THEORIES OF JOJO P BAUTISTA

CRIME CAUSATION PHD.CRIM., LPT, CMPP

 EXPLAINING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
THEORIES OF CRIME
Criminal behavior was the product of “unconscious” forces operating within a person’s mind.
• Conflicts that occur at various psychosexual stages of development might impact an individual’s
ability to operate normally as an adult.
• If aggressive impulse is not controlled, or is repressed to an unusual degree, some aggression can
“leak out” of the unconscious and a person can engage in random acts of violence.
• Charles Goring
Published a book entitled: The English Convict: A Statistical Study (3,000 convicts as
respondents)
No such thing as a physical criminal type, rather defective intelligence rather than physical
characteristics was the main factor why people commit a crime.
• Gabriel Tarde
Theory of imitation
People learn from one another through a process of imitation
 PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY AND
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
 PSYCHODYNAMIC OR PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Proposed by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud.

• Considered as one of the prominent theories in psychology
• Human personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes (operate outside the person’s
awareness and play a major role in directing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and of course, in
triggering mental illness) developed in early childhood.

Three (3) major components of human personality:

1. Id – dictates the needs and desires (it operates under the pleasure principle).
2. Ego – evaluates the reality of a position of these two extremes (reality principle)
3. Superego – counteracts the Id by fostering feelings of morality (morality principle). It is
divided into two (2) parts: conscience and ego ideal
 PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

• Eros - The most basic human drive present at birth. The instinct to preserve and create life.

Stages:
1. oral stage (first year of life). A child attains pleasure by sucking and biting.
2. anal stage (second and third year of life). The focus of sexual attention is on the
elimination of bodily waste. Phallic stage (third year) occurs when children focus their
attention on their genitals.
Oedipus complex. Males begin to have sexual feelings for their mothers.
Electra complex. Girls begin to have sexual feelings for their fathers
3. Latency. Begins at Age of six (6). Feelings of sexuality are repressed
4. Genital stage begins at puberty; this marks the beginning of adult sexuality.
 BEHAVIORAL THEORY

• Created by John B. Watson (1878-1958)

• Popularized by Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) B.F. Skinner
• Behavior is concerned with the study of observable behavior rather than unconscious
processes.
• It focuses on a particular stimulus and how people respond to that stimulus.
• Human actions are developed through learning experiences, and that behavior is
learned when it is rewarded and extinguished by negative reactions or punishment.
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

• Branch of behavioral theory most relevant to criminology.

• It was created by Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura (1973)
• People are not actually born with the ability to act violently but they learn to be
aggressive through their life experiences (including personally observing others
acting aggressively to achieve some goal or watching people being rewarded for
violent acts on television or in the movies.)
• People learn to act aggressively when, as children, they model their behavior after
the violent acts of adults (a boy who sees his father repeatedly striking his mother
with impunity is the one most likely to grow up to become a battering parent and
husband.)
 SOCIAL LEARNING AND VIOLENCE

• Bandura believes that violence is something learned through a process called Behavior Modeling.

Aggressive acts are usually modeled after 3 principal sources:

1. Family members. Children from families where parents show aggressive behaviors inside
their homes would likely show similar behaviors when dealing with others.
2. Environmental experiences. People who reside in areas where violence is a daily occurrence
are more likely to act violently than those who dwell in low-crime areas where norm
stresses or show conventional behavior.
3. Mass media. Films and television shows, which are accessible to people of all ages and
social statuses, commonly depict violence graphically. Moreover, in mass media, violence
is often portrayed as an acceptable behavior, especially for heroes who never have to face
legal consequences for their actions.
 COGNITIVE THEORY

• A branch of psychology that studies the perception of reality and the mental process required to
understand the world we live.
• It focuses on mental processes - the way people perceive and mentally represent the world around
them.
• Adolescents who use information properly, who are better conditioned to make reasoned judgments,
and who can make quick and reasoned decisions when facing emotion-laden are the ones who can
avoid antisocial behavior choices.
• Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980). A Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a systematic
study of the acquisition of understanding in children based on his Cognitive Development Theory.
 COGNITIVE THEORY

4 stages of a child’s reasoning processes (develop in n orderly manner from birth onwards)

Stage Age Range Description

Sensorimotor 0-2 years Coordination of senses with motor response, sensory curiosity about the world. The language
used for demands and cataloging. Object performance developed.

Preoperational 2-7 years Symbolic thinking, use of proper syntax and grammar to express full concepts. Imagination and
intuition are strong, but complex abstract thought still difficult. Conservation developed.

Concrete Operational 7-11 years Concepts attached to concrete situations. Time, space, and quantity are understood and can be
applied, but not as independent concepts.

Formal Operations 11+ Theoretical, hypothetical, and counterfactual thinking. Abstract logic and reasoning. Strategy and
planning become possible. Concepts learned in one context can be applied to another.
 MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

• Lawrence A. Kohlberg (1927-1987). Expanded Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and

applied the concept of development stages to issues of criminology.
• He suggested that people travel through stages of moral development and that it is possible that
serious offenders have a moral orientation that differs from those of law-abiding citizens.
• Criminals were found to be lower in their moral judgment development than non-criminals of the
same social background.
• Moral development theory. Suggests that people who obey the law simply to avoid punishment or
who have outlooks mainly characterized by self-interest are more likely to commit crimes than those
who view the law as something that benefits all of society and who honor the rights of others.
 MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Kohlberg’s stages of development:

Level/Stage Age Range Description

Obedience/ Punishment Infancy No difference between doing the right thing and avoiding punishment.

Self-interest Pre-school Interest shifts to rewards rather than punishment – effort is made to secure greatest
benefit for oneself.
Conformity and School-age The “good boy/girl” level. Effort is made to secure approval and maintain friendly
Interpersonal Accord relations with others.

Authority and Social School-age Orientation toward fixed rules. The purpose of morality is maintaining the social
Order order. Interpersonal accord is expanded to include the entire society.

Social Contract Teens Mutual benefit, reciprocity. Morally right and legally right are not always the same.
Utilitarian rules that make life better for everyone.
Universal Principles Adulthood Morally is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit.
 INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION THEORY

• Intergenerational transmission. Refers to the socialization and social learning that helps to explain
the ways in which children growing up in a violent family learn violent roles, and subsequently, may
play out the roles of victim or victimizer in their own adult families as adults.
• Intergenerational transmission theory. Criminal and antisocial parents tend to have delinquent and
antisocial children.
 ALTERNATIVE THEORY

• Focuses on assortative mating where female offenders tend to cohabit with or get married to male
offenders.
• Robert F. Krueger and colleagues. Found that sexual partners tended to be similar in their self-
reported antisocial behaviors.
• Children with two criminal parents are likely to be disproportionally antisocial.

Two (2) main classes why do similar people tend to get married?
1. Social homogamy. Convicted people tend to choose each other as mates because of physical
and social proximity; they meet each other in the same schools, neighborhoods, clubs, pubs,
and so on.
2. Phenotypic assortment. People examine each other’s personality and behavior and choose
partners who are similar to themselves.
 DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION-REINFORCEMENT THEORY

• Ernest W. Burgess and Ronald L. Akers – combined Bandura’s social learning theory and
Sutherland’s theory of differential association to produce the theory of differential association
reinforcement.
This theory suggests that:
 Presence of criminal behavior depends on whether or not it is rewarded or punished.
 The most meaningful rewards and punishments are those given by groups that are important in an
individual’s life (peer group, family, teachers in school, etc.).
 If the criminal behavior elicits more positive reinforcement or reward than punishment, such behavior will
persist. It means that criminal behavior will continue if it is being positively rewarded rather than being
punished.
 The role of the parents as the first teachers is very important because they are the ones who would primarily
reinforce the positive behavior of their child.
 If the parents reward the negative behavior of the child then the undesirable behavior of that child will
continue until he becomes an adult.
 EYSENCK’S CONDITIONING THEORY

• Developed by Hans J. Eysenck. Claims that all human personalities may be seen in three
dimensions:
1. Psychoticism. Aggressive, egocentric, and impulsive
2. Extroversion. Sensation-seeking, dominant, and assertive
3. Neuroticism. Having low self-esteem, excessive anxiety, and wide mood swings.
• Eysenck prepared questionnaires that he called “Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)” and
found out that criminals uniformly scored higher in any of those dimensions than non-criminals.
• Humans develop a conscience through conditioning; and that criminals become conditioned slowly
and appear to care little whether their asocial actions bring disapproval.
• Extroverts are much more difficult to condition than introverts.
• Conditionability depends on certain physiological factors, the most important of which is cortical
arousal, or the activation processing, and decision-making. In short, people who are conditioned and
had a conscience had high levels of cortical arousal
 INTEGRATED THEORY

• Proposed by James Q. Wilson and Richard Julius Herrnstein (1930-1994).

• Predatory street crime by showing how human nature develops from the interplay of psychological,
biological, and social factors.
• The main concept is that genes and environment are factors for some individuals to form the kind or
personality that is likely to commit crimes.
• The factors that could push the individuals to commit crimes are intelligence quotient (IQ), body
build, genetic make-up, impulsiveness, ability to delay gratification, aggressiveness, and even those
with mothers who drink and smoke while pregnant.
• if the reward is greater than the expected punishment, there is an increased likelihood that a crime will
be committed.
 MATERNAL DEPRIVATION AND ATTACHMENT THEORY

• Devised by British psychiatrist Edward John M. Bowlby (1907-1990).

• His notion is, that a child needs warmth and affection from his/her mother or a mother substitute.
• He experimented with a monkey wherein the monkey was given the choice between wired “monkeys”,
one was made of uncovered cage wire but dispensed milk while the other one was made of cage wire
covered with soft fabric but did not give milk.
• The monkey was attached to the warm cloth monkey which provided comfort and security even though it
did not provide food.
• Bowlby emphasized that the most important phenomenon in social development takes place after the birth
of any mammal and that is the construction of an emotional bond between the infant and his mother.
• When a child is separated from the mother or is rejected by her, anxious attachment results.
• Anxious attachment affects the capacity to be affectionate and to develop intimate relationships with
others.
• Habitual criminals, typically have an inability to form bonds of affection.
CATEGORIZING THE SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION
 SUBFIELDS OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

• Social structure theory- social and economic forces operating in deteriorated lower-class areas push
many of their residents into criminal behavior patterns.
Three (3) major branches of social structure theory:
1. Social disorganization theory
2. Strain theory
3. Cultural deviance theory
• Social process theories – which hold that criminality is a function of individual socialization.
Three (3) major branches of Social Process Theories:
1. Social learning theory
2. Social control theory
3. Social reaction theory
SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES
 SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

• Created by Chicago-based sociologists Clifford R. Shaw (1895-1957) and Henry D. Mckay (1899-1980).
• They linked crime rate to neighborhood ecological characteristics.
• Crime rates are elevated in highly transient, “mixed-use” where residential and commercial properties exist
side by side and/or “changing neighborhoods” in which the fabric of social life has become fayed.
• Localities are unable to provide essential services such as education, health care, and proper housing, and
as a result, experience significant levels of unemployment, single-parent families, and families on welfare
and Aid Dependent Children (ADC)
• This theory views crime-ridden neighborhoods as those in which residents are trying to leave at the
earliest opportunity. Residents are not interested anymore when it comes to community matters. The
common sources of control such as the family, business community, and social service agencies become
weak and disorganized.
• Shaw and McKay’s main contention is that the primary causes of criminal behavior were neighborhood
disintegration and slum conditions, places which they called transitional neighborhoods or places ridden
by poverty.
 CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY

• Pioneered by Chicago School sociologists Ernest W. Burgess (1886-1966) and Robert E. Park
(1864-1944); however, it was Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay (1930) who noted that distinct
ecological area had developed in the city of Chicago comprising a series of 5 concentric circles or
zones.
• The areas with the heaviest concentration of crime appeared to be the transitional inner-city zones,
where large numbers of foreign-born citizens had settled.
• The zones farthest from the city’s center had lower crime rates.
• The main assumption is that even though crime rates changed, the highest rates were always in the
central city and transitional areas.
 CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY

• The five concentric zones:

1. Zone I (Central Business District/downtown): hotels, offices, businesses, and other commercial activities are in.
2. Zone II (Zone of Transition): known as the Gray Zone. It has a tendency to have a conversion of land uses.
Immediately adjacent to the CBD, it is an area that may be slated for expansion if the business is good. In this
zone, land and properties are held for speculation purposes. The residential units are typically of low quality and
typically preferred only by workers who wish to be in close proximity to the CBD
3. Zone III (Lower Income working People/Inner suburbs): where homes and the slums are. Its proximity to the
CBD makes it convenient for the working classes, as historically, they did not possess the means to commute to
the CBD for work.
4. Zone IV (High-Income Residences/Outer suburbs): where white-collar or middle-class families reside. This
region provides better and more expensive housing to those who can afford it. It is typically far enough away
from the CBD for it to be a relatively newer region with newer buildings and better amenities.
5. Zone V (Commuter Zone/Uptown): it refers to the suburbs where people who work in the center choose to live.
This is typically the richest part of the urban agglomeration. Housing here is spacious and spread out, and the
residents can afford to commute to the CBD in their own private vehicles.
 CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY

• The five concentric zones:

 ANOMIE THEORY

• The term “Anomie” was Introduced by David Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).

• Derived from the Greek “nomos” which means “without norms.”
• Anomic society – is one in which rules of behaviors (norms) have broken down or become inoperative during
periods of rapid social change or social crisis such as war or famine.
• Anomie most likely occurs in societies that are moving forward from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity.
 Mechanical Solidarity – the characteristics from pre-industrial society, which is held together by
traditions, shared values, and unquestioned beliefs.
 Organic Solidarity - the post-industrial system of society in which place is highly developed and
dependent upon the division of labor and people are connected by their independent needs for each other’s
services and production.
• In this theory, because of the sudden shift in traditions and values social turmoil happens. The established norms
begin to erode and lose demand becomes unlimited. Obeying legal codes or laws may be strained, and alternative
behavior choices, such as crimes, may be inevitable.
• Durkheim maintains that crimes are not only normal for society but are necessary. Without crime there could be
no evolution in law.
 STRAIN THEORY

• Developed by Robert K. Merton (1910-2003).

• Crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have and the means they can use to
legally obtain those goals.
• People who fail to attain their goals because of inadequate means would feel anger, frustration, and
resentment, which are referred to as STRAIN.
• People who are under strain or pressure may develop criminal or delinquent solutions to the problem
of attaining goals.
• Strain theory is about goal-means blockage.
• Merton developed the “social adaptation” to explain that although some people have inadequate
means of attaining success; other people who have the means reject societal goals as being unsuited to
them.
 STRAIN THEORY

• Merton’s Modes of Adaptation:

1. Conformity. Individuals accept both goals and means. The common mode of adaptation for
those balanced and stable societies.
2. Innovation. Individuals accept the goal but reject the legitimate means of attaining it. This
mode of adaptation is followed by law violators because the success of such criminals shows
innovative means work better and faster than conventional ones.
3. Ritualism. Individual rejects the goal but have legitimate means of attaining it. Ritualists gain
pleasure from practicing traditional ceremonies regardless of whether they have a real purpose
or goal.
4. Retreatism. Individuals tend to reject both goals and means of society (escapist mode)
5. Rebellion. Individuals are involved in substituting an alternative set of goals and means for
conventional ones.
 RELATIVE DEPRIVATION THEORY

• Proposed by Judith R. Blau and Peter M. Blau (1918-2002.

• Emphasizes a sharp division between the rich and the poor creates an atmosphere of envy and
mistrust.
• Criminal motivation is fueled both by perceived humiliation and the perceived right to humiliate a
victim in return.
• Lower-class people might feel both deprived and embittered when they compare their life
circumstances to those of the affluent.
• Constant frustration suffered by deprived individuals because of their economic status may lead to
aggression and hostility and may result in violence and crime.
 GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

• Robert Agnew (1992) reformulated the strain theory of Robert Merton.

• He suggests that criminality is the direct result of negative affective states – anger, frustration,
depression, disappointment, and other adverse emotions that derive from strain.
• He explains why individuals who feel stress and strain are more likely to commit crimes and offers
more explanation of criminal activity among all elements of society rather than restricting his views
to lower-class crime.
 GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

• Sources of Strains:
1. Strain caused by the failure to achieve positively valued goals. It occurs when a youth aspires
to wealth and gain but lacks financial and educational resources, and would assume that such
goals are impossible to achieve.
2. Strain caused by the disjunction of expectations and achievements. This happens when people
compare themselves to peers who seem to be doing a lot better financially or socially.
3. Removal of positively valued stimuli. Adolescents try to prevent the loss, retrieve what has
been lost, obtain substitutes, or seek revenge against those responsible for the loss.
4. Presentation of negative stimuli. Strain may also caused by the presence of negative stimuli.
 CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY

• This theory combines the effects of social disorganization and strain to explain how people living in
deteriorated neighborhoods react to social isolation and economic deprivation.
• Because of the draining, frustrating, and dispiriting experiences, members of the lower class create an
independent subculture with its own set of rules and values.
• This lower-class subculture stresses excitement, toughness, risk-taking, fearlessness, and immediate
gratification.
• Subcultural norms such as being tough followed by the lower class may tend to clash with
conventional values – the norms set by the society.
• Slum dwellers or informal settlers are forced to violate the law because they obey the rules of the
deviant culture with which they are in close and immediate contact.
• Those who are economically deprived and living in disorganized areas in order to gain success may
resort to crime and delinquency.
 DELINQUENT SUBCULTURE THEORY

• First articulated by Albert K. Cohen in his book “Delinquent Boys.”

• Delinquent behavior of lower-class youth is actually a protest against the norms and values of the
middle-class U.S. culture.
• Because social conditions make them incapable of achieving success legitimately
• Status frustration – the state where youths are incapable of achieving their legitimate goals in life
because of the social conditions that they are in, such as having poor parents and living in slum areas.
• Because of status frustration lower-class boys who suffer rejection by middle-class people
may tend to form deviant subcultures and Cohen called it; corner boy, college boy, or
delinquent boy.
 DELINQUENT SUBCULTURE THEORY

• First articulated by Albert K. Cohen in his book “Delinquent Boys.”

• Delinquent behavior of lower-class youth is actually a protest against the norms and values of the
middle-class U.S. culture.
• Because social conditions make them incapable of achieving success legitimately
• Status frustration – the state where youths are incapable of achieving their legitimate goals in life
because of the social conditions that they are in, such as having poor parents and living in slum areas.
• Because of status frustration lower-class boys who suffer rejection by middle-class people
may tend to form deviant subcultures and Cohen called it; corner boy, college boy, or
delinquent boy.
 DELINQUENT SUBCULTURE THEORY

• Corner boy – the most common response to middle-class rejection. He is not a chronic delinquent but
may be a truant who engages in petty or status offenses, such as sex before marriage and recreational
drug abuse.
• College boy – embraces cultural and social values of the middle class. He actively strives to be
successful by those standards.
• Delinquent boy – adopts a set of norms and principles in direct opposition to middle-class values. He
strives for independence and that nobody can control his behavior, he may join a gang and be willing
to take risks and violate the law.
 DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY

• Pioneered by Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd E. Ohlin (1918-2008).

• A combination of strain and disorganization principles into a portrayal of a gang-sustaining criminal
subculture.
• The main concept is that people in all strata of society share the same success goals but those in the
lower class have limited means of achieving them.
• People who perceive themselves as failures in conventional society will seek alternative or innovative
ways to gain success.
• Subculture – refers to groups that are being formed with the values and norms that would clash or in
conflict with the dominant culture (general society).
 DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY

• Three types of Gang:

1. Criminal gangs – exist in a stable lower-class area in which close connections among
adolescents, young adults, and adult offenders create an environment for successful criminal
enterprises such as joining gangs.
2. Conflict gangs – thrive in highly disorganized areas marked by temporary residents and
physical deterioration. Members of the conflict gang are tough adolescents who fight with
weapons to win respect from rivals and engage in destructive assaults on people and property.
They are willing to fight to protect their own and their gang’s integrity or violent gangs.
3. Retreatist gangs – are double failures because they are unable to gain success through
legitimate means and unwilling to do so through illegal ones. They have tried crime or violence
but are either too weak or scared to be accepted in criminal or violent gangs.
 NEUTRALIZATION/DRIFT THEORY

• Pioneered by David C. Matza and Gresham M. Sykes.

• Becoming a criminal is a learning experience in which potential delinquents and criminals master
techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize conventional values and drift back and
forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior.
• One reason it becomes possible, it’s because of the subterranean value structure of American Society.
• Subterranean values – are morally tinged influences that have become entrenched in the culture but
are publicly condemned. These are values that are condemned in public but may be practiced
privately (viewing pornographic films, drinking alcohol to excess, gambling on sporting events).
• Drift – refers to the movement from one extreme of behavior to another, resulting in behavior that is
sometimes unconventional, free, or deviant, and at other times constraint and sober.
 NEUTRALIZATION/DRIFT THEORY

• Techniques of Neutralization
1. Denial of responsibility. Young offenders sometimes claim their unlawful acts were simply not their fault.
Criminal acts result from forces beyond their control. “They made me do it”
2. Denial of injury. Criminals are able to neutralize their behavior by denying the wrongfulness of their act.
“Stealing is viewed as borrowing”, “They have insurance”
3. Denial of victim. Criminals would neutralize their acts by maintaining that the victim of crime “had it
coming”. In this case, the criminal would blame his victim.
4. Condemnation of the condemners. A criminal would view the world as a corrupt place. (i.e. criminals
would say that judges are on the take because of their judgment accused has been sent to prison. Or,
teachers show favoritism.)
5. Appeal to higher loyalties. Novice criminals often argue that they are caught in the dilemma of being
loyal to their own peer group while at the same time attempting to abide by the rules of the larger society.
The needs of the group take precedence over the rules of society.
 DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

“Birds of the same feathers flock together, and when they flock together they fly so high”
• Created by American Criminologist Edwin H. Sutherland (1883-1950).
• People commit crimes by learning in a social context through their interactions with others and
communication with them.
• Criminal behavior is learned by interaction with others, and this includes learning the techniques of
committing the crime, and the motives, drives, rationalization, and attitudes for committing it.
 DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

• Nine Principles:
1. Criminal behavior is learned; it is not inherited.
2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.
3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behaviors occurs within intimate personal groups.
4. If criminal behavior is learned, then learning includes techniques of committing the crime.
5. The specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes is learned from legal codes as being
favorable or unfavorable. (attitudes favoring lawbreaking are common). The term “definition” as used here,
refers to “attitude.”
6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definition favorable to violation of law over definition
unfavorable to violation of law. (The sixth principle is the core and dominant concept of Differential
Association Theory).
7. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. (if you idolize that person
since you are still a child then there is greater possibility that you may learn his behavior.)
8. Learning delinquent behavior involves the same mechanism involves in any other learning.
9. Criminal behavior and non-criminal behavior are expression of the same needs and values (thieves
generally steal in order to secure money, but likewise honest laborers work in order to obtain money)
 CONTAINMENT THEORY

• Presented by Walter C. Reckless

• Assumes that for every individual, there exists a containing external structure and a protective
internal structure, both of which provide defense, protection, or insulation against delinquency.
• If an individual containing external or outer containment and protective internal or inner containment are weak
then there’s a possibility that the individual will commit a crime or may resort to delinquency.
• Outer containment or structural buffer that holds the person in bounds, can be found in the following
components: A role that provides a guide for a person’s activities, A set of reasonable limits and responsibilities,
A sense of belonging, Identification with one or more persons with the group.
• Inner containment or personal control, is ensured by: A good self-concept, Self-control, A strong ego, A well-
developed conscience, A high sense of responsibility.
 SOCIAL BOND THEORY

• Articulated by Travis W. Hirshi (1935-2017).

• Links the onset of criminality to the weakening of the ties that bind people to society.
• All individuals are potential law violators, but they are kept under control because they fear that illegal
behavior will damage their relationships with friends, parents, neighbors, teachers, and employers.
Four (4) elements of social bond:
1. Attachment. Refers to a person’s sensitivity to and interest to others. Attachment to the parents is the most
important.
2. Commitment. Involves the time, energy, and effort expended in conventional lines of action,
such as getting an education and saving money for the future.
3. Involvement. Heavy involvement in conventional activities in school, recreation, and family
leaves little time for illegal behavior.
4. Belief. People who live in the same social setting often share common moral beliefs; they may
adhere to such values as sharing, sensitivity to the rights of others, and admiration of the legal
code.
 LABELING THEORY

• Created by Howard S. Becker (1963)

• Society creates deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate (label) certain individuals as
delinquent, thereby stigmatizing a person and encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity.
 Consequences of Labeling: (Becker is concerned with two effects of labeling: the creation of stigma and the effect of
self-image.
• Stigmatization. People who have been negatively labeled because of their participation or alleged participation in
deviant or outlawed behaviors may be socially outcasted and prevented from enjoying a higher education, well-
paying jobs, and other social benefits.
• Self-labeling. It refers to the process by which a person who has been negatively labeled accepts the label as a
personal role or identity.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy. Deviant behavior patterns are in response to an earlier labeling experience, a person acts
out these social roles if they were falsely bestowed. (if the wife keeps on saying that her husband is cheating on
her even though it is not true; then there is a big possibility that the husband would fulfill the statements made by
her wife.
• Dramatization of evil. Transforms the offender’s identity from a “doer of evil” to “an evil person” (a person who
is being labeled a hired murderer may commit a crime because he is being hired; and he may become a real evil
murderer already.
 LABELING THEORY

• Created by Howard S. Becker (1963)

• Society creates deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate (label) certain individuals as
delinquent, thereby stigmatizing a person and encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity.
 Consequences of Labeling: (Becker is concerned with two effects of labeling: the creation of stigma and the effect of
self-image.
• Stigmatization. People who have been negatively labeled because of their participation or alleged participation in
deviant or outlawed behaviors may be socially outcasted and prevented from enjoying a higher education, well-
paying jobs, and other social benefits.
• Self-labeling. It refers to the process by which a person who has been negatively labeled accepts the label as a
personal role or identity.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy. Deviant behavior patterns are in response to an earlier labeling experience, a person acts
out these social roles if they were falsely bestowed. (if the wife keeps on saying that her husband is cheating on
her even though it is not true; then there is a big possibility that the husband would fulfill the statements made by
her wife.
• Dramatization of evil. Transforms the offender’s identity from a “doer of evil” to “an evil person” (a person who
is being labeled a hired murderer may commit a crime because he is being hired; and he may become a real evil
murderer already.
 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY THEORY

• Created by Edwin M. Lemert (1912-1996)

• Primary deviance. Involves norm violations or crimes that have very little influence on the actor and can be
quickly forgotten. (a college student takes a book at the campus bookstore. He successfully steals a
textbook and uses it to get an A in a course, goes on to graduate, is admitted to law school, and later
becomes a famous judge. Because his shoplifting got unnoticed, it is relatively unimportant event that has
little bearing on his future life.)
• Secondary deviance. Occurs when a deviant event comes to the attention of significant others or social
control agents who apply a negative label. The newly labeled offender then reorganizes his or her behavior
and personality around the consequences of the deviant act. (the shoplifting student is caught by a security
guard and expelled from college. With his law school dreams dashed and his future cloudy, his options are
limited; people who know him will say he “lacks character,” and he begins to share their option. He
eventually becomes a drug dealer and winds up in prison.
OUTLINING THE ECONOMIC THEORIES
OF CRIME CAUSATION
 ECONOMIC MODEL OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR: BASIC
THEORY
• The economic model of crime (1968) by Gary S. Becker (1930-2014) is a standard model of decision-
making where individuals choose between criminal activity and legal activity on the basis of the expected
utility from those acts.
• Participation in criminal activity is the result of an optimizing individual responding to incentives.
 Factors that influence an individual’s decision to engage in criminal activities:
1. The expected gains from crime relative to earnings from legal work.
2. The chance (risk) of being caught and convicted
3. The extent of punishment
4. The opportunities in legal activities
• The economic model sees the criminal as committing a crime if the expected gain from criminal activity
exceeds the gain from legal activity; generally work.
 KARL MARX’S THEORY

• Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883) – viewed crime as a product of law enforcement policies akin to a
labeling process theory; he also saw the connection between criminality and the inequities found in the
capitalist system. He states that its development has turned workers into a dehumanized mass who
lived an existence that was at the mercy of their capitalist employers.
• He wrote of the injustice of young children being sent to work in mine factories from dawn to dusk.
He railed against the people who were beaten down by a system that demanded obedience and
cooperation and offered little in return. The character of every civilization is determined by its mode
of production- the way its people develop and produce material goods (materialism)
Marx identified two (2) components in the mode of production:
1. Productive forces- include technology, energy sources, and material resources.
2. Productive relations- the relationships that exist among the people producing goods and
services.
 KARL MARX’S THEORY

• The most important relationship in industrial is between the owners of the means of production
(capitalist bourgeoisie), and the people who do the actual labor (proletariat).
• Capitalist society is subject to the development of a rigid class culture with the capitalist bourgeoisie
at the top, followed by the working proletariat, and at the bottom, the fringe members who produce
nothing and live, parasitically, off the work of others – dependent (lumpen proletariat)
• In Marxist theory, claimed that it is not necessary to have a particular amount of wealth or prestige
to be a member of the capitalist; it is more important to have the power to exploit others
economically, legally, and socially.
 FRIEDRICH ENGELS’ AND WILLEM BONGER’S THEORY

• Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in his work “The Condition of the Working Class in England” (1844)
portrayed crime as a function of social demoralization – a collapse of people’s humanity reflecting a
decline in society.
• Workers are demoralized by the capitalist society and are caught up in the process that leads to crime
and violence.
• Working people committed crimes because their choice was a slow death of starvation or a speedy
one at the hands of the law.
• The brutality of the capitalist system, he believed, turns workers into animal-like creatures out of a
will of their own.
 FRIEDRICH ENGELS’ AND WILLEM BONGER’S THEORY

• Willem A. Bonger believed that crime is of social and not biological origin, but with the exception of a few
special cases, crime lies within the boundaries of normal human behavior.
• No act is naturally immoral or criminal. He viewed crimes as antisocial acts that reflect current morality.
• He believed that society is divided into have and have-not groups, not on the basis of people’s innate ability,
but because of the system production that is in force.
• In every society that is divided into a ruling class and an inferior class, penal laws serve the will of the
ruling class.
• Criminal laws may appear to protect members of both classes, hardly any act is punished that does not
injure the interest of the dominant ruling class.
• In the capitalist system makes both the proletariat and bourgeoisie crime-prone, but only the proletariat is
likely to become officially recognized criminals. Because the legal system discriminates against the poor by
defending the actions of the wealthy and second of all, it is the proletariat who are deprived of the materials
that are monopolized by the bourgeoisie.
• In short, crimes are a function of poverty.
 STATING THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL
THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION
it talks about how the changes or modifications of the “bio”, “psycho”, and the “socio” component of
the person affect his or her behavior. The “bio” aspect discusses things about brain changes, genes and
functions of the major body organs, etc. The “psycho” component speaks of the emotions, thoughts,
and drive of a person and why he or she may resort to crime. And, the “socio” component examines
how the person socializes or interacts with another person
 BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL OF CRIME CAUSATION

• The Biopsychosocial theory of crime causation is an integration or combination of both the “bio”,
“psycho”, and “socio.”
 Bio component – examines the aspects of biology that influence health (brain changes, genetics, or
functioning of major body organs). i.e. john met an accident that leaves him with reduced movement in his
left arm. This biological change might influence how he feels about himself, which could lead to depression
or anxiety in certain situations.
 Psycho component – examines psychological components, things like thoughts, emotions, or behaviors
(decreased self-esteem, fear of judgment, or feel inadequate in his life or job). These changes in thoughts
might lead to changes in behaviors like avoiding certain situations, staying at home, or quitting his job.
 Social components – examines social factors that might influence the health of an individual; things like our
interactions with others, our culture, or our economic status. An injured arm of John may reduce his ability
to care for his new baby. Being unable to fulfill this social role might trigger problems with his wife or other
family members, it might be causing John’s stress that could lead to further biological or psychological
problems.
 MORAL INSANITY AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBLITY

• Isaac Ray (1807-1881)– credited as America’s first forensic psychiatrist, was interested throughout
his life in the application of psychiatric principles to the law.
 The best-known author of “Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity,” a treatise on criminal responsibility that was
widely quoted and influential; where he defended the concept of moral insanity, a disorder first described in
1806 by French humanitarian and psychiatrist Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)
 Moral insanity – a term used to describe a person who was normal in all respects except that something was
wrong with the part of the brain that regulates affective responses. Ray questioned whether people could be
held legally responsible for their acts if they had such impairment because such people committed their
crimes without intent to do so.
• Henry Maudsley (1835-1918) – an English Medical professor who believed that some people may
be considered either “insane or criminal according to the standpoint from which they are looked at.
He believed that for many persons, crime is an “outlet in which their unsound tendencies are
discharged; they would go mad if they were not criminals,” and “they do not go mad because they are
criminals.”
 PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME

• Refers to the onset of the menstrual cycle that triggers excessive amounts of the female sex
hormones, which affect antisocial, aggressive behavior.
• The link between premenstrual syndrome and delinquency was first popularized by Katharina
Dorothea K. Dalton (1916-2004), whose studies of English women (156 newly adult female
prisoners) indicated that these females are more likely to commit suicide and be aggressive and
otherwise antisocial just before or during menstruation. In the Philippines, by virtue of Article 253 of the
RPC committing suicide is not a crime but the moment another person helps the woman who is suffering
from premenstrual syndrome in the commission of suicide then, that person who assisted is liable of
“giving assistance to commit suicide.”
• Diana H. Fishbein (1992) – in her study “Selected Studies on the Biology of Antisocial Behavior”
concludes that there is in fact an association between elevated levels of female aggression and
menstruation. She further argues that:
1. A significant number of incarcerated females committed their crimes during the premenstrual phase.
2. At least a small percentage of women appear vulnerable to cyclical hormonal changes, which makes
them prone to anxiety and hostility.
 BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME

• Battered Child Syndrome was coined by Dr. C. Henry Kempe (1922-1984) and his colleagues in a
landmark article “The Battered Child Syndrome” published in 1962.
• The syndrome does not establish the culpability of any particular person, rather, it simply indicates
that a child found with serious, repeated injuries has not suffered those injuries by accidental means.
• Evidence of battered child syndrome is used to make the logical inference that only someone who is
regularly caring for the child would have occasion to inflict these types of injuries, as an isolated act
by a stranger would not result in a pattern of successive injuries over an extended period of time.
• Battered Child Syndrome – a medical diagnosis based on evidence indicating that the child has been
subjected to a pattern of serious and unexplained abuse. While battered child syndrome is purely a
medical diagnosis, evidence of past injuries is actually evidence of the defendant’s prior bad acts, the
consideration of which may lead the jury to improperly infer that the defendant has a propensity or a
character trait for committing wrongful acts.
 BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME

• A psychological term used to describe women who are stuck within or have recently left a violent
relationship characterized by the cycle of violence.
• Lenore Walker (1984) – refers to the Battered Woman Syndrome as a sort of learned helplessness.
• The cycle of violence emphasizes physical violence but physical abuse rarely occurs without
psychological abuse.
Three (3) basic stages of BWS:
1. Tension between the pair. Relatively minor incidents increase the tension in the relationship
and culminate in the eruption of violence.
2. Violent incident. The violence may be short-lived or last for a few days. In this stage, police are
notified or legal proceedings begin.
3. Honeymoon or loving contrition. The abuser id often very loving and remorseful. Promises are
made by the batterer that he will not violently abuse the woman again. This stage reinforces the
woman’s hope that the relationship will get better or is at least salvageable.
 POSTPARTUM STRESS SYNDROME AND POSTPARTUM
PSYCHOSIS
• Michal Finkelstein (2010) authored the book “Delivery from Darkness: A Jewish Guide to the
Prevention and Treatment of Postpartum Depression.”
• Postpartum Stress Syndrome (adjustment disorder) – an emotional reaction that falls between
baby blues and postpartum depression. Lasts longer than three weeks. Characterized by a
sadness that seeps into a woman’s pores and permeates her life. It causes feelings of anxiety and
self-doubt. The woman wants to become a perfect mother and wife, but at the same time, she
feels exhausted and overwhelmed. Women experiencing postpartum stress syndrome usually
function fairly well and get through their day, though they feel awful inside.
• 20% of those women who have baby blues go on to experience postpartum stress syndrome.
 POSTPARTUM STRESS SYNDROME AND POSTPARTUM
PSYCHOSIS
• Baby blues – feelings of sadness are interspersed with periods of happiness.
• Postpartum depression – a woman does not have to suffer from baby blues or postpartum stress
syndrome first. A woman can go through a normal childbirth and recover completely when
suddenly PPD strikes.
• Clinical depression – is defined as prolonged, intense, sad, empty feelings lasting two weeks or
more. To be diagnosed with any major depressive disorder (not just PPD) an individual must
experience depressed mood or anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure) for two weeks, in
addition to five or more of the following symptoms: excessive weight loss or gain, insomnia or
excessive sleep, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, suicidal thoughts.
 POSTPARTUM STRESS SYNDROME AND POSTPARTUM
PSYCHOSIS
• Postpartum Psychosis – it is caused by multiple factors and is uncommon with only one in one
thousand women developing PPP within a few days after childbirth, it can dramatically affect
everyone involved.
• Some new mothers suffering from psychosis may have to be hospitalized for a short term or, even
rarer, an unfortunate few who do not receive the right treatment in time may harm themselves or their
child:
Signs/Symptoms:
1. Hearing voices or sounds no one else hears.
2. Thoughts of hurting oneself or a baby
3. No sleep in 48 hours
4. Cannot care for baby or self
5. Rapid weight loss without trying
6. She could not control her thoughts, as if someone else were controlling her.
THANK YOU
AND
GOD BLESS