- result of Dark Prince or Satan.
- criminal viewed as a sinner possessed by demons or worldly/Natural force.
• HEDONISM PRINCIPLE

B. CLASSICAL THEORY
- Principle of “FREE WILL” / “ ABSOLUTE FREE WILL”
- Considered as “Age of Reason/Enlightenment”
- criminal should be responsible for his act.
PRINCIPAL ADVOCATE
• Cesare Beccaria( 1738- 1794),
• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Jeremy Bentham, Beccaria’s counterpart in Britain, borrowed from Beccaria the notion that laws should
provide the greatest happiness shared by greatest number.
Bentham has been called an advocate of Utilitarian Hedonism or Felicific Calculus or Penal Pharmacy.

BOOK: CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT (Dei Delittie e delle Pene)

- argued that only justified laws where punishment fits the crime committed. (UTILITARIANISM)
- abolished the Torture and Death Penalty.
- Certainty of the Law
- Retribution and Deterrence of the Law

DETERRENCE - is the core principle of classical school and rational choice theories which states that crime
can be controlled through the use of punishments that combine the proper degrees of certainty, severity and
clarity.
• SPECIFIC DETERRENCE THEORY – explains that preventing or discouraging the criminals to
commit another crime.
• GENERAL DETERRENCE THEORY – refers to provide fear to the potential criminal or public
deterrence from committing a crime.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CESARE BECCARIA’S IDEAS REGARDING CRIMES AND THE CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
❖ “In forming a human society, men and women sacrifice a portion of their liberty so as to enjoy peace
and security.”
❖ “Punishments that go beyond the need of preserving the public safety are in their nature unjust.”
❖ “Criminal laws must be clear and certain. Judges must make uniform judgments in similar crimes.”
❖ “The law must specify the degree of evidence that will justify the detention of an accused offender prior
to his trial.”
❖ “Accusations must be public. False accusations should be severely punished.”
❖ “To torture accused offenders to obtain a confession is inadmissible.”
❖ “Capital punishment is inefficacious and its place should be substituted life imprisonment.”
❖ “It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.”
❖ “The promptitude of punishment is one of the most effective curbs on crime.”
❖ “The aim of punishment can only be to prevent the criminal from committing new crimes against his
countrymen, and to keep others from doing likewise. Punishments, therefore, and the method of
inflicting them, should be chosen in due proportion to the crime, so as to make the most lasting
impression on the minds of men…”
“PUNISHMENT MUST FIT THE CRIME NOT THE CRIMINAL “

RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

• Claimed that delinquents are rational people who make calculated choices regarding what they are going
to do before they act.
• People use logical decision-making process between cost and benefits.

C. NEO-CLASSICAL THEORY
- Modification, opposition, contradiction of the Principle of Free Will
- Free Will Is Not Absolute
- consideration of Certain Factors
Exemption: CHILD, LUNATICS, INSANE, PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED(Mitigated)

• NEO-CLASSICAL SCHOOL
- HEADED BY: GABRIEL TARDE – made a modification on fitness of punishment to crime.
- all perpetrators should not be treated in the same fashion.

D. POSITIVISM THEORY (Introduced by: AUGUST COMTE)

- he use empirical and scientific investigation for the improvement of society.
• Premises of Positivism
a. Measurement – quality of study
b. Objectivity – findings depends on the nature of what was studied.
c. Causality – influence or effect of the study
• Causes of Crime : “DETERMINISM” –all events are determined completely by internal and external
sufficient causes that affects the behavior of person.
 • PRECURSOR TO POSITIVISM
1. Astrology
- This is the prediction of the fate of human behavior in terms of the alignment of the stars.
2.Phrenology (Cranioscopy)
- this is an attempt to determine intelligence and personality on the basis of the size and shape of the
skull
Franz Joseph Gall, an Austrian Anatomist measured bumps on the head in order to identify brain
development
JOHANN KASPAR SPURZHEIM
- German phrenologist who was the assistant of Gall
- he was the man most responsible for popularizing and spreading phrenology to a wide audience
3. Physiognomy
- it involves the measurement of facial and other body characteristics as indicative of human personality.
GIAMBATTISTA DELA PORTA (1535-1615)
Italian physician who founded the school of human physiognomy.
JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER (1741-1801)
Swiss theologian who believed that people’s true characters and inclinations could be read from their
facial features.
4. Palmistry- It concerns palm reading, interpreting lines on the palm which predict future behavior.

The other two important figures in the Italian or Continental Positivists School of Criminology were
Lombroso’s students,
Enrico Ferri(1856-1929) and
Rafaele Garofalo (1852-1934).

The Holy Three of Criminology” by Stephen Schafer

Cesare Lombroso
Enrico Ferri
Rafaele Garofalo

DETERMINISM OR SCIENTIFIC APPROACH/METHOD

1. BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM - It assume that genetic make-up contributes significantly to human
behavior. It contends that not all human are born with equal potential to learn and achieve.
BY: CESARE LOMBROSO
- PHYSICAL FEATURES
- Inspired by “Theory of Evolution” – CHARLES DARWIN
- “Ape-like” (HOMO ERECTUS AND HOMO SAPIENS)
 - the behavior of inferior animals manifested in man.

CESARE LOMBROSO(1835-1909)
-Father of Criminology
-Criminal Anthropologist
-L’uomo Delinquente (The Criminal Man) Author.
-Theory of Atavism (ATAVISTIC STIGMATA)
Atavism- recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to
genetic combination.
-derived from the Latin “atavus.”
-An atavus is a great-great-great-grandfather or, more generally, an ancestor.
-Atavistic Stigmata/atavistic Anomaly/Lombrosian stigmata
Criminals are throwback to the earlier stage of evolutionary process

• ATAVISTIC GIRL THEORY – BY: LOMBROSO & FERRERO

- Women were lower on the evolutionary scale than men and therefore closer to “Primitive Origins”.
- Women are naturally more childlike, less intelligent, lacking in passion, more maternal and weak
characteristics that make them less inclined to commit crimes.

• CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS (by: LOMBROSO)

1. BORN CRIMINALS – individuals with at least five (5) atavistic stigmata

“CRIMINAL MAN” (“L’UOMO DELINQUENTE”)
- (Atavistic anomalies)– the physical features of creatures at an earlier stage of development , he asserted that
crimes are committed by those who are born with certain recognizable hereditary traits
- according to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth, the arm
span of criminals is often greater than their height, just like that of apes who use their forearms to push
themselves along the ground.
2. INSANE CRIMINALS – those who are not criminals by birth; they become criminals as a result of some
changes in their brains which interfere with their ability to distinguish between right and wrong
3. CRIMINALOIDS - those with make-up of an ambiguous group that due to less physical Stamina/Self-
control. Includes: Habitual criminals, Criminals by passion and other diverse types.

• BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
- This explanation for the existence of criminal traits associates an individual’s evil disposition to physical
disfigurement or impairment.

1. EVOLUTIONARY- human evolution

2. PHYSIOGNOMY – Study of Face
3. PHRENOLOGY/CRANIOLOGY/CRANIOSCOPY – Study of Skull
4. SOMATOLOGY/SOMATOTYPE – Study of Body Built of Appearance
5. HEREDITY – Inherit traits or genes from parents to offspring.
4. SOMATOLOGY/SOMATOTYPE
• ERNST KRETCHMER – “Father of Physique”
- he correlated body build and constitution with characters or temperamental reactions and mentality
- he distinguished three (3) principal types of physiques:
A) Asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders; their crimes are petty thievery and fraud
B) Athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular, coarse bones; they are usually connected with crimes of
violence
C) Pyknic – medium height, rounded figures, massive neck, broad face; they tend to commit deception,
fraud and violence

• WILLIAM SHELDON - SOMATOTYPING THEORY

formulated his own group of somatotype:
• TYPE OF PHYSIQUE
1. Endomorphic - relatively large digestive viscera; round body; short, tapering limbs; small bones;
smooth, velvety skin.
Viscerotonic – generally relax and comfortable small person loves luxury and essentially extrovert.
2. mesomorphic – with relative predominance of muscles, bones and motor organs of the body with
large wrist and hands.
• Romotonic – active, dynamic; walks, talks and gestures assertively and behaves aggressively.
3. Ectomorphic – relative pre- dominance of skin and its appendages which includes the nervous
system; it has fragile and delicate bones; with droopy shoulders, small face and sharp nose, fine hair
• Cerebrotonic – introvert prone to allergies, skin troubles, chronic fatigue, insomnia, sensitive skin and
sensitive to noise and with relatively small body

• HEREDITY AS A FACTOR IN CRIMINALITY

1. RICHARD DUGDALE
2. HENREY GODDARD
3. CHARLSE GORING
4. XYY CHROMOSOME
Genetics as applied to Criminology
• Criminal traits and predispositions are inherited.
• The criminality of parents can predict the delinquency of children.

ROBERT RICHARD DUGDALE

- The Jukes Family (1870) was a case study of generations of an American Family. ADA JUKES as the
MOTHER OF CRIMINALS aka “MARGARETTE”
- Tracing over 1,000 descendants of Ada Jukes (a pseudonym ) he found
- 280 paupers,
- 60, thieves,
- 7 murderers,
- 140 criminals,
- 40 venereal disease victims,
 - 50 prostitutes, as well as other various deviants proof positive, he claimed of inherited
criminality.

HENRY H GODDARD
Martin Kallikak, a militiaman during the American Revolutionary war. Kallikak fathered a child out of
wedlock feebleminded, or deviant.
• The offspring of his marriage to a respectable woman were, on the other hand, all of the highest moral
standards.
• Goddard took these findings as proof positive of the real cause of crime-feeblemindedness or low
morality.
• GODDARD- coined the KALLIKAK means: KALLOS – good, KAKOS – bad.
“MORON” “FEEBLEMINDED”
• 2 WIVES OF MARTIN KALLIKAK
1. FEEBLE MINDED – LOW IQ
2. QUACKER – GOOD FAMILY/RELEGIOUS FAMILY

MARTIN KALLIKAK’s relationship with a feeble-minded lady.

- 143 feeble-minded
- 46 normal,
- 36 were illegitimate,
- 3 epileptics,
- 3 criminals,
- 8 kept brothels
- 82 died of infancy;
- his marriage with a woman from a good family produced
almost all normal descendants, only 2 were alcoholics, 1 was convicted of religious offense, 15 died at infancy
and no one became criminal or epileptic.

3. CHARLES GORING (1870-1919)

• also studied phrenology or craniology which deals with the study of the external formation of the skull
indicating the conformation of the brain and the development of its various parts which is directly
related to the behavior of the criminal
• He believed that criminal characteristics were inherited and recommended that people with such
characteristics should not be allowed to reproduce.
Charles Goring-(1870-1919)
• - In 1913 published “The English Convict”,
• -the result of a study begun in 1902 of 3,000 English convicts and comparison groups of college
students, hospital patients, and soldier.
• -He compared these criminals with non-criminals with respect to physical characteristics, personal
histories and mental qualities.
• -The only differences he made was able to discover were that criminals were shorter and weighted less
and most importantly, was “mentally defective.”

4. XYY CHROMOSOME SYNDROME

- Concept between egg and sperm cells.
- X- Chromosome “Mother)
- Y – Chromosome “Father”
- When X paired to Mother = Female offspring
- When Y father paired to X mother = Male offspring
- this theory held that the possession of an extra Y chromosome (hypermasculinity)
• The result will associated with an increase risk of learning disabilities and promote aggressive behavior
What is EUGENICS?
The practice or advocacy of improving the human species by selectively mating people with specific desirable
hereditary traits. It aims to reduce human suffering by “breeding out” disease, disabilities and so-called
undesirable characteristics from the human population
SIR FRANCIS GALTON

PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
➢ This explains the psychological determinants which define behavior of a person. This idea has long
been hatched by thinkers who were consumed by the belief that it is the psychological equivalents that
prod the person to act the way he does.

- this theory focuses on the psychological aspects of crime, including the association between
- intelligence,
- personality,
- learning and
- criminal behavior.

• RAFAEL GAROFALO (PSYCHOLOGICAL)

MORAL ANOMALIES – root of criminal behavior not to physical feature but to their psychological
equivalents.
• CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS
1. MURDERER- Vengeance/Revenge
2. VIOLENT CRIMINALS – against person
3. DEFICIENT CRIMINALS – against property
4. LASCIVIOUS CRIMINALS – against chastity

Gabriel Tarde( 1843-1904)

-THEORY OF IMITATION
- believed that people learn from one another through a process of imitation.
- Tarde’s ideas are quite similar to modern social learning theories who believe that both interpersonal
and observed behavior, such as a movie television, can influence criminality
Crime by Imitation
“Copy Cat” crime, committed by mere duplication of what was done by others.

• Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Theory
the development of the unconscious personality early in childhood influences behavior for the rest of person’s
life. Criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities. It is caused by intrapsychic processes experienced
by an individual consist of unconscious conflicts, defenses, tendencies, anger and sexuality.
ID – “PLEAUSRE PRINCIPLE”
--instinctive, natural or animalistic self.
--It is totally selfish and seeks to maximize pleasure
--the primitive part of the individual’s mental make-up present at birth
LIBIDO-Expressions of these pleasure principle
• Eros--their life or love instinct
• Thanatos-- as well as the death instinct (Thanatos).

EGO – “REALITY PRINCIPLE”

• The ego is the mediator or referee in this contest.
• Gateway to action
• it is developed early in life and compensates for the demands of the id by helping the individual guide
his actions to remain within the boundaries of accepted social behavior
• rational part of the personality.

SUPER EGO – “CONSCIENCE”

--socialized component of the personality,
--the part developed in order to function and gain acceptance in human society.
--Repressing the pleasure- seeking instinct, the superego is in constant conflict with thee id.
--MORALITY PRINCIPLE
--It is divided into two parts: conscience (tells what is right or wrong) and ego ideal (directs the individual to
morally acceptable and responsible behaviors, which may not be pleasurable).

Fixated person (FIXATION)

-Exhibit behavior traits characteristics of those encountered during infantile sexual development e.g. an infant
who does not received enough oral gratification during the first year of life is likely as an adult engage in such
oral behavior as smoking, drinking, or drug abuse and others.

Alfred Adler- The source of personality disorder and for us, criminality was a fear of inferiority and a
compensatory drive for power and superiority over his victim to compensate his own inferiority.
• INFERIORITY COMPLEX
“a basic feeling of inadequacy and insecurity, deriving from actual or imagined physical or psychological
deficiency.”

"Napoleon Complex" is a theorized inferiority complex normally attributed to people of short stature. It is
characterized by overly-aggressive or domineering social behavior, such as lying about earnings, and carries the
implication that such behavior is compensatory for the subject's physical or social shortcomings.

INFERIOR GIRL
• BY: FREUD
- when girls realize they have no penis, they sense that they are being punished because boys have
something important, they have been denied which result in inferiority complex.

UNADJUSTED GIRL THEORY

• BY: THOMAS
- Women by nature have stronger desire for response and love than men and that they are capable of more
varied types of love leading to an intense need to give and receive love.

DECEITFUL GIRL THEORY

• BY: POLLAK
- women are actually as criminal as men but their criminality is hidden or “masked. Physiological nature
of women makes them more deceitful than men.

MARXIST-FEMINIST THEORY
• When women do engage in crime, their criminal activity tends to be a response to their subordinate and
powerless position in patriarchal capitalist society..

IDENTITY CRISIS
- a period of uncertainty and confusion in which a person's sense of identity becomes insecure, typically
due to a change in their expected aims or role in society.

Erik Erikson- Criminality may be the result of an inadequate development of a sense of identity or the result
of inadequate development of sense of inferiority or inadequacy.
- sense of identity means being able to see yourself as the same person in the past, present, and future.

Behavioral
• People commit crime when they model their behavior after others they see being rewarded for the same
acts.
• Behavior is reinforced by rewards and extinguished by punishment.

BEHAVIORAL THEORY
- Criminal behavior is learned response that has been strengthened because of the reinforcements it
produces.
-
Abraham Maslow and Seymour Halleck
Fundamentally psychoanalytic.
- Called humanistic needs because they assume that human beings basically good even though sometimes they
are influenced by society to act badly.
• He suggested that human needs from a hierarchy from the most basic biological requirements to the
needs for self-actualization the highest of all needs.
• Hierarchy of Needs that Motivate Human Beings:
1. Physiological- (food, water, and procreational sex)
2. Safety- (security, stability, freedom from fear or anxiety)
3. Belongingness and love (friendship, love, affection, acceptance)
4. Cognitive-(learning & exploration)
5. Esteem-( self esteem and esteem of others)
6. Aesthetic-(beauty and order)
7. Self-actualization-(total satisfaction, capable of all)

COGNITIVE
• individual reasoning processes influence behavior.
• Reasoning is influenced by the way people perceive their environment and by their moral and
intellectual development.
• Cognitive is defined as an ability to process information.
• Cognition has to do with one's ability to learn information quickly, memorize, and understand
information they receive.
Cognitive theories of crime explain criminal behavior as a defect in
• moral thinking,
• thought processes, and
• mental development.

1. MENTAL DEFICIENCY (IQ) mental retardation

• Mentally deficient persons are prone to commit malicious damage to property and unnatural sex
offenses. They may commit violent crimes but definitely not crimes involving the use of mentality.
– a condition of arrested or incomplete development of the mind existing before the age of 18, whether arising
from inherent causes or induced by disease or injury.

• CLASSES OF MENTAL DEFICIENCY(Mental retardation)

1. Idiot- mentality never exceeds that of a normal child over 2 years old. The I.Q. is from 0-20
2. Imbecile- the mental age may be compared to a normal child from 3 to 7 years old and the I.Q. is 21- 40.
3. Feeble-minded- (moron ) has a mentality similar to that of a normal child between 8 and 12 years old and an
I.Q. of 41 to 70.

LEVEL OF IQ
1. Profound- I.Q. is under 20.
2. Severe- I.Q. is between 20 and 35
3. Moderate- I.Q. is 36 to 51
4. Mild- I.Q. is 56 to 67
5. Borderline Retardation- I.Q. is 68 to 83

2. SCHIZOPRENIA (split mind)

– this is sometimes called dementia praecox,
--which is a form of psychosis characterized by thinking disturbance and regression to a more relatively
unimpaired and intellectual functions are well preserved.
--The personal appearance id dilapidated and the patient is liable to impulsive acts, destructively and many
commit suicide.

3. COMPULSIVE NEUROSIS
– this is the uncontrollable or irresistible impulse to do something.
--Their maybe an active desire to resist the irrational behavior but prevented by the unconscious motives to act
out his difficulty and or to suffer miserably in his fear.

4. PSYCHOPHATIC PERSONALITY
– this is the most important cause of criminality among youthful offenders and habitual criminals.
It is characterized by infantile level of response, lack of conscience, deficient feeling of affection to others and
aggression to environment and other people.

5. Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a condition characterized by a lack of empathy and regard for
other people.
People who have antisocial personality disorder have little or no regard for right or wrong.
They antagonize and often act insensitively or in an unfeeling manner.
Individuals with this disorder may lie, engage in aggressive or violent behavior, and participate in criminal
activity.
=Sociopath – educated person
=Psychopath – uneducated person

6. EPILEPSY – this is a condition characterized by convulsive seizures and a tendency to mental deterioration.
The seizure maybe extreme loss of consciousness. During the attack the person become muscularly rigid,
respiration ceases, froth on the mouth and tongue maybe bitter.
TYPES OF EPILEPSY:
a. GRAND MAL – there is a complete loss of conscience and general contraction of the muscles.
b. PETIT MAL – mild or complete loss of consciousness and contraction of muscles.
c. JACKSONIAN TYPE – localized contraction of muscles with or without loss of consciousness.

ECONOMIC/MARXIST (CONFLICT THEORY)

Human Behavior is shaped by interpersonal conflict and that those who maintain social power will use it to
further their own needs.
- It holds that those in society who possess the social and economic power, the ruling
Class, define antisocial beh.
- Class conflict and social and economic inequality.

Karl Marx
- economic substructure determines the nature of all other institutions and social relationships in society.
- emergence of capitalism produces economic inequality in which the proletariats (workers) are
exploited by the bourgeoisie (owners or capitalist class).
- This exploitation creates poverty and also is the root of the existence of other social problems.
SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
• Sociological factors refers to things, places and people with whom we come in contact with and which
play a part in determining our actions and conduct. These causes may bring about the development of
criminal behavior
• ENRICO FERRI
- a member of the Italian parliament .
- he believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible because they did not choose to commit
crimes but was driven to commit them by conditions of their lives.

• SOCIAL NORMS
- Also called rules of conduct
- shared standard of behavior which in turn require certain expectations of behavior in a given situation.
• SOCIALIZATION
- Refers to the learning process by which a person learns and internalizes the ways of society so that he can
function and become an active part of society.
• CULTURE
- refers to the system of values and meanings shared by a group of individuals.
- refers to the way of life, modes of thinking, acting and feeling .

EMILE DURKHEIM
- one of the founding scholars of sociology
- published a book, “Division of Social Labor”, which became a landmark work on the organization of
societies.
“ANOMIE THEORY”
- normlessness, the breakdown of social order as a result of loss of standards and values.
• according to him:
• Crime is as normal a part of society as birth and death
• Crime is part of human nature because it has existed during periods of both poverty and
prosperity
• As long as human differences exists, which is one of the fundamental conditions of society, it is
but natural and expected that it will result to criminality

CHICAGO SCHOOL
- refers to an iconoclastic group of sociologists from the University of Chicago whose work would influence the
development of a new science to the discipline of sociology in the early 20th century.
Robert Ezra Park Ernest W. Burges Louis Wirth George Herbert Mead, Walter C. Reckless,
Edwin Sutherland,
TRADITIONAL CHICAGO SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY
• It is identified with neighborhood studies of crime and delinquency that focus particularly on the spatial
pattern.
• It develop the Social Disorganization Theory – it link crime rates to neighborhood ecological
characteristics.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

- disadvantaged economic class position is the primary cause of crime.
Social and economic forces operating in deteriorated lower-class areas push many of their residents into
criminal behavior patterns.

• BRANCHES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

1. Social Disorganization Theory- agencies of control.

• person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that a
person makes.
• location matters when it comes to predicting illegal activity.
• highest crime rates have at least three common problems,
• physical dilapidation,
• poverty, and
• higher level of ethnic and culture mixing.
• Henry Mckay
• Clifford R. Shaw)

2. Strain Theory
• Robert Merton
- Crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to legally
obtain them.
- Deviance occur when society does not give all its members equal ability to achieve socially acceptable
goals

3. Cultural Deviance Theory—cultural transmission

• Thorsten Sellin,
• Walter Miller
• Albert Cohen,
• Richard Cloward, and
• Lloyd Ohlin)
- Criminal behavior is rebellion from conventional society.
- Sub-cultural values are handed down from one generation to the next in the process called
“Cultural Transmission.”
• CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY
• combines the elements of both strain and disorganization theories
• theorizes that in order to cope with social isolation and economic deprivation, members of the
lower class create an independent subculture with its own set of rules and values
• due to the clash of values that arises when different social groups have different ideas of
acceptable behavior

THREE AVAILABLE DELINQUENT SUBCULTURES ARE:

1. Criminal Subculture.
• Criminal gangs are involved in theft, robbery, or other income generating criminal activities.
• They develop in cohesive neighborhoods that contain successful adult criminals available to
recruit and train new generations.
 • The key to the criminal subculture is acceptance of delinquent routes to success among all age
ranges, from delinquent youth to criminal adults.
• The ability to recruit and train makes it likely that juvenile members will make the transition to
adult criminal careers.
2. Conflict Subculture.
• Conflict gangs look to violence as a way to achieve community status.
3. Retreatist Subculture.
• Retreatist gangs are involved in drug using behavior.

SOCIAL PROCESS THEORY

Criminality is a function of individual socialization.
It viewed that criminality is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and
processes.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Believes that crime is a product of learning the norms, values and behaviors associated with criminal activity.
By: Albert Bandura

• BRANCHES OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

a) Differential Association Theory
- the principle that criminal acts are related to a person’s exposure to an excess amount of antisocial
attitudes ad values.
- Criminality is learned through association
- “Criminality is learned not inherited”.
• interaction with other persons
• occurs within an intimate personal group;
• From specific direction of motives, drives, rationalization and attitudes
• association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns
b) Differential Reinforcement Theory
• Ronald Akers
• Robert Burgess
- Behavior is reinforced by being rewarded or punished while interacting with others,
- also called DIRECT CONDITIONING.
• according to this theory, people strike a balance between being “all-deviant” and “all-
conforming”
• Behavior persists depending on the degree to which it was rewarded or punished
c) Neutralization Theory
David Matza
Gresham Sykes
- It holds that offender adhere to conventional values while drifting into periods of illegal behavior.
- In order to drift, people must first overcome/neutralize legal and moral values.

SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES

people commit crime when the forces that bind them to society are weakened or broken.
Train people to engage in law-abiding behavior.
Importance of the individual’s bond to society in determining conforming behavior.
• Branches of social control theory
a) Containment Theory
• Walter Reckless
• Howard Kaplan
- strong self-image insulates a youth from the pressures and pulls of criminogenic influences in the
environment.
 - Youth with poor self-concepts are the ones most likely to engage in delinquent behavior for their
successful participation in criminality actually helps raise their self-esteem.
b) Social Bond Theory(Travis Hirschi)
• It claimed that all individuals are potential law violators;
• but they are kept under control because they fear that illegal behavior will damage their relationship with
the members of society whom he has a strong bonds or ties.
• Without these social ties or bonds, and in the absence of sensitivity to and interest in others, a person is
free to commit criminal acts.
• Elements of Social Bond:
1. Attachment( family, friends, community)
2. Commitment (family, career, success, and future goals)
3. Involvement (School activities, sports teams, community organizations, religious groups, social clubs)
4. Belief (honesty, morality, fairness, patriotism and responsibility)

Social Reaction Theory/Labeling Theory

- People become criminals when significant members of society label them as such and they accept those
labels as a personal identity.
- It further explains how criminal careers form based on destructive social interactions and encounters.
• Edwin Lemert
• Frank Tannenbaum

ECOLOGICAL THEORY
Social forces operating in urban areas create criminal interactions; some neighborhoods become natural areas
for crimes.
--also referred to as the Statistical Geographic, or Cartographic.
• This school was called Statistical because it was the first to attempt to apply official data and statistic to
the issue of explaining criminality.
• The labels geographical and cartographic have been assigned due to the fact that writers in this group
tended to rely upon maps and aerial data in their investigations.

• Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet

first to take advantage of the criminal statistic that was beginning to become available in the 1820’s.
-first “ Scientific Criminologist”
“Father of Modern Sociological and Psychological Statistic.”
In his “Treatise on Man and Development of his Faculties” (1835-1869)

thermic law of delinquency,

which held that :
• crimes against person are more common in hotter climates and seasons,
 • whereas crimes against property are more common in cooler climates and seasons.

BROKEN WINDOWS THEORY:

- 1982
- James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling
• A theory that states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder
create an urban environment
that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes

DEFENSIBLE SPACE THEORY

“CRIME PREVENTION THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN” (CPTED).
- To prevent easy access and exit by potential criminals as well as the elimination of their hiding places
and where they can geographically select a target.

• Aging – out phenomenon

– trend in criminal activities which studied showing that as one grows.
- Criminality decreases were the age increases.
• chivalry hypothesis
posits that female criminals receive more lenient treatment in the criminal justice system and in news coverage
of their crimes than their male counterparts.

• CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
- Study of crime focused on the group of people and the society as a whole.
- Examination of the relationship of demographic and group variables to crime.
- SUCH AS: Socioeconomic Status, interpersonal relationships, age, race, gender and cultural groups of
people.

2. PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
• The science of behavior and mental processes of the criminal.
• Focused on the individual criminal behavior:
• How it is acquired, evoked, maintained and modified..
- Environmental and personality influence with mental processes.

3. PSYCHIATRIC CRIMINOLOGY
- Study of crime through forensic psychiatry, criminal behavior in terms of motives and drives.
“PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY” By: Sigmund Freud (Traditional View)
- explains that criminals are acting out of uncontrollable animalistic, unconscious, or biological urges.
(Modern View).

4. CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY – analysis on crime and nature of social injustice and inequalities.
– provide alternative approach to understand crime and control.
- focuses on challenging traditional understandings and uncovering false belief about crime and criminal
justice.
SUCH AS: Marxism, feminism, Political Economy Theory and Critical Theory.

5. APPLIED CRIMINOLOGYY – focuses more on the processes seen in the justice system.
– applied form or approach with the “real world problems” of crime and criminal justice.

6. EXPERIMENTAL CRIMINOLOGY – focuses on random selection of social issues directed to

evidenced-based crime and justice policy.
– the use of advance experimental method to answer about the causes and response to crime.

7. COMPARATIVE CRIMINOLOGY – differences and similarities to understand crime patterns and

trends
– Study of crime and criminal justice system.

8. CONVICT CRIMINOLOGY – study is more on the efforts to reform jails, prisons, and other
correctional facilities.

9. GREEN CRIMINOLOGY – analysis of crimes involving a variety of environmental concerns with

link to criminal activities. Study of Harms and crimes against environment.

10. BIOSOCIAL CRIMINOLOGY – an interdisciplinary field that aims to explain crime and antisocial
behavior by exploring biocultural factors.

11. CONFLICT CRIMINOLOGY – crime is unavoidable in capitalist societies.

- argued that every society there are certain group who became marginalized and unequal.

12. RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY – conflict ideology which bases its perspective on crime and law in the
belief that capitalist societies define crimes and use their power to enact law that will control the
working class and repress threats to the power of the ruling class.

13. FEMINIST CRIMINOLOGY

focuses on women offenders, women victims, and women in the criminal justice system in order to
understand the causes, trends, and results of female criminality.

FEMINIST MOVEMENT
• Refers to series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal forms on women
issues created by inequality between men and women.
• EX. Women’s Liberation Movement
• Black Feminism
• The Feminist Sex War
• Riot Girlss
• Suffrage Movement