Over the period of time, many theories have been developed relating to how criminal behavior is been developed over the period of time. Criminal behavior is often considered as anti-social behavior which is often considered to be a major social problem with complex causes, it is often a result of childhood traumas or past bad experiences been faced by individuals either in society or in the family(Gypen et al, 2017). However, the activities that are often considered legal in one country may be illegal in another country (for example drinking alcohol may be legal in the United Kingdom may be illegal in strict Muslim countries), so do the criminal activities (Mahmoud, et al, 2020). The following paper highlights the general theory of criminal behavior in criminology, challenges that often arise for criminological theories, schools related to the same, followed by the conclusion.
Criminality relates to the criminal behavior which is often reflected in an individual’s overall behavior with other persons in the society. In general terms, an individual adopts the criminal form of behavior during the early years of his childhood which is carried out with him throughout his life, which is often a result of the traumas being faced by them during their early childhood and often what a child perceives during their childhood they tend to find that particular behavior to be justified which as a result they reflect in the society (Thornberry, 2018). Criminology often refers to a study that only focuses on the crime, criminal behavior, and its social response and the criminal behaviour is often considered as the social problem comprising of many complex causes which include readjustment of the offenders in the society who have been provided rehabilitation, as they have developed a sense of their own understanding due to which they often find it difficult to readjust themselves according to the norms of the society and often find their criminal behavior justifying. Often the criminological theories emphasize explaining the crimes as to why some people commit a certain crime, identifying the risks factors, etc (Loughran, 2019).
The theory of criminal behavior in criminology is often explained through two schools of thought such as positivists criminology and classical criminology, which explains criminal behaviors in their own context (Jeffery & Zahm, 2017). As per the positivist criminologists, criminals are not made, they are rather born as criminals, this theory focuses on utilitarianism theory which focuses on the pleasure and pain theory so accordingly so as per this theory punishments can be used as deterrents to regulate the crimes (Tonry, 2018). whereas as per the classical school of criminology the offenders often make rational choices to commit crimes and they should be given punishments in order to prevent them from committing future crimes, as per this theory juveniles are the ones who get influenced due to either their circumstances or the kind of negative treatment they often receive as a child from their parents due to which they consider it normal to either beat or torture someone, so to prevent them from committing any further crime and to reinstate them back in the society they are given punishments in the form of rehabilitation or recidivism (Freilich & Newman, 2017). However, there are certain factors that often influence criminal behavior, such as the biological factors which according to the theorist biology can influence a person to commit a specific crime, another factor could be the adverse childhood experiences where a child has often been exposed to toxic circumstances which he finds justified to commit the crime. The third factor is the negative social environment, where the surroundings of an individual influence them to commit the same crime or act. Lastly is substance abuse, where under the influence of drugs and alcohol an individual is often prone to commit the crime as these toxic substances often overexcite the nervous system which negatively impacts self-control and decision making (Carr, 2020).
The general theory of criminal behavior is divided into three kinds, as follows the social factors which influence an individual to commit a certain crime, includes the social and economic factors, for example, Poverty which is often cited as the socio-economic condition where an individual due to lack of resources often tends towards committing a certain crime. Apart from that often the victims of childhood abuse and neglect often engage in violent behavior in adulthood, thereby considering such behavior as justified (Schepers, 2017). Another factor is the psychological factor which is often concerned with the behavior of an individual and the mental state with which they are often influenced to commit the particular crimes. Moreover, individuals experiencing false perceptions or having a certain set of mental disorders are considered prone to commit crimes of serious nature. The third factor which often influences criminal behavior is the biological factor, where an individual who often commits cries depends on their biological nature and such factors often include factors such as genetics, neurology, or physical constitution (Remmel, Glenn & Cox, 2019).
However, while implementing these theories various attempts were given to produce the general theory of criminal behaviors relating to criminology which includes the seven steps while formulating such theories first is the understanding the history, as before producing any theory it is important to know the root cause of such criminal behavior and then base the theory accordingly. The second step is acknowledging the assumptions since most of the criminological theories make a number of assumptions about human nature, behavior, society, and reality, and based on that they make their own theories so it necessary to be familiar with the main assumptions which characterize different criminological theories (Heidt & Wheeldon, 2015). For example, both the classical theorists create a number of assumptions relating to human nature and behavior before developing their own set of theories, so in such cases, before adopting any particular theories it is important to acknowledge all the assumptions, they considered proper to apply any particular theory. The third step is to understand the problem, focus, scope, and level of explanation, as these are the important aspects of criminological thinking and the theorists believe that the criminological theories often focus on these four concepts for developing their own set of theories. The fourth step is to define the theories and concepts by providing them the specific name of definition so as to avoid any sort of confusion, another step includes recognizing the theory practice problems as it is important to acknowledge that the relationship between criminology and the criminal justice system often impact the theories developed by the criminologists. The last step is including a specific plan to develop these theories systematically is also very important, as planning the core structure of the behavior of an individual will be more helpful in developing the theory better (Heidt & Wheeldon, 2015).
The efforts that were made by the theorists of both the positivists and classical criminology theories have been successful as it helps in understanding the various factors which can influence a criminal’s behavior it provides the kinds of punishment that can be provided in order to reform that individual in order to reinstate that individual back into the society by providing the rehabilitation and therapies, besides that it could also be helpful in establishing the law and order in the society by punishing the wrongdoers and preventing them from committing the crime any further (Hermann, 2017). Yes, this should be the goal in criminology as before implementing any theory or providing any punishment to the offenders of the crime, it is important to understand the basic circumstances and the backgrounds of the offenders which will make it easier to provide the punishment accordingly (Hoffman & Dufur, 2018)
Conclusion
Criminal behaviors are often termed as anti-social behaviors which is a complex problem the society and are a result of the bad experiences been faced by individuals in their childhood. Criminology often refers to a study that only focuses on the crime, criminal behavior, and its social response and criminal behavior, the theory of criminal behavior in criminology is often explained through two schools of thought such as positivists criminology and classical criminology. Positivist criminologists believe that criminals are not created rather they are already born as criminals. this theory focuses on utilitarianism theory which focuses on the pleasure and pain theory so accordingly so as per this theory punishments can be used as deterrents to regulate the crimes whereas as per the classical school of criminology the offenders often make rational choices to commit crimes and they should be given punishments in order to prevent them from committing future crimes. The above paper highlights the general theory of criminal behavior in criminology, challenges that often arise for criminological theories, schools related to the same, followed by the conclusion.
References
Carr, E. M. (2020). Educational Equality and the Dream That Never Was: The Confluence of Race-Based Institutional Harm and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Post-Brown America. Geo. JL & Mod. Critical Race Persp., 12, 115.
Freilich, J. D., & Newman, G. R. (2017). Situational crime prevention. In Oxford research encyclopedia of criminology and criminal justice.
Gypen, L., Vanderfaeillie, J., De Maeyer, S., Belenger, L., & Van Holen, F. (2017). Outcomes of children who grew up in foster care: Systematic-review. Children and Youth Services Review, 76, 74-83.
Hermann, D. H. (2017). Restorative justice and retributive justice: An opportunity for cooperation or an occasion for conflict in the search for justice. Seattle J. Soc. Just., 16, 71.
Hoffmann, J. P., & Dufur, M. J. (2018). Family social capital, family social bonds, and juvenile delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(11), 1525-1544.
Jeffery, C. R., & Zahm, D. L. (2017). Crime prevention through environmental design, opportunity theory, and rational choice models. In Routine activity and rational choice (pp. 323-350). Routledge.
Loughran, T. A. (2019). Behavioral criminology and public policy. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(4), 737-758.
Mahmoud, A. B., Hack?polay, D., Fuxman, L., Massetti, B., & Al Samarh, A. Z. (2020). Developing and validating a new multi?dimensional scale for anti?social behavior in a higher education setting. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 61(4), 502-512.
Remmel, R. J., Glenn, A. L., & Cox, J. (2019). Biological evidence regarding psychopathy does not affect mock jury sentencing. Journal of Personality Disorders, 33(2), 164-184.
Schepers, D. (2017). Causes of the causes of juvenile delinquency: Social disadvantages in the context of Situational Action Theory. European journal of criminology, 14(2), 143-159.
Thornberry, T. (Ed.). (2018). Developmental theories of crime and delinquency. Routledge.
Tonry, M. (2018). Punishment and human dignity: Sentencing principles for twenty-first-century America. Crime and Justice, 47(1), 119-157.
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