THEORIES OF

CRIME CAUSITION
THIRD EDITION
 CHAPTER ONE
01 BIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF CRIME
 CHAPTER
04 FOUR
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
Current researchers on developmental theories (Siegel, 2018) were
conducted by Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor Glueck, hence they are
considered founders of the developmental branch of criminological
theory. Developmental criminology is a view of criminal behavior that
places emphasis on the changes people go through over the life course.
It presents a career as a dynamic process involving onset, continuity,
persistence, acceleration, and eventual desistance from criminal
behavior, controlled by individual level of traits and conditions. These
theories are dynamic ( Walsh, 2012) because they emphasize that
individual develops along different pathways.
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Table of contents
01 02
Introduction Mechanics
You can describe the topic of the You can describe the topic of the
section here section here

03 04
Optics Electricity
You can describe the topic of the You can describe the topic of the
section here section here
 Whoa!
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introduce yourself, write your email...
What is physics?
Do you know what helps you make your point clear?
Lists like this one:
● They’re simple
● You can organize your ideas clearly
● You’ll never forget to buy milk!
And the most important thing: the audience won’t miss
the point of your presentation
 Three aspects of physics
Describing the organization of the universe
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest one in the Solar System

Understanding natural laws

Venus has a beautiful name and is the second planet from the Sun

Deducing and applying natural laws

Despite being red, Mars is actually a cold place. It’s full of iron oxide dust
 Two important concepts
Matter
Mercury is the closest planet to
the Sun and the smallest one in
the Solar System—it’s only a bit
larger than the Moon
Mass
Venus has a beautiful name and
is the second planet from the
Sun. It’s hot and has a poisonous
atmosphere
 CHAPTER TWO
02 PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES OF CRIMES
Psychological Theories are those derived from the
behavioral sciences and which focus on the individual as
the unit of analysis. Psychologists have considered a
variety of possibilities to account for individual
differences such as defective conscience, emotional
immaturity, inadequate childhood socialization, maternal
deprivation, poor moral development.
Siegel (2019) mentioned that the psychological aspect of
crime is the second branch of trait theory that includes the
associations among following:

● Intelligence
● Personality
● Learning
● Criminal Behavior
According to Schmalleger (2011), the psychological
determinants of deviant or criminal behavior may be
expressed in terms the following:

a. Manipulative personality characteristics

b. Poor impulse control
c. Emotional provocation
d. Immature personality
Schmalleger (2011) further stressed that to account for criminal
motivations in people, criminologists have used various psychological
theories that attempt to explain human intellectual and emotional
development. These theories can be divided into three categories:

● Moral Development Theories - describe a sequence of

developmental stages that people pass through when acquiring the
capacity to make moral judgements.
● Social Learning Theories - emphasize the process of learning and
internalizing moral codes.
● Personality Theories - assume a set of enduring perceptions and
predisposition (tendencies) that each individual develops through
early socialization.
Awesome
words
A picture always reinforces
the concept

Images reveal large amounts of data, so remember: use

an image instead of a long text. Your audience will
appreciate it
4,498,300,000
Big numbers catch your audience’s attention
 You can use this graph
Venus
10%
Venus has very high
temperatures
Mercury 50%
Jupiter It’s the closest
planet to the Sun
40%
Jupiter is the biggest
planet

Follow the link in the graph to modify its data and then paste the new one here. For more info, click here
 Let’s use some percentages

25% 50% 75%

Mercury Venus Mars
It’s the closest planet to the Venus has a beautiful name Despite being red, Mars is
Sun and the smallest one in and is the second planet actually a cold place. It’s
the Solar System from the Sun full of iron oxide dust
 CHAPTER THREE
03 SOCIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF CRIMES
A picture is worth a thousand words
 Symbols and units
Parameter Symbol Unit
Energy E J

Power P W

Radiant exposure R J/m2

Irradiance I W/m2

Time t s

Electric field E V/m

 9h 55m 23s
Jupiter's rotation period

333,000
The Sun’s mass compared to Earth’s

386,000 km
Distance between Earth and the Moon
Computer
mockup
You can replace the image on the screen
with your own work. Just right-click on it
and select “Replace image”
 CHAPTER FOUR
04 DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES
Current researchers on developmental theories (Siegel, 2018) were
conducted by Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor Glueck, hence they are
considered founders of the developmental branch of criminological
theory. Developmental criminology is a view of criminal behavior that
places emphasis on the changes people go through over the life course.
It presents a career as a dynamic process involving onset, continuity,
persistence, acceleration, and eventual desistance from criminal
behavior, controlled by individual level of traits and conditions. These
theories are dynamic ( Walsh, 2012) because they emphasize that
individual develops along different pathways.
LIFE COURSE
THEORY
This theory views criminality as a dynamic
process, influenced by multitude of individual
characteristics, traits and social experiences. As
people travel through the life course, they are
constantly bombarded by changing perceptions
and experiences. As a result, their behavior will
change directions sometimes for the better and
sometimes for the worse
AGE-GRADED
THEORY
This theory was presented by Robert Sampson
and John Laub, which is an informal social
control to formulate life course view of crime.
This is the state dependence theory that assumes
that the causal association between early
delinquent offending and later adult deviant
behavior involves the quality of relationship
encountered at different times in human
development.
AGE-GRADED THEORY
Sampson and Laub continued the longitudinal study by re-evaluating the already collected and
evaluated data using new statistical methods, collecting data from criminal files on 475 delinquents
and visiting still living test persons (who are now about 70 years old) and questioning them about their
delinquency after the age of 32. The study design thus offers a unique opportunity to investigate the
delinquency in the life course of individuals over an almost complete life span. Based on the
interviews conducted and documented behavior in the past, Sampson and Laub can assign the subjects
to three different categories:

● Persisters: Persons who continued their criminal career into adulthood

● Desisters: People who have ended their criminal career
● Zigzag criminal career: Persons for whom the criminal career had no continuity and was applied
from time to time.
INTERACTIONAL
THEORY
Interactional theory offers a broad explanation for the
causes and consequences of involvement in antisocial
behavior. When first proposed by Thornberry in 1987,
it primarily focused on delinquency and drug use
during adolescence and early adulthood. The theory
proposed that delinquent behavior was caused by weak
social bonds and involvement in delinquent networks
but that delinquency also had feedback effects to
further weaken prosocial bonds and further embed the
individual in deviant networks and belief systems.
Prolonged and serious involvement in antisocial
behavior gradually evolved over the life course as a
function of these reciprocal processes. The theory was
subsequently expanded in two major directions.
GENERAL THEORY OR
SUPER TRAITS THEORY
Robert Agnew’s Super Traits Theory In Robert
Agnew’s developmental theory, there are five aspects
that shape each individual’s behavior. Those aspects
are: personality, family, school, peers, and work.
Personality traits affect all other domains in an
individual’s life because it influences how other people
in those domains react to them. According to Agnew,
low self-control and irritability encompass many other
traits that are present in offenders, these two are
referred to as “super traits”.
LATENT TRAIT
THEORY
A personal characteristic, present at birth
or soon after, that controls their inclination
to commit crimes (defective intelligence,
damaged/impulsive personality, genetic
abnormalities, the physical-chemical
functioning of the brain, environmental
influences on brain function)
GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME
Gottfredson and Hirschi link the propensity to commit crime to impulsive personality and
lack of self- control. They attribute the tendency to commit crimes to a person’s level of
self-control. People with limited self-control tend to be impulsive; they are insensitive to
other people’s feelings, physical (rather than mental), risk takers, shortsighted, and
nonverbal. They have a here-and-now orientation and refuse to work for distant goals;
they lack diligence, tenacity, and persistence. People lacking self- control tend to be
adventuresome, active, physical, and self-centered. As they mature, they often have
unstable marriages, jobs, and friendships. They don’t feel shame if they engage in deviant
acts and find them pleasurable (drinking, smoking, reckless driving, gambling, and illicit
sexuality). Because they enjoy risky, exciting, or thrilling behaviors with immediate
gratification, they are more likely to enjoy criminal acts, which require stealth, agility,
speed, and power, than conventional acts, which demand long-term study and cognitive
and verbal skills
INTEGRATED COGNITIVE ANTISOCIAL POTENTIAL (ICAP)
THEORY
The ICAP theory was designed to try and explain the offending behaviour of males from
working-class families. The main concept is a person’s antisocial potential (AP), which is their
potential to commit antisocial acts and their decisions to turn that potential into the reality of
committing crime. Whether the AP is turned into antisocial behaviour depends on the
person’s cognitive processes that consider opportunities and victims. According to the
ICAP theory, individuals can be placed on a continuum, from ‘low’ to ‘high’ AP, and although
few people have a high AP, those who do are more likely to commit crimes. The primary
factors that influence high AP are:

• desires for material gain

• status among peers
• excitement and sexual satisfaction.
TRAJECTORY THEORY
Contrary to most theories, trajectory theory suggests
there isn't just one factor that encourages delinquent
behavior, but rather multiple pathways to crime.
Furthermore, trajectory theory believes there are
certain paths (trajectories) that direct a person toward
delinquent behavior quicker and at a higher rate than
other trajectories.

Possible trajectories toward delinquency include:

● Biological
● Psychological
● Sociological
● Behavioral
● Environmental
TRAJECTORY THEORY
Let's first take a look at biological trajectories. Heredity and brain abnormalities have been
thought to predict delinquency, as well as gender. Males are more likely to engage in
delinquent behavior than females. There's actually a pool of research as to why, but it's
thought that males have higher rates of aggression and certain types of mental disorders
that are linked to delinquency.

Here's a case study exploring this perspective. Jack's dad has been in and out of prison his
entire life. Jack's mother has kept him from knowing his dad for this reason. She thought
that if he didn't know his father then he wouldn't follow in the father's footsteps. His
mother has worked hard to provide a healthy and stable upbringing for Jack and his
siblings. At the age of 14, Jack begins engaging in delinquent behavior. His mother
wonders if he has inherited his father's criminal-like tendencies .