Preview

Criminolgy Assignment

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
371 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Criminolgy Assignment
Criminology- SMT231 Instructor: Professor Rachel Singer Student: Carlos Fuertes June 30, 2010 Homework Assignment: Page 207 Questions for Review 1. What are the central assumptions of biological theories of crime? How do such theories differ from other perspectives that attempt to explain the same phenomena?
A: The brain is the organ of the mind and the locus of personality. The basic determinants of human behavior, including criminal tendencies, are to a considerable degree, constitutionally or genetically based. Observed gender and racial differences in rates and types of criminality may be at least partially the result of biological differences between the sexes and between really distinct groups. The basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality, may be passed on from generation to generation. Much of human conduct is fundamentally rooted in instinctive behavioral responses characteristic of biological organism everywhere. The biological roots of human conduct have become increasingly disguised, as modern symbolic forms of indirect expressive behavior have replaced more primitive and direct ones. At least some human behavior is the result of biological propensities inherited from more primitive developmental stages in the evolutionary process. The interplay among heredity, biological, and the social environment provides the nexus for any realistic consideration of crime causation. I believe these theories are different from other perspectives, because in the biological theory, they tend to emphasize genetics as the cause of someone’s criminal behavior pattern, where in other theories, they tend to emphasize other factors; such as psychological and sociological factors.

2. What biological factors does this chapter suggest might substantially influence human aggression? A: The biological factors that might substantially influence human aggression are hormone, testosterone, androgens, and fluctuation. 3. What have research studies in the field of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    As with other theories within the criminal justice theater, multiple variables exist within the study of the biological theory. The following will examine those most researched.…

    • 29174 Words
    • 83 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein 1985 put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour. In their view, crime is caused by combination of biological and social factors. Biological differences between individuals make some people innately more strongly predisposed to commit crime than others. For…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Crime is bad behavior displayed by citizens who reject societal norms and instead chose to commit crime. However, there are many types of theories of why crime occurs the most prevalent cause for crime involves the social environment of the criminal offender. Psychological theories discusses that these interruptions in childhood development is the cause for crime but because the delays developmental is the effect of the criminal’s environment. The same goes for biological theories that find genetic or biological factors that make a person more prone to become a criminal but require certain environmental factors for the person in reality to become a criminal.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Criminologist David Rowe was one of the primary leaders in a movement to bring the discussion of biology back to criminal justice which occurred in the late 1990's before this both biological and individual traits were largely ignored by criminologists. Now biological and individual traits are influential in large part due to Rowe whom published a book titled “Biology in Crime” in 2002. In this work Rowe contends that genetic factors affect individual traits due to their impact on the central nervous system and autonomic nervous system and that their is a physiological relation to a heightened amount of violence when these systems are thrown off and their is evidence that criminals may have deficits in the per-frontal cortex of the brain and their is an association between low…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are two main biological explanations to aggression, neural and hormonal. The neural explanation is the serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitters and how they affect our aggression; the hormonal mechanisms are the testosterone and cortisol chemicals.…

    • 1224 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What are the central assumptions of biological theories of crime? How do such theories differ from other perspectives that attempt to explain the same phenomena?…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to biological theories of criminality, what chemical factors in the body may account for increased aggression? Provide an example.…

    • 320 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Theories are useful tools, which suggest the way things are and not the way things ought to be, we can use them to help us to understand the world around us. In terms of criminal and deviant behaviour the theories proposed in this subject area set out to try and give reason as to why an individual commits criminal or delinquent acts. In this essay I will be using biological, psychological and sociological explanations of criminality to suggest why individuals take part in criminal behaviours.…

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mednick, S., & Finello, K. (1983). Biological factors and crime; implications for forensic psychiatry. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6642820…

    • 1805 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Andrea Yates

    • 1198 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Genetic evidence that confirms that biology does play an important part in explaining an offender’s criminality. Some believe that desire to commit crimes may be inherited and that criminal inclinations are genetically based. Research has been done extensively to discover evidence that would support this claim that has been made by intellectuals. Criminal deeds have always been a motivation due to the debate of nature and nurture. Studies have been done in regards to this debate that has resulted in a conclusion that both genes and environment do play apart in the criminality of a person.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Theories Of Criminology

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The debate regarding criminality being a result of nature or nurture has been a topic of discussion both within criminology and outside of it for decades. Criminologists brought forward theories attempting to address and explain this paradox, and explanations for crime included psychological, sociological, economical, biological reasons, amongst…

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Essay

    • 5411 Words
    • 22 Pages

    Williams, F. P., III, & McShane, M. D. (1988). Criminological Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wilson, J. Q., & Hernstein, R. (1985). Crime and Human Nature:…

    • 5411 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biological theories of crime causation follow the principle that many behavioral tendencies, including aggression and criminality, are constitutionally or physiologically influenced. Most of the usual sociological suspect would have come from a broken or abusive home, is a part of a family below the poverty or has a parent who is convicted criminal. All of these examples support the biological theories and most of the time people living in those conditions are more susceptible to…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nature Vs Nurture

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Do individuals become criminals as a result of heredity or genetics or is it their environment that is in fact at play? This question has left Criminologists in debate for the better part of our modern era. In order to help answer this question we must first take a closer look at the concept of Nature vs. Nurture, a popular psychological term initially created by Darwin and other positivists. "Nature vs. Nurture" refers to internal and external factors that play a role in behaviour, in this case in reference to criminals. "Nature" is paired up with the biological explanation known as internal factors. "Supporters of the biological perspective argue that we must identify the role of heredity and the importance of biophysical, as well as biosocial…

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Are Criminals Mad or Bad?

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Appelbaum, P. S., (2005). Behavioral Genetics and the Punishment of Crime. Law and Psychiatry, 56 (1), 25-27.…

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays