Biological Theories Of Criminology

There are different criminology theories that are used when looking for reasons the people commit crimes. Criminological theories are explanations of criminal behavior that is looked at by the police, prosecutors and other correctional personal within the criminal justice system. I have chosen the biology theory and the social learning theory to write about in this paper. I wanted to show it is believed that only a small percentage of the crimes committed are attributed to a person’s abnormalities or genetics. In the theory of societal norms a person can be influenced or even learn by others lifestyles and choices. These next two sections about the theories will explain the differences and show how they are similar.
The first theory is the
This is seen the most in lower income areas where poverty is an everyday struggle for its residence. The young kids in these areas have no one watching over them so they run the streets with their friends and join gangs. These gangs take care of them and each other like a family would, they steal and commit other crimes for fun but sometimes to just survive.
The second theory is the biological theory, this theory is when the person committing the crimes has a poor diet causing chemical imbalances or has mental illness. On the website called “Criminal Justice” in the article called “Biological theories of Crime” stated that a researcher named Franz Joseph Gall studied the human brain and skull. He mapped out different locations of the brain and skull and found that a bump or depression in a particular area would indicate strength or in other would indicate weaknesses and those bumps or depressions could even mean the person would commit crimes or even
Sometimes a person with a mental illness may show and act out in a way that is beyond the person’s control. In the article called “Varying theories on crime” on the Regis University website says that this theory also believes that a person’s criminal tendencies can be inherited, neurological problems, blood chemistry disorders and can be heightened by anti-social activities and behaviors also. In the same article it also stated that there is a link between behavior patterns and chemical changes in the brain and nervous system. It makes the claim that criminal behavior is a product of abnormal biological and physical traits. I believe this theory to be true because children receive a number of their traits from their parents so why can’t criminal behavior be another trait that is passed down to another generation.
These two theories are alike in the way that the social and biological theories the individual’s mental development may not be within a normal range and this may cause the person to follow others during criminal activities. Both may feel they can’t control the behaviors and actions when they are around social settings, both wanting to fit in with the crowd so they don’t stand out from others. So the genetic and physical traits that an offender may have been born with may have more of an impact in a social bonding