THEORIES OF

CRIME CAUSATION

Prepared by: Sharra Mei R. Mahinay, Rcrim., CCS

He founded Sociology and applied scientific methods in the
study of society, which to him passes through stages divided
on the basis of how people try to understand it, leading them
to adopt a rational scientific understanding of the world.
(CLE 2021)
a. August Comte
b. beccaria
c. Lombroso
d. Sociologists
SOCIAL NORMS

Social norms are the unwritten rules of beliefs,

attitudes, and behaviors that are considered acceptable
in a particular social group or culture. Norms provide
us with an expected idea of how to behave, and
function to provide order and predictability in society.
For example, we expect students to arrive to a lesson
on time and complete their work.
ETHICS

ethics, also called moral philosophy,

the discipline concerned with what is morally good
and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is
also applied to any system or theory
of moral values or principles.
Mind
refers to the aspects
of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations
of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagin
ation, including all of the brain's conscious and
unconscious cognitive processes. "Mind" is often used to
refer especially to the thought processes of reason.
Subjectively, mind manifests itself as a stream of
consciousness.
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

refers to the way humans act and interact. It is

based on and influenced by several factors, such
as genetic make-up, culture and individual
values and attitudes
 CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Criminal behavior:
✓Criminal behavior is an intentional behavior that
violates the criminal law
✓Criminal behavior is beyond normal behavior since
it is used to describe conducts or actions that do
not belong to the standard behavior of man.
WHAT IS CRIME?
1. Legal definition
Crime:
➢ it is defined as the act or omission in violation of public law forbidding
or commanding its performance

2. General definition
Crime:
➢ It refers to any violation or infraction of the existing policies, laws, rules
and regulations of the society or the standard norms of the society.
WHEN DOES CRIME EXIST?

LEGAL POV
SCIENTIFIC POV
CRIMINOLOGY POV
Why should members of society be
interested in crimes?
1.Crime is pervasive
2. Crime is expensive
Direct and Indirect expenses
3. Crime is Destructive
4. Crime is Reflective
5. Crime is Progressive
 WHO IS A CRIMINAL?

On the basis of the definition of crime, a criminal may be defined in three

ways:

1. Legal definition
A criminal is a person who has committed a crime and has been convicted of
final judgment by a competent court.

2. Sociological Definition
A criminal is a person who violated a social norm or one who acted an anti-
social act.

3. Psychological definition
A criminal is one who violated rules of conduct due to behavioral
maladjustment.
EXPLANATION TO CRIMINAL
BEHAVIOR
1. Single/ Unitary Cause
2. Multiple Factor Theory
3. Eclectic Theory
General approaches in the study of crimes
There are numerous theories that must be considered
in studying the causes of crimes. There is a need, therefore,
to categorize or group these theories for the purpose of
more systematic and simplified discussion.

The three (3) general groups of criminological approaches

are:
a. Biological approach
b. Psychogenic approach
c. Multifactor approach
a. Subjective approaches
➢ It deals mainly on the biological explanation of crimes
➢ The subjective explanations are focused on identifying the forms of
abnormalities that was experienced by criminals before, during and
after committing the crime
1. Anthropological approach
2. Medical approach
3. Biological approach
4. Physiological approach
5. Psychological approach
6. Psychiatric approach
7. Psychoanalytical approach
B. Objective approaches
➢ These approaches deal on the study of groups, social processes and
institutions as factors that influence human behavior. They are
primarily derived from social sciences.

The following are the different approaches under objective approach.

1. Geographic Approach- These are the factors that lead a person
to commit crime (Adolph Quetelet’s theory).
✓ topography-the condition, situation of a certain place or region
✓ natural resources-material source of existence of population in one
area or place
✓ geographical location-characteristics of the location
✓ climate –the seasons or weather conditions
 2. Ecological approach- The biotic grouping of
men resulting to the following (Ezra Park’s theory).
✓migration-moving from one place to another area
✓competition-rivalry in certain things
✓social discrimination-rejection in terms of race,
belief, origin, appearance, intellect,
✓division of labor-may result to scarcity, lack of
subsistence, greed
✓social conflict area-may result to survival of the
fittest
 3. Economic Approach-inability to achieve the
goals, objectives or wants of an individual are
important factors to criminality (Robert King
Merton’s theory).
✓financial insecurity and inadequacy of the
necessities to support life
 4. Socio-cultural Approach-the causes of crimes can be traced
from the following originating from the environment of an individual
(Albert Cohen’s theory).
✓ effects of institutions- where a certain work or belongs (adaptation)
✓ economics-crisis, impact of system in relation to goods, services,
people and capital
✓ education-lack of knowledge, wisdom for better decisions making
✓ politics-government that have no concern for the welfare of the
whole, the nation, the people but rather it becomes an instrument
of criminality.
✓ religion-the spiritual belief can make the resistance and values of a
person stronger against evil, crimes or anything that is morally
unacceptable.
Contemporary approaches
➢criminologists today put emphasis on scientific
explanation of crime and criminal behavior
➢these approaches focused on psychoanalytical,
psychiatric and sociological explanations of crime in
an integrated theory (an explanatory statement
that combines ideas or concepts from different
sources)
History of Crime Causation
4.1. Antique Philosophy (4th century BC). Aristotle offers a
philosophical standpoint on crime causation who stated that
the crime is poverty related describing poverty as a mother
of all revolutions and crime.

4.2. Medieval Philosophy (17th century). According to

Francis Bacon, criminality will depend on social situations.
He described his standpoint in this sentence: “opportunity
makes a thief”. Bacon pointed out that human behavior will
depend on situations.
4.3. French Renaissance Philosophy
(18th century). The famous encyclopedists
Voltaire and Rousseau introduce the
concept of free will. Crime is the same as
hedonistic behavior and failure to fulfill the
social contract obligations.
3 FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOL OF
THOUGHTS IN CRIMINOLOGY

Classical school
Neo-classical
Positivist
Classical Theory. This theory posits that human
behavior as rational and assumes that people have
the ability to choose right from wrong. It explains
that crime is a product of believes that benefits of
committing crimes are far greater therefore crime is
a behavioral human characteristics and a choice.
This theory expresses that the humans did not act
according to God’s will or under the influence of
any other supernatural power but acted in their own
free will.
• Proponents: Cesare Beccaria, Italian Criminologist,
Jeremy Bentham, from England
Principles Underlying this theory.
• Viewed human behavior as essentially rational in
nature;
• Felt that people had the ability to choose right from
wrong;
• Believed that the major element governing a person’s
choice of action was the basic human desire to obtain
pleasure and avoid pain.
Utilitarianism. The doctrine that the purpose of all actions
should bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest
number of people. It means that human beings are
hedonistic (pleasure seeking) and act only in their own self-
interest.
Felicitous calculus, or moral calculus. Used for estimating
the probability that a person will engage in a particular kind
of behavior. People weigh the possibility that a particular
behavior pattern or action will cause current or future
pleasure against the possibility that it will cause current or
future pain.
Deterrence theory. Highlights that an individual’s
choice to commit or not to commit a crime is
influenced by the fear of punishment. it also includes
the idea that forced retribution for a crime should
reduce crime rates. This theory is considered an
extension of the classical approach focusing on the
link between punishment and behavior at both
individual and group levels.
• Deterrence. The act of preventing a criminal act
before it occurs, through the threat of punishment
and sanctions.

• Retribution. The notion that a wrongdoer should

be forced to pay back or compensate for his or her
criminal actions.
Neo Classical Theory.
It suggests the understanding of individual differences of the
perpetrators who should have an impact on the level of guilt
and severity of punishment. Consequently, not all perpetrators
should be treated in the same manner, because the evident
differences exist among them. Crime is a result of many
conditions that have ultimately influenced on the perpetrators
to commit it. (Proponent: Gabriel Tarde, a French Sociologist,
founder of neo classical and published the book “penal
philosophy, 1890).
Positivist Theory. Positivism emphasizes the techniques of
observation, the comparative method, and experimentation
in the development of knowledge concerning human
behavior and the nature of society. It is also stressed the
idea that much of our behavior is a function of external
forces such as our mental capabilities and biological
makeup. This theory further argued that human behavior is
pre-disposed and fully determined by individual differences
and biological traits meaning it is not freewill that drives
people to commit crimes.
• Atavism. Is from the latin word atavus means
ancestor, claimed a return to a primitive or
subhuman type of man, characterized physically by
a variety of inferior morphological features
reminiscent of apes and lower primates, occurring
in the more simian fossil men and to some extent,
preserved in modern “savages”.
Five Fold Scientific Classification of Criminals (Proponent Enrico
Ferri)
• Born or instinctive criminal. One who carries from birth, through
unfortunate heredity from his ancestors, a reduced resistance to
criminal stimuli and also an evident and developed tendency to
crime.
• Insane criminal. Affected by clinically identified mental disease or
by a neuropsychopathic condition which groups him with the
mentally disease.
• Passionate criminal. One who, in two varieties, the criminal
through passion or through emotion, represents a type at the
opposite pole from the criminal due to congenital tendencies.
• Occasional criminal. one who constitutes the majority of
lawbreakers and is the product of family and social milieu
more than of abnormal personal physiomental conditions.

• Habitual criminal. the criminal by acquired habit, who is

mostly a product of the social environment in which, due
to abandonment by his family, lack of education, poverty,
bad companions, already in his childhood begins as an
occasional offender.
Four types of Criminals on the Basis of Moral Deficits
(Proponent Raffaele Garofalo).
• Murderer. The man in whom altruism is wholly lacking
and whose sentiments of both pity and probity are absent,
and such a criminal will steal or kill as the occasion arises.

• Lascivious criminal. a group of sexual offenders whose

conduct is characterized less by the absence of the
sentiment of pity than by a low level of moral energy and
deficient moral perception.
• Violent Criminal. Those characterized by the lack of pity
(may also commit crimes of passion, sometimes under
the influence of alcohol; such crimes are indicative of
inferior innate moral capacities; certain environments
contribute to crimes against property).

• Thief. Those thieves who lacks probity (such offenses are

committed by a small minority of the population).
THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
Biological theories

Biological theories of crime asserted a

linkage between certain biological conditions
and an increased tendency to engage in
criminal behavior.
Atavistic Theory of Crime (1876)
Cesare Lombroso suggested that there was distinct
biological class of people that were prone to
criminality. These people exhibited ‘atavistic’ (i.e.
primitive) features. Lombroso suggested that they
were ‘throwbacks’ who had biological
characteristics from an earlier stage of human
development that manifested as a tendency to
commit crimes.
Sheldon noted that this type of physique has relatively
predominant muscle, bones and motor organs.
a. endomorphic
b. metamorphosis
c. ectomorphic
d. NOTA
Sheldon’s Somatotype Theory (1942)
William Sheldon (1942) proposed a strong correlation
between personality and somatotype (i.e. physique).
From a study of several hundred male physiques he
derived three made body types:

1.The ectomorph, characterized by a thin, wiry frame.

2.The endomorph, heavy and rounded.
3.The mesomorph, with a solid, muscular frame.
Ernest Kretschmer’s Classification:

German psychologist Kretschmer has

attempted to correlate physique and
character. From his studies on mental
patients, he found that certain body types
are associated with particular types of
mental disorders. He has classified
personalities into four:
a. Pyknic type:
These are people who are short and having round body.

b. Asthenic type:
These people will have a slender or slim body.

c. Athletic type:
These people will have strong body.

d. Dysplastic type: MIXED

PHYSIOGNOMY THEORY- Franz Joseph Gall
and Johann Spurzheim

(Greek Language physis, nature and gnomon,

judge, interpreter) is a theory and a folk science
based upon the idea that the study and
judgement of a person's outer appearance,
primarily the face, may give insights into
their character or personality.
PHRENOLOGY, Franz Joseph Gall
from the Greek words phren, meaning “mind,” and
logos, meaning “knowledge,” is based on the belief that
human behavior originated in the brain. This was a
major departure from earlier beliefs that focused on the
four humors as the source of emotions and behaviors:
(1) sanguine (blood)
(2) choleric (yellow bile)
(3) melancholic (black bile)
(4) phlegmatic (phlegm)
Psychological Theories of Crime
In that very aspect of psychological factors ,
an individual’s mind set, the way he thinks of
any particular crime, or his behavior towards
the society or an individual plays a vital role.
There is a need of psychological factors to be
examined while a crime has been committed.
Reading the mind of the offender is a very
major role to be played while the proceedings
is going on.
What are the probes of the psychological theory?
1. Charles Goring (1870-1919)
Findings:
1. There was a relationship between crime and flawed
intelligence. Goring examined more than 3,000 convicts in
England.
2. Criminals are more likely to be insane, to be
unintelligent, and to exhibit poor social behavior.
2. Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904)
Findings:
1. Maintained that individuals learn from each other
and ultimately imitate one another.
2. Out of 100 individuals, only 1 was creative or
inventive and the remainder were prone to imitation
(Jacoby, 2004).
It develops itself from the pleasure and pain level and
from the discovery that the behavior of the seat of
psychic energy can have boring results.
a. Id
b. Ego
c. Superego
d. Awareness
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

This theory was originated by Sigmund Freud

(1856-1939), founder of psychoanalysis. An
individual’s mental growth starts from the
childhood, from where he starts to learn and his
growth for good or bad things starts from there
only.
Three element or structures that make up the
human personality (Freud)
1. Id. Pleasure principle, it represents the
unconscious biological drives for food, sex, and
other necessities over the life span which is
concerned with instant pleasure or gratification
while disregarding concern for others. This is
known as the pleasure principle, and it is often
paramount when discussing criminal behavior.
2. The Ego. Reality principle, it is thought to develop
early in a person’s life. For example, when children
learn that their wishes cannot be gratified
instantaneously, they often throw a tantrum. It
compensates for the demands of the id by guiding an
individual’s actions or behaviors to keep him or her
within the boundaries of society.
3. The Superego. Morality, it develops as a
person incorporates the moral standards and
values of the community; parents; and
significant others, such as friends and clergy
members.
Behavioral Theory- BOBO DOLL THEORY

The social learning theorist is Albert Bandura

(1978). Human behavior is developed through
gaining and learning experiences while
growing up. The children learn violence from
others, it is seen that the children learn most
of the acts from movies and try to apply them
in real world.
Cognitive Theory

Cognitive theory focuses on how people

perceive the world and how this
perception governs their actions, thoughts
and emotions. Most cognitive theorists
break down the process into three levels
of what is called “moral development.”
•Pre-conventional level. This involves children and how
they learn the external consequences of their actions.
•Conventional level. This involves teens and young adults,
who begin to base behavior on society’s views and
expectations.
•Post-conventional level. In those over the age of 20, the
focus is more on judging the moral worth of societal values
and rules and how they relate to values of liberty, human
welfare and human rights
CONTAINMENT THEORY

The theory has often been called a bridge

between behaviorist and cognitive learning
theories because it encompasses attention,
memory, and motivation. The Containment Theory
is a theory that states that a person is either pushed
or pulled into a crime.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

This entry focuses on the three major

sociological theories of crime and delinquency:
strain, social learning, and control theories.
STRAIN THEORY

According to Merton's strain theory, societal

structures can pressure individuals into
committing crimes. Classic Strain Theory
predicts that deviance is likely to happen when
there is a misalignment between the “cultural
goals” of a society (such as monetary wealth) and
the opportunities people have to obtain them.
According to Merton, there are five types
of deviance based upon these criteria:

conformity, innovation, ritualism,

retreatism and rebellion.
GENERAL STRAIN THEORY
Agnew's general strain theory now acknowledges
that events which are perceived to be especially
negative by those who experience them are
positively correlated with a greater likelihood of
criminal behavior
1.Loss of positive stimuli
2.Presentation of negative stimuli
3.The inability to reach a desired goal.
STRAIN THEORY OF SUICIDE

strains, resulting from conflicting and

competing pressures in an individual's
life, causes him/her to commit suicide
Differential Association is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through
interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for
criminal behavior. Which of the following does not belong to the principles of Edwin
Sutherland?
a. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of
communication.
b. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal
groups.
c. Inner and outer control systems control whatever motivations one may have to deviate
toward illegal activity.
d. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes: (a) techniques of committing the
crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes simple; (b) the specific direction of
motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION

Differential association provides the context in which

learning occurs. According to the theory, the most
important contexts for learning criminal behavior
include peer groups and family units, though varying
entities such as schools, neighbors, and media also
provide alternative settings where some learning of
criminal behavior may ensue.
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
a. Social Control theory
b. Differential Reinforcement Theory
c. Differential Opportunity Theory
d. Differential Identification Theory
Differential Reinforcement Theory

Individuals may teach others to engage in

crime through the reinforcements and
punishments they provide for behavior.
Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement

a. Positive Reinforcement. The behavior results

in something good – some positive consequence
like money, attention from parents, approval from
friends, or an increase in social status.
b. Negative Reinforcement. The behavior results in
the removal of something bad – a punisher is
removed or avoided. Example, suppose one’s
friends have been calling her a coward because she
refuses to use drugs with them. The individual
eventually takes drugs with them, after which they
stop calling her a coward. The individual’s drug use
has been negatively reinforced.
Beliefs favorable to crime. Other individuals may
not only reinforce our crime, they may also teach us
beliefs favorable to crime. Most individuals, of
course, are taught that crime is bad or wrong. They
eventually accept or “internalize” this belief, and
they are less likely to engage in crime as a result.
Some individuals, however, learn beliefs that are
favorable to crime and they are more likely to
engage in crime as a result.
According to this theory, people when they are
doing something wrong, however, rationalize and
justify their action.
a. Neutralization Theory
b. Labeling Theory
c. Containment Theory
d. Differential Reinforcement Theory
NEUTRALIZATION THEORY

advanced by the American criminologists

David Cressey, Gresham Sykes, and David
Matza, portrays the delinquent as an
individual who subscribes generally to the
morals of society but who is able to justify his
own delinquent behavior through a process
of “neutralization”
Sykes and Matza outlined five neutralization
techniques:

denial of responsibility, denial of injury,

denial of victims, appeal to higher
loyalties, and condemnation of
condemners.
According to Walter Reckless, these are forces
within outside of the individual that has power to
influence their actions.
A. Social Bond
B. Containment
C. Attachment
D. Commitment
SOCIAL CONTROL OR SOCIAL BONDING
THEORY

argues that those persons who have strong and

abiding attachments to conventional society (in
the form of attachments, involvement,
commitment, and belief) are less likely to
deviate than persons who have weak or
shallow bonds.
TYPES OF CONTROL ACCORDING
TO HIRSCHI

1.Direct
2.Indirect
3.Internal
4.Control through needs
satisfaction
LABELING THEORY

focuses on the official reaction to crime

and makes a rather counterintuitive
argument regarding the causes of crime.
Two effects of labelling
1. The Creation of a stigma. A public record of the
deviant act caused the denounced person to be
ritually separated from a place in the legitimate order
of society through successful degradation
ceremonies.
2. The Effect on self-image. Stigmatized offenders
may begin to reevaluate their own identities around
the label.
Two Stages of Deviance
1. Primary deviance. These are crimes that have little
influence on the actor and can quickly be forgotten.
2. Secondary deviance. It arises when a deviant
comes to the attention of significant others or social
control agencies who apply a negative label. The
person then reorganizes his or her own behavior and
personality around the consequences of the deviant
act.
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
seeks to explain community differences in crime
rates.
Crime is said to be more likely in communities that
are economically deprived, large in size, high in
multiunit housing like apartments, high in residential
mobility (people frequently move into and out of the
community), and high in family disruption (high rates
of divorce, single-parent families).
Characteristics of Communities where crime is more
likely to happen:
a. economically deprived
b. large in size
c. high in multiunit housing like apartments
d. high in residential mobility (people frequently move into
and out of the community)
e. high in family disruption (high rates of divorce, single-
parent families)
According to this theory, because people in the
lower class feel isolated due to extreme deprivation
or poverty, they tend to create a subculture with its
own set of rules and values.
a. Social Disorganization Theory
b. Strain Theory
c. Cultural Deviance Theory
d. Differential Association Theory
CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY
This theory signifies that conformity to the prevailing
cultural norms of lower class society causes crime. Lower
class subculture has a unique set of values and beliefs,
which are invariably in conflict with conventional social
norms. Criminality is an expression of conformity to lower
class subcultural values. Members of the working class
commit crimes as they respond to the cultural norms of
their own class in an effort to deal with problems of social-
middle class adjustment.
DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY
That is the gist of differential opportunity
theory, which is the idea that people (usually
teens) from low socioeconomic backgrounds
who have few opportunities for success, will
use any means at their disposal to achieve
success. The means are generally referred
to as subcultures.
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

This theory states that individuals use their

self-interests to make choices that will
provide them with the greatest benefit.
People weigh their options and make the
choice they think will serve them best.
THEORY OF IMITATION
Tarde devised a theory of "imitation and
suggestion," through which he tried to explain
criminal behavior. He believed that the origins
of deviance were similar to the origins of fads
and fashions, and that his “three laws of
imitation” can explain why people engage in
crime.
DIFFERENTIAL IDENTIFICATION THEORY

The theory of differential identification views

the individual as a more active, voluntary
participant in the criminal learning process.
The key question in explaining criminal
behavior, according to Glaser, is with whom
does the individual subjectively choose to
identify, criminals or noncriminals?
What are the elements of crime according to Marcus
Felson?
A. Intent, Desire, Capability
B. Instrumentality, Motive, Opportunity
C. Information, Instrumentation, Interrogation
D. Lack of capable guardian, suitable victim,
motivated offender
 ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY

According to Cohen and Felson, crimes

occur when these three elements
converge
A.Motivated Offender
B. Suitable Victims
C. Lack of Capable Guardian
ECONOMIC THEORIES
economists argue that crime is a result of
individuals’ making choices between using
their scarce resources of time and effort in
legitimate or in illegitimate activities. A key
assumption is that when making these
choices, individuals are rational and
choose the best option based on the
available information and resources
CAPITALIST THEORY

Marxists argue that the economic system of

capitalism itself causes crime. The whole
system is based on the exploitation of the
working class by the ruling class, leading to the
ever-increasing wealth of one class and ever-
increasing poverty of the other.
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL CRIMINOLOGY AND
PSYCHOLOGY

is a multidisciplinary perspective that attempts to

understand criminal behavior (and related
outcomes, like antisocial behavior and its
consequences) by considering the interactions
between biological (e.g., genetics, hormones,
physiology, brain structure/functioning).
POLITICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

Criminology has always been a politically oriented

discipline. Differences among theories of crime
causation are associated with their affinities
with conservative, liberal, or radical political
ideologies. Any crime may have political
significance, whether as a source or a
consequence of political instability.
Accordingly, conservatives will assume the
pathology of political offenders (especially
violent ones)

liberals will assume that political offenders

are mostly normal but misguided people who
are reacting to the stresses imposed on them
by faulty social institutions
RADICAL THEORY
shows the relationship between crime and law by
which the affluent community in the society use their
power in relation to the law in order to rule over the
poor or less fortunate section of the society.

radicals will assume that political offenders are

reasoning people who perceive and resist the
oppressive and exploitative nature of liberal
democratic capitalist society.
DEVELOPMENTAL/ LIFE-COURSE THEORIES

In general, developmental/life-course
theories focus on offending behavior over
time (e.g., trajectories) and on dimensions of
the criminal career and make an effort to
identify risk and protective factors that
relate to life-course patterns of offending.
TERRIE MOFFIT'S TWO-PATH THEORY
(1993)

Terrrie Moffit's Two-Path theory is a biosocial theory

of crime. Moffit (1993) proposes that there are two
groups of people who commit crimes: life-course-
persistent offenders, whose anti-social, criminal
behavior begins in childhood and continues to worsen
thereafter, and adolescence-limited offenders, whose
antisocial behavior begins in adolescence but ends in
young adulthood.
LOEBER’S THREE-PATHWAY MODEL

There are three pathways to disruptive and

delinquency behaviors as described by
Loeber and his colleagues in their study of
Pittsburgh youths. These are Authority
conflict, covert pathway and overt
pathway.
THEORIES ON WOMEN OFFENDERS

In criminological research and its related

literature there are four theoretical traditions of
female criminality and its causation: (i)
Masculinity Theories, (ii) Opportunity theories,
(iii) Marginalization theories, and (iv) Chivalry
theory
CHIVALRY HYPOTHESES

The chivalry hypothesis is a term coined by

criminal justice scholars. Chivalry suggests
that women who commit crime are awarded
more lenient sentences than males who
commit crime. One possible reason for the lenient
sentencing is that women are generally viewed as
the caregiver, or the loving mother.
OTTO POLLAK (THE CRIMINALITY OF WOMEN: 1950)
Prior to the modern period, Pollak's work is
considered to be of importance in the area of
explaining Female Criminality. He argued that
the types of crime that women commit (i.e.
shoplifting, petty theft, abortions, perjury etc.) are
under- represented in statistics for the following
reasons: easy concealment, chivalry in the
criminal justice system, under-reporting
FREDA ADLER (THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION HYPOTHESIS)
In Sisters and Crime (1975) Adler proposes that
changes in Female Criminality are directly related to
changes in roles of women in society. Women have
increased their numbers in the workforce and have
been granted greater freedoms as a result of the
women's liberation movement. According to Adler,
as women take on more dominant positions in
society and adopt more traditional male roles,
Female Criminality will increase accordingly.
CLARICE FEINMAN AND NGAIRE NAFFINE –
(ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION)
This theory suggests that increased crime by women
is directly related to the absence of real and
meaningful opportunities for women. Despite the
increase of women in the working world today, there
are still a great many of them that are not employed
or who are working in minimum wage paying jobs.
Statistics support this theory by demonstrating that
the majority of female offenders are unemployed or
concentrated in areas where pay is low and work is
unrewarding.
LOMBROSO AND FREUD

Lombroso viewed female criminals as having an

excess of male characteristics. He argued that,
biologically, criminal females more closely
resembled males (both criminal and normal) than
females. Similarly, Freud argued that female crime
results from a "masculinity complex," stemming
from penis envy.
ENVIRONMENTAL THEORIES OF CRIME

Environmental criminology is the study of crime

as it occurs within a geographical area, and
it's a positivist theory that suggests crime is
influenced, if not caused, by a person's spatial
environment.
 GEOGRAPHY AND CRIMES

1.North and South Pole- Quetelet

2. Approach to Equator-
Montesquieu
3. Temperature
Who advocated the theory that feeblemindedness”
inherited as Mendalian unit, cause crime for the reason
that feeble-minded person is unable to appreciate the
consequences of his behavior, or appreciate the meaning
of the law?
a. Walter Bromberg
b. Richard Dugdale
c. Henry Goddard
d. W. F. Ogburn
KALLIKKAK FAMILY TREE- Henry H. Goddard
Feeblemindedness, Moron

JUKE FAMILY TREE- Richard Dugdale

SIR JONATHAN EDWARDS FAMILY TREE

AICHORN’S WAYWARD YOUTH- Development
of child is crucial

ABRHAMSEN’S CRIMINAL MIND- crime formula

CYRILL BURT’S YOUNG DELINQUENT- general

emotionality, Callous Offenders
HEALY’S INDIVIDUAL DELINQUENT-
frustration causes emotional
discomfort

BROMBERG’S CRIME AND MIND-

emotional immaturity
 END OF LECTURE.
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