Biological and Psychological Theory of Crime



Biological and Psychological Theory of Crime

Introduction

There are growing concerns of the factors that influence individuals to do crimes. There are different theories that suggest the relationship between the risk factors and criminal behavior. However, there is no one opinion on these theories and different individuals have different influencers. Many programs that deal with the prevention of crime have an understanding of these theories. In this paper we will discuss the psychological and biological theories that can help us determine what pursues sex offenders. Both the theories have separate methods of controlling the criminal. However, there are certain general principles that can be applied across both the domains. There is a need to understand that society, small percentage of genetics and the way of living of an individual determines the reasons why criminal activities are performed by individuals. There are the criminals without abnormalities and those with them all have behaviors that can be both due to biological and psychological factors present in the environment (Cleary, S. 2004).

Discussion

Biological Theory

These theories focus on the factors such as the role of inherited genes, evolutionary factors, brain structure; hormones can all have an influence on the crime and can instill criminal behavior in an individual. Research has proven that there are particular genes, neurological deficits, less serotonin and malnutrition can be the factors that affect a person who many develop antisocial behavior and propensity for crime (Ministry of Justice, 2009). Further, studies have also shown the criminal behavior has a tendency to run in families (Obsorne & West, 1982). In comparison of the sons of the criminal and the noncriminal fathers it was seen that there was a huge difference between the two (Gephard,P. 1965). More than 40% were sons of the fathers with a criminal record. This is a finding which explains that criminal behavior is learned within the family (Hollin, 1989). The Biological Theorists that define criminal behavior purport that there are flaws in the biological characteristics that influence the individual to crime and there should be ways of crime control that are specific to biological deficiencies and can be controlled in other ways (Hester et al., 1992).

For instance, brain surgery to control behavior which is an influencer of the criminal behavior. Between the years 1930 to 1970's there were 40,000 surgeries that were performed to control problems of depression and schizophrenia. Although, this has been widely discussed, there were hardly scenarios where the court ordered individuals to lobotomy surgery when they were committed of crime. There is also the use of the chemical methods to control crime. The two broad areas in which they are used are for the sex offenders and for the drug, alcohol addicts.

Researchers suggest that there are certain biological factors like the hormones that contribute as to why some individuals involve in sex offending behaviors (Zott,L. 2008). The most common reason is the high level of testosterone which increases sex drive and aggression in an ...