CRIMINOLOGY THEORIES

Criminology Theories

Criminology Theories

Introduction

Criminology is the science that studies the crimes, the perpetrators, victims, the types of criminal conduct (and the consequent social reaction) and the possible forms of control and prevention. It is a discipline both theoretical and empirical, both descriptive and explanatory, both regulatory and factual.

The fundamental object of study is the offense, the definition of which is social and normative. There have been attempts in the past to come up with natural crimes, such as shared by all cultures, but they have essentially led to a stalemate, the offense in this sense is not understood as a biological fact or "absolute", but the fruit of a certain social definition that varies as a function of time (history) and space (geography), which varies from culture to culture. Crime, law and culture are so deeply intertwined concepts (Hanser, 2010, pp. 121-129).

Discussion

The method and field of Criminology

Criminology is now a discipline rather eclectic in methodology, just as it is not a science unit, but the place of application of knowledge acquired in various contexts and from different disciplines to the problem of crime.

Criminology has been occupied, traditionally, the study of the personality of the offender, which have helped developed the major schools in psychology and clinical psychology from birth as a science, in the ' Nineteenth Century ( experimental psychology, criminal anthropology, psychoanalysis, and the main schools psychodynamic, behavioural schools and more recently, cognitivist, social-psychological schools, schools systemic and dynamic family ; study of delinquency through the main reactive psychodiagnostic ).

Also important were the contributions of sociological schools have developed mostly within the U.S.: on the one hand, the sociology of the Chicago School, with subsequent developments (the theory of differential association, subculture theory, theories of conflict, up to the contributions of the "Radical criminology"), and second, in the wake of the social psychology of George Herbert Mead , sociology interactionist and phenomenological (Curran & Renzetti, 2001, pp. 129-138), with contributions from the theory of ' labelling and the study of criminal careers. Other researchers have studied the perception of the criminal phenomenon, and the emotions involved (fear of crime) in the broader community.

To obtain these results, criminology has used both quantitative techniques of investigation, both qualitative techniques (currently being developed following a wave of quantitative seventies - eighty of the last century) more in-depth study aimed at individual cases or small groups of authors. We should not forget the methods, related to schools, the “participant observation", in which the student is directly involved in the phenomenon that it intends to study.

The criminological Theories

Biological Theories

Among the first biological theories should be mentioned studies of Cesare Lombroso's born criminal and the concept of atavism, as well as the investigation of genetic, hormonal, neurological and psychopathological of acting criminally.

Subsequently, we have advanced several theories about the biological origins of delinquency. In years past, has been advanced the theory of chromosome Y supernumerary. In the gene are present two normal human sex chromosomes: XX for female and XY for male. The Y chromosome is then what determines the acquisition of the male. In a number of cases of patients admitted in criminal asylums, or imprisoned for serious crimes, there was the presence of trilogy XYY, i.e. the presence of an extra Y chromosome (Moyer, 2001, pp. 159-167).

Since the frequency of XYY statistical anomaly appeared quite high among those interned and characterized by violent behaviour, it was thought that this anomaly could be the basis of criminal ...