Comparing and contrasting the theories of crime
Crime is considered a complex phenomenon that is always changing with time and culture. The way individuals think of, deal with or punish crimes is different. Thus the different criminological theories. For criminology theory to be considered good, then it should have a foundational lens through which the manifestation of a behaviour can be interpreted and understood. In criminology, the primary theoretical lens is majorly run through ideas related to the fields of sociology, psychology and biology. The behaviour that is supposed to be explained is one that goes against the rules and norms of society. This essay focusses on comparing and contrasting these different criminological theories and providing their strengths and weaknesses.
Biological versus Psychological theories of crime
The primary principle for biological theories in criminology is that, crime results from genetic or physical defect and that it can only be treated by reducing aggression. These theories believe that individuals who take part in criminal activities are “born criminals” and that the biological features between them and non-criminals are different. This difference is seen as inferiority that results in the criminality. The major model used in categorizing these theories is positivism. Psychological theories, on the other hand, majorly based on the personality and behaviour of a person. They focus on determining how a person’s personality and behaviour can dictate and foreshow criminality.
Both biological and psychological theories of crime are similar in that positivism that is the major paradigm used in biological theories has psychological roots like psychological positivism. This psychological positivism claims that the reason why people commit crimes is because of internal psychological factors that they can’t control thus making them criminals. Another similarity is that according to Eysenck, is that there exists a biological basis of personality in that the various personalities result due to the differences in the functioning of the central nervous system. Today, both psychological and biological factors are put together with social elements to explain crime comprehensively.
The two theories, however, differ because, different from the biological explanation, psychological attitude is individualistic. This is because it views that problems arise from an individual’s early life experience and aim at treating the person with the problem instead of concentrating on who will become deviant. In addition to that, biological theories mainly aim at nature or genes through brain scans and twin studies, while psychological theories aim at nurture or environment through research and experiments.
Biological versus sociological
Sociological theories claim that it’s the external factors that make an individual a criminal. Such factors include their experiences within the neighbourhood, peer group and even family. The main difference between biological and sociological theories is that while biological theory makes an individual criminal the object of study, the sociological theory focuses on the group. Another difference is the fact that those biological theories believe that one is born a criminal while sociological theories believe that it is one’s environment that makes one a criminal like being brought up in a family with criminal behaviours. The two are, however, similar because according to Cesare Lombroso, an individual tends to deviate from their social norms due to biological makeup.
Sociological versus Psychological
Sociological theories again differ from psychological theories because while psychological theories focus on studying a single individual, social theories focus on a group. Sociological theories believe that an individual will commit crime because of influence from the people around them while psychological theories believe that people commit crimes depending on their personalities. The two are, however, similar in that they both incorporate biological theories in their explanations.
Strengths and weaknesses
All these theories have some strengths and weaknesses. Sheldon theory, which is a biological theory faces criticism because its samples did not represent everyone, and he misunderstood correlation for causation. His work also lacked completeness of the application. Lombroso’s theory was criticized by French criminologists who claimed that it was wrong for him to consider every convicted individual as a criminal. The biological theories are however considered important as Lombroso’s theories helped in the development of the study of crime, development of the use of medical mode to frame the perspective and the creation of “mind map” that could help more in understanding criminal activities and behaviours.
Psychological theories also face critics. Freud’s psychodynamic approach is seen as being unscientific in its analysis of human behaviour. It is also criticized because it overemphasized on sexuality and took less consideration on the role of relationships. Eysenck’s data was considered to be flawed while the scales were biased in their response. Operant conditioning does not take into consideration the responsibilities of inherited and cognitive factors in learning, thus making the human and animal learning process incomplete. However, psychological theories have helped explain how criminal behaviour, personality together with intelligence and learning are associated. Through psychoanalysis, patients have been treated and also helped in the development of psychology. Eysenck’s theory suggests that it’s possible to prevent crime if it’s detected during childhood and altering socialization experiences and prevent possible tendencies to turn into a criminal.
Sociological theories also have some strengths and weaknesses. Functionalism helps explain stability and continuity. However, it’s unable to analyse conflict, tell the change and apology of the status quo. The conflict theory explains both change and conflict but experiences difficulty in explaining stability despite the existence of large inequalities.
Conclusion
In criminology, the basic theoretical lens is majorly guided by concepts related to the fields of sociology, psychology and biology. Biological theories claim that crime results from genetics and that individuals who commit crimes are different from non-criminals. It suggests that this criminal activity results in a difference in biological inferiority. Psychological theories suggest that the difference in behaviour and personality can help determine criminal activities. Sociological theories focus on group studies and believe that it’s the members of a group or society that make one a criminal.