CRIMINOLOGICAL THOERIES

CRIMINOLOGY REMEDIAL CLASS

Q: example: question of Veerappan. Need to answer what all led to him being a criminal. Not tell
what all he did.

Browny point: If you answer how we can mitigate such criminals from coming forward.

Note: Don’t apply all theories in each and every case.

Class

Criminological theories

(1) Classical theroy:

a. baccaria and bentham: criminals are rationals, so punishment must be proportional to
harm done. When it comes to punishment repeat offenders, both disagreed. Bentham
said repeat offenders needs differential punishment and baccaria disagreed.
b. Neoclassical theory: death penalty, 3 strike, mandatory
c. Rational choice theory: any offender while committing crime, he will try to look at
other options to commit crime. He will look for other opportunities.
d. Routine activity theory

NOTE: There is different classical theory and other theories. Classical theory presumes all criminals
are rationals. It talks about controlling crime though rational punishment. Whereas, othe theories talk
about some element, or cause which leads the criminal to commit crime. So classical theory is called
conservative theory and others are known as positivists theory.

(2) Biological theory

a. Lombroso - father of criminology. Like some species and animals humans with some
defective features commit crime. So biology is the primary cause. Tjese defects can
be seen from the atavistic features. There are 15 featuers like this. Later he admitted
that biology with environment causes crime. He then categorized criminals into 4
types - Atavist, crime by passion, occasion criminals. He advocated for death penalty.
b. Rafael garafelo – adaptation theory.
c. Sheldon shomoto – endomorph, mesomorph, etc.

Flaws: holistic approach was not taken

(3) Contemporary biological theory

a. Twin and adoption theory – if biology is primary cause, then one of the twin is
committing crime, then another is also committing it.
b. Chomosomes
c. Cluste biological thoey: Achae theory, etc.
d. Arousal theory

Also discussed criminal tribes act: british enacted this.

(4) Psychological theory

a. Psychoanalytical theory Sigmond freud – id, ego, etc.
b. Attachment theory
 c. Discussed hitle’s life
d. Trait based
e. Personality based
f. Modeliing theory – saw how criminals because of video game
g. Learning theory - Pavlov, skinner
h. Legal insanity v. medical insanity (how US and India differs – taken case of accused
who tried to kill Reagan)
(5) Sociological theory
a. Social structure – anomy, institutional anomy, global anomy and strain theory
Looks at cause for crime as a macro reason
i. Anomy thoery
ii. Institutional anomy – since resouces is limited, opportunity is limited. People
take different means to achieve goals. He has given 5 ways people ty to
achieve their goals – conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion
iii. Chicago school - tried to see why Chicago has so much crime. And a method
was devised to control crime. They used an engineering thoery to find crime
hotspot.
b. Social process – sutherland’s differential association thoery and ray jeffry’s
differential reinforcement theory, neutralization theory
c. social control – social control, self control, social bond theory, labelling theory,
reintegrative shaming

other theories look at why people commit crime and social control looks at why people are not
committing crime.

(6) Conflict theory

a. Cultural conflict
b. Economic conflict – Marxist theorists
c. Other conflict
(7) Feminist theoy
Till 1980s, nothing was discussed about why crimes against women, and why women are
committing this. Then came forward feminist schools.
a. Liberal feminism
b. Radical feminism
c. Marxist feminism
d. Socialist feminism
 CLASSICAL THEORIES OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. Preclassical school

17th and 18th C Europe was dominated by the st. Thomas aquina’s scholasticism. As scientific
knowledge had not yet emerged, concept of crime was still vague and obscure. It was considered
that man commits crime due to an external “evil” force.

Even in India, it was a similar concept where ordeal by fire, water, etc. were in common.

2. Classical school

A. Beccaria: rejected the theory of an evil or negative force and propounded his theory of “free
will”. He laid greater importance on the mental state of the individual and gave this
naturalistic theory. (more in pg. 47) He was against stringent punishment.
B. Tenets of classical school ( main exponents were blackstone, bentham, romilly,
feurerbach, etc.) of criminology (pg. 47)

3. Rational Choice theory

In criminology, rational choice theory adopts a utilitarian belief that humans are reasoning actors
who weigh means and ends, costs and benefits, in order to make a rational choice. This method
was designed by Cornish and Clarke to assist in thinking about situational crime prevention.

4. Routine activity theory

Routine activity theory, from Cohen and Felson (1979), emphasizes that crime occurs when three
elements converge: (1) a motivated offender, (2) a suitable target, and (3) the absence of a capable
guardian. This theory includes the routine activities of both offender and victim. An offender may
routinely walk through specific neighborhoods looking for homes that appear as easy targets for
burglary or into buildings in a commercial area to seek opportunities for theft. Because in many
families all adults work, homes are often unoccupied during the day, which can become suitable
targets for burglary. “Neighborhood Watch” and alarm systems can prevent crime. Commercial
buildings without access controls or other security methods, likewise, can become suitable targets. A
capable guardian can be ordinary people who can intervene or serve as witnesses, or police or
security personnel. From a corporate security perspective, for example, salespeople, truck drivers,
and others who are “on the road” can become suitable targets when a capable guardian is
unavailable and a motivated offender is encountered. Thus, security practitioners should establish
preventive programs to protect employees through training, security and safety tips, policies,
procedures, technology, and other methods.

5. Neoclassical school

“free will” theory did not last long. It was realised that classicals faulted in not looking at the
individuals’ mind and individual differences under certain situations and treating first time offenders
and habitual offenders as alike.

Neo classicals also wanted to give discretion to judges in terms of punishment and give them
discretion with punishemnet by looking into considerations like sex, age, category of offender, etc.
Tenets of neo classicals: (pg. 49)

Neo classicals were the fist to bring a difference between fist time offenders and recidivists.

Neo classicals also believed that criminals are rational. But certain ciminals lack normal intelligence
or have some mental depravity and do not possess the capability ot distinguish between good and
bad, and they should be punished.

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

1. Positive school (in book, all the proponents are mentioned under the positive school)

With advance of behavioural science, monogenetic explanation of human conduct lost its
significance. By 19th C, certain French doctors were successful in establishing that it was neither free
will (as per classicals), nor the innate depravity (as per neo classicals) which led one to commit crime,
but real cause is the anthropological features of one.

A. Cesare Lombroso: took an objective and empirical approach. Concluded that criminals are
physically inferior in standard of growth and developed tendency to do inferior acts.
Categorised criminals into 3 categories:
(i) Atavists: hereditary criminals who are incorrigible (Enrico ferri criticised htat
criminals can be corrected)
(ii) Insane criminals: resorted to criminality due to certain mental depravity or
disorder
(iii) Criminoids: commit crime to overcome their inferiority to meet needs of
survival.

He enumerated around 16 physical abnormalities of a criminal: peculiar size of head, eye,

enlarged jaw and cheek bones, etc.

(more on Lombroso: pf. 51-53)

B. Raffaele Garofalo: Gave the adaptation theory. Said there is a need to give a closer look to
the circumstances and living conditions of criminals. 4 main categories of offenders (pg. 55)
He said crime is an act which offends the sentiments of pity and probity possessed by an
average man. Lack of pity generates crime. For each crime, the individual should be
examined. If that person violated the natural laws of probity and pity, then they should be
''eliminated. '' If they broke a technical offense, then no serious punishment was warranted.
Garofalo created the Law of Adaption as a means for eliminating those natural law
violators.
C. Sheldon: Sheldon classified people according to three body types,
or somatotypes: endomorphs, who are rounded and soft, were said to have a tendency
toward a “viscerotonic” personality (i.e., relaxed, comfortable, extroverted); mesomorphs,
who are square and muscular, were said to have a tendency toward a “somotonic”
personality (i.e., active, dynamic, assertive, aggressive); and ectomorphs, who are thin and
fine-boned, were said to have a tendency toward a “cerebrotonic” personality (i.e.,
 introverted, thoughtful, inhibited, sensitive). He later used this classification system to
explain delinquent behaviour, finding that delinquents were likely to be high in mesomorphy
and low in ectomorphy and arguing that mesomorphy’s associated temperaments (active
and aggressive but lacking sensitivity and inhibition) tend to cause delinquency and criminal
behaviour. (check pg. 72)

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIMINOLOGY

1. Psychoanalytical theory (also psychodynamic theory)

The Psychoanalytic Theory is the personality theory, which is based on the notion that an
individual gets motivated more by unseen forces that are controlled by the conscious and the
rational thought.

Sigmund Freud is closely related to the psychoanalytic theory. According to him, the human
behavior is formed through an interaction between three components of the mind, i.e. Id, Ego
and Super Ego.

Id: Id is the primitive part of the mind that seeks immediate gratification of biological or
instinctual needs. The biological needs are the basic physical needs and while the instinctual
needs are the natural or unlearned needs, such as hunger, thirst, sex, etc. Id is the unconscious
part of the mind; that act instantaneously without giving much thought to what is right and what
is wrong.

Example: If your Id passed through a boy playing with a ball, the immediate urge to get that ball
will drive you to snatch it by any means, this is irrational and may lead to the conflict between
the boys. Thus, Id is the source of psychic energy, a force that is behind all the mental forces.

Super-Ego: The Super-Ego is related to the social or the moral values that an individual inculcates
as he matures. It acts as an ethical constraint on behavior and helps an individual to develop his
conscience. As the individual grows in the society, he learns the cultural values and the norms of
the society which help him to differentiate between right and wrong.

Example: If the super-ego passed that boy playing with a ball, it would not snatch it, as it would
know that snatching is bad and may lead to a quarrel. Thus, super ego act as a constraint on your
behavior and guides you to follow the right path. But if the Id is stronger than super-ego, you will
definitely snatch the ball by any means.

Ego: Ego is the logical and the conscious part of the mind which is associated with the reality
principle. This means it balances the demands of Id and super-ego in the context of real life
situations. Ego is conscious and hence keep a check on Id through a proper reasoning of an
external environment.

Example: If you pass through the same boy playing with the ball, your ego will mediate the
conflict between the Id and super-ego and will decide to buy a new ball for yourself. This may
hurt you Id, but the ego would take this decision to reach to a compromise situation between
the Id and super-ego by satisfying the desire of getting a ball without committing any unpleasant
social behavior.
 Hence, these are the fundamental structures of the mind, and there is always a conflict between
these three. The efforts to attain the balance between these defines the way we behave in the
external environment.

The Psychodynamic Theory (psychoanalytical theory) of crime is based off of Sigmund Freud’s
ideas of the id, ego, and superego. Freud believed that these forces existed in all humans, and
that the id represented human’s most base desires and impulses, the superego represents
morality, and that the ego was the understanding of societal norms [1]. In this theory, either
conflict between these three forces, or an imbalance between them could cause delinquent and
deviant behavior in a person.

2. Attachment theory

John Bowlby is known as the father of the attachment theory. According to Bowlby and his theory,
the way a child develops depends on his or her attachment between their primary caregiver. A child
is able to better cope with their world when they feel that they have a protctive and nurturing
parent or caregiver. Bowlby describes attachment behavior as “any form of behavior that results in a
person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is
conceived as better able to cope with the world” (Bowlby, 1988). The type of attachment the child
forms with their caregiver begins in early stages of their development. The bonding process occurs
when the child feesafe and secure environment with their caregiver (Katz, 1999). When the child has
a physically and emotionally safe and nurturing environment, receives comfort when in distress, and
reassured when afraid, he or she will develop a secure foundation – this is called a secure
attachment and is the best type of attachment that will allow a child to develop properly.
Attachment is necessary for healthy development because it is a primary need that is “ethological,”
which means it is natural and innate (Hayslett-McCall & Bernard, 2002).

Bowlby argues that children who express no affection and are unable to connect or bond with others
are delinquents. He explains a variety of factors and life events that children go through influence
and interfere with the development of a secure attachment to their primary caregiver. These factors
could include foster children being placed with different families multiple times, traumatic or
strenuous environments, and the absence of a parent early in childhood development. Any type of
disruption to the child’s secure attachment to his or her primary caregiver can lead to a variety of
problems later in life.

3. Learning theory

Refer to this aticle: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/4-9-learning-theories/

4. Cognitive theory of crime

Cognitive theories of crime explain criminal behavior as a defect in moral thinking, thought

processes, and mental development. Cognitive theories also help us to understand how an
individual's personality and intelligence level are linked to delinquency.

5. Trait theory
The Trait Theory is just as the name says- a theory of criminology that states that certain
personality traits can predispose one to crime. It has roots in Michael Lombroso's which states that
criminals are throwbacks to a more primality, both physically and mentally.

6. IQ and crime

Pg. 70

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME