BACHELORS CAPSTONE

Bachelors Capstone

Bachelors Capstone

Most Physiological or Biological theories of crime causation argue that individuals are more prone to deviance than others because of their genetic make-up. Genetically inherited characteristics either directly cause or predispose them towards deviance. Modern biological theories are more likely to be concerned with biochemistry and genetics than with what people look like. American criminologist like Klinefelter believed they had found the precise genetic cause of criminality that is chromosome abnormalities. Psychologists have tried to determine the causes of female crimes (Flynn, 2005). They claimed that women reaching menstruation are stress, become irrational and impulsive. We present our own typology of the three most fundamental groups of criminological theories (biological, psychological, and sociological) and then provide a brief description of the implications of each theory- for community corrections practice, focusing on examples of community corrections strategies and programs consistent with each group of theories. When considering the link between theory and practice, students need to remember the following unadorned truth: criminologists disagree about both the causes and solutions to our crime problem. This does not mean that criminologists have little to offer to probation and parole officers in terms of practical advice; to the contrary, we think a discussion of “cause” is critical to the development of effective community corrections policies, practices, and programs (Trieber, 2007). Philosophers have pondered the meaning of the concept of cause as it pertains to human behavior.

Biological Theories of Crime Causation

Criminologists who focus on biological explanations for criminal behavior do not share the same perspective on behavior (and motivation) as classical criminologists. The basic assumption of early biological criminologists, such as the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso (1835- 1909) was that crime determined by an individual's biological make-up, i.e. that some persons were born criminals who could not control their actions. It is important to keep in mind that Lombroso did not argue that all crime could be explained by biological factors. He estimated that offenders with atavistic tendencies (i.e. throwbacks to earlier more primitive man) were responsible' for about a third of all crime (Flynn, 2005). Although Lombroso's research on the physical characteristics of offenders dismissed due to its poor quality, we simply have not yet studied the biology-crime connection in sufficient detail to make any definitive statements about the theory itself. Interestingly, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in a range of biological factors, including genetics (e.g. XYY syndrome, IQ), ...