Criminal Behavior Theories Paper

Criminal Behavior Theories
There are three major categories that are used to categorize criminal behavior. These are psychological theories, sociological theories and biological theories. Though each of them has a profound effect on how criminals behave, it is at times impossible to differentiate the three. This paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of these three broad categories and gives a view of which one is the most applicable to the cause of modern criminal behavior.
Psychological Theories
Psychological theories are depicted by a number of models. In all models, the analysis of criminal behavior is based on the individual. This means that an individual’s personality is the driving force that makes that person turn to criminal activities. One reason that has made psychological theories to be widely accepted is the reasoning that a person’s demeanor has a role to play on how or who they turn out to be in life (Hollin, 2013). An aggressive behavior in a person may make them turn out to be violent in future. Though this is the case, scientists are faced with an uphill task when it comes to testing psychological theories on individuals, especially when some personalities are too complex to understand.
Sociological Theories
They try to answer the question of how different social structures may have influenced an individual to involve himself or herself in criminal activities (Akers & Jensen, 2011). One strength of sociological theories is the fact that the social environment can be used to trace a person’s criminal behavior and how it has developed over the years with the change in environment. Weaknesses in this theory arise when it becomes hard to analyze evidence received from the different social environments individuals have associated themselves with. This may be the case when each social environment has a very unique