Investigating The Causes Of Criminal Behavior Criminology Essay

Investigating The Causes Of Criminal Behavior Criminology EssayCrime. wherefore al near race commit crimes and charm others do non has constantly busyed me. Every hour a crime is committed in the United States and people ingest been committing crimes as early as the leger days. Later in the s stillteenth century European colonists in wedlock America considered crime and sin the same thing. They believed diabolical spirits possess those who did non conform to social norms or follow rules. The act of committing a crime is not relegated to any particular race, sex, or senesce. Persons as venerable as 80 keep up been convicted of slaughter James von Brun, who shot the bail guard at the Washington DC Holocaust Museum in June 2009 forget worryly be convicted he was 88 at the time of the murder, to infantren as young as 11 On January 14, 2000, Nathaniel Abraham, 11, was the youngest child convicted of murder.Many sprightliness criminal activity and choosing to commit a crime is a fiber of nature vs. nurture. All of us combine good and bad traits, and while authoritative circumstances may give birth individuals to go beyond the edge of normal demeanour, in that respect is no basis to assert that these people argon totally evil. We come concealment we sack spot lunacy, that a maniac with ungovernable urges to kill will be unable to contain himself. In the street, it is the mentally ill we avoid, sidestepping the disheveled, uns assimilaten man who rants on with himself It is evident that those guilty of the nearly heinous rough crimes tend to fit an otherwise average description. there argon many reports where the neighbors of a mass murderer were shocked to figure that the nice guy who lived next door had committed such hap little acts.The factors causing criminal activities are varied and hard to pinpoint. Some cases may be due to the financial status of the person, while others may be due to the mental health or social appearlo ok of the person. Crimes like theft are committed for gain and excitement, while manyviolent crimes are committed by people who consider themselves powerless. But, how do few people decide to commit a crime? Do they think ab let out the benefits and the risks? Why do some people commit crimes irrespective of the consequences? Why do others never commit a crime, no weigh how desperate their circumstances?I am fascinated with the television show, get at Car, it forces you to ask these questions and want to put them in perspective. The police department goes into an pack that has a high vehicle theft crime rate, stages an argument and it seems as if the person is so distracted that they leave their auto door diffuse and keys in the ignition. Then they, wait and watch to see if anyone takes the bait and drives gain with the car. Every single time, without fail, a person or persons get in the car and take off. Sometimes, you nates see that they wrestle with good and evil they go to the car, sit in it, look through it, and some even leave it. Only to return, and inevitably steal the vehicle. Some are forewarned, by either a bystander or a friend, solely they always subscribe to the wrong path and knowingly take possession of something that they know is not theirs. While in the car, cameras catch the euphoria of the criminals thinking that theyve gotten away with it, if they have a co-conspirator, they practice what to say when caught. When they are caught, excuses range from, the owner of the car asked me to bring it to them, I was going to turn it in, I dont know why I did, and I didnt steal it. For me, this show asks the question, Why would you get into a car that simply is not yours? Perhaps the answer to this is that some crimes are simply opportunistic and for the simple purpose of greed and stupidity. Some people decide to commit a crime and carefully plan everything in advance to increase gain and decrease risk. These people are qualification choic es about their behavior some even consider a intent of crime better than a regular job-believing crime brings in greater rewards, admiration, and excitement-atleast until they are caught. Others get an adrenaline rush when successfully carrying out a dangerous crime. Others commit crimes on impulse, out of rage or fear.What causes a person to turn to a smell of crime? Is it the computer error of the parents is it a societal or medical mishap? What kind of facts of life breeds a child that would be violent enough at the age of fifteen to commit an act of armed robbery that results in murder? It was an urge. A strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people risks that normally, according to my diminished rules of operation, I wouldnt take because they could melt to arrest.-Edmund Kemper. Why does Kemper have this strong urge, and why does it have such a hold on him? If we experienced this urge, would we be able to resist? Is the need to commit a crime genetic, hormonal, biologic, or cultural conditioning? Do people who kill have no control over their desire? We all experience rage and opposed sexual instincts, yet we somehow know how to keep our inner demons locked up. ar we born evil? Born to be a criminal? Or does how and/or where we were raised determine that outcome? That same question was asked back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the role of genetic science in crime was widely accepted (Joseph, 2001). Prominent look intoers believed that genes were fully accountable for criminal activity and that criminals could be identified by their physiological features. This stop consonant was marked with inhumane treatment and the belief that genes were the sole reason privy criminal behavior. By the late twentieth century the general worldly concern did not believe that criminal acts were mental, they believed in free will and called for more prisons and long er bouts of incarceration. Researchersin the twenty-first century, however, continued to look at mental stress as a driving force behind some crimes.In 1986, psychologist Robert Hare identified a connection between certain header activity and antisocial behavior. He found that criminals experienced less forefront reaction to dangerous situations than most people. Such a brain function, he believed, could lead to greater risk-taking in life, with some criminals not fearing penalty as much as others.Neurochemicals are responsible for the activation of behavioural patterns and tendencies in specific areas of the brain (Elliot, 2000). As seen in the Brunner et al. study, there have been attempts to determine the role of neurochemicals in influencing criminal or antisocial behavior. include in the list of neurochemicals already cited by researchers are monoamine oxidase (MOA), epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) is an enzyme that has been sh own to be associate to antisocial behavior. Specifically, low MAO activity results in disinhibition which can lead to impulsivity and aggression. MAO is associated with many of the neurochemicals that already have a link to antisocial or criminal behavior. Norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine are metabolized by both(prenominal) MAOA and MAOB (Elliot, 2000).serotonin is a neurochemical that plays an important role in the genius traits of depression, anxiety, and bipolar sickness (Larsen Buss, 2005). It is also involved with brain development and a rowdyism in this system could lead to an increase in aggressiveness and impulsivity (Morley Hall, 2003). In addition, children who find from conduct disorder, havealso been shown to have low blood serotonin (Elliot, 2000). at that place is a great deal of evidence that shows serotonin is link to aggression, which can be further associated with antisocial or criminal behavior. dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with pleasure and is also one of the neurotransmitters that is primarily associated with aggression. Activation of both affective (emotionally driven) and predatory aggression is accomplished by dopamine (Elliot, 2000).Personality traits and disorders have recently extend essential in the diagnosis of individuals with antisocial or criminal behavior. Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) is characterized by argumentativeness, noncompliance, and irritability, which can be found in early puerility. When a child with ODD grows older, the characteristics of their behavior also change and more often for the worse. They turn up to lie and steal, engage in vandalism, substance abuse, and show aggression towards peers (Holmes et al., 2001). care Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is associated with hyperactivity-impulsivity and the inability to keep attention focused on one thing. Children diagnosed with ADHD have the inability to analyze and anticipate consequences or learn from their past behavior.Conduct Disorder is characterized with an individuals violation of societal rules and norms. This disorder can only be diagnosed when an individual is over the age of cardinal and at which point an individual shows persistent disregard for the rights of others (Morley Hall, 2003). It is of great impressiveness that these early childhood disorders are correctly diagnosed and effectively treated to maintain future problems. Antisocial behavior between the ages of nine and fifteen can be correlated strongly with impulsivity and that aggression in early childhood canpredict antisocial acts and delinquency. One statistic shows that between seventy and cardinal percent of violent offenders had been highly aggressive as young children (Holmes et al., 2001). These personality traits have, in some research, been shown to be hereditary.Searching for the origins of antisocial personality disorders and their process over crime has led to studies of fit and ado pted children. Identical tally have the exact same genetic weeup. Researchers found that identical pits were twice as likely to have similar criminal behavior as fraternal twins who have similar save not identical genes, just like any two siblings.One of the most fundamental studies influencing scientific opinions of nature vs. nurture would be a study done comparing identical vs. fraternal twins. (Christiansen, 1977). In this study, twin pairs were examined for the capital of New Hampshire of criminal behavior for both twins. This is a study of particular interest because both sets of twins were raised in the same environment still in one case, the case of the identical twin sets, the siblings are genetically identical where as in the other case, the case of the fraternal twin sets, the siblings are merely genetically similar. The identical twin pairs were found to have a 50% concordance (in one out of two cases both twins exhibited criminal behavior) where in the fraternal c ases there was only 21% concordance. This illustrates a strong correlation of genetics and criminal disposition but it also indicates the relative importance of environmental factors as well environmental factors influence criminal behavior, which explains why there is not a 11 correlation of genetic disposition and criminal behavior.Other research indicated that adopted children had greater similarities of crime rates to their biological parents than to their adoptive parents. A study was done using identical twinsthat were adopted by two different families and raised apart from each other. It was observed that adopted children are as aggressive as their adoptive parents rather than their biological parents. The results from both studies indicate that environment and genetic disposition are equally as responsible in shaping human behavior. (Mednick, Gabrielli, and Hutchings, 1984)The frontal lobe of the brain is the functioning area for behavior in human beings, and there are beli efs in the scientific community that damage to the frontal lobe can cause significant behavioral problems for individuals. In fact, there are findings that prefrontal cortical deficits and abnormalities in the temporal lobe are high within the incarcerated population juvenile studies show that our criminal justice system is the new home for individuals with psychological problems. Although this may seem like a solution, it is creates a dilemma for society. Do we have the treatment and rehabilitation in prison to prepare inmates for life outside? Once we label these individuals as criminals it creates a stigma for those who may suffer from psychological problems. Certain psychological problems have been shown to be heritable and if given the right circumstances, individuals with those genes could find themselves engaging in criminal activity. If a tragedy occurs and a friend or loved ones life is end purposely, or a child has been hurt or traumatized, people can lose control and act out of anger. And because of their reactions, they too, have now frame the criminal.Not everyone who is incarcerated has criminal tendencies. Many have made irrational choices out of anger or desperation or no thought of the consequences of an action. There are many factors that can create a criminal mind, but there are also many factors that cause people tomake irrational choices. It goes back to when we were taught cause and effect.We often speculate but there is no definite answer to why some people become criminals. The brain is a mysterious organ, that is constantly being studied.