CRIMINOLOGY 2 – THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

LEARNING MODULES

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course describes the role of theory in crime. It surveys the major schools of thought
related to crime causation (sociological, psychological, and biological), explains particular
theories about crime and delinquency, places these theories in historical context and reviews
some of the primary assumptions of the theories and conclusions reached from criminology
research. Provided also the efforts to develop integrated discussion regarding the theories
along with its proponents, why individuals commit crimes and why they behave in certain
situations.

CREDIT UNIT: 3 units per week

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Program Outcomes Addressed by the Course - At the end of
this course, the learners/students should be able to:
1. identify the importance, purposes, nature and scope of theories of crime causation
2. distinguish various theories of crime causation
3. remember and recall major concepts from theories
4. demonstrate understanding of biological, psychological, and social influences on
criminal behavior by distinguishing between a variety of theoretical elements
5. analyze offender case histories and correctly apply theoretical concepts
6. identify and defend a particular theory as best at explaining given offender case
histories

MODULAR LEARNING

A. Module Guide - Be sure to follow the directions given below before continuing with the
module:
1. Read each instruction carefully and understand what you are required to do:
2. Go over the overview and objectives prior to answering as best as you can.
3. Answer the pre-test found at the beginning of the lesson as best as you can.
4. Compare your answer with those in the feedback for pre-test. This will give you the
main idea of how much you already know of the lesson.
5. There are two lessons in this module. Read each lesson carefully before attempting to
answer the progress check found at the end of each lesson.
6. Be sure to take the progress check after each lesson and compare your answers with
the feedback. This will show you how much progress you have accomplished.
7. After reading all the lessons and passing all the progress checks, report to your
instructor for your posttest. Write your answers to the post test on a separate sheet of
paper and submit this to your instructor. He will then determine whether you may
proceed to the next module.

B. Failing Students - In case a student fails the progress check, he or she will be required to
read again the lesson or the facilitator will discuss the lesson‘s content. When the failing
student feels ready, he will be given another progress check similar to the previous taken
by him or her.

C. Module Pre-Test - Before proceeding to study the modules, pre-test are administered to
determine the prior knowledge and/or extent of knowledge of the learners.

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MODULE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES AND CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 1 – PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN CONDUCT

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the concept of human mind and how it affects the behavior;
B. Differentiate the various types of norms; and
C. Understand the role of ethics in human behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Concepts About Human Mind - Understanding the human mind is the main concept of
psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud. It is on this premise that human mind has three
(3) levels of awareness. These are the conscious (10%), subconscious (50-60%), and
unconscious (30-40%).
1. Conscious Level – It serves as the scanner for us causing to perceive an event, trigger
a need to react, and then depending on the importance of the event, store it either in
the unconscious or the subconscious area of the human mind.
2. Subconscious Level - It is the storage point for any recent memories needed for quick
recall, such as what your telephone number is or the name of a person you just met.
3. Unconscious Mind Level - It is where all of our memories and past experiences
reside. It is from these memories and experiences that our beliefs, habits, and
behaviors are formed.

B. Freud’s Concepts on Levels of Consciousness - To explain the concept of conscious

versus unconscious experience, Freud compared the mind to an iceberg (opentext.bc.ca.
n.d.).
1. He said that only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind
is unconscious. Our unconscious refers to that mental activity of which we are
unaware and are unable to access (Freud, 1923).
2. Unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a process called
repression. For example, we sometimes say things that we don‘t intend to say by
unintentionally substituting another word for the one we meant. You‘ve probably
heard of a Freudian slip, the term used to describe this. Freud suggested that slips of
the tongue are actually sexual or aggressive urges, accidentally slipping out of our
unconscious. Speech errors such as this are quite common. Seeing them as a reflection
of unconscious desires, linguists today have found that slips of the tongue tend to
occur when we are tired, nervous, or not at our optimal level of cognitive functioning
(Motley, 2002).
3. The unconscious id contains our most primitive drives or urges, and is present from
birth. It directs impulses for hunger, thirst, and sex. The id operates on what he called
the ―pleasure principle,‖ in which the id seeks immediate gratification. Through social
interactions with parents and others in a child‘s environment, the ego and superego
develop to help control the id.
4. The superego develops as a child interacts with others, learning the social rules for
right and wrong. The superego acts as our conscience; it is our moral compass that
tells us how we should behave. It strives for perfection and judges our behavior,

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leading to feelings of pride or—when we fall short of the ideal—feelings of guilt.
5. In contrast to the instinctual id and the rule-based superego, the ego is the rational part
of our personality. It‘s what Freud considered to be the self, and it is the part of our
personality that is seen by others. Its job is to balance the demands of the id and
superego in the context of reality; thus, it operates on what Freud called the ―reality
principle.‖ The ego helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way.

C. Social Norm - Lisa Roundy in her study stated that social norm is the accepted behavior
that an individual is expected to conform to in a particular group, community, or culture.
When you do not conform to the social norms that are accepted by your culture or group,
it is considered an abnormal behavior. The terms Folkways and mores are both coined by
American Sociologist William Graham Sumner. The types of social norms are -
1. Folkways, sometimes known as ―conventions‖ or ―customs,‖ are standards of
behavior that are socially approved but not morally significant.
2. Laws are a formal body of rules enacted by the state and backed by the power of the
state.
3. Taboo an act that is prohibited or restricted by social custom, like abortion in
Philippine culture.
4. Mores are norms of morality.

D. Role of Ethics - Each man is responsible for his own character. According to Aristotle,
each person has a natural obligation to achieve, become, and make something of himself
by pursuing his true ends and goals in life (http://www.quebecoislibre.org). Peter Singer
in his article Ethics Philosophy, defined ethics also called moral philosophy, the
discipline concerned with hat is morally good and bad, right and wrong. It derived from
the old French term éthique, from Latin ethice, from Greek ēthikē which mean the
science of morals.

IV. Progress Check: To be posted or administered thru Google Form

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MODULE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES AND CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 2 – BASIC CONCEPTS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the basic concept of human behavior;

B. Understand oneself; and
C. Explain the different perspectives of human behavior;

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Concepts about Human Behavior - According to Natalie Boyd in her article entitled
Human Behavior defined human behavior as the term used to describe a person's actions
and conduct. It also refers to the reaction to facts of the relationship between the
individual and his environment. Human behavior is mainly influenced by both heredity
and environment.

B. Faces of One’s Self - According to the French Anthropologist Marcel Mauss as cited in
the book of (Alata et al, 2018) entitled Understanding the Self, every self has two (2)
faces: personne and moi.
1. Moi refers to a person‟s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his
biological givenness.
2. Personne is composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is.
Example, Mrs. Rea is a police officer; she is also a wife and a mother of two (2) kids.
As a police officer she needs to maintain a stern but calm personality in order to be
respected. As a mother, she may be sweet towards her husband and caring and loving
towards her children. Mrs. Rea‟s self that shifts in order to blend and fit with the
given situation is her personne but herself that is static or constant is her moi.

B. Different Perspectives of Human Behavior

1. Philosophical - Socrates believed that the best life and the life most suited to human
nature involved reasoning. He also believed that nobody willingly chooses to do
wrong. Plato, on the other hand, believed that human behavior flows from three main
sources: desire, emotion and knowledge. In trying to comprehend the principle of
human behavior from a philosophical perspective, let us first determine what it is to
be a person? Debatably, there are human beings that are not persons (those in a
persistent vegetative state). There might also be persons that are not human beings
(the great apes and intelligent beings on other planets). We are going to find out what
is the basic condition for personhood. We can think of an autonomous being as one
who is able to determine the „shape‟ of their life through reasoned free choices.
Examples of a different sort are prisoners. Prisoners have freedom of thought, but not
freedom of action. Hence, they are autonomous in some ways, but not in others. On
the other hand, if another human being is not acting autonomously, it might be
appropriate not to treat them as a person
2. Psychological - In psychology, people are considered as living machines that receive
information from the world, process it in various ways, and then act on it. According
to a school of thought known as behaviorism, human behavior was all about the way a

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certain stimulus produced an appropriate response. Your behavior usually starts with
sensory perception: the way your five main senses (vision, hearing, smell, touch, and
taste), plus other, lesser-known sensory abilities such as proprioception (your sense of
where your limbs are and how your body is moving), feed information into your brain
(Woodford, 2018).
3. Sociological - Functionalism as one of the schools in sociology explains that society
is a system having parts which are connected and related with each other. It is through
this system that human behavior is being formed in the process of socialization.
According to psychologist Gordon Allport, social psychology is a discipline that uses
scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and
behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of
other human beings" (https://www.verywellmind.com/social-psychology). To know
more about the different perspectives of human behavior please read pages 8-11 of
this textbook ―Theories of Crime Causation‖.

IV. Progress Check: To be given or to be administered thru Google Form

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MODULE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES AND CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 3 – BASIC CONCEPTS OF THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Discuss the definition of theory;

B. Illustrate the importance of theory;
C. Compare and contrast theory from practice;
D. Explain the stages of theory development;
E. Compare and contrast the various types of crime classification; and
F. Illustrate the formula of crime causation.

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Definition of Theory, Concept, and Principle

1. According to Freda Adler, theory is a statement that explains the relationship
between abstract concepts in a meaningful way. For example, if scientists observe that
criminality rates are usually high in neighborhoods with high unemployment rates,
they might theorize that environmental conditions influence criminal behavior (Siegel,
2007). According to APA Dictionary of Psychology (VandenBos, 2007), as cited in
(L‘Abate, 2011), a theory is a principle or a body of interrelated principles that
purports to explain or predict a number of interrelated phenomena. In philosophy of
science, a theory is a set of logically related explanatory hypotheses that are consistent
with a body of empirical facts and may suggest more empirical relationships.
2. Moore, 1991 as cited in (http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/theory) stated that a theory is a
related set of concepts and principles about a phenomenon. It explains how some
aspect of human behavior or performance is organized. The components of theory are
concepts (ideally well-defined) and principles.
3. A concept is a symbolic representation of an actual thing - tree, chair, table,
computer, distance, etc. Construct is the word for concepts with no physical referent -
democracy, learning, freedom, etc. One type of construct that is used in many
scientific theories is variable.
4. A principle expresses the relationship between two or more concepts or constructs.

B. Importance of Theory (Moore, 1991 as cited in

(http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/theory.html)
1. Theory provides concepts to name what we observe and to explain relationships
between concepts. Theory allows us to explain what we see and to figure out how to
bring about change. Theory is a tool that enables us to identify a problem and to plan
a means for altering the situation;
2. Theory is to justify reimbursement to get funding and support - need to explain what
is being done and demonstrate that it works;
3. Theory is to enhance the growth of the professional area to identify a body of
knowledge with theories from both within and without the area of distance learning.
That body of knowledge grows with theory and research. Theory guides research;
and,
4. Theory also helps us understand what we don‘t know and, therefore, is the only guide

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to research. It increases its ability to solve other problems in different times and
different places. Theories are used by researchers as causal mechanisms to give
historical explanation of cases (George, 2004).

C. Theory and Practice

1. As cited in the article written by F. Duke Haddad entitled ―Understand the Difference
between Theory and Practice‖, he said that Dr. Albert Einstein has a famous quote:
―In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.‖ Steve Klabnik
believes there is always a tension between theory and practice. These two separate
realms are connected through a process of abstraction and application. To explain this
process by way of theory, theory deterritorialized practice, and practice re-
territorialized theory: A theory, which is becoming practice; and a practice, which is
becoming theory.
2. To explain the phrase written above, theory is an abstracted practice, and practice is
an applied theory. The only way you can get these two camps to talk to each other is
to figure out what the theory says that provides value to those who practice. For
example, it is all too easy to explain the concepts of thirst, pain and sorrow in theory,
but the person realizes the difference only when he undergoes these experiences in
real life. In theory, many assumptions are made to explain the phenomenon and
concepts, whereas in real life, there are no assumptions and conditions are always
unique. Another example, we learned in the theory of victimology that most of the
victims of rape are those wearing seductive dresses or those women who are in
drinking spree together with some other men but why in practice or in reality, there
are also women who are being raped even if their bodies are fully covered with
clothes.
3. A theory is a thought, an idea about the way the world works that allows you to
predict what will happen if you do something. Practice is doing; what happens when
you do the thing. The better the theory, the better the match between your thoughts
and predictions and what occurs in practice. Theories are theoretical. Practice is
practical. Theory assumes an outcome, while practice allows you to test the theory
and see if it is accurate.
4. For example we have a theory (Requirements of Police: Arrest Procedures):
Theory: As a general rule, police officers while arresting the suspect have the
obligation to tell the suspect of his right under the constitution such as, “You have
the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a
court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney,
one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?
With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”
5. Practice: The rules regarding what an officer must do while making an arrest varies
by jurisdiction. Generally, an arrest happens when the person being arrested
reasonably believes that she is not free to leave. The officer need not use handcuffs, or
place the arrestee in a police cruiser, although police often use these tactics to protect
themselves. Police also do not have to read Miranda Rights at the time of arrest.
However, the police must read a suspect their rights before an interrogation, so many
police departments recommend that Miranda Rights be read at the time of arrest. This
way, they can start questioning right away, and any information volunteered by a
suspect can be used against them.
6. Finally, although police will almost always tell an arrestee why they're under arrest,
they may not necessarily have any legal obligation to do so. This depends on both the
jurisdiction and the circumstances of the arrest.

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D. Concepts of Theory Development - Scientists formulate theories, test theories, accept
theories, reject theories, modify theories and use theories as guides to understanding and
predicting events. Theories are fruits of scientific research. Scientific research is a
process that is designed to extend our understanding and to determine if they are correct
or useful.
1. Three stages of theory development (http://faculty.jou.ufl.edu/theory.html)
a. Speculative - attempts to explain what is happening.
b. Descriptive - gathers descriptive data to describe what is really happening.
c. Constructive - revises old theories and develops new ones based on continuing
research.
2. Three (3) kinds of reasoning (Thompson, 2006):
a. Inductive Reasoning: A process of using examples and observations to reach a
conclusion. A conclusion based in inductive reasoning is called conjecture.
(Example): 90% of humans are right-handed. Joe is a human. Therefore, the
probability that Joe is right-handed is 90%. If you were required to guess, you
would choose ―right-handed‖ in the absence of any other evidence. Inductive
reasoning – is also criticized because ―no amount of empirical data will
necessarily enable theory-building.
b. Deductive Reasoning (Example): All men are mortal. John is a man. Therefore,
John is mortal. Deductive reasoning- is criticized for the lack of clarity in terms
of how to select theory to be tested via formulating hypotheses.
c. Abductive Reasoning also known as Retroductive Reasoning (Example): You're
a juror and the defendant looks like the image of the man on the security camera
robbing the bank. He stutters and pauses, like he is guilty, when answering
questions posed by the prosecutor. You conclude, as a juror on your first day as a
member of the jury, that he is guilty, but you are not certain. Here, you have made
a decision based on your observations, but you are not certain it is the right
decision. Abductive reasoning, as a third alternative, overcomes these
weaknesses via adopting a pragmatist perspective
3. Difference between deductive and inductive reasoning - deductive reasoning starts
with a statement or hypothesis and then tests to see if it‘s true through observation,
where inductive reasoning starts with observations and moves backward towards
generalizations and theories.
4. The critical point relating to theory construction is its purpose to predict. The main
purpose of theory is to provide the means to develop mathematical, analytical and
descriptive models that predict counterintuitive, non-obvious, unseen, or difficult-to-
obtain outcomes. The theory is clearly derived by some other means- it is the
imagination and creative insight of the innovator by which theory is developed.
Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss developed the ―Grounded Theory‖ Approach
(Glaser, 1967) to develop theory in social sciences. Grounded Theory (inspired the
inductive reasoning) asserts that theory is ―discovered‖ as the result of systematically
analyzing data or data mining techniques. Induction validates theory, it does not
develop theory. It is mainly applicable for qualitative research (Jaccard, 2014).
5. Hypotheses must be part of some theory structure, or they are nothing more than the
opinion of the researcher, even if that opinion is subsequently ―validated.‖ According
to Merriam-Webster‘s Dictionary, hypothesis is a tentative assumption made in order
to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences. It is this process of
hypothesis creation that has resulted in numerous ―tests‖ of the same subject area
resulting in differing conclusions. Theory generates hypotheses, hypotheses do not

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create theory nor are they themselves theory.

E. Steps In Developing An Inductive Or Grounded Theory

(http://sociology.about.com/od/Research/a/Inductive-Theory-Construction.html):
1. Research design: Define your research questions and the main concepts and variables
involved. 2. Data collection: Collect data for your study using any of the various
methods (field research, interviews, surveys, etc.)
2. Data ordering: Arrange your data chronologically to facilitate easier data analysis
and examination of processes.
3. Data analysis: Analyze your data using methods of your choosing to look for
patterns, connections, and significant findings.
4. Theory construction: Using the patterns and findings from your data analysis,
develop a theory about what you discovered.
5. Literature comparison: Compare your emerging theory with the existing literature.
Are there conflicting frameworks, similar frameworks, etc.?

F. Theory in Criminology - Theory in criminology refers to efforts to explain or understand

crime causation. It is often viewed as an attempt to justify and excuse crime or as being
wholly inadequate in guiding practical, existing social policy. On the contrary, explaining
why or how things happen should not be confused with justifying or defending them
(Hagan, 2020).

IV. Progress check: To be posted or administered thru Google form

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MODULE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES AND CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 4 – CRIME AND FORMULA OF CRIME CAUSATION

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the definition of crime;

B. Differentiate the etymology of the words crime and sin; and
C. Illustrate the formula of crime causation.

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Definition of Crime - Crime is a generic term which may be referred to as felony when
it is punishable by the Revised Penal Code, offense when punishable by the Special Law
and misdemeanor when it violated an ordinance. Specifically, crime refers to an act of
commission or omission punishable by law commanding or forbidding it.

B. Etymology of the Words Crime and Sin

1. Crime - In the Bible, the English word crime is the equivalent of the Hebrew i h ,
or ―judgment,‖ ―verdict‖ as used in Ezekiel 7:23; i h, ―a heinous crime‖ as meant
in Job 31:11; and h which is understood as ―a fault,‖ ―sin‖ or ―guiltiness‖ in
Genesis 26:10. Further, in the New Testament, the word crime is synonymous to the
Greek i , or ―case,‖ ―cause,‖ ―fault,‖ or ―charges‖ as referred to in Acts 25:27;
g , or ―indictment,‖ ―charge,‖ or matter as understood in Acts 25:16
(―Crime/Crimes‖, n.d.).
2. Sin - On the other hand, the English word sin is related to the Biblical Hebrew
h or ―a missing,‖ ―perversity,‖ e h‛ or ―transgression,‖ or ―evil,‖ or
cha h an offence, and the penalty or sacrifice for it, and the Greek hamartano or
―miss the mark,‖ i ―transgression‖ with a suggestion of violence, and
i which means ―injustice,‖ ―unrighteousness (―Sin‖, n.d.).‖

C. Biblical Perspective of Crime - Crime based on the biblical point of view can be
considered a sin. When Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit despite the warning of God
not to eat that kind of fruit only shows that man by nature is a sinner. We are created by
virtue of sin. Logically speaking, all crimes are sin but not all sins are crimes if there is no
law punishing such act. Example, it is a sin to get envious, ―For where envy and self-
seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.‖ James 3:16, but it‘s not a crime
as long as you have not harmed anybody.

D. Criminological Definitions of Crime - The definition of crime affects how

criminologists view the cause and control of illegal behavior and shapes their research
orientation.
1. Conflict View - The law is a tool of the ruling class. Crime is a politically defined
concept. "Real crimes" are not outlawed. The law is used to control the underclass.
2. Consensus View - The law defines crime. The law reflects public opinion. Agreement
exists on outlawed behavior. Laws apply to all citizens equally.

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3. Interactionist View - Moral entrepreneurs define crime. Crimes are illegal because
society defines them that way. The definition of crime evolves according to the moral
standards of those in power.

E. The Normality of Crime - David Emile Durkheim maintained that criminality is a

"normal" factor rather than a pathological one. He indicates that crime is found in all
societies, "Crime is normal because a society exempt from it is utterly impossible". The
"fundamental conditions of social organization-logically imply it." Crime is not due to
any imperfection of human nature or society any more than birth or death may be
considered abnormal or pathological. It is all a part of the totality of society. "A society
exempt from it (crime) would necessitate a standardization of the moral concepts of all
individuals which is neither possible nor desirable." Durkheim maintains that crime is not
only normal for society but that is necessary. Without crime there could be no evolution
in law (https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol49/iss1/2).

F. Crime Formula – There are various ways of defining the formula of crime. However,
foremost of those formulas is Dr. David Abrahamsen's Theory of the Etiology of
Criminal Acts. According to Abrahamsen (Forensic Psychologist), "Crime is a product
of the individual's tendencies and the situation' of the moment interacting with his mental
resistance. Letting 'C' stand for crime, 'T' for tendencies, 'S' for situation, and 'R' for
resistance, we derive the following formula:" Abrahamsen points out that the
1. "T" factor is not simply "aggressive tendencies" since they are present in all men.
"T" also refers to aggressive inclinations of an indirect nature; for instance,
projections, rebellious hostility towards anyone, protest reactions, or excessive motor
activity. A criminal act does not take place solely because of the release of repressed
aggression, but may occur also because the offender has built up a defense of
aggression which is expressed tangentially by projections, rejection of authority,
protest' reactions, etc.
2. "S" the situation, is an indeterminate factor in mobilizing the criminal act. As each
person has a unique psychological make-up, it follows that only he can achieve a
particular aim in a given environment.
3. “R” the resistance to temptation, it is the ability to control one‘s negative emotions,
such as bad temperament, anger, etc. According to Abrahamsen, personality reactions
in criminals are by nature comparable to those found in a disease." He also claims that
a higher incidence of psychosomatic disorders is to be found in the family
constellation of the offender than in the family members of psychotic or neurotic
patients (Bates, 1949) as cited in
(https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol40/iss4).
4. The crime formula is stated as –

C (the Act) = T (Criminal Tendency)+ S (Total Situation)

R (Resistance to Temptation)

IV. Progress Check: To be posted or to be administered thru Google form

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MODULE 2 – EARLY GENERAL THEORIES ON THE CAUSES OFCRIME
LESSON 1 – PRE-CLASSICAL AND DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the concepts of the pre-classical ort demonological theories
B. Describe how demonological theory is applied to control crime.

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline) Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational

videos

III. Concept:

A. Pre-Classical School of Criminology (http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-

2776-schools-of-criminology.html)
1. The pre-classical school is also known as demonological school although there were
other supernatural explanations of criminal behavior in the pre-classical school like
astrology, horoscope, palmistry, luck, and other superstitious beliefs (Italics
dbgdelizo, 2021). During the 17th century, the pre-classical or demonological theory
flourished in Europe with the dominance of the church and religion. During this time
there were not much of scientific explanations for the causation of crime and the
concept of crime was vague and obscure.
2. Hence, the explanations for criminal behavior were sought through spirits, demons
and unknown power. The principle behind this concept was that a man commits a
crime due to the influence of some external force and is beyond the control and
understanding of man. The wrath of god was considered to give punishment to the
offenders. The trail of the offenders was through battles, pelting of stones and was
believed that no harm would be caused if the offender was innocent.

B. Demonological theory or supernatural explanations of criminality dominated thinking

from early history well into the 18th century; modern remnants still survive (see Huff,
1990).

C. Rational Choice Theory in Pre-Classical Times (Siegel, 2015)

1. During the early Middle Ages (1200-1400), superstition and fear of satanic possession
dominated thinking. People who violated social norms or religious practices were
believed to be witches or possessed by demons and not rational decision makers.
2. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) argued that there was a God-given "natural law"
that was based on people's natural tendency to do good. People who were evil were
manifesting original sin and a fall from grace, similar to that experienced by Adam
and Eve when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.

D. Concepts of the Pre-classical or Demonological Thoughts

1. In a system of knowledge in which theological explanations of reality were
predominant, the criminal was viewed as a sinner who was possessed by demons or
damned by otherworldly forces.
2. Humankind was viewed as at the mercy of the supernatural: fates, ghosts, furies, or
spirits. Felonies (mortal sins) were viewed as manifestations of basically evil human
nature reflecting either allegiance to the ―Prince of Darkness‖ or an expression of
divine wrath.

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3. The Salem witch trials in Puritan New England and the Spanish Inquisition serve as
examples of the torture, hanging, burning at the stake, and other grim executions
awaiting heretics, witches, and criminals. Such a worldview perceived the violator‘s
actions as deterministically controlled by forces beyond the individual‘s mastery.
4. In the Book of Genesis (22:1–12), Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his son
Isaac, although he was later released from this injunction. Appeasement of God or the
gods—a world beyond human cognition and interpretable only by the clergy, the
shaman, and other emissaries to the supernatural—was supported by a traditional
worldview that looked to the wisdom of the past rather than attempt a rational
interpretation of the present for guidance (see V. Fox, 1976, pp. 7–12).
5. In the Middle Ages in Europe, feudal lords established various means of determining
guilt and innocence. God could indicate who was guilty or not by giving victory to the
innocent in a trial by battle. Later, trial by ordeal was instituted in which the accused
was exposed to dangerous tests, and if the person survived, he or she had been
protected by God. Women accused of witchcraft were tied up and thrown in the water.
If they floated rather than sank, and thus survived, they were innocent. Running the
gauntlet and walking on fire were similar tests.
6. Application of the theological approach to crime control is not confined to the past but
can be illustrated in the modern era by the ecclesiarchy (state–church fusion) in Iran
under the Ayatollah Khomeini, in which criminals or opponents of the state were
summarily subjected to torture, death, or the ―wrath of Allah.‖

E. Punishment of Criminals in Pre-Classical Period (Siegel, 2015)

1. The prescribed method for dealing with the possessed was burning at the stake, a
practice that survived into the seventeenth century.
2. Beginning in the mid-thirteenth century, the jurisdiction of central governments
reached a significantly broader range of social behaviors. Human problems and
conflicts began to be dealt with in a formalized and legal manner. Nonetheless,
superstition and harsh punishments did not end quickly. The authorities were on guard
against Satan's offspring, who engaged in acts ranging from witchcraft to robbery.
3. Between 1581 and 1590, Nicholas Remy head of the Inquisition in the French
province of Lorraine, ordered 900 sorcerers and witches burned to death; likewise,
Peter Binsfield, the bishop of the German city of Trier, ordered the death of 6,500
people.
4. An estimated 100,000 people were prosecuted throughout Europe for witchcraft
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
5. It was also commonly believed that some families produced offspring who were
unsound or unstable and that social misfits were inherently damaged by reason of
their "inferior blood."
6. It was common practice to use cruel tortures to extract confessions, and those
convicted of violent or theft crimes suffered extremely harsh penalties, including
whipping, branding, maiming, and execution. Almost all felons were punished with
death; the law made little distinction between thieves and murderers.

F. Challenges - The primary challenges to theological approaches to explaining reality were

philosophical arguments that sought worldly, rational, secular explanations for human
fate. The reasons for crime and criminality were to be found not in the supernatural but in
the natural world.

IV. Progress check: to be posted or administered thru Google form.

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MODULE 2 – EARLY GENERAL THEORIES ON THE CAUSES OFCRIME
LESSON 2 – CLASSICAL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the concepts of the classical theories of crime causation

B. Discuss the causes of crimes in Classical thoughts
C. Identify the role of free will and rationality in explaining crime in classical theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Classical theory in criminology refers to an approach that emphasizes free will and
rationality on the part of the criminal actor. Classical theory contained in the writings of
Beccaria and Bentham, these theories assume that criminals are rational actors who weigh
the pleasure and pain of an activity.

B. Enlightenment - A philosophical, intellectual, and cultural movement of the seventeenth

and eighteenth centuries that stressed reason, logic, criticism, education, and freedom of
thought over dogma and superstition (Siegel, 2015).
1. Prior to the formulation and acceptance of classical theory, the administration of
criminal justice in Europe was cruel, uncertain, and unpredictable. In England alone
in the early 19th century, there were more than 100 crimes punishable by the death
penalty (Heath, 1963, as cited by Hagan, 2020).
2. Penal policy was designed to control the ―dangerous classes,‖ the mass of
propertyless peasants, workers, and unemployed. Emerging liberal philosophies
espoused by such writers as Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau advocated the natural
rights of man and reason as a guide to regulating human conduct. This Enlightenment
of the 17th and 18th centuries questioned the power of the clergy and aristocracy and
gave birth to the American and French Revolutions (Hagan, 2020).

C. Development of the Classical Thinking

1. Rational Thought - During the eighteenth century Enlightenment period, social
philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham (1748-1833) began to embrace the view that
human behavior was a result of rational thought processes.
2. Utilitarian Calculus - According to Bentham's "utilitarian calculus," people choose
to act when, after weighing costs and benefits, they believe that their actions will
bring them an increase in pleasure and a reduction of pain. It stands to reason that
criminal behavior could be eliminated or controlled if would-be law violators could be
convinced that the pain of punishment exceeds the benefits of crime. The purpose of
law is to produce and support the total happiness of the community it serves (Siegel,
2015).
3. Punishment - Because punishment is in itself harmful, its existence is justified only if
it promises to prevent greater evil than it creates. Punishment, therefore, has four main
objectives (Siegel, 2015):
a. To prevent all criminal offenses
b. When it cannot prevent a crime, to convince the offender to commit a less serious
crime

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c. To ensure that a criminal uses no more force than is necessary
d. To prevent crime as cheaply as possible

D. Classical Theory of Cesare Beccaria (Siegel, 2015)

1. On Crimes and Punishment - The development of rational classical criminology is
most closely identified with the thoughts of Italian social philosopher Beccaria (1738-
1794) and his famous treatise "On Crimes and Punishment" in which he called for fair
and certain punishment to deter crime.
2. Fear of Punishment - He believed people are egotistical and self-centered, and
therefore they must be motivated by the fear of punishment, which provides a tangible
motive for them to obey the law and suppress the "despotic spirit" that resides in
every person. He suggested that –
a. people choose all behavior, including criminal behavior;
b. their choices are designed to bring them pleasure and reduce pain;
c. criminal choices can be controlled by fear of punishment; and
d. the more severe, certain, and swift the punishment, the greater its ability to control
criminal behavior.
3. Principle or Element of Proportionality - Punishment must be proportional to the
seriousness of crime; if not, people would be encouraged to commit more serious
offenses. For example, if robbery, rape, and murder were all punished by death,
robbers or rapists would have little reason to refrain from killing their victims to
eliminate them as witnesses to the crime. Today, this is referred to as the concept of
marginal deterrence—if petty offenses were subject to the same punishment as more
serious crimes, offenders would choose the more serious crime because the resulting
punishment would be about the same.
4. Proper Application of Punishment - Extremely harsh punishments and routine use
of torture were inappropriate and excessive. To deter crime, the pain of punishment
must be administered in a fair, balanced, and proportionate amount, just enough to
counterbalance the pleasure obtained from crime. Beccaria stated his famous theorem
like this: ―In order for punishment not to be in every instance, an act of violence of
one or many against a private citizen, it must be essentially public, prompt, necessary,
the least possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, and dictated
by the laws.

E. Classical Theory of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) (Schmalleger, 2017)

1. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) – He wrote that
―nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and
pleasure.‖ To reduce crime or, as Bentham put it, ―to prevent the happening of
mischief,‖ the pain of punishment must outweigh the pleasure to be derived from
criminal activity.
2. Hedonistic Calculus - His claim rested upon his belief, spawned by Enlightenment
thought, that human beings are fundamentally rational and that criminals will weigh
in their minds the pain of punishment against any pleasures thought likely to be
derived from crime commission.
3. Hedonistic Calculus and Utilitarianism (or emphasis on the worth any action) - He
advocated neither extreme nor cruel punishment—only punishment sufficiently
distasteful to the offender that the discomfort experienced would outweigh the
pleasure to be derived from criminal activity. The more serious the offense is, the
more reward it holds for its perpetrator and therefore the more weighty the official

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response must be. ―Pain and pleasure,‖ said Bentham, ―are the instruments the
legislator has to work with‖ in controlling antisocial and criminal behavior.
4. Principle of Utility - Bentham stated, ―By the principle of utility is meant that
principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the
tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party
whose interest is in question; or, what is the same thing to promote or to oppose that
happiness.‖ In other words, he believed that individuals could be expected to weigh
the consequences of their behavior before acting to maximize their pleasure and
minimize their pain, based on intensity, duration, certainty, and immediacy (or
remoteness) in time.
5. Deterrent Effect of Punishment - Like Beccaria, Bentham focused on the potential
held by punishment to prevent crime and to act as a deterrent for those considering
criminal activity. Regarding criminal legislation, he wrote that ―the evils of
punishment must be made to exceed the advantage of the offence.‖ Bentham
distinguished among 11 types of punishment:
a. Capital punishment (death)
b. Afflictive punishment (whipping and starvation)
c. Indelible punishment (branding, amputation, and mutilation)
d. Ignominious punishment (public punishment involving use of stocks or pillory)
e. Penitential punishment (censure by the community)
f. Chronic punishment (banishment, exile, and imprisonment)
g. Restrictive punishment (license revocation and administrative sanction)
h. Compulsive punishment (restitution and appointment with probation officer)
i. Pecuniary punishment (fine)
j. Quasi-pecuniary punishment (denial of services otherwise available)
k. Characteristic punishment (mandates such as wearing prison uniforms)
6. Panopticon House - The Panopticon was to be a circular building with cells along
the circumference, each clearly visible from a central location staffed by guards,
constructed near or within cities so that it might serve as an example to citizens of
what would happen to them should they commit crimes. He also wrote that prisons
should be managed by contractors who could profit from the labor of prisoners and
that each contractor should ―be bound to insure the lives and safe custody of those
entrusted to him.‖ Although a Panopticon was never built in Bentham‘s England,
French officials funded a modified version of such a prison, which was eventually
built at Lyons, and three prisons modeled after the Panopticon concept were
constructed in the United States.

F. Criticism to the Theory of Classical School

1. Lunatics and imbeciles cannot calculate pleasure from pain. Hence the birth of the
neo-classical school;
2. Not applicable to crimes committed at the spur of moment;
3. Criminal habits in normal persons may make them impervious to the talent of
punishment; and
4. The risk of punishment maybe comparatively slight such as among youths they
commit crimes for adventure.

G. Disadvantages of the Classical School

1. Unfair because of the equal treatments of all persons like young and old, and insane
and normal without regard to differences in individual nature;
2. Unjust because of the equal punishment to first offender and recidivist;

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3. Not individualized as far as punishment is concerned such as a man may commit a
crime because he is induced by a particular stimulus;
4. It became the magna carta or constitutional enactment of the professional criminals.
The would-be law violator knows what was coming to him and could calculate the
risk or he knows the penalty imposed; and
5. It considers only injury caused not the state of the mind and nature of the criminal like
the background of the criminal and his motive.

IV. Progress Check: To be posted or administered thru Google Form.

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MODULE 2 – EARLY GENERAL THEORIES ON THE CAUSES OFCRIME
LESSON 3 – NEO-CLASSICAL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the concepts of the neo-classical theories of crime causation

B. Recognize the role of punishment in neoclassical theory
C. Compare neoclassical with classical and positive theories

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Definition of Neoclassical theory – new classical theories that view crime as influenced
by criminal opportunities to commit crime. Neoclassical theory basically admits
environmental, psychological, and other mitigating circumstances as modifying
conditions to classic doctrine.

B. Development of Neoclassical Thoughts of Crime Causation

1. The beginnings of this approach can be found in the later writings of Cesare
Lombroso (1835–1909) and in those of his students, Ferri and Garofalo.
2. Beginning in the late 1960s, particularly in the writings of economist Gary Becker
(1968), James Q. Wilson (1983a, 1983b), and Ernest Van den Haag (1966), a
resurgence in neoclassical doctrine can be noted. Becker advocated a cost-benefit
analysis of crime, reminiscent of hedonistic doctrine. Becker argued that individuals
freely choose crime based on their estimate of their likelihood of being caught.
3. Disappointed with criminology‘s overconcern with the search for basic causes of
crime, Wilson (1975) proposed a policy analysis approach, applied research that is
less concerned with finding causes and more concerned with what works. These
writers sparked an interest in the abandonment of treatment and rehabilitation and in a
return to the classical punishment model. Often ignored by devotees of such theories
are the very limited categories of crime such theorists, in fact, address. Wilson (1975),
for instance, quite clearly indicates that this call for incapacitation of offenders
(criminals in jail can no longer victimize) is applicable to what we have described as
conventional property offenders or common burglars and thieves. Although a more
practical, policy-oriented approach is needed, what is disturbing in such theories is the
relatively conservative ignorance of criminogenic, social structural conditions, as well
as an often cavalier disregard for theoretical approaches to crime causation.
4. Neoclassicists argue that less theory and more action are needed but at times ignore
the fact that the basic theoretical underpinnings of their own theories are rooted in
assumptions of 18th-century hedonism, utilitarianism, and free will. On balance,
however, they make a key point: that one need not have a basic explanation of cause
to meet pressing policy needs that cannot wait for a final explanation.

C. Rational Choice Theory In Neoclassical Perspectives

1. Cornish and Clarke’s (1986) rational choice theory proposes that offenders weigh
the opportunities, costs, and benefits of particular crimes. The argument by rational
choice theorists is not that individuals are purely rational in their decision making but

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rather that they do consider the costs and benefits. A number of factors may constrain
choice, such as social factors, individual traits, and attitudes toward crime.
2. Rational choice theorists also argue for a crime-specific approach to crime; that
is, the circumstances involved in the typical burglary may differ from robbery or
domestic assault. Offender characteristics are seen as combining with offense types in
shaping offender choices.
3. Rational choice theorists admit that much behavior is only partly rational but
that most offenders know quite well what they are doing. The criminal justice
system must make crime less rewarding by increasing the certainty and severity of
punishment.
4. Crime is viewed as a matter of situational choice, a combination of costs, benefits,
and opportunities associated with a particular crime.
5. Increasing prevention or decreasing the opportunity to commit crime is viewed
as an important means of deterring crime. Situational crime control could include
target hardening (securing of entries, doors, and locks), access control, entry
screening, surveillance, better lighting, property identification, and other means of
reducing criminal opportunity.
6. Consideration is given for the cost and benefit of crime, but many criminals do
not carefully plan their crimes. Changing such opportunity structures (e.g., creating
defensible space and target hardening) may discourage potential offenders. Analyses
of offenders‘ motivations, however, have shown that many act impulsively and fail to
fully consider negative possibilities (Piliavin, Gartner, Thornton, & Matsueda, 1986;
Tunnell, 1991).
7. Recent work examining “near repeat” burglary suggests that some offending
may in fact be at least in part rational. A near repeat burglary occurs when a target
is burglarized initially, but then a nearby property is burglarized afterward (Johnson et
al., 2007). The second burglary would be considered a near repeat burglary. The
initial target may not be burglarized because the owners took precautions after the
event; thus, the target has been ―hardened.‖ The offender choosing a nearby target
rather than the one that has been hardened indicates some level of rationality.

D. Deterrence Theory in Neoclassical Perspectives

1. Themes such as “just deserts,” “three strikes and you’re out,” and mandatory
sentencing policies all reflect the assumption that the criminal is a rational actor and
will be deterred by more severe and certain punishment. The just-deserts concept
assumes that individuals must pay for their wrongdoing and that they deserve or
―have it (the punishment) coming.‖ Reflected in the biblical lex talionis (law of the
talons), an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, proper retribution is to be exacted for
the wrongdoing.
2. Deterrence policy assumes rationality on the part of the actor, wherein specific
deterrence serves to discourage a particular individual from repeating a crime and
general deterrence targets others. Legislation such as ―three strikes and you‘re out,‖ in
which third-time offenders receive very severe punishment, has been found not to
work because juries are often reluctant to convict a third-time offender and judges
oppose such limitations on their discretion.

E. Neoclassical Perspective on Free Will and Punishment - The Neo-Classical thinkers

contend ―that classical doctrine was correct in general, it should be undefined in some
details because children and lunatics cannot calculate pleasure and pains they should not
be regarded as criminals or to be punished (Sutherland, et al, 1992).‖

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1. Introduced the application of mitigating circumstances in imposing penalties;
2. Their action to crime is no longer punitive. Punishment was imposed in some law
breakers but not on others by recognition of the exception;
3. Individual responsibilities were taken into accounts, considering the psychology and
sociology of crimes; and
4. Their arguments became basic principles of the judicial and legal systems of western
civilization during the last century.

F. Other Neoclassical Perspectives

1. Positivism made use of the scientific method in studying criminality and was based
on an acceptance of hard determinism, the belief that crime results from forces
beyond the control of the individual. Classicalists on the other hand believed on free
will as the primary determinant of crime causation. For Neoclassicists, their premise
is based on (1) studies that seemed to show that offenders could not be rehabilitated
no matter what was tried, (2) a growing and widespread public fear of crime that led
to ―get tough on crime‖ policies, and (3) a cultural reaffirmation of the belief that
human beings had a rational nature.
2. Robert Martinson’s national survey of rehabilitation programs found that, when it
came to the rehabilitation of offenders, nothing seemed to work because most
resumed their criminal careers after release from prison. ―Nothing works!‖ became a
rallying cry of conservative policy makers, and the nothing-works doctrine (1974)
received much public attention.
3. Jack Katz, whose book ―Se uc i f C i e” (1988) explains crime as the result of
the ―often wonderful attractions within the lived experience of criminality.‖ Crime,
Katz said, is often pleasurable for those committing it, and pleasure is the major
motivation behind crime, even if the kind of pleasure to be derived from crime is not
immediately obvious (Scmalleger, 2017).
4. James Q. Wilson, Harvard political scientist wrote in 1975 ―Thi i g u C i e”,
suggesting that crime is not a result of poverty or social conditions and cannot be
affected by social programs; he argued for the lengthy incarceration of offenders and
the elimination of criminal opportunity (Schmalleger, 2017).

G. Conclusion – Neo-classical stands in between the Classical and Positivist thoughts of

crime causation. While neoclassicists also consider the exercise of free will, they also
seek considerations on exempting and mitigating circumstances especially on conditions
affecting the exercise of free will such as imbecility, and insanity. Like Positivists, the
neoclassicists also consider the social and environmental factors contributory to crime
causation.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or administered thru Google Form

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MODULE 2 – EARLY GENERAL THEORIES ON THE CAUSES OFCRIME
LESSON 4 – POSITIVIST THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the concepts of the positive theories of crime causation

B. Recognize the role of punishment in positive theory
C. Compare positive with classical and neoclassical theories

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Positivism - a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion
can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that
therefore rejects metaphysics and theism (Oxford Languages)

B. Positivism in Criminology - Positivism is the use of empirical evidence through

scientific inquiry to improve society. Ultimately, positivist criminology sought to identify
other causes of criminal behavior beyond choice. The basic premises of positivism are
measurement, objectivity, and causality. Early positivist theories speculated that there
were criminals and non-criminals. Thus, criminologists have to identify what causes
criminals (https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/ccj230/chapter/4-6-positivist-criminology/)

C. Development of the Positive School - During the late nineteenth century, the scientific
method was beginning to take hold in Europe. Rather than relying on pure thought and
reason, scientists began to use careful observation and analysis of natural phenomena in
their experiments. This movement inspired new discoveries in biology, astronomy, and
chemistry (Siegel, 2020).

D. Pioneers in Scientific Methods of Study (Siegel, 2020)

1. Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) discoveries on the evolution of man encouraged a
nineteenth-century "cult of science." Darwin's discoveries encouraged other scholars
to be certain that all human activity could be verified by scientific principles. If the
scientific method could be applied to the study of the natural world, then why not use
it to study human behavior?
2. Auguste Comte (1798-1857), considered the founder of sociology, applied scientific
methods to the study of society. According to Comte, societies pass through stages
that can be grouped on the basis of how people try to understand the world in which
they live. People in primitive societies consider inanimate objects as having life (for
example, the sun is a god); in later social stages, people embrace a rational, scientific
view of the world. Comte called this final stage the positive stage, and those who
followed his writings became known as positivists.

E. Two (2) Main Elements of Positivism

1. All true knowledge is acquired through direct observation and not through conjecture
or belief. Statements that cannot be backed up by direct observation—for instance,
"all babies are born innocent"—are invalid and worthless.

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2. The scientific method must be used if research findings are to be considered valid.
This involves such steps as identifying problems, collecting data, forming hypotheses,
conducting experiments, and interpreting results.

F. According to the positivist tradition –

1. Social processes are a product of the measurable interaction between relationships and
events.
2. Human behavior therefore is a function of a variety of forces. Some are social, such as
the effect of wealth and class; others are political and historical, such as war and
famine.
3. Other forces are more personal and psychological, such as an individual's brain
structure and his or her biological makeup or mental ability. Each of these influences
and shapes human behavior. People are neither born "good" nor "bad," and are neither
"saints" nor "sinners." They are a product of their social and psychological traits,
influenced by their upbringing and environment.

G. Precursors of Positivism - Prior to and competing with emergent positivism were

various popular pseudosciences, some of which had existed since ancient times.
1. Astrology had been used to predict human behavior by studying the alignment of the
stars. The Copernican revolution and the realization that the earth did not occupy a
fixed place in the universe discredited the basic premises of astrology, leaving it as a
―hokum device‖ for fortune tellers and their superstitious clients.
2. Astrology - the pseudoscientific belief that astrological signs such as configurations
of the planets or stars influence human behavior.
3. Phrenology the pseudoscience that claims to determine personality and intelligence
on the basis of the size and shape of a person‘s skull. Phrenology attempted to
determine intelligence and personality on the basis of the size and shape of the skull
and posited that certain areas of the brain corresponded to various psychological and
intellectual characteristics. Writers such as Franz Gall (1758–1828) measured bumps
on the head to identify brain development. Because sections of the brain do not
completely govern specific personality characteristics and could hardly be analyzed
by measuring configurations of skulls, phrenology was rapidly replaced by the more
scientific methods of emergent positivism.
4. Physiognomy involved measuring facial and other body characteristics as indicative
of human personality
5. Palmistry was concerned with palm reading, analyzing a person‘s character and
future by examining the lines on the palm. The fact that palmistry is not dead is
illustrated by a brochure this writer received advertising a book by Paul Gabriel Tesla
titled Crime and Mental Disease in the Hand: A Proven Guide for the Identification
and Pre- Identification of Criminality, Psychosis and Mental Defectiveness

H. Biological Positivism include theories that propose that crime is caused by inherited
genetic and other biological causes.
1. The earliest "scientific" studies applying the positivist model to criminology were
conducted by physiognomists, such as J. K. Lavater (1741-1801), who studied the
facial features of criminals to determine whether the shape of ears, nose, and eyes and
the distance between them were associated with antisocial behavior.
2. Phrenologists, such as Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann K. Spurzheim
(1776-1832), studied the shape of the skull and bumps on the head to determine
whether these physical attributes were linked to criminal behavior. Phrenologists

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believed that external cranial characteristics dictate which areas of the brain control
physical activity. The brain, they suggested, has 30 different areas or faculties that
control behavior. The size of a brain could be determined by inspecting the contours
of the skull—the larger the organ, the more active it was. The relative size of brain
organs could be increased or decreased through exercise and self-discipline. Though
phrenology techniques and methods are no longer practiced or taken seriously, these
efforts were an early attempt to use a "scientific" method to study crime.

6. Sociological Positivism
1. It is a school of criminological thought which suggests that societal factors – such as
low levels of education, poverty, and negative subculture influences – within an
individual‘s environment or surrounding social or cultural structure could predispose
that individual to crime.
2. This field seeks to link crime statistics to sociological and economic concerns, such as
population density, ethnographic diversity, distribution of wealth, and employment.
3. Rejecting the classical notion that crime is a consequence of individual and
predetermined decision making, sociological positivism investigates social influences
in relation to propensity for criminal behaviour.
4. Within this schema, crime and deviant activity are seen as normal, adaptive responses
to the structural and sociological organizational and coercive factors of society.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form

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MODULE 2 – EARLY GENERAL THEORIES ON THE CAUSES OFCRIME
LESSON 5 – SOCIAL CONFLICT AND CRITICAL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of conflict theory of crime causation
B. Illustrate crime prevention policies of the conflict theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Conflict Theory - The view that human behavior is shaped by interpersonal conflict and
that those who maintain social power will use it to further their own ends.

B. Conflict View - The belief that criminal behavior is defined by those in power in such as
way as to protect and advance their own self-interest.

C. Critical Theory is an expansion of conflict theory and is broader than just sociology,
including other social sciences and philosophy. A critical theory attempts to address
structural issues causing inequality; it must explain what‘s wrong in current social reality,
identify the people who can make changes, and provide practical goals for social
transformation (Horkeimer 1982) as cited in https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-bhcc-
introsoc/chapter/conflict-theory/.

D. Development of Conflict Theory

1. Georg Simmel‘s 1908 text Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations highlighted the
role of social conflict in two- and three-person groups, which Simmel called diads and
triads
2. Criminological expressions of this tradition can be traced to Marx and Bonger, and
later to Ralf Dahrendorf (1959) and George Vold (1958
3. The initial edition of Vold‘s Theoretical Criminology (1958) was the first to be
extensively based on the conflict approach.
4. Thorsten Sellin‘s (1938) notion of culture conflict as an explanation of crime is also
part of this tradition. Sellin viewed criminal law as originating in cultural or
normative conflict in which more powerful groups in society are able to make laws
that reflect their norms and values.
5. Ralf Dahrendorf reformulated Marxian theory in Class and Class Conflict in
Industrial Society (1959), proposing a more pluralistic conflict theory that depicts
numerous groups competing for power, influence, and dominance. Although
Dahrendorf did not specifically speak to the crime issue, his theoretical work
influenced much of the conflict tradition in criminology.
6. George Vold‘s Theoretical Criminology (1958), subsequent editions of which were
posthumously updated by Thomas Bernard (Vold, 1979, 1986; Vold et al., 2002),
builds on the work of Dahrendorf.
a. Vold (1979) proposed that society is made up of a variety of continually
competing interest groups and that conflict is one of its essential elements, with
more powerful groups able to have the state formulate laws in their interests.
b. In Vold‘s view, many criminal acts represent challenges by subordinate groups to
the existing dominant group‘s control, although he seems to restrict this

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explanation to issues related to political ideological conflicts such as political
reform movements, union conflicts, civil rights disputes, and the like. Crime, then,
can be explained as a product of intergroup conflict that expresses the political
struggle of these groups.
c. Although Vold‘s theory does not adequately explain irrational, personal, violent
acts, his emphasis on the conflict basis of criminal law had a profound impact on
later theories.

E. The Political Nature of Criminal Law: Austin Turk - Austin Turk (1969a, 1972, 1980)
has been a prolific writer in the conflict perspective. His view can be summarized in the
following propositions:
1. Individuals are different in their understandings and commitments.
2. Divergence leads to conflict.
3. Each conflicting party tries to promote his or her own views.
4. This leads to a conscious struggle over the distribution of resources.
5. People with similar beliefs tend to join forces and develop similar understandings and
commitments.
6. Continuing conflicts tend to become routine and develop into stratification systems.
7. Such systems exhibit economic exploitation, sustained by political domination in all
forms.
8. The relative power of conflicting parties determines their hierarchical position as well
as changes in the distribution of power.
9. Human understandings and commitments are dialectical, characterized by continual
conflict (Turk, 1980, pp. 82, 83).

F. Conflict Theory: William Chambliss and Richard Quinney - Other statements of

conflict theory are in the early works of William Chambliss (with Robert Seidman, 1971)
and Richard Quinney (1970a, 1970b); their later writings would evolve into more radical
perspectives. Chambliss and Seidman viewed criminal law as representing the interests of
the most powerful forces in society and deviance as a political rather than moral question.
Richard Quinney in The Social Reality of Crime (1970b, pp. 15–23) presented six
propositions describing the relationship between crime and the social order:
1. Crime is a definition of human conduct created by authorized agents in a politically
organized society.
2. Criminal definitions describe behaviors that conflict with the interests of segments of
society that have power to shape public policy.
3. Criminal definitions are applied by segments of society that have power to shape the
enforcement and administration of criminal law.
4. Behavior patterns are structured in segmentally organized society in relation to
criminal definitions, and within this context, persons engage in actions that have
relative probabilities of being defined as criminal.
5. Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by
various means of communication.
6. The social reality of crime is constructed by the formulation and application of
criminal definitions, the development of behavior patterns related to criminal
definitions, and the construction of criminal conceptions.

G. Conflict Criminology and Race: W. E. B. Du Bois - Chambliss, in a classic study in

conflict criminology, examined the vagrancy laws in 14th century England that made it
illegal to give alms to anyone who was able but unemployed.

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1. Due to the plague, there was a vast need for labor. W. E. B. Du Bois, did a similar
analysis, he represents a neglected conflict criminologist. Although most of his
activities were associated with civil rights activity, Du Bois‘s academic publications
included his book The Philadelphia Negro (1899/1973).
2. Du Bois‘s most important work concerning conflict theory was ―The Spawn of
Slavery: The Convict-Lease System in the South‖.
3. According to K. K. Russell (1992), Du Bois may also be considered the founder of
black criminology.
4. Similar to Chambliss‘s study of vagrancy laws, Du Bois discussed the enactment of
the Black Codes and convict lease system by the Southern oligarchy as a means to
compensate for lost labor and profits as a result of emancipation. The courts meted
out two forms of justice: different sentences for whites and blacks. As Gabbidon
(1999) indicates, ―African-Americans were criminalized to secure the necessary labor
for aristocracy‖.

H. Conflict Criminology and Social Class: Jeffrey Reiman - In The Rich Get Richer and
the Poor Get Prison, Jeffrey Reiman (1998) argues a conflict perspective that includes the
following propositions:
1. Acts that are not treated as crimes pose at least as great a danger to the public as those
that have been criminalized.
2. Acts that are criminalized are generally those of the poor.
3. The system often fails to treat as criminal the dangerous acts of the wealthy and
powerful.
4. The failure of the criminal justice system in fighting street crime conveys an
important ideological message that the greatest danger to the average citizen is from
below him or her on the economic ladder.
5. Crime in the suites should be prosecuted in the same manner as crime in the streets,
and all acts should be prosecuted in proportion to the actual harm they produce.
6. Reiman (1984) concludes, ―Every step toward economic and social justice is a step
that moves us from a system of criminal justice to a system of criminal justice‖.

I. Social Conflict theories - Social conflict theories emphasize the role of conflict within
society, which is thought to be based largely on inequities between social classes
(Schmalleger, 2010).
1. Radical Criminology holds that the causes of crime are rooted in social conditions
empowering the wealthy and the politically well organized but disenfranchising those
who are less successful.
a. Period: 1960s–present
b. Theorists: Karl Marx, Ralf Dahrendorf, George B. Vold, Richard Quinney,
William J. Chambliss, Raymond J. Michalowski, Austin Turk
c. Concepts: Social class, bourgeoisie, proletariat
2. Left-Realist Criminology - This branch of radical criminology posits that crime is a
real social problem experienced by the lower classes.
a. Period: 1980s–present
b. Theorists: Walter DeKeseredy, Jock Young
c. Concepts: Radical realism, critical realism, street crime, social justice, crime
control
3. Feminist Criminology - This radical criminological approach to the explanation of
crime sees the conflict and inequality present in society as being based primarily on
gender.

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a. Period: 1970s–present
b. Theorists: Freda Adler, Rita J. Simon, Kathleen Daly, Meda Chesney-Lind, John
Hagan, Carol Smart
c. Concepts: Power-control issues, gender socialization, empowerment
4. Peacemaking Criminology holds that crime-control agencies and citizens must work
together to alleviate social problems, including crime.
a. Period: 1980s–present
b. Theorists: Harold E. Pepinsky, Richard Quinney, Bo Lozoff, Michael Braswell
c. Concepts: Compassionate criminology, restorative justice, inner corrections
5. Convict Criminology consists of writings and musings on criminology by convicted
felons and ex-inmates who have acquired academic credentials or are associated with
credentialed others.
a. Period: 2001–present
b. Theorists: Jeffrey Ian Ross, Stephen J. Richards, John Irwin, K. C. Carceral,
Thomas J. Bernard
c. Concepts: Issues-based writings, personal experience as valid information, critical
of system

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: to be posted or to be administered thru Goog

Form

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MODULE 3 – BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 1 – CONCEPTS OF BIOLOGICAL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the central concepts of conflict theory of crime causation

B. Illustrate crime prevention policies of the conflict theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Biological Theories – These are theories that maintain that the basic determinants of
human behavior, including criminality, are constitutionally or physiologically based and
often inherited.

B. Principles of Biological theories

1. Generally speaking, biological theories focus on the brain as the center of the
personality and the major determinant in controlling human behavior. As one
biocriminologist explains it, ―no matter the source of human behavior, it is necessarily
funneled through the brain …‖
2. Unlike the classical and neoclassical traditions, however, which consider free will and
external forces as the cause of behavior, biological theories look to internal sources,
including genetic and physical makeup, as they influence mental processes.
3. Early biological theorists (generally, prior to the 1960s or 1970s) focused primarily on
physical features and heredity as the source of criminal behavior. They considered
physical traits such as facial features, body type, and shape of the skull as significant
causes of criminality. Several early theorists proposed that criminality ran in families
and could be inherited, or passed down from one generation to another. Such early
approaches, while appropriate for the time in which they were developed, appear
relatively simplistic when compared with modern biosocial perspectives.
4. By contrast, contemporary biological theorists (mostly after 1990) have taken a more
in-depth look at human biology, leading them to examine a variety of influences on
behavior, including genes and chromosomes, diet, hormonal issues, environmental
contaminants, and neurophysical conditions.
5. Nonetheless, both early and contemporary biological perspectives share a number of
fundamental assumptions.
6. One of the major distinguishing features between historical and contemporary
biological theories of criminality is the degree of emphasis 4-2 (the interplay between
biology and the social and physical environments).
7. While most early biological theories of crime ascribed at least some importance to the
role of the social environment in producing behavior, that role was relatively minor.
8. By contrast, contemporary biosocial theorists see the interaction between the
organism and its environment as the crucial determining factor in almost all behavior.

C. Key Assumptions of Biological Theories of Crime Causation

1. The brain is the organ of the mind and the locus of personality.
2. The basic determinants of human behavior, including criminal tendencies, are, to a
considerable degree, constitutionally or genetically based.

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3. 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
racially distinct groups.
4. The basic determinants of human behavior, including criminality, may be passed from
generation to generation. In other words, a tendency toward crime may be inherited.
5. Much of human conduct is fundamentally rooted in instinctive behavioral responses
characteristic of biological organisms everywhere. Territoriality, condemnation of
adultery, and acquisitiveness are but three examples of behavior that may be
instinctual to human beings.
6. The biological roots of human conduct have become increasingly disguised because
modern forms of indirect expressive behavior have replaced more primitive and direct
ones.
7. At least some human behavior is the result of biological tendencies inherited from
more primitive developmental stages in the evolutionary process. In other words,
some human beings may be further along the evolutionary ladder than others, and
their behavior may reflect that fact.
8. The interplay among heredity, biology, and the social environment provides the nexus
for any realistic consideration of crime causation.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: It will be posted or administered thru Google
Form

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 3 – BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 2 – PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOGNOMY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the central concepts of conflict theory of crime causation

B. Illustrate crime prevention policies of the conflict theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Phrenology –
1. Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828) - One of the earliest attempts to use bodily features
to identify criminals was proposed by European anatomist Gall in his theory of
phrenology (also called craniology).
a. Gall believed that the shape of the human skull was related to personality and
could be used to distinguish criminals from normal men and women. Gall‘s
approach built on four themes:
1) The brain is the organ of the mind.
2) Particular aspects of personality are associated with specific locations in the
brain.
3) Portions of the brain that are well developed cause personality characteristics
associated with them to be more prominent in the individual under study,
whereas poorly developed brain areas lead to a lack of associated personality
characteristics.
4) The shape of a person‘s skull corresponds to the shape of the underlying brain
and is therefore indicative of the personality.
b. Gall was one of the first Western writers to locate the roots of personality in the
brain. Prior to his time, it was thought that aspects of personality resided in
various organs throughout the body—a fact reflected in linguistic anachronisms
that survive to the present day (e.g., when someone is described as being ―hard-
hearted‖ or having ―a lot of gall‖).
c. Greek philosopher Aristotle was said to believe that the brain served no function
other than to radiate excess heat from the body, so Gall‘s perspective, although
relatively primitive by today‘s standards, did much to advance physiological
understandings of the mind– body connection in Western thought. Although
Gall‘s theory depended on physical measurements of the skull and comparisons of
such measurements between individuals, it was never tested using today‘s
rigorous methodological standards
d. Nonetheless, it was widely accepted by many of his contemporaries because it
represented a shift away from the theological perspectives prevalent at the time
toward scientific measurement—a trend that was well under way by the time of
his writings. Phrenology also provided systematic evaluation of suspected
offenders and was intriguing for its ease of use.
2. Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776–1853) - One of Gall‘s students, German physician
Spurzheim, brought phrenological theory to the United States and helped to spread
its influence through a series of lectures and publications on the subject.

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3. Phrenology‘s prestige in the United States extended into the twentieth century, finding
a place in classification schemes employed to evaluate newly admitted prisoners.
Even Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional character Sherlock Holmes was described as
using phrenology to solve a number of crimes. It is still popular today among palm
readers and fortune-tellers, some of whom offer phrenological ―readings‖—although a
few states have outlawed such activities.

B. Physiognomy - The term physiognomy comes from the Greek words physis, meaning
―nature,‖ and gnomon, meaning ―to judge or to interpret.‖ It refers to the evaluation of a
person‘s personality or character (i.e., his or her nature) through an examination of that
person‘s outward appearance. Early physiognomy concentrated on characteristics of the
face through which to judge the person‘s nature. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived
from 384 to 322 BCE, was a proponent of physiognomy, as were many other ancient
Greeks. The practice flourished in many areas of the world and was taught in universities
throughout England until it was banned by Henry VIII in 1531.
1. Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615) - The publication of On Physiognomy in
1586 by Italian scholar della Porta once again brought renewed focus to this belief
and practice of the ancient Greeks. He, often considered the first criminologist,
examined patients during his medical practice and concluded that appearance and
character were related. He approached the study of this relationship from a magico–
spiritualistic metaphysical perspective instead of a scientific one, classifying humans
on the basis of their resemblance to animals. For example, men who look like donkeys
are similar to donkeys in their laziness and stupidity; men who resemble pigs behave
like pigs.
2. Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) - Della Porta‘s ideas were extremely
influential to Lavater, a Swiss pastor who published his painstakingly detailed study
of facial fragments in 1783. He concluded that one could determine criminal behavior
through an examination of a person‘s eyes, ears, nose, chin, and facial shape

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be administered or to be given thru Google

Form

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 3 – BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 3 – PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CRIME

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:

A. Explain the central concepts of conflict theory of crime causation

B. Illustrate crime prevention policies of the conflict theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Italian School of Criminology - A perspective on criminology developed in the late

1800s that held that criminals can be identified by physical features and are throwbacks to
earlier stages of human evolution. The Italian School was largely based on studies of
criminal anthropology.

B. Criminal anthropology
1. Cesare Lombroso‘s (Italian Army Physician) ideas gave rise to the Italian School of
Criminal anthropology Criminal anthropology is the scientific study of the
relationship between human physical characteristics (in particular anthropometric
features, or bodily measurements) and criminality.
2. Criminal anthropology probably derives from earlier subjective feelings, prominent
for millennia, that unattractiveness, deformity, and disfigurement are somehow
associated with evil, spiritual malaise, and general uncleanliness.
3. Although the earlier works of Gall and others might be subsumed under the umbrella
of criminal anthropology, the term is usually reserved in today‘s criminological
literature for the work of Lombroso and other members of the Italian School of
Criminology, especially Enrico Ferri and Raffael Garofalo.
4. At about the time that Lombroso‘s ideas were becoming popular, Charles Darwin was
making a substantial impact on the scientific world with his theory of biological
evolution. Darwin proposed that human beings and other contemporary living
organisms were the end products of a long evolutionary process governed by rules
such as natural selection and survival of the fittest.
5. Lombroso adapted elements of Darwin‘s theory to suggest that primitive behavioral
traits survived in present-day human populations and led to heightened criminal
tendencies among individuals who harbored them. Darwin himself had proposed this
idea when he wrote, ―With mankind some of the worst dispositions which
occasionally without any assignable cause make their appearance in families, may
perhaps be reversions to a savage state, from which we are not removed by very many
generations.‖
6. Lombroso has been called ―the father of modern criminology‖ because he was the
first criminologist of note to employ the scientific method—particularly measurement,
observation, and generalization—in his work. Other writers have preferred to limit his
influence, referring to him simply as the father of the Italian School of Criminology in
recognition of the fact that nineteenth-century positivism began in Italy under his
tutelage.
7. Lombroso, whose work had consisted mostly of postmortem studies of the bodies of
executed offenders and deceased criminals, measured the bodies in many different

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ways. He claimed that, using his system, not only could criminal offenders be
separated from the general population, but even specific types of criminals could be
identified.
8. Discussing murderers, Lombroso wrote, ―He has a cold concentrated look; sometimes
the eye appears injected with blood; the nose is often aquiline or hooked, always
large; the ears are long; the jaws powerful; the cheek-bones widely separated; the hair
is crisp and abundant; the canine teeth well developed, and the lips thin; often a
nervous tic or contraction, upon one side of the face only, uncovers the canine teeth,
producing the effect of a threatening look or a sardonic laugh.‖
9. He believed that thieves could be recognized because they have ―less cranial
capacity‖ and ―a remarkable mobility of countenance, the eye small and restless, the
eye-brows thick and meeting, the nose flat, and the forehead always low and
retreating.
10. He called physical features that he thought to be indicative of criminality stigmata of
degeneration, and suggested that they could be used to predict later criminal behavior
among individuals who possessed them. He described ―the nature of the criminal‖ as
―an atavistic being who reproduces in his person the ferocious instincts of primitive
humanity and the inferior animals.‖
11. Lombroso‘s Typologies of Criminals
a. Atavism (Born Criminals) implies that criminals are born that way. Lombroso
was continuously reassessing his estimates of the proportion, from among all
offenders, of born criminals.
b. Insane Criminals were said to include mental and moral degenerates, alcoholics,
drug addicts, and so forth.
c. Criminaloids also called ―occasional criminals,‖ were described as people who
were enticed into breaking the law by virtue of environmental influences.
Nevertheless, most criminaloids were seen by Lombroso as exhibiting some
degree of atavism and hence were said to ―differ from born criminals in degree,
not in kind.‖
d. Criminals Incited By Passion. Those who became criminals by virtue of passion
were said to have surrendered to intense emotions, including love, jealousy,
hatred, or an injured sense of honor.
12. The Female Offender – published by Lombroso in 1893.
a. In that book, he expressed his belief that women exhibited far less anatomical
variation than do men, but he insisted that criminal behavior among women, as
among men, derived from atavistic foundations.
b. Violence among women, although a rarity in the official statistics of the late
1800s, was explained by the masculinity hypothesis, or the belief that criminal
women exhibited masculine features and mannerisms.
c. Lombroso saw the quintessential female offender, however, as a prostitute, who
was ―the genuine typical representative of criminality‖ among women. Prostitutes,
he claimed, act out atavistic yearnings and, in doing so, return to a form of
behavior characteristic of humankind‘s primitive past.

C. Raffaele Garofalo (1852-1934), Writing around the same time as Lombroso, Garofalo
noted that ―one has but to go into a prison, and by the aid of this description one can
distinguish almost at a glance those condemned for theft from those condemned for
murder.‖ As a contemporary of Lombroso, he shared the belief that certain physical
characteristics indicate a criminal nature: "a lower degree of sensibility to physical pain,

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seems to be demonstrated by the readiness with which prisoners submit to the operation
of tattooing."

D. Enrico Ferri (1856-1929) added a social dimension to Lombroso's work and argued that
criminals should not be held personally or morally responsible for their actions because
forces outside their control caused criminality.

E. Evaluations of Atavism
1. Charles Buckman Goring (1870–1919)
a. Following in Lombroso‘s positivistic footsteps around the turn of the twentieth
century, English physician Goring conducted a well-controlled statistical study of
Lombroso‘s thesis of atavism.
b. Using newly developed but advanced mathematical techniques to measure the
degree of correlation between physiological features and criminal history, Goring
examined nearly 3,000 inmates at Turin prison beginning in 1901.
c. Enlisting the aid of London‘s Biometric Laboratory, he concluded that ―the whole
fabric of Lombrosian doctrine, judged by the standards of science, is
fundamentally unsound.‖
d. Goring compared the prisoners with students at Oxford and Cambridge
Universities, British soldiers, and noncriminal hospital patients and published his
findings in 1913 in his lengthy treatise The English Convict: A Statistical Study.
2. Earnest A. Hooton - a professor of anthropology at Harvard University
a. Proponent of the General Inferiority Theory where he claims crime is caused by a
low-grad (inferior) man plus his/her environment
b. He conducted a similar study between 1927 and 1939
c. In 1939, Hooton published Crime and the Man, in which he reported having
evaluated 13,873 inmates from ten states, comparing them along 107
physiological dimensions with 3,203 nonincarcerated individuals who formed a
control group; his sample consisted of 10,953 prison inmates, 2,004 county jail
prisoners, 743 criminally insane, 173 ―defective delinquents,‖ 1,227 ―insane
civilians,‖ and 1,976 ―sane civilians.‖
d. He concluded that criminals showed an overall physiological inferiority to the
general population and that crime was the result of ―the impact of environment
upon low grade human

F. Constitutional theories explain criminality by reference to offenders‘ body types;

genetics; or external, observable physical characteristics. A constitutional, or
physiological, orientation that found its way into the criminological mainstream during
the early and mid-twentieth century was that of somatotyping the work of Ernst
Kretschmer and William H. Sheldon.
1. Kretschmer, a professor of psychiatry at the German University of Tubingen,
proposed a relationship between body build and personality type and created a rather
detailed ―biopsychological constitutional typology.‖
2. Sheldon, Influenced by Kretschmer, he utilized measurement techniques to connect
body type with personality. Sheldon studied 200 boys between the ages of 15 and 21
at the Hayden Goodwill Institute in Boston and concluded that four basic body types
characterized the entire group:
a. Endomorph is soft and round, with ―digestive viscera [that] are massive and
highly developed‖ (the person is overweight and has a large stomach).

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b. Mesomorph is muscular and athletic, with ―somatic structures [that] are in the
ascendancy‖ (the person has larger bones and considerable muscle mass).
c. Ectomorph is thin and fragile and has ―long, slender, poorly muscled extremities,
with delicate, pipestem bones.‖
d. Balanced type is a person of average build, not overweight, thin, or exceedingly
muscular.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 3 – BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 4 – INHERITANCE SCHOOL/THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of conflict theory of crime causation
B. Illustrate crime prevention policies of the conflict theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Criminal Families
1. Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911)
a. First Western scientist to systematically study heredity, or the passing of traits
from parent to child, and its possible influence on human behavior.
b. In 1907, he wrote that ―the perpetuation of the criminal class by heredity is a
question difficult to grapple with on many accounts. It is, however, easy to show
that the criminal nature tends to be inherited…. The criminal population receives
steady accessions from those who, without having strongly marked criminal
natures, do nevertheless belong to a type of humanity that is exceedingly ill-suited
to play a respectable part in our modern civilization, though it is well suited to
flourish under half-savage conditions, being naturally both healthy and prolific.‖
c. His work contributed to the development of the field of behavioral genetics, the
study of genetic and environmental contributions to individual variations in
human behavior.
2. Richard Louis Dugdale, American sociologist (1841–1883)
a. In 1877, he published a study of the Juke family, which he described as
criminogenic by nature.
b. He traced the Juke lineage back to a notorious character named Max, a Dutch
immigrant who arrived in New York in the early 1700s. Two of Max‘s sons
married into the notorious ―Juke family of girls,‖ six sisters, all of whom were
said to be illegitimate. Max‘s male descendants were reputed to be vicious, and
one woman named Ada had an especially bad reputation and came to be known as
―the mother of criminals.‖
c. By the time of the study, Dugdale was able to identify approximately 1,200 of
Ada‘s descendants; included among their numbers were seven murderers, 60
habitual thieves, 90 or so other criminals, 50 prostitutes, and 280 paupers.
d. Dugdale compared the crime-prone Jukes with another family, the pure-blooded
progeny of Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan preacher and one-time president of
Princeton University. Descendants of Edwards included American presidents and
vice presidents as well as many successful bankers and businesspeople, and no
one was identified among the Edwards lineage who had had a run-in with the law.
3. Arthur H. Estabrook - In 1916, he published a follow-up to Dugdale‘s work in
which he identified an additional 715 Juke descendants, including 378 more
prostitutes, 170 additional paupers, and 118 other criminals.
4. Henry Herbert Goddard (1866–1957)
a. He published a study of the Kallikak (Kali – good & Kak – bad) family in 1912.

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b. He attempted to place the study of deviant families within an acceptable scientific
framework via the provision of a kind of control group, so for comparison
purposes he used two branches of the same family.
c. One branch began as the result of a sexual liaison between Martin Kallikak, a
Revolutionary War soldier, and a barmaid whose name is unknown; as a result of
this union, an illegitimate son (Martin, Jr.) was born.
d. After the war, Kallikak returned home and married a righteous Quaker girl, and a
second line of descent began. The legitimate branch produced only a few minor
deviants, but the illegitimate line resulted in 262 feebleminded births and various
other epileptic, alcoholic, and criminal descendants. (The term feebleminded,
which was much in vogue at the time of Goddard‘s study, was later recast as
―mentally retarded,‖ and people exhibiting similar characteristics today might be
referred to as ―mentally handicapped‖ or ―mentally challenged.‖)
e. Because feeblemindedness appeared to occur with some predictability in
Goddard‘s study, but criminal activity seemed to be only randomly represented
among the descendants of both Kallikak lines, Goddard concluded that a tendency
toward feeblemindedness was inherited but that criminality was not.
5. Eugenics (Good genes) - The eugenics movement proposed selective human breeding
as a course to improvement of the species, and eugenic criminology, an offshoot of
the movement, held that the root causes of criminality were largely passed from
generation to generation in the form of ―bad genes.‖ Eugenic criminology, which
accepted the idea of genetic determinism, or the belief that genes are the major
determining factor in human behavior, replaced the idea of the ―feebleminded
criminal‖ with the ―defective delinquent,‖ and social policies developed during the
eugenics movement called for the sterilization of mentally handicapped women to
prevent their bearing additional offspring.

B. The XYY Supermale

1. Patricia A. Jacobs (British researcher) undertook the first well-known study of the
modern era to focus on genetic differences as an explanation for criminality.
2. Jacobs and her colleagues examined 197 Scottish prisoners in 1965 for chromosomal
abnormalities through a relatively simple blood test known as karyotyping. Twelve
members of the group displayed chromosomes that were unusual, and seven were
found to have an XYY chromosome.
3. Normal male individuals possess an XY chromosome structure; normal female
inividuals are XX.
4. Some other unusual combinations might be XXX, wherein a woman‘s genetic
makeup contains an extra X chromosome, and XXY (also called Klinefelter‘s
syndrome), in which a man might carry an extra X, or female, chromosome.
5. Klinefelter‘s men often have male genitalia but are frequently sterile and have
evidence of breast enlargement and intellectual retardation.
6. The XYY man, however, whose incidence in the prison population was placed at
around 3.5% by Jacobs, was quickly identified as potentially violent and was termed a
supermale.
7. The supermale phenomenon (also called the XYY syndrome) appears to have been
based more on sensationalism than on fact.
8. Today, little evidence exists to suggest that XYY men actually commit crimes of
greater violence than do other men, although they may commit somewhat more
crimes overall.

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C. Twin Studies And Heredity More recently, studies of the criminal tendencies of
fraternal and identical twins have provided a methodologically sophisticated technique for
ferreting out the role of heredity in crime causation. Fraternal twins, or dizygotic (DZ)
twins, develop from different fertilized eggs and share only the genetic material common
among siblings; identical twins, or monozygotic (MZ) twins, develop from the same egg
and carry virtually the same genetic material. Hence, if human behavior has a substantial
heritable component, twins would display similar behavioral characteristics despite
variations in their social environment, with any observed relationship being stronger
among MZ twins than among DZ twins.
1. German physician Johannes Lange –
a. He conducted one of the first studies to link MZ twins to criminality which was
published in the 1920s by 36 examining 13 pairs of MZ twins and 17 pairs of DZ
twins, he found that in 10 of the 13 MZ twins, both were criminal, whereas only 2
of the 17 DZ twins exhibited such similarity.
b. Lange‘s findings drew considerable attention, even though his sample was small
and he was unable to separate environmental influences from genetic ones
adequately.
2. European researchers Karl O. Christiansen and Sarnoff Mednick
a. In 1968, they began conducting a much larger twin study, in which they analyzed
all twins (3,586 pairs) born on a selected group of Danish islands between 1881
and 1910.
b. Christiansen and Mednick found significant statistical support for the notion that
criminal tendencies are inherited: 52% of identical twins and 22% of fraternal
siblings displayed the same degree of criminality within the twin pair.
c. Such similarities remained apparent even among twins separated at birth and
raised in substantially different environments.
d. Mednick noted, however, that genetic influences appeared to be stronger in the
commission of petty, nonviolent offences than in more violent types of crime. He
and Christiansen also found that the genetic risk for criminal behavior was
enhanced by the environment in cases where one of the twins was raised in a
family with at least one criminal adoptive parent.
3. The Minnesota Twin Family Study began in 1983.
a. The study‘s original goal was to establish a registry of all twins born in Minnesota
from 1936 to 1955 for psychological research purposes but expanded to include
twins born between 1961 and 1964.
b. The Minnesota registry conducted personality and interests tests with more than
8,000 twin pairs and family members (by mail), and its findings seemed to show
that MZ twins reared apart are about as similar as MZ twins reared together in
personality and temperament, occupational and leisure-time interests, and social
attitudes.
c. Study authors warned, however, that ―this evidence for the strong heritability of
most psychological traits, sensibly construed, does not detract from the value or
importance of parenting, education, and other … interventions.‖
4. Contemporary Twin Studies
a. The study of twins is still common practice in criminology today, and the area of
twin studies provides something of an overlap between this chapter and the next;
that is, between early and contemporary biological theories.
b. In 1996, British researchers studying 43 MZ and 38 DZ same-sex twins through
the use of self-report questionnaires stated that ―common bad behaviors of the sort
admitted to by the majority of adolescents have a substantially heritable

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component. Additive genetic effects account for most of the variation, with no
evidence of a contribution from shared environment.‖ The researchers also
determined that genetic effects on behavior appear to increase with age.
c. The British research was supported by the findings of a joint U.S.–Australian
examination of 2,682 adult twin pairs; in that study, researchers found ―a
substantial genetic influence on risk for conduct disorder‖ (defined to include
chronic stealing, lying, bullying, arson, property destruction, weapons use, cruelty
to animals or people, fighting, aggression, truancy, and running away from home).
d. In 2003, researchers examined the behavior of 1,116 pairs of five-year-old twins
participating in a longitudinal study and asked mothers, teachers, study examiners,
and the children themselves to evaluate the degree of the children‘s level of
antisocial behavior. Findings showed that antisocial children can be identified
early in life, that their behavior can be nearly impossible to control by the time
they reach kindergarten, and that heredity plays a far greater role in determining
such behavior than does home life or parenting. Because of similar behavior
among twin pairs, the researchers concluded that genetic influences were
extremely powerful determinants of antisocial behavior across diverse social
settings, writing that ―research and theory on the etiology of childhood antisocial
behavior must look beyond the current focus on socioeconomic contexts and
parenting processes, to incorporate genetic explanations and develop new theories
of nature-nurture interplay.‖
e. Also in 2003, Florida State University researcher Jeanette Taylor and colleagues
studied two separate groups of teenage male twins—142 MZ and 70 DZ twin
pairs—and concluded that antisocial traits among study subjects existed prior to
adulthood and that they stemmed to a significant degree from genetic factors.
f. Finally, a recent meta-analysis (i.e., a study of other studies) that combined the
results of 51 research publications on twins and adoption purported to show that
41% of behavioral problems could be attributed to genetic influences, while the
remaining 59% were due to environmental factors.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

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MODULE 3 – BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
LESSON 5 – BIOSOCIAL AND BIOCHEMICAL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

i. Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. The Biological Roots of Human Aggression (Schmalleger, 2017)

1. Konrad Lorenz - In 1966, Austrian animal-expert published his now-famous work
On Aggression.
2. In it, Lorenz described how aggression permeates the animal kingdom and asked,
―What is the value of all this fighting?‖ He wrote, ―In nature, fighting is such an ever-
present process, its behavior mechanisms and weapons are so highly developed and
have so obviously arisen under the pressure of a species-preserving function, that it is
our duty to ask this question.‖
3. Lorenz accepted the evolutionary thesis of nineteenth-century biologist Charles
Darwin that aggression within a species favored the strongest and best animals in the
reproductive process, but he concluded that aggression serves a variety of other
purposes as well.
4. Aggression, said Lorenz, ensures an ―even distribution of animals of a particular
species over an inhabitable area‖ and provides for a defense of the species from
predators. Human aggression, he claimed, meets many of the same purposes but can
take on covert forms, and the drive to acquire wealth and power, which was so
characteristic of Western men at the time of his writing, is part of the human mating
ritual whereby a man might ―win‖ a prized woman through displays of more civilized
forms of what could otherwise be understood as intraspecies aggression.
5. Lorenz‘s greatest contribution to the study of human behavior may have been his
claim that all human behavior is, at least to some degree, ―adapted instinctive
behavior‖; in other words, much of human conduct is fundamentally rooted in
instinctive behavioral responses characteristic of biological organisms everywhere
and present within each of us in the form of a biological inheritance from more
primitive times. Even rational human thought derives its motivation and direction
from instinctual aspects of human biology, and the highest human virtues, such as the
value placed on human life, ―could not have been achieved,‖ said Lorenz, ―without an
instinctive appreciation of life and death.‖
6. Building on the root functions of aggression, Lorenz concluded that much of what we
today call ―crime‖ is the result of overcrowded living conditions combined with a lack
of legitimate opportunity for the effective expression of aggression. Crowding
increases the likelihood of aggression, while contemporary socialization works to
inhibit it. In the words of Lorenz, ―In one sense we are all psychopaths, for each of us
suffers from the necessity of self-imposed control for the good of the community.‖
When people break down, said Lorenz, they become neurotic or delinquent, and crime

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may be the result of stresses that have been found to typically produce aggression
throughout the animal kingdom.
7. Lorenz‘s explanations appear to be more applicable to certain forms of crime than to
others, but it is important to recognize that modern frustrations and accompanying
manifestations of aggression may be symbolically—rather than directly—expressed.
Hence, a stockbroker who embezzles a client‘s money, spurred on by the need to
provide material goods for an overly acquisitive family, may be just as criminal as a
robber who beats his victim and steals her purse to have money to buy liquor.

B. The New Synthesis

1. Evolutionist Edward O. Wilson is credited with coining the term sociobiology.
2. In his book, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Edwards defined sociobiology as ―the
systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior [that is] a branch of
evolutionary biology and particularly of modern population biology.‖ Because of the
important role of biology in social evolution that Wilson was able to demonstrate, his
work brought renewed attention to biological theories throughout the social sciences.
3. Through studies of primates, Wilson was able to demonstrate that the human brain
and mind are the products of natural selection that occurred early in human evolution
as developing hominids overcame the limits to sociality posed by weak social ties,
which are characteristic of most primates. In so doing, they were able to develop
close-knit social groups based on strong social ties. Wilson then showed how the
ability to form large-scale societies contributed to the long-term survival of the social
group.
4. Through his entomological study of social insects (especially ants), Wilson provided
examples of altruism (selfless, helping behavior) in multiple species and, contrary to
the beliefs of some evolutionary biologists, he found that helping behavior facilitated
the continuity of the gene pool among altruistic individuals. The primary determinant
of behavior, including human behavior, said Wilson, was the need to ensure the
survival and continuity of genetic material from one generation to the next—and
altruism played a role in survival.
5. Territoriality, according to Wilson, explained many of the conflicts, including
homicide, warfare, and other forms of aggression, between and among species,
especially human beings. In Wilson‘s words, ―Part of man‘s problem is that his
intergroup responses are still crude and primitive, and inadequate for the extended
extraterritorial relationships that civilization has thrust upon him.‖ The ―unhappy
result,‖ as Wilson terms it, may be ―tribalism,‖ expressed through the contemporary
proliferation of street gangs, racial tension, and hardened encampments of survivalist
and separatist groups, as well as the resilience of ethnic divides in the Middle East and
throughout Europe and Asia.
6. Sociobiological theory not only tells us that the violence and aggressiveness
associated with territoriality are often reserved for strangers but also explains
intragroup aggression (violence occurring within groups).
7. Wilson‘s theory suggested that within the group ―a particularly severe form of
aggressiveness should be reserved for actual or suspected adultery. In many human
societies, where sexual bonding is close and personal knowledge of the behavior of
others detailed, adulterers are harshly treated. The sin is regarded to be even worse
when offspring are produced.‖ Hence, territoriality and acquisitiveness extend to
location, possessions, and even other people.
8. Human laws, explained Wilson, are designed to protect genetically based
relationships that people have with one another, as well as their material possessions

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and their claimed locations in space; thus, violations of these intuitive relationships
result in crime and in official reactions by the legal system.
9. One Canadian study of violence in the homes of adoptive children found that
stepchildren run a risk 70 times greater of being killed by their adoptive parents than
do children living with their natural parents.
10. Some writers concluded that ―murderous behavior, warfare, and even genocide were
unavoidable correlates of genetic evolution, controlled by the same genes for
territorial behavior that had been selected in primate evolution.‖
11. Others have suggested that biological predispositions developed during earlier stages
of human evolution color contemporary criminal activity. Male criminals, for
example, tend toward robbery and burglary—crimes in which they can continue to
enact their ―hunter‖ instincts developed long ago—but the criminality of women often
involves shoplifting and simple theft, more typical of ―gatherer‖ instincts.

C. Biochemical Conditions and Crime (http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/

professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter01_biosocial_theory.aspx) - Some biosocial
theorists believe that biochemical conditions – including those acquired through diet –
can control or influence violent behaviour. Biochemical factors that might influence
aggression range from nutrition to allergies.
1. Nutritional Deficiencies –
a. Biocriminologists maintain that minimum levels of vitamins and minerals are
required for normal brain functioning.
b. Medical research suggests that proper nutrition is especially important during
early childhood. Nutritional deficiencies at this stage in child development can
result in serious physical, mental and behavioural problems (Liu and Wuerker,
2005; Neisser et al., 1996).
c. Research also suggests that improving diet quality can reduce delinquency and
dramatically improve the mental functioning and the academic performance of
adolescents (see Schoenthaler and Bier, 2000).
d. Other studies indicate that deficiencies in potassium, calcium, amino acids,
sodium, peptides, and other nutrients can lead to depression, mania, and cognitive
problems. Such mental health issues can, in turn, significantly increase the
probability of violent behavior such as insufficient quantities of vitamins B3, B6
and C (Siegel and McCormick, 2006; Liu and Wuerker, 2005; Krassner, 1986).
e. Diets high in sugar and carbohydrates have also been linked to violence,
aggression and other behavioural issues (Gans, 1991). However, more recent
studies suggest that most people with high sugar/carbohydrate diets never engage
in serious violence and that, for some individuals, sugar actually has a calming
effect that reduces aggression (Gray, 1986; Wolraich et al., 1994).
f. Other studies indicate that how the brain metabolizes glucose may determine
whether sugar causes anti-social behaviour. Hypoglycemia is a condition that
causes glucose to fall below the level needed to maintain normal brain functioning
(the brain is the only organ that obtains all of its energy from glucose). Symptoms
of hypoglycemia include anxiety, depression, insomnia, nervousness, mood
swings, phobias and temper tantrums. A number of important studies have found a
significant relationship between hypoglycemia and violence – including assault,
homicide and rape (Seigel and McCormick, 2006; Virkkunen, 1986).
2. Hormonal Influences
a. In his manuscript entitled The Moral Sense, James Q. Wilson argues that
hormones and neurotransmitters may explain gender differences in violent

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behaviour. He maintains that gender differences in exposure to androgens (male
sex hormones) explain why males are naturally more violent than females and
why females are more nurturing and empathetic (Wilson, 1993).
b. Hormone levels have also been purported to explain the aging out of violence. In
other words, some scholars feel that the decrease in violent behaviour with age is
directly related to age-related declines in androgen levels. Many have observed
that both violence and androgen production in males peak during adolescence
(Gove, 1985; Booth and Osgoode, 1993; Piquero and Brezina, 2001).
c. Others have argued that artificially increasing the level of male hormone within
the body – through steroid use – can contribute to explosive episodes of violence,
often referred to as ―roid rage‖ Recent studies have provided limited support for
this hypothesis (see Pedersen et al., 2001; Isacsson et al., 1998).
d. A number of biosocial theorists are currently exploring the relationship between
hormone levels and violent behaviour. Indeed, several studies have produced
findings that suggest that abnormally high androgen levels are, in fact, correlated
with aggressive behaviour (see Ellis, 2005; Raine, 2002; Fishbein, 2001;
Rappaport and Thomas, 2004).
e. Testosterone is the most abundant androgen. Research suggests that prenatal
exposure to high levels of testosterone – sometimes as a result of medical
intervention – can sometimes result in higher levels of aggression in female
children. By contrast, during fetal development, males who are exposed to drugs
that lower androgen levels display lower levels of aggression through childhood
and adolescence (see Reiss and Roth, 1993).
f. High testosterone levels are thought to increase the probability of violent
behaviour in three distinct ways. First of all, the presence of male sex hormone is
thought to decrease an individual‘s sensitivity to adverse environmental stimuli.
Those with high testosterone levels are thus more likely to take risks, more likely
to seek excess stimulation and more capable of tolerating pain in their quest for
thrills. Secondly, androgens are also linked to brain seizures that, under stressful
situations, can result in emotional volatility. Finally, androgen exposure causes
neocortical functioning to be less concentrated in the left hemisphere of the brain.
The left hemisphere of the neocortex, of course, is the part of the brain that
determines sympathetic feelings for others. Thus, these three factors, alone or in
combination, may help explain the apparent relationship between male hormone
levels and violent behaviour (Ellis, 2005).
g. It has long been suspected that the onset of the menstrual cycle often triggers the
release of excessive amounts of female sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone).
This rise in female hormone levels may, in turn, contribute to an increase in anti-
social behaviour. This phenomenon is commonly known as Premenstrual
Syndrome (PMS). The possible link between PMS and violence was first
documented in England, where studies identified that women were more likely to
commit suicide or engage in other aggressive behaviours just before or during
menstruation (see Dalton, 1971; Horney, 1978).
h. In sum, although some research suggests that there may be a moderately strong
relationship between hormone levels and violence, criminologists remain cautious
about the explanatory power of this correlation. After all, the vast majority of
males with high testosterone levels never engage in serious violence. Likewise,
the overwhelming majority of women experience their menstruation cycle every
month and never engage in aggressive behaviour.

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3. Allergies
a. Allergies refer to reactions of the body to foreign substances (Seigel and
McCormick, 2006).
b. Cerebral allergies cause a reaction in the brain. Neuroallergies affect the nervous
system. Both cerebral allergies and neuroallergies have been linked to mental,
emotional, and behavioural problems.
c. A growing body of research suggests that there is also a link between allergies and
depression, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and violence (Liu and Wuerker, 2005;
Raine, 2002; Marshall, 1993).
d. Most cerebral allergies and neuroallergies are caused by exposure to certain types
of food – including milk, wheat, eggs, nuts and chocolate. Corn, for example, is a
suspected cerebral allergen that has been linked to countries with higher than
average homicide rates (Mawson and Jacobs, 1978).
e. The argument is not that allergies directly cause violence. Rather, those suffering
from the stress of a painful allergic reaction may be more likely to act violently
when presented with negative stimuli.
4. Exposure to Environmental Contaminants
a. Sociobiological scholars have also drawn a connection between exposure to
dangerous contaminants – including copper, mercury, chlorine, artificial
colouring, food dyes, etc. – and both aggressive and anti-social behaviour (see
Rappaport, 2004; Ellis, 2005).
b. A great deal of recent research has focused on the possible relationship between
lead poisoning and violence. One study, for example, found that communities with
the highest concentrations of lead in the air also reported the highest levels of
homicide and other forms of violence (Stretesky and Lynch, 2001). A number of
studies have also found that lead poisoning is one of the most significant
predictors of male delinquency and persistent adult criminality (see Denno, 1996;
McCall and Land, 2004).
c. High lead ingestion is also linked to lower IQ scores – a factor that can contribute
to youth violence (Neisser et al., 1996).

IV. Progress Check or Review Test: To be posted or to be administered thru Google form.

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MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 1 – INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC
THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Introduction - A number of studies appear to show that most mentally ill people do not
commit crimes, and a direct link between most mental illness and crime is difficult to
demonstrate. Nonetheless, American correctional institutions are filled with persons
suffering from psychiatric issues, and many of them never receive the care they need.
When some mentally ill people do become violent, however, their crimes can have
horrific consequences.

B. Terms to Remember
1. Forensic Psychology - The application of the science and profession of psychology to
questions and issues relating to law and the legal system; also called criminal
psychology.
2. Criminal Psychology - The application of the science and profession of psychology
to questions and issues relating to law and the legal system; also called forensic
psychology.
3. Forensic Psychiatry - A branch of psychiatry having to do with the study of crime
and criminality.
4. Personality - The characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that
make a person unique, and that tend to remain stable over time. Personality influences
an individual‘s thoughts, behavior, and emotions.
5. Behaviorism - A psychological perspective that stresses observable behavior and
disregards unobservable events that occur in the mind.
6. Conditioning A psychological principle that holds that the frequency of any behavior
can be increased or decreased through reward, punishment, or association with other
stimuli.
7. Psychoanalytic Theory - A perspective developed by psychiatrist Sigmund Freud in
the early 1900s that explains the structure of personality and behavior in terms of both
conscious and unconscious components and the conflicts between them.

C. Principles of Psychological and Psychiatric theories

1. Psychological determinants of deviant or criminal behavior are couched in various
terms, as exploitative personality characteristics, poor impulse control, emotional
arousal, an immature personality, and so forth.
2. Assumptions of Psychological and Psychiatric Theories of Crime Causation
a. The individual is the primary unit of analysis.

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b. Personality is the major motivational element within individuals because it is the
seat of drives and the source of motives.
c. Crimes result from abnormal, dysfunctional, or inappropriate mental processes
within the personality.
d. Criminal behavior, although condemned by the social group, may be purposeful
for the individual insofar as it addresses certain felt needs.
e. Behavior can be judged ―inappropriate‖ only when measured against external
criteria purporting to establish normality.
f. Normality is generally defined by social consensus—that is, what the majority of
people in any social group agree is ―real,‖ appropriate, or typical.
g. Defective, or abnormal, mental processes may have a variety of causes, including
a diseased mind, inappropriate learning or improper conditioning, the emulation of
inappropriate role models, and adjustment to inner conflicts.

D. History of Psychological theories - Two major ideas characterized early psychological

theories: personality and behaviorism.
1. Personality theory built on the burgeoning area of cognitive science, including
personality disturbances, the process of moral development, and diseases of the mind,
2. Behaviorism (also known as behavior theory) examined social learning with an
emphasis on behavioral conditioning. Together, these two areas formed the early
foundation of psychological criminology.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 2 – PERSONALITY DISTURBANCES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Psychologists working in the first half of the twentieth century adapted the disease
model—a paradigm that had worked so well in the field of medicine—in an effort to cure
mental and emotional problems. Consequently, early cognitive perspectives in psychology
were couched in terms of mental disease, personality disorder, and psychopathy.
Psychologists and psychiatrists today distinguish between the terms psychopathy and
psychopathology. In the psychological literature, psychopathology ―refers to any sort of
psychological disorder that causes distress either for the individual or for those in the
individual‘s life.‖ Today, depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
alcoholism, and bulimia are all considered forms of psychopathology, or mental disease. One
of the most serious of mental diseases is psychopathy, ―a very specific and distinctive type of
psychopathology.‖

A. The Psychopath (Psychopathic Personality)

1. Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by antisocial behavior and by a
lack of sympathy, empathy, and embarrassment. Psychopaths, many of whom are
known as effective manipulators, and who clearly understand the motivations of
others, are said to dissociate emotionally from their actions and lack empathy or
sensitivity toward others.
2. French physician Philippe Pinel (1745–1826) - The concept of psychopathy may have
evolved from the work of who described a form of ―insanity without delirium.‖
3. Nolan D. C. Lewis summarized the concept an wrote that ―the criminal, like other
people, has lived a life of instinctive drives, of desires, of wishes, of feelings, but one
in which his intellect has apparently functioned less effectually as a brake upon
certain trends. His constitutional makeup deviates toward the abnormal, leading him
into conflicts with the laws of society and its cultural patterns.‖
4. German neurologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902) could have coined the
term psychopathy (Greek words psyche (meaning ―soul‖ or ―mind‖) and pathos
(meaning ―suffering‖ or ―illness‖)). The word made its way into English psychiatric
literature through the writings of Polish-born American psychiatrist Bernard H.
Glueck (1884–1972)12 and British psychiatrist William Healy (1869–1963).
5. The psychopath has been historically viewed as perversely cruel, often without
thought or feeling for his or her victims. By World War II, the role of the
psychopathic personality in crime causation had become central to psychological
theorizing.

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6. Neuropsychiatrist Hervey M. Cleckley fully developed the concept of a
psychopathic personality, which by its very definition is antisocial, in his 1941 book
The Mask of Sanity. Cleckley described the psychopath as –
a. a ―moral idiot,‖ or as one who does not feel empathy for others, even though that
person may be fully aware of what is happening around him or her
b. a ―poverty of affect,‖ or the inability to accurately imagine how others think and
feel. Therefore, it becomes possible for a psychopath to inflict pain and engage in
cruelty without appreciation for the victim‘s suffering
c. ―psychopathy was defined by a constellation of dysfunctional psychological
processes as opposed to specific behavioral manifestations‖
d. the behavioral manifestations of psychopathy varied with the person‘s age,
gender, and socioeconomic status
e. they can easily fool others into trusting them
7. According to Cleckley, indicators of psychopathy appear early in life, often in the
teenage years.
a. They include lying, fighting, stealing, and vandalizing. Even earlier signs may be
found, according to some authors, in bedwetting, cruelty to animals, sleepwalking,
and fire setting
b. Others have described psychopaths as ―individuals who display impulsiveness,
callousness, insincerity, pathological lying and deception, egocentricity, poor
judgment, an impersonal sex life, and an unstable life plan.‖
8. Cleckley believed that there were two kinds of psychopaths (David Lykken later
refined those terms
a. primary psychopaths are somehow neurologically different from other people, and
that makes them behave the way they do. Hence, primary psychopaths are born
with psychopathic personalities
b. secondary psychopaths (sometimes called sociopaths ) are born with a ―normal‖
personality, but personal experiences (frequently physical and emotional abuse or
trauma) when they are young cause them to develop psychopathic characteristics.
9. Other types of psychopaths
a. Charismatic psychopaths are charming and attractive, but also habitual liars. They
manipulate others to achieve their personal goals, without considering others‘
feelings.
b. Distempered psychopaths are easily offended and fly into rages even at slight
provocations. They have been characterized as having strong urges, including
sexual drives that often lead to addiction.
10. Traditionally, psychopathology has been regarded as difficult or impossible to treat.
But a recent study of adolescent psychopaths found that ―youth with psychopathic
features who received intensive treatment‖ in sanction-based programs that held youth
accountable for their actions ―had significantly lower rates of violent recidivism and a
longer time to re-arrest for violent behavior‖ than those who received treatment in a
typical juvenile correctional facility.

B. Antisocial Personality Disorder - In recent years, the terms sociopath and psychopath
have fallen into disfavor. In an attempt to identify sociopathic individuals, some
psychologists have come to place greater emphasis on the type of behavior exhibited
rather than on identifiable personality traits.
1. By 1968, the American Psychiatric Association‘s (APA‘s) Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) had completely discontinued use of the words
sociopath and psychopath, replacing them with the terms antisocial personality and

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asocial personality. In that year, the APA manual changed its description of
antisocial personality types to ―individuals who are basically unsocialized and whose
behavior pattern brings them repeatedly into conflicts with society and are –
a. incapable of significant loyalty to individuals, groups, or social values
b. grossly selfish, callous, irresponsible, impulsive, and unable to feel guilt or to
learn from experience and punishment
c. Frustration tolerance is low and tends to blame others or offer plausible
rationalization for their behavior.‖
2. In most cases, individuals exhibiting an antisocial personality through their behavioral
patterns are said to be suffering from antisocial personality disorder (sometimes
referred to in clinical circles as APD, ASPD, or ANPD). The DSM-IV-TR (text
revision) divides personality disorders into three behavioral clusters:
a. Cluster A personality disorders are those that encompass ―odd or eccentric
behavior‖;
b. Cluster B disorders show ―dramatic, emotional, or erratic behavior‖ which include
what the DSM-IV-TR calls narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, and histrionic
personality disorders and
c. Cluster C disorders center on ―anxious, fearful behavior.‖
d. Cluster B disorders can also be diagnosed as having ―borderline personality
disorder‖ who are more likely to engage in aggressive acts against other people
than those diagnosed with only antisocial personality disorder.
3. The lifestyles of antisocial females appear to be similar with male antisocials, ,
however, appear to include sexual misconduct and abnormally high levels of sexual
activity

C. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

1. Definitions and Prevalence ADHD is defined clinically in the American Psychiatric
Association‘s (APA, 1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM-IV) as a disruptive behavior disorder characterized by ongoing inattention
and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity occurring in several settings more frequently and
severely than is typical for persons in the same stage of development. Three major
types of ADHD have been recognized.
a. The first is the predominately inattentive type (unorganized, difficulty following
instructions or conversations, easily distracted and forgetful).
b. The second type is the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (constantly in
motion, restless, impulsive, difficulty in following directions).
c. The third type is the combined type in which the symptoms of the first two types
are equally in evidence. For the sake of brevity we only concern ourselves with
the combined type.
The identified symptoms vary widely in their severity and frequency of
occurrence and most healthy children will sometimes manifest them. However, they
cluster together to form a syndrome in ADHD children and are chronic and more
severe than simple childish high spirits. The ADHD traits, especially the combined
type, associated with criminality include impairment of executive functions, low self-
control, low arousal levels, difficulty with peers, frequent disruptive behavior,
academic underachievement, risk taking, proneness to extreme boredom, and even
―fledgling psychopathy (DeLisi et al, 2010). According to the DSM-IV, 3% to 7% of
children are diagnosed with ADHD, but there is little consensus on these figures, with
some estimates as high as 10%.
d. ADHD and Criminality

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a. There is an abundance of research that identifies a strong and robust relationship
between ADHD and delinquent and criminal behavior (Gordon & Moore, 2005;
b. Pratt et al., 2002. A review of 100 studies (Ellis & Walsh, 2000) found that 99 of
them reported a positive relationship between ADHD and various antisocial
behaviors—violent and property crimes, delinquency, drug abuse.
c. Individuals diagnosed with ADHD are consistently found to be overrepresented in
juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons worldwide (Rösler Rosler et al.,
2004), and it has been suggested that ADHD may underlie one of criminology‘s
most revered etiological concepts—low self-control (Unnever, Cullen, & Pratt,
2003).
d. The risk factor for delinquent or criminal behavior is increased for individuals
who are comorbid for conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder
(ODD) (Comings, 2005). For those who are afflicted with all three conditions,
ADHD symptoms usually appear first, followed by ODD symptoms, and then CD.

D. Trait Theory
1. Hans J. Eysenck, a British psychologist - In 1964, he published Crime and
Personality, a book in which he explained crime as the result of fundamental
personality characteristics, or traits, which he believed are largely inherited.
2. Psychological traits are stable personality patterns that tend to endure throughout the
life course and across social and cultural contexts. They include behavioral, cognitive,
and affective predispositions to respond to a given situation in a particular way.
3. According to trait theory, as an individual grows older or moves from one place to
another, his or her personality remains largely intact— defined by the traits that
comprise it.
4. Trait theory links personality (and associated traits) to behavior and holds that it is an
individual‘s personality, combined with his or her intelligence and natural abilities,
that determines his or her behavior in a given situation.
5. Eysenck believed that the degree to which just three universal supertraits are present
in an individual accounts for his or her unique personality –
a. introversion/extraversion,
b. neuroticism/emotional stability, and
c. psychoticism.
6. Eysenck thought that people who score high on extraversion, neuroticism, or
psychoticism are not easily conditioned or socialized, and thus commit more crime in
adulthood.
7. Like many other psychologists, Eysenck accepted the fact that personality holds
steady throughout much of life, but stressed that it is largely determined by genetics.
8. He argued that personality is a reflection of variations in the component operating
systems of the major behavioral pathways of the brain. In support of his idea of the
genetic basis of personality, Eysenck pointed to twin studies showing that identical
twins display strikingly similar behavioral tendencies, whereas fraternal twins
demonstrate far less likelihood of similar behaviors.
9. Eysenck also argued that psychological conditioning occurs more rapidly in some
people than in others because of biological differences, and that antisocial individuals
are difficult to condition (or to socialize) because of underlying genetic
characteristics. He believed that up to two-thirds of all ―behavioral variance‖ could be
strongly attributed to genetics.
10. Traits or characteristics of Eysenck‘s three personality dimensions

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a. psychoticism—was thought to be closely correlated with criminality at all stages
and is defined by such characteristics as lack of empathy, creativeness, tough-
mindedness, and antisociability. the most likely to be criminal because they
combine high degrees of emotionalism with similarly high levels of extroversion;
individuals with such characteristics are especially difficult to socialize and to
train and do not respond well to the external environment
b. Extroverts - was associated with criminality, are described as carefree, dominant,
and venturesome, operating with high levels of energy. ―The typical extrovert,‖
―is sociable, likes parties, has many friends, needs to have people to talk to, and
does not like reading or studying by himself.‖
c. Neuroticism - said to be typical of people who are irrational, shy, moody, and
emotional.
11. Eysneck‘s basic three-trait model to encompass five basic traits: (1) openness to
experience, (2) extraversion, (3) conscientiousness, (4) neuroticism, and (5)
agreeableness. People are said to possess more or less of any one trait, and the
combination of traits and the degree to which they are characteristic of an individual
define that person‘s personality. Psychologists call these traits the Big Five, and they
form the basis of the Five Factor Model of psychology. ―The Big Five are strongly
genetically influenced, and the genetic factor structure of the Big Five appears to be
invariant across European, North American, and East Asian samples,‖ which suggests
that personality traits, to a greater or lesser degree, are universally shared by all
peoples. Conscientiousness, for example, is related to self-control and is unlikely to
be associated with criminality.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or administered thru Google Form

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MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 3 - COGNITIVE THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Theories of cognition form a third area of personality theory. Cognitive approaches are
learning theories that examine thought processes and seek to explain how people: (1) learn to
solve problems, including those that involve questions of value and morality, and (2) perceive
and interpret the social environment. Cognitive theory has a number of branches, including
one that focuses on moral and intellectual development, and another that examines how
people process information.

A. Moral Development Theory

1. The first branch of cognitive theory, it holds that individuals become criminal when
they have not successfully completed their intellectual development from child- to
adulthood.
2. Jean Piaget he created one of the first comprehensive maps of human psychological
development. He believed that human thinking and intellectual processes went
through a number of biopsychological stages of development—something that he saw
as a natural extension of evolutionary adaptation. Just as a species adapts to its
environment, Piaget believed, individual human beings respond to their environment
by developing intellectually. He posited four stages of human intellectual
development:
a. The sensory-motor stage, from birth to age two. During this stage, children are
extremely egocentric (or focused on themselves and their personal experiences)
and learn about the world through the physical senses and the movement of their
bodies.
b. The preoperational stage, from ages two to seven. During this stage, children are
not able to reason well or to use logical thinking, but egocentrism begins to
weaken, and motor skills are acquired. This stage was dominated by magical
thinking, explaining why beliefs in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and similar
mythical characters are typical among younger children.
c. The concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 11. In this stage, children start to
develop the ability to reason and to think logically, although they are very
concrete in their thinking, and often require practical aids such as buttons or coins
to aid in counting and arithmetic. By the time children reach the end of this stage,
they are no longer egocentric and are able to appreciate the needs and feelings of
others.

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d. The formal operational stage, from ages 11 to 16 and continues into adulthood.
During this stage, the developing adolescent acquires abstract reasoning skills and
learns how to think and reason without the need for external aids.
3. Central to Piaget‘s perspective on moral development is the idea that as children grow
and learn, they become able to reflect on their own actions—acquiring a sense of the
unspoken rules that govern human interaction. According to Piaget,
a. children apply their burgeoning ability to reflect and use it to examine themselves;
in the process, they learn right from wrong
b. ―the child is someone who constructs his own moral world view, who forms ideas
about right and wrong, and fair and unfair, that are not the direct product of adult
teaching and that are often maintained in the face of adult wishes to the contrary.‖
c. Once a child has moved through the four developmental stages, he or she would
have moved from moral absolutism (in which the child unquestioningly accepts
the dictates of his or her parents or caregivers) to moral relativism (where actions
are seen as right or wrong depending on the circumstances in which they are
undertaken).
4. Lawrence Kohlberg offered an expanded cognitive structural theory of morality in a
six-stage typology.
a. In Kohlberg‘s first stage, people only obey the law because they are afraid of
being punished if they don‘t.
b. By the final, or sixth, stage, however, obedience to the law becomes an obligation
that is willingly assumed, and people chose not to violate the law because they
value the principle of fairness and believe in interpersonal justice. Those who
have evolved to higher stages of moral reasoning are unlikely to commit crimes
because they appreciate not only their own needs, but the needs and interests of
others as well.
c. Kohlberg argued that a preference for higher levels of moral thinking must be
universal in human beings, although not necessarily inborn. He believed that
people who have successfully moved through all stages of moral development
have developed the ability to objectively evaluate opinions and either accept them
or reject them without irrationally clinging to their own beliefs.
d. Kohlberg posited that people may turn to crime if they are unsuccessful at making
the normal transition between developmental stages of moral reasoning. Research
based on Kohlberg‘s work has demonstrated that offenders have less ability in
making moral judgments than do noncriminals, even when they have similar
backgrounds and experiences.
e. Kohlberg‘s Six Stages of Moral Development
1) Rules are seen as absolute and fixed; blind obedience and punishment are
important principles.
2) Self-interest is primary; negotiation develops.
3) The importance of behavioral standards is understood.
4) Rule following is viewed as a social duty.
5) The relativity of law is understood; accepts a social contract with others.
6) Abstract reasoning leads to universal principles and empathy for others.

B. Cognitive Information- Processing (CIP) Theory

1. A second major area of cognitive theory applicable to criminology is the CIP.
2. It involves the study of human perceptions, information processing, and decision
making.

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3. Psychological research suggests that people make decisions by engaging in a series of
complex thought processes, or steps.
a. In the first step, they encode and interpret the information they are presented with
or the experiences they have.
b. In the next stage, they search for an appropriate response;
c. in the third stage, they act on their decision.
4. Some information-processing theorists believe that violent individuals may be using
information incorrectly when making decisions. Violence-prone individuals, for
example, may see people as more aggressive or threatening than they actually are.
Such a view may result in violence even at the slightest provocation. Supportive
research suggests that some people engage in violent attacks on others because they
believe that they are actually defending themselves, even in the face of misperceived
threat. Because of the way that some people process information, they are unable to
recognize the harm they are doing to others.

C. Script Theory
1. Roger C. Schank and Robert P. Abelson of Yale University developed script theory
in the late 1970s, in order to explain the understanding process that occurs during a
situation or event.
2. Scripts refer to generalized knowledge about specific types of situations that is stored
in the mind. More formally, Schank and Abelson described a script as ―a
predetermined, stereotyped sequence of actions that define a well-known situation.‖
3. People use ready-made scripts in everyday life to anticipate an appropriate sequence
of events in a given context. We build scripts in our minds to allow for a number of
different roles for those actors (others than ourselves) whose presence is anticipated to
play out in the script, and we allow for possible variations in the physical scene and in
the progression of events.
4. In this sense, scripts are like stories that we use to structure our expectations of and
reactions to circumstances that we expect to typically encounter. Take, for example,
the internal script that we might use for restaurant dining. We know that when we
arrive at a restaurant we should check with the host or hostess to see if a table is
available. We expect that he or she will take us to our table and that a server will
arrive soon after we are seated to present us with a menu and to take our drink order.
We have similar expectations as to what will occur as our dinner progresses, including
the eventual arrival of the check or bill, and the amount or percentage of a tip to be
left at the completion of the evening.
5. Because most events play out according to the scripts that we have in mind, things
typically go smoothly. Sometimes, however, we can be surprised and find ourselves
forced to innovate. In our restaurant example, we might unexpectedly be served the
wrong meal, or (worse) the server might trip and spill food onto us. Unless we are
surprised, however, things generally go according to plan and events fit with previous
experiences we have had involving the same kind of activity.
6. Helen Gavin and David Hockey, two British criminologists writing in 2010, ―scripts
are used to guide behavior because the script provides the holder with a set of
expectations about what will happen during the unfolding of an event, thus offering a
way of predicting the outcome and aid[ing] the individual to act accordingly.‖
a. Gavin and Hockey recognize that people develop scripts based on the learning
opportunities and experiences that are presented to them within their social
environment. The idea is similar to that involved in role-playing, whereby

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children engage in role play as a kind of practice for the adult roles they will
assume later in life.
b. The applicability of scripts to criminal behavior can be seen in the fact that career
offenders routinely develop scripts to guide them through criminal activity. Gavin
and Hockey say that these particular kinds of scripts ―consist of a goal aim, a
criminal belief system, a criminally motivated perception, and a self-serving set of
distorted cognitions that protect the individual‘s low self-esteem.‖
c. Criminals use scripts in their approach to crime commission, much of which
becomes routine over time. Consequently, criminal motivations and drives
underpin criminal scripts.
d. In their 2010 study of criminal scripts, Gavin and Hockey detailed the scripts of
career offenders and found that they could ―be acquired through.… various
relevant psychological processes,‖ along with other more conservative scripts that
most people use in their daily lives. Moreover, they concluded that criminal
scripts help to form a criminal identity once they have been internalized.

D. The Criminal Mind-Set

1. Stanton E. Samenow, a young clinical psychologist, in 1970 he began working with
psychiatrist Samuel Yochelson in the Program for the Investigation of Criminal
Behavior at St. Elizabeth‘s Hospital, a large federal psychiatric facility in
Washington, D.C.
2. Yochelson had abandoned a lucrative psychiatric practice in New York and moved to
Washington to direct the criminal behavior research project, which studied and treated
serious criminal offenders. After Samenow joined the program, he and Yochelson
began to realize that many of the patients they were seeing ―were in conflict with
society [and] not suffering from internal psychological conflicts.‖
3. The two came to believe that criminals make entirely different assumptions about
living and behaving than noncriminals do because of ingrained and pervasive errors of
thinking.
4. After more than six years of working together, they published a three-volume series,
The Criminal Personality, in which they wrote that many offenders share an
identifiable mind-set that is largely immune to environmental influences and that, for
the most part, develops independently of social experience.
5. In 1984, Samenow published the book Inside the Criminal Mind, which was
republished 20 years later in a revised edition. He claimed
a. The criminal personality develops early in childhood and consists of ways of
thinking that are characteristic of many types of criminals, but are not shared by
noncriminals.
b. The criminal mind-set and notes that criminals think differently than do
noncriminals. Characteristics of the criminal mind-set include anger as a way of
life, a focus on excitement without any real consideration of the cost to others, a
lack of any feelings of obligation to others, lack of empathy, and prejudgment
with which offenders approach most situations.
c. The mind-set of a criminal is not ―caused‖ by poverty, mental illness, or social
conditions, but rather by the need for excitement. It manifests through personal
choices made by offenders.
d. Although offenders come from a diversity of backgrounds, and although they
engage in many different patterns of criminal behavior, almost all criminal
offenders are alike in the way they think.

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e. The difference between a person with a criminal worldview and one with a
conformist worldview is so different, that ―it‘s as though the criminal were a
different breed.‖
f. ―the criminal chooses crime; he chooses to reject society long before society
rejects him.‖ Seen this way, crime resides within the person and is ―caused‖ by the
way the individual thinks, not by his or her environment.
g. Criminal offenders are driven by excitement and self-interest, and that if certain
forms of criminal behavior were legalized they would lose their excitement,
causing people committed to a life of law violations to engage in some other form
of forbidden behavior. ―No matter how many victims he has and how much
damage he does,‖
h. ―the criminal has little, if any, remorse and continues to regard himself as a good
person.‖
i. ―behavior follows in the wake of thought,‖ so the only way to rehabilitate an
offender, is to force the individual to see him- or herself realistically and develop
responsible patterns of thought.
6. Writing in 1995, Glenn D. Walters developed a psychological assessment technique
based on Yochelson and Samenow‘s theory. Walters‘s technique, known as the
Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Scales (PICTS), attempted to measure
criminal thinking styles. Walters suggested that PICTS scores could be used to guide
offender treatment and to set targets for change in order to reduce recidivism.

IV. Progress check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form

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MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 4 - THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVES - CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
AS MALADAPTATION

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Psychiatric criminology (also called forensic psychiatry) envisions a complex set of

drives and motives operating from hidden recesses deep within the personality to
determine behavior.
1. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Freud coined the term psychoanalysis in 1896 and
based an entire theory of human behavior on it. Freud said nothing about criminal
behavior, and it wasn‘t until later that other psychoanalysts began to apply concepts
that Freud had developed to the study of criminal behavior.
2. From the point of view of psychoanalysis, criminal behavior is maladaptive, or the
product of inadequacies in the offender‘s personality. Significant inadequacies may
result in full-blown mental illness, which can be a direct cause of crime. The
psychoanalytic perspective encompasses diverse notions such as personality,
neurosis, and psychosis, and more specific concepts such as transference,
sublimation, and repression.
3. Psychotherapy, referred to in its early days as the ―talking cure‖ because it relied on
patient– therapist communication, is the attempt to relieve patients of their mental
disorders through the application of psychoanalytic principles and techniques.
4. According to Freud, the personality is made up of three components—the id, the ego,
and the superego
a. The id is the fundamental aspect of the personality from which drives, wishes,
urges, and desires emanate. Freud focused primarily on love, aggression, and sex
as fundamental drives in any personality. The id operates according to the
pleasure principle, seeking full and immediate gratification of its needs.
Individuals, however, according to Freud, are rarely fully aware of the urges that
manifest (occasionally into awareness) from the id because it is a largely
unconscious region of the mind. Nonetheless, from the Freudian perspective, each
of us carries within our id the prerequisite motivation for criminal behavior. Each
one of us are, potential murderers, sexual aggressors, and thieves—our drives and
urges kept in check only by other controlling aspects of our personalities.
b. The ego is primarily charged with reality testing. The ego was primarily
concerned with how objectives might be best accomplished. The ego tends to
effect strategies for the individual that maximize pleasure and minimize pain. It
lays out the various paths of action that can lead to wish fulfillment. The ego
inherently recognizes that it may be necessary to delay gratification to achieve a
more fulfilling long-term goal.

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c. The superego is much like a moral guide to right and wrong. If properly
developed, it evaluates the ego‘s plans, dismissing some as morally inappropriate
while accepting others as ethically viable. The id of a potential rapist, for example,
might be filled with lustful drives, and his ego may develop a variety of
alternative plans whereby those drives might be fulfilled, some legal and some
illegal. His superego will, if the individual‘s personality is relatively well
integrated and the superego is properly developed, turn the individual away from
law-violating behavior based on his sensual desires and guide the ego to select a
path of action that is in keeping with social convention. When the dictates of the
superego are not followed, feelings of guilt may result.
d. The superego is one of the most misunderstood of Freudian concepts. In addition
to elements of conscience, the superego also contains what Freud called the ―ego-
ideal,‖ which is a symbolic representation of what society values.
e. The ego-ideal differs from the conscience in that it is less forceful in controlling
behavior in the absence of the likelihood of discovery.
f. Although, Freud did not directly address crime, he did spend much of his time
examining abnormal behaviors, many of which might lead to violations of the
criminal law.
g. One way in which a person might be led into crime, according to the perspective
of psychoanalysis, is as the result of a poorly developed superego. In the
individual without a fully functional superego, the mind is left to fall back on the
ego‘s reality-testing ability. To put it simply, the ego, operating without a moral
guide, may select a path of action that, although expedient at the time, violates the
law. Consequently, without a fully functioning superego, offenders come to be
characterized by id-dominated personalities, and the id‘s need for instant
gratification determines their behavior. Individuals suffering from poor superego
development are unlikely to give thought to the longterm consequences of the
choices they make.
5. Although Freud actually wrote very little about criminality, August Aichorn, another
psychoanalyst, did.
a. Aichorn saw the behavior of violent criminals as dominated by the id, leaving
them unable to control their impulsive and pleasure-seeking drives stemming from
the id.
b. Aichorn believed that as a result of negative life experiences, especially at an early
age, violence prone individuals suffer from damaged egos that are too weak to be
able to deal with stressful circumstances and urges that well up from the id.
6. Another path to criminality from a psychiatric viewpoint is through repressed needs.
The psychoanalytical concept of repression holds that a person may seek to reject his
or her own desires and impulses toward pleasurable instincts by excluding them from
his or her own consciousness, thereby removing them from awareness and rendering
them unconscious.
a. One secret need of many criminals, according to some psychologists, is the need
to be punished, which arises, according to psychiatric theory, from a sense of
guilt.
b. Psychiatrists who suggest that the need to be punished is a motivating factor in
criminal behavior are quick to point out that this need may be a closely guarded
secret, unknown even to the offender. Hence, from the psychiatric point of view,
many drives, motives, and wishes are unconscious or even repressed by people
who harbor them.

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c. The concept of repression holds that the human mind may choose to keep certain
aspects of itself out of consciousness, possibly because of shame, self-loathing, or
a simple lack of adequate introspection.
7. Marti Olsen Laney, a neuroscience researcher in Portland, Oregon, found that the
brains of introverted children functioned somewhat differently from those of
extroverts. Brain scans of introverted kids found much more overall activity—
especially in the brain‘s frontal lobes, which are areas associated with problem
solving, introspection, complex thinking, and planning.
8. The field of psychiatry has seen a rekindling of interest in Freudian psychology,
however, because psychopharmacology (the use of drugs to treat psychiatric
symptoms and disorders) has been unable to provide an alternative grand theory of
personality, emotion, and motivation.
9. Moreover, today‘s neuroscientists are busily creating a chemical map of the mind that
seems to validate the general sketch that Freud provided decades ago, and soon a new
unified perspective that reconciles the work of neurologists and psychiatrists may
emerge.

B. The Psychotic Offender

1. Some seemingly inexplicable forms of criminality may be the result of psychosis.
People with psychotic disorders are out of touch with reality in some fundamental
way, possibly suffering from hallucinations, delusions, or other breaks with reality.
Psychoses may be either organic (resulting from physical damage to or abnormalities
in the brain) or functional (having no known physical cause).
2. Canadian criminologist Gwynn Nettler said, ―Thought disorder is the hallmark of
psychosis. People are called crazy when, at some extremity, they cannot ‘think
straight.‘‖ She identified three characteristics of psychotic individuals:
a. a grossly distorted conception of reality,
b. moods, and swings of mood, that seem inappropriate to circumstance, and
c. marked inefficiency in getting along with others and caring for oneself.‖
3. Psychiatrists today recognize at least nine different types of psychotic disorders, and
one important category is schizophrenia.
a. Schizophrenics are characterized by disordered or disjointed thinking, in which
the types of logical associations they make are atypical of other people.
b. Paranoid schizophrenics, one of the four major subgroups of schizophrenics,
also suffer from delusions and hallucinations.
c. Schizophrenia is a disorganization of the personality, and in its most extreme
form, it may manifest itself in seemingly irrational behavior as well as
hallucinations and delusions.
d. A 2009 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found
that schizophrenics are four to six times as likely as members of the general
population to commit a violent crime, and noted that current medical guidelines
―recommend that violence risk assessment should be conducted for all patients
with schizophrenia.‖
e. Not all people who are psychotic commit crimes, and many remain law abiding
throughout their entire lives. Psychoses, however, may lead to crime in a number
of ways. Following the Vietnam War, for example, several American soldiers
suffering from a kind of battlefield psychosis killed friends and family members,
thinking they were Vietcong soldiers (the enemy). These men, who had been
traumatized by battlefield experiences in Southeast Asia, relived their past on

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American streets. In other crimes committed by psychotics, thought disorders may
be less obvious or may exist only temporarily.

C. Frustration–Aggression Theory - In his early writings, Freud suggested that aggressive

behavior is a natural response to frustration and limitations imposed upon a person. This
frustration–aggression thesis was later developed more fully in the writings of J.
Dollard, Albert Bandura, Richard H. Walters, and others.
1. Dollard’s frustration–aggression theory held that although frustration can lead to
various forms of behavior— including regression, sublimation, and aggressive
fantasy—direct aggression toward others is its most likely consequence. Because
everyone suffers frustration at times in life (beginning with weaning and toilet
training), aggression is a natural consequence of living, but that aggression can be
manifested in socially acceptable ways (contact sports, military or law enforcement
careers, simple verbal attacks) and/or engaged in vicariously by observing others who
are acting violently (in movies, on television, in fiction). Dollard applied the
psychoanalytical term displacement to the type of violence that is vented on
something or someone who is not the source of the original frustration and suggested
that satisfying one‘s aggressive urges via observation was a form of ―catharsis.‖
2. Andrew F. Henry and James F. Short, Jr., - suggested that child-rearing practices
are a major determining factor in such a causal nexus. Restrictive parents who both
punish and love their children, said Henry and Short, will engender in their children
the ability to suppress outward expressions of aggression, but when one parent
punishes and the other loves, or when both punish but neither shows love, children
can be expected to show anger directly and perhaps even immediately because they
will not be threatened with the loss of love. Physical punishment rarely threatens the
loss of love, and children so punished cannot be expected to refrain from direct
displays of anger.

D. Crime As Adaptation - Some psychiatrists see crime as an adaptation to life‘s

stresses.
1. Seymour L. Halleck, a psychiatrist and adjunct professor of law at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, turning to crime can provide otherwise
disenfranchised individuals with a sense of power and purpose.
2. Halleck says that crime can also provide ―excellent rationalizations‖ for perceived
inadequacies—especially for those whose lives have been failures when judged
against the benchmarks of the wider society. ―The criminal is able to say …, ‗I
could have been successful if I had not turned to crime. All my troubles have
come to me because I have been bad.‘‖ Thus, crime, provides ―a convenient
resource for denying, forgetting or ignoring … other inadequacies.‖
a. Insofar as the choice of crime reduces stresses the individual faces by
producing changes in the environment (empowerment), it is referred to as
alloplastic adaptation.
b. When crime leads to stress reduction as a result of internal changes in beliefs,
value systems, and so forth, it is called autoplastic adaptation. The offender
who is able to deny responsibility for other failures by turning to crime is said
to be seeking autoplastic adaptation.
3. Because other forms of behavior also may meet many of the same needs as crime,
Halleck points out, an individual may select crime over various other behavioral
alternatives only when no reasonable alternatives are available or when criminal
behavior has inherent advantages—as might be the case under instances of

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economic or social oppression. (i.e., individuals who are actively discriminated
against may find personal and political significance in violating the laws of the
oppressing society.)
4. From Halleck‘s point of view, crime ―has many advantages even when considered
independently of the criminal‘s conscious or unconscious needs for gratification.‖
Even though crime can be immediately rewarding or intensely pleasing, such a
reward is more like a ―fringe benefit‖; its central significance is that it ―is an
action which helps one survive with dignity.‖
5. Halleck explained that ―we cannot understand the criminal unless we appreciate
that his actions are much more than an effort to find a specific gratification.‖
6. In another approach to stress as a causative agent in crime commission, Arnold S.
Linsky, Ronet Bachman, and Murray A. Straus suggested that stress may lead
to aggression toward others and toward oneself (self-destructive behavior like
suicide, smoking, and abuse of alcohol).
a. Linsky and his colleagues measured stress at the societal level, arguing that
although the relationship between stress and aggression has been studied at the
individual level, ―the neglect of social stress as an explanation for society-to-
society differences in aggression may be partially due to a lack of an objective
means of comparing the stressfulness of life in different societies.‖
b. Concluding that societal stress levels heighten levels of aggression, the authors
suggested that social policies should be created to reduce the impact of such
stressful events as having to stop work, foreclosing on a mortgage, and
dropping out of school.

E. Criminogenic Needs
1. Donald A. Andrews and James Bonta’ in 1998, identified major risk factors
associated with criminal conduct that they termed criminogenic needs.
2. Criminogenic needs, referred to in later writings as ―criminogenic domains,‖ can
be described as dynamic attributes of offenders and their circumstances that are
associated with rates of recidivism.
3. Among the ―needs‖ or risk factors that Andrews and Bonta listed are
a. antisocial attitudes, values, and beliefs;
b. antisocial personality, including low selfcontrol;
c. antisocial associates and friends;
d. low levels of social achievement, including a lack of educational, vocational,
or financial achievement;
e. family factors, including marital instability, a criminal family, and poor
parenting skills;
f. substance abuse; and a lack of prosocial pursuits.
4. Criminogenic needs, because they are dynamic or amenable to change, can be
targeted by treatment strategies intended to reduce criminality and recidivism.
5. They identified criminal history as a major criminogenic domain and noted that
together in combination with antisocial attitudes, criminal associates, and
antisocial personality, these represent the ―big four‖ risk factors. Andrews and
Bonta were careful, however, not to include criminal history as a criminogenic
need because it is a static element unamenable to change.
6. Later writers have developed an enriched concept of criminogenic needs,
suggesting that they are not positive desires that individuals seek to fulfill. Rather,
according to Australian criminologists Tony Ward and Claire Stewart, ―they can
be seen as internal and external obstacles … linked to basic need distortion.‖

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a. Unlike on the general understanding of needs, Ward and Stewart suggest that
criminogenic needs arise in ―the absence of the internal and external
conditions necessary for a person to lead a fulfilling life.‖
b. Criminogenic needs are not actually needs in themselves, but are
psychopathological symptoms or indicators of maladaptive functioning.
Hence, offenders see ―criminal acts as advantageous (because they are)
causally related to socioemotional deficits …‖
c. Hence, the fulfillment of criminogenic needs provides a proxy for meeting an
individual‘s otherwise valid needs. So, for example, the need for social
achievement can be fulfilled through criminal activity even though the
offender does not have the education or skills needed for gainful employment.
d. ―their theory is essentially a framework and does not provide clear
descriptions of the relevant causal mechanisms that generate criminogenic
needs.‖
e. From the point of view of Ward and Stewart, ―criminogenic needs arise from
frustrated basic human needs and involve the acquisition of proxy goals and
their accompanying dysfunctional beliefs and behavioral strategies.‖
f. Moreover, Ward and Stewart add, criminogenic needs ―can be viewed as
means to the commission of a crime‖ because ―they represent the social and
psychological conditions necessary for a crime to occur.‖ attachment theory

F. Attachment Theory
1. first proposed by English child psychiatrist John Bowlby (1907–1990), who
observed children during his tenure at the London Child Guidance Clinic after
World War II.
2. Bowlby was especially interested in the maladjusted behavior of children who
lacked a solid relationship with a mother figure, and he concluded that for healthy
personality development to occur, ―the infant and young child should experience a
warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother
substitute) in which both find satisfaction and enjoyment.‖ Bowlby identified
three forms of attachment:
a. secure attachment - this is healthy, and it develops early in life when a child is
confident that the mother figure will be responsible and available when
needed.
b. anxious-avoidant attachment - develops when children feel rejection and lack
confidence concerning parental support and care. and
c. anxious-resistant attachment - develops from similar experiences and results in
feelings of uncertainty, causing the child (and later, the adult) to feel anxious,
to be fearful of his or her environment, and to cling to potential caregivers or
partners.
3. Secure attachment between children and their primary caregivers, Bowlby said,
provides the basic foundation for all their future psychological development, with
children developing a secure psychological base when they are ―nourished
physically and emotionally, comforted if distressed [and] reassured if frightened.‖
4. According to attachment theory, delinquent behavior arises when nonsecure
attachments are created.
5. Bowlby called delinquents ―affectionless,‖ meaning they did not form intimate
attachments as children and cannot form such attachments later in life.
6. Attachment theory predicts that the most problematic individuals will be those
who were abandoned at an early age, who experienced multiple placements (in

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foster homes and so on), who had to deal with the early absence of one or both
parents, and who faced traumatic conditions (physical, sexual, or other abuse) in
early childhood.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form

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MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 5 – ANXIETY AND DEFENSE MECHANISMS

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Define and describe the defense mechanisms
B. Discuss the link between defense mechanisms and criminality

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms Defined

1. Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and
physical changes like increased blood pressure. People with anxiety disorders usually
have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out
of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling,
dizziness or a rapid heartbeat (American Psychological Association (APA), n.d.).
2. Defense mechanisms are unconscious protective behaviors that work to reduce
anxiety. Or these are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a
person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

B. Types of Anxiety - Not all types of anxiety are created equal. Nor do these anxieties stem
from the same sources. Freud identified three types of anxiety (verywellmind.com):
1. Moral anxiety: A fear of violating our own moral principles
2. Neurotic anxiety: The unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's urges,
resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior
3. Reality anxiety: Fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually easily
identified. For example, a person might fear a dog bite when they are near a menacing
dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety is to avoid the threatening
object.

C. Concepts of Defense Mechanisms (opentextbc.ca, n.d.)

1. Freud believed that feelings of anxiety result from the ego‘s inability to mediate the
conflict between the id and superego. When this happens, Freud believed that the ego
seeks to restore balance through various protective measures known as defense
mechanisms.
2. When certain events, feelings, or yearnings cause an individual anxiety, the individual
wishes to reduce that anxiety. To do that, the individual‘s unconscious mind uses
ego defense mechanisms, unconscious protective behaviors that aim to reduce
anxiety. The ego, usually conscious, resorts to unconscious strivings to protect the ego
from being overwhelmed by anxiety. When we use defense mechanisms, we are
unaware that we are using them. Further, they operate in various ways that distort
reality. According to Freud, we all use ego defense mechanisms.
3. While everyone uses defense mechanisms, overuse of them may be problematic. For
example, Joe Smith is a high school football player. Deep down, Joe feels sexually
attracted to males. His conscious belief is that being gay is immoral and that if he
were gay, his family would disown him and he would be ostracized by his peers.
Therefore, there is a conflict between his conscious beliefs (being gay is wrong and

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will result in being ostracized) and his unconscious urges (attraction to males). The
idea that he might be gay causes Joe to have feelings of anxiety. How can he decrease
his anxiety? Joe may find himself acting very ―macho,‖ making gay jokes, and
picking on a school peer who is gay. This way, Joe‘s unconscious impulses are further
submerged.

D. 10 Key Defense Mechanisms - Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna Freud, described 10

different defense mechanisms used by the ego (verywellmind.com, n.d.).
1. Displacement
a. Have you ever had a really bad day at work and then gone home and taken out
your frustration with family and friends? Then you have experienced the ego
defense mechanism of displacement.
b. Displacement involves taking out our frustrations, feelings, and impulses on
people or objects that are less threatening.
c. Displaced aggression is a common example of this defense mechanism. Rather
than express our anger in ways that could lead to negative consequences (like
arguing with our boss), we instead express our anger towards a person or object
that poses no threat (such as our spouse, children, or pets).
2. Denial - Denial is probably one of the best-known defense mechanisms, used often to
describe situations in which people seem unable to face reality or admit an obvious
truth (e.g., "He's in denial").
a. Denial is an outright refusal to admit or recognize that something has occurred or
is currently occurring. People living with drug or alcohol addiction often deny that
they have a problem, while victims of traumatic events may deny that the event
ever occurred.
b. Denial functions to protect the ego from things with which the individual cannot
cope.
c. While this may save us from anxiety or pain, denial also requires a substantial
investment of energy. Because of this, other defenses are also used to keep these
unacceptable feelings from conscious awareness.
d. In many cases, there might be overwhelming evidence that something is true, yet
the person will continue to deny its existence or truth because it is too
uncomfortable to face.
e. Denial can involve a flat out rejection of the existence of a fact or reality. In other
cases, it might involve admitting that something is true, but minimizing its
importance. Sometimes people will accept reality and the seriousness of the fact,
but they will deny their own responsibility and instead blame other people or other
outside forces.
f. Addiction is one of the best-known examples of denial. People who are living
with a substance use problem will often flat-out deny that their behavior is
problematic. In other cases, they might admit that they do use drugs or alcohol but
will claim that their substance use is not problematic.
3. Repression and Suppression
a. Repression acts to keep information out of conscious awareness. However, these
memories don't just disappear; they continue to influence our behavior. For
example, a person who has repressed memories of abuse suffered as a child may
later have difficulty forming relationships.
b. Sometimes we do this consciously by forcing the unwanted information out of our
awareness, which is known as suppression. In most cases, however, this removal

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of anxiety-provoking memories from our awareness is believed to occur
unconsciously.
4. Sublimation
a. Sublimation is a defense mechanism that allows us to act out unacceptable
impulses by converting these behaviors into a more acceptable form. For example,
a person experiencing extreme anger might take up kick-boxing as a means of
venting frustration.
b. Freud believed that sublimation was a sign of maturity that allows people to
function normally in socially acceptable ways.
5. Projection - Projection is a defense mechanism that involves taking our own
unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people. For example, if
you have a strong dislike for someone, you might instead believe that they do not like
you. Projection works by allowing the expression of the desire or impulse, but in a
way that the ego cannot recognize, therefore reducing anxiety.
6. Intellectualization
a. Intellectualization works to reduce anxiety by thinking about events in a cold,
clinical way.
b. This defense mechanism allows us to avoid thinking about the stressful, emotional
aspect of the situation and instead focus only on the intellectual component.
c. For example, a person who has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness might
focus on learning everything about the disease in order to avoid distress and
remain distant from the reality of the situation.
7. Rationalization
a. Rationalization is a defense mechanism that involves explaining an unacceptable
behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner, avoiding the true reasons for
the behavior.3
b. For example, a person who is turned down for a date might rationalize the
situation by saying they were not attracted to the other person anyway. A student
might blame a poor exam score on the instructor rather than their own lack of
preparation.
c. Rationalization not only prevents anxiety, but it may also protect self-esteem
and self-concept.
d. When confronted by success or failure, people tend to attribute achievement to
their own qualities and skills while failures are blamed on other people or outside
forces.
8. Regression
a. When confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon coping strategies
and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development.
b. Anna Freud called this defense mechanism regression, suggesting that people act
out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are
fixated. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental stage might
cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.
c. Behaviors associated with regression can vary greatly depending upon which
stage at which the person is fixated.
d. According to Freud, an individual fixated at the oral stage might begin eating or
smoking excessively, or might become very verbally aggressive. A fixation at
the anal stage might result in excessive tidiness or messiness.
9. Reaction Formation
a. Reaction formation reduces anxiety by taking up the opposite feeling, impulse, or
behavior.3 An example of reaction formation would be treating someone you

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strongly dislike in an excessively friendly manner in order to hide your true
feelings.
b. Why do people behave this way? According to Freud, they are using reaction
formation as a defense mechanism to hide their true feelings by behaving in the
exact opposite manner.
10. Other Defense Mechanisms - Since Freud first described the original defense
mechanisms, other researchers have continued to describe other methods of reducing
anxiety. Some of these defense mechanisms include:
a. Acting out: Coping with stress by engaging in actions rather than acknowledging
and bearing certain feelings
b. Aim inhibition: Accepting a modified form of their original goal (e.g., becoming
a high school basketball coach rather than a professional athlete)
c. Altruism: Satisfying internal needs through helping others
d. Avoidance: Refusing to deal with or encounter unpleasant objects or situations
e. Compensation: Overachieving in one area to compensate for failures in another
f. Dissociation: Becoming separated or removed from one's experience
g. Fantasy: Avoiding reality by retreating to a safe place within one's mind
h. Humor: Pointing out the funny or ironic aspects of a situation
i. Passive-aggression: Indirectly expressing anger
j. Undoing: Trying to make up for what one feels are inappropriate thoughts,
feelings, or behaviors (e.g., if you hurt someone's feelings, you might offer to do
something nice for them in order to assuage your anxiety or guilt)

IV. Progress Check or Review Question: To be given or to be administered thru Google

Form.

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 6 - BEHAVIOR THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the central concepts of biosocial and biochemical theories of crime causation
B. Discuss the link between social environment and genes in relation to criminality
C. Explain the effects of some substances and food intakes with aggression and/or criminal
behavior

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Behavior theory, the second main thrust of early psychological theorizing, built upon the
concept of conditioned behavior. It was popularized through the work of Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936). The dogs, which salivated when food was presented to them, were
always fed in the presence of a ringing bell. Soon, Pavlov found, the dogs would salivate as if
in preparation for eating when the bell alone was rung, even when no food was present.
Hence, salivation, an automatic response to the presence of food, could be conditioned to
occur in response to some other stimulus, demonstrating that animal behavior could be
predictably altered via association with external changes arising from the environment
surrounding the organism. The kind of conditioning that Pavlov demonstrated, which is the
association of a particular response to a conditioned stimulus, is referred to today as classical
conditioning.

A. Behavioral Conditioning
1. Behavior theory has sometimes been called the “stimulus– response theory of
human behavior.” When an individual‘s behavior results in rewards or feedback that
the individual regards as pleasurable and desirable, then that behavior will likely
become more frequent. Under such circumstances, the behavior in question is
reinforced, and the rewards themselves are referred to as reinforcements. Conversely,
when punishment follows behavior, chances are that the frequency of that type of
behavior will decrease. The individual‘s responses are termed operant behavior
because a person‘s behavioral choices effectively operate on the surrounding
environment to produce consequences for the individual.
2. Behavior theory is often used by parents seeking to control children through a series
of rewards and punishments. Young children may be punished, for example, by
being spanked, by having a favored toy taken away, and by the television being turned
off. Older children are often told what rules they are expected to obey and what
rewards they can anticipate if they adhere to those rules. They also know that
punishments will follow if they do not obey the rules.
3. Rewards and punishments have been further divided into four conceptual categories:
a. positive reinforcements, which increase the frequency of approved behavior by
adding something desirable to the situation—as when a ―good‖ child is given a
toy;
b. negative reinforcements, which increase the frequency of approved behavior by
removing something distressful from the situation—as when a ―good‖ child is
permitted to skip the morning‘s chores;

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c. positive punishments, which decrease the frequency of unwanted behavior by
adding something undesirable to the situation—as when a ―bad‖ child is spanked;
and
d. negative punishments, which decrease the frequency of unwanted behavior by
removing something desirable from the situation—as when a ―bad‖ child‘s candy
is taken away.
4. According to behavior theory, it is through the application of rewards and
punishments that behavior is shaped.
5. Behavior theory differs from other psychological theories in that the major
determinants of behavior are envisioned as existing in the environment surrounding
the individual rather than within the individual.
6. B. F. Skinner (1904–1990), created the term operant conditioning.
a. He rejected unobservable psychological constructs, focusing instead on patterns of
responses to external rewards and stimuli.
b. He researched on behavioral concepts and created the notion of programmed
instruction, which allows students to work at their own pace and provides
immediate rewards for learning accomplishments.
c. Behavior theory is important in the study of criminology because much human
behavior is the result of conditioning, and people can be conditioned to respond to
situations with either prosocial or antisocial conduct.
d. From the perspective of behavior theory, crime can be explained as the result of
inappropriate behavioral conditioning.

B. Social Cognition and the Role of Modeling

1. Gabriel Tarde (1843–1904), a French social theorist Tarde
a. discounted the biological theories
b. basis of any society was imitation, the tendency of people to pattern their behavior
after the behavior of others
c. he developed a theory of human behavior that built upon three laws of imitation
and suggestion
1) first law held that individuals in close intimate contact with one another tend
to imitate each other‘s behavior
2) second law stated that imitation moves from the top down - means that poor
people tend to imitate wealthy people, youngsters tend to emulate those who
are older, lower-class people tend to imitate members of the upper class, and
so forth
3) third law of imitation is the law of insertion, which says that new acts and
behaviors tend to either reinforce or replace old ones. Hence, the music of
each generation replaces the music of the one that preceded it, the politics of
young people eventually become the politics of the nation, faddish drugs are
substituted for traditional ones, and new forms of crime tend to take the place
of older ones (e.g., when computer criminals become a more serious threat to
financial institutions than bank robbers).
2. Albert Bandura developed a comprehensive social cognition theory of aggression
that depends for its explanatory power on cognitive processes
a. Bandura, a psychology professor at Stanford University and past president of the
American Psychological Society, is often referred to as the creator of social
learning theory in the field of psychology (a parallel tradition of social learning
theories in sociology)
b. reinforcement theory could not account for all types of learning

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c. although everyone is capable of aggression, ―people are not born with …
repertories of aggressive behavior - they must learn them‖
d. Because of the central role of cognition in Bandura‘s learning theory, however, he
preferred to call his approach social cognition theory.
e. Central to Bandura‘s theory are the ideas of observation, imitation, and modeling.
f. The concept of modeling acknowledges the fact that people learn how to act
through their life experiences, and especially by observing others.
1) He wrote that ―Most human behavior is learned observationally through
modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are
performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for
action.‖
2) In some of his early work, he experimented with children who observed adult
role models striking inflatable cartoon characters. When the children were
observed after their encounter with adult behavior, they, too, exhibited
similarly aggressive behavior.
g. He also studied violence on television and concluded that ―television is an
effective tutor. Both laboratory and controlled field studies in which young
children and adolescents are repeatedly shown either violent or nonviolent fare
disclose that exposure to film violence shapes the form of aggression and typically
increases interpersonal aggressiveness in everyday life.‖
h. Aggression can be provoked, Bandura suggests, through physical assaults and
verbal threats and insults, as well as by thwarting a person‘s hopes or obstructing
his or her goalseeking behavior.
i. Deprivation and ―adverse reductions in the conditions of life‖ (a lowered standard
of living, the onset of disease, a spouse leaving or caught cheating, for example)
are other potential triggers of aggression. Bandura adds, however, that a human
being‘s ability to foresee the future consequences of present behavior adds another
dimension to the activation of learned patterns of aggression. That is, aggressive
behavior can be perceived as holding future benefits for individuals exhibiting it.
In short, it can be seen as a means to a desired end.
j. Bandura also says that individuals sometimes become aggressive because they are
rewarded for doing so. The early 20th century American concept of a ―macho‖—
virile and masculine—male figure, for example, was often associated with the
expectation of substantial reward.
k. Another form of reward can flow from aggression - the ―reduction of aversive
treatment.‖
l. He recognized that everyone has self-regulatory mechanisms that can inhibit the
tendency toward aggression. People reward or punish themselves, Bandura said,
according to internal standards they have for judging their own behavior. Thus,
aggression may be inhibited in people who, for example, value religious, ethical,
or moral standards of conduct such as compassion, thoughtfulness, and courtesy.
m. He concluded that people who devalue aggression may still engage in it via a
process he called disengagement. Disengagement may result from (1) ―attributing
blame to one‘s victims‖; (2) dehumanization through bureaucratization,
automation, urbanization, and high social mobility; (3) vindication of aggressive
practices by legitimate authorities; and (4) desensitization resulting from repeated
exposure to aggression in any of a variety of forms.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

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MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 7 – INTELLIGENCE AND CRIME

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Early criminologists maintained that many delinquents and criminals have below average
intelligence and that low IQ causes their criminality. Criminals were believed to have
inherently substandard intelligence and thus seemed naturally inclined to commit more
crimes than more intelligent persons. Furthermore, it was thought that if authorities could
determine which individuals had low IQs, they might identify potential criminals before they
committed socially harmful acts. These ideas led to the ―nature versus nurture‖ controversy
that continues to rage today (Siegel, 2020).

A. Nature Theory - Proponents of nature theory argue that intelligence is largely

determined genetically, that ancestry determines IQ, and that low intelligence, as
demonstrated by low IQ, is linked to criminal behavior. When newly developed IQ tests
were administered to inmates of prisons and juvenile training schools in the early decades
of the 20th century, the nature position gained support because most of the inmates scored
low on the tests.
1. William Healy and Augusta Bronner, in 1926, they tested groups of delinquent
boys in Chicago and Boston and found that 37 percent were subnormal in intelligence.
They concluded that delinquents were 5 to 10 times more likely to be mentally
deficient than normal boys.
2. These and other early studies were embraced as proof that low IQ scores indicated
potentially delinquent children and that a correlation existed between innate low
intelligence and deviant behavior.
3. IQ tests were believed to measure the inborn genetic makeup of individuals, and
many criminologists accepted the idea that individuals with substandard IQs were
predisposed toward delinquency and adult criminality.

B. Nurture Theory Proponents of nurture theory argue that intelligence is not inherited
and that low-IQ parents do not necessarily produce low-IQ children.
1. Intelligence must be viewed as partly biological but primarily sociological.
2. Discredits the notion that people commit crimes because they have low IQs. Instead,
they postulate that environmental stimulation from parents, relatives, social contacts,
schools, peer groups, and innumerable others accounts for a child‘s IQ level and that
low IQs may result from an environment that also encourages delinquent and criminal
behavior.
3. Thus, if low IQ scores are recorded among criminals, these scores may reflect the
criminals‘ cultural background, not their mental ability.
4. Edwin Sutherland in 1931, evaluated IQ studies of criminals and delinquents and
questioned whether criminals in fact have low IQs. Sutherland‘s research all but put

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an end to the belief that crime was caused by feeblemindedness; the putative link
between IQ and crime was almost forgotten in criminological literature.

C. IQ and Criminality
1. Travis Hirschi and Michael Hindelang published a widely read 1977 article linking
the IQ and criminality.
a. They proposed the idea that low IQ increases the likelihood of criminal behavior
through its effect on school performance.
b. That is, youths with low IQs do poorly in school, and school failure and academic
incompetence are highly related to delinquency and later to adult criminality.
2. James Q. Wilson and Richard Herrnstein, in their book Crime and Human Nature,
concluded that the IQ–crime link is indirect: Low intelligence leads to poor school
performance, which enhances the chances of criminality.
3. Herrnstein with Charles Murray, in their book The Bell Curve (1994) –
a. Confirmed that adolescents with low IQs are more likely to commit crime, get
caught, and be sent to prison. Conversely, at-risk kids with higher IQs seem to be
protected from becoming criminals by their superior ability to succeed in school
and in social relationships.
b. To those who suggest that the IQ–crime relationship can be explained by the fact
that only low-IQ criminals get caught, Herrnstein and Murray counter with data
showing little difference in IQ scores between self-reported and adjudicated
criminals. This means that even criminals whose activities go undetected have
lower IQs than the general public; the IQ–crime relationship cannot be explained
away by the fact that slow-witted criminals are the ones most likely to be
apprehended.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 4 – PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF CRIME
CAUSATION
LESSON 8 – INFERIORITY COMPLEX THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Alfred Adler‘s school of individual school of psychology created a chasm in the field of
psychology, which had been dominated by Freud‘s psychoanalysis. While Freud focused on
only the internal processes — mainly sexual conflicts — that affect a person‘s psychology,
Adler was adamant that to fully understand a person, a psychologist must also consider other
internal factors as well as external factors. This is why he named his school of psychology
individual; the word is intended to evoke a meaning of indivisibility, derived from the Latin
individuum (Mosak et al., 1999, p. 6, as cited by simplypsychology.org, n.d.).

A. Compensation, Overcompensation, and Complexes - Adler thought that the basic

psychological element of neurosis was a sense of inferiority and that individuals suffering
with the symptoms of this phenomenon spent their lives trying to overcome the feelings
without ever being in touch with reality (White, 1917)
1. Compensation for Weaknesses
a. According to Adler (2013b), all infants have a feeling of inferiority and
inadequacy immediately as they begin to experience the world.
b. These early experiences, such as the need to gain the parents‘ attention, shape the
child‘s unconscious, fictive goals. They give the child a need to strive towards
rectifying that inferiority — a need to compensate for weakness by developing
other strengths.
c. There are several outcomes that can occur on a child‘s quest for compensation.
First, if the child receives adequate nurturing and care, the child can accept his
challenges, and learn that they can be overcome with hard work. Thus, the child
develops ―normally‖ and develops the ―courage to be imperfect‖ (Lazarsfeld,
1966, pp. 163-165).
2. Overcompensation
a. However, sometimes, the process of compensation goes awry. One way in which
this happens is that the feelings of inferiority become too intense, and the child
begins to feel as though he has no control over his surroundings. He will strive
very strenuously for compensation, to the point that compensation is no longer
satisfactory.
b. This culminates in a state of overcompensation, where the child‘s focus on
meeting his goal is exaggerated and becomes pathological. For example, Adler
(1917) uses the ancient Greek figure Demosthenes, who had a terrible stutter but
ended up becoming the ―greatest orator in Greece‖ (p. 22).
c. Here, Demosthenes started off with an inferiority due to his stutter, and
overcompensated by not just overcoming his stutter, but taking up a profession
that would normally be impossible for a stutterer.

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3. Inferiority Complex Overcompensation can lead to the development of an inferiority
complex. This is a lack of self-esteem where the person is unable to rectify his
feelings of inferiority. According to Adler (2013a), the hallmark of an inferiority
complex is that ―persons are always striving to find a situation in which they excel‖
(p. 74). This drive is due to their overwhelming feelings of inferiority. There are two
components of these feelings of inferiority: primary and secondary.
a. Primary inferiority is the ―original and normal feeling‖ of inferiority maintained
by an infant (Stein & Edwards, 2002, p. 23). This feeling is productive, as it
provides motivation for the child to develop.
b. Secondary inferiority, on the other hand, is the inferiority feeling in the adult
results when the child develops an exaggerated feeling of inferiority (p. 23). These
feelings in the adult are what is harmful, and they comprise the inferiority
complex.
4. Superiority Complex
a. The superiority complex occurs when a person has the need to prove that he is
more superior than he truly is. Adler (2013a) provides an example of a child with
a superiority complex, who is ―impertinent, arrogant and pugnacious‖ (p. 82).
b. When this child is treated through psychotherapy, it is revealed that the child
behaves in this impatient manner because he feels inferior.
c. Adler (2013a) claims that superiority complexes are born out of inferiority
complexes; they are ―one of the ways which a person with an inferiority complex
may use a method of escape from his difficulties‖ (p. 97).

B. Personality Typology, or Styles of Life

1. Adler did not approve of the concept of personality types; he believed that this
practice could lead to the neglect of each individual‘s uniqueness.
2. However, he did recognize patterns that often formed in childhood and could be
useful in treating patients who fit into them. He called these patterns styles of life.
3. Adler (2013a) claimed that once a psychologist knows a person‘s style of life, ―it is
possible to predict his future sometimes just on the basis of talking to him and having
him answer questions‖ (p. 100) Adler and his followers analyze a person‘s style of
life by comparing it to ―the socially adjusted human being‖ (p. 101).

C. Birth Order - The term birth order refers to the order in which the children of a family
were born. Adler (2013b, pp. 150-155) believed that birth order had a significant and
predictable impact on a child‘s personality:
1. First-Born
a. First-born children have inherent advantages due to their parents recognizing them
as ―the larger, the stronger, the older.‖
b. This gives first-born children the traits of ―a guardian of law and order.‖ These
children have a high amount of personal power, and they value the concept of
power with reverence.
2. Second-Born
a. Second-born children are constantly in the shadow of their older siblings. They
are incessantly ―striving for superiority under pressure,‖ driven by the existence of
their older, more powerful sibling.
b. If the second-born is encouraged and supported, he will be able to attain power as
well, and he and the first-born will work together.
3. Youngest Children

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a. Youngest children operate in a constant state of inferiority. They are constantly
trying to prove themselves, due to their perceptions of inferiority relative to the
rest of their family. According to Adler, there are two types of youngest children.
b. The more successful type ―excels every other member of the family, and becomes
the family‘s most capable member.‖
c. Another, more unfortunate type of youngest child does not excel because he lacks
the necessary self-confidence. This child becomes evasive and avoidant towards
the rest of the family.
4. Only Children
a. Only children, according to Adler, are also an unfortunate case.
b. Due to their being the sole object of their parents‘ attention, the only child
becomes ―dependent to a high degree, waits constantly for someone to show him
the way, and searches for support at all times.‖
c. They also come to see the world as a hostile place due to their parents‘ constant
vigilance.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

MODULE 5 – SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

LESSON 1 – SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Social structure theories emphasize poverty, lack of education, absence of marketable

skills, and deviant subcultural values as fundamental causes of crime. These theories, which
portray crime as the result of an individual‘s location within the structure of society and focus
on the social and economic conditions of life, are divided into three types.

Social disorganization theory (which depicts social change, social conflict, and lack of
social consensus as the root causes of crime and deviance) is closely associated with the
ecological school of criminology. Much early criminology in the United States was rooted in
the study of urban settlements and communities as well as the human ecology movement of
the early twentieth century.

Ecology is a term borrowed from biology that describes the interrelationships between
living organisms and their environment, and social scientists use the term human ecology to
describe the interrelationship between human beings and the physical and cultural
environments in which they live. Pioneers in the human ecology movement saw cities as
―superorganisms‖ that incorporated areas adapted to specific groups, including ethnic groups

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(e.g., ―Little Italy,‖ ―Chinatown‖), which were functional enclaves within a larger organized
whole that possessed its own dynamics.

The idea of the community as a functional whole that directly determines the quality of
life for its members was developed and explored around the beginning of the twentieth
century by sociologists such as Emile Durkheim (1858–1917), Ferdinand Toennies (1855–
1936), and Georg Simmel (1858–1918). Durkheim believed that crime was a normal part of
all societies and that law was a symbol of social solidarity, so an act was ―criminal when it
offends strong and defined states of the collective conscience.‖ Some of the earliest
sociologists to study American communities were W. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki. In
The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, Thomas and Znaniecki described the problems
Polish immigrants faced in the early 1900s when they left their homeland and moved to
American cities. The authors noted that crime rates rose among displaced people and
hypothesized that the cause was the social disorganization that resulted from immigrants‘
inability to successfully transplant guiding norms and values from their home cultures into
the new one

A. The Chicago School

1. Robert Park and Ernest Burgess - Some of the earliest sociological theories to
receive widespread recognition can be found in their writings of.
a. In the 1920s and 1930s at the University of Chicago, they developed what became
known as social ecology, or the ecological school of criminology. The social
ecology movement, influenced by the work of biologists on the interactions of
organisms with their environments, concerned itself with how the structure of
society adapts to the quality of natural resources and to the existence of other
human groups.
b. One writer stated that social ecology is ―the attempt to link the structure and
organization of any human community to interactions with its localized
environment.‖
c. Because ecological models build on an organic analogy, it is easy to portray social
disorganization as a disease or pathology. Hence, social ecologists who studied
crime developed a disease model built around the concept of social pathology,
defined as ―those human actions which run contrary to the ideals of residential
stability, property ownership, sobriety, thrift, habituation to work, small business
enterprise, sexual discretion, family solidarity, neighborliness, and discipline of
will.‖
d. Social disorganization and social pathology may arise when a group is faced with
―social change, uneven development of culture, maladaptiveness, disharmony,
conflict, and lack of consensus.‖
e. They viewed cities as having five concentric zones, much like the circles on a
target, each with unique characteristics and populations:
1) Zone I, or the ―loop,‖ contained retail businesses and light manufacturing;
2) Zone II, also referred to as ―zone in transition,‖ surrounding the city center,
was home to impoverished immigrant groups, and was characterized by
deteriorating houses and factories and abandoned buildings;
3) Zone III, also known as the ―working-class‖ zone, contained the second group
of immigrants who escaped the poverty conditions of Zone II.
4) Zone IV was occupied by middle-class citizens with single-family homes; and

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5) Zone V, the suburbs, was called the ―commuter zone.‖ Park and Burgess
noticed that residents of the inner zones tended to migrate to outer zones as
their economic positions improved.
2. Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, other early advocates of the ecological approach,
applied the concentric zones to the study of juvenile delinquency, conducting
empirical studies of Chicago juveniles‘ arrest rates in 1900–1906, 1917–1923, and
1927–1933 (years associated with high rates of neighborhood transition).
a. They found that rates of offending remained relatively constant over time within
zones of transition d concluded that delinquency was caused by the nature of the
environment in which immigrants lived rather than by characteristics of the
immigrant groups themselves.
b. They saw social disorganization as the inability of local communities to solve
common problems and believed that the degree of disorganization in a community
was largely predicated upon the extent of residential mobility and racial
heterogeneity present in that community.
c. They developed the idea of cultural transmission: Traditions of delinquency
were transmitted to successive generations in the same zone in the same way that
languages, roles, and attitudes were communicated.
d. Because 1920s Chicago served as the model for most such studies, they became
collectively referred to as the Chicago School of criminology.

B. The Criminology of Place

1. Environmental Criminology - Ecological approaches to crime causation have found
a modern rebirth in the criminology of place, which builds on the contributions of
routine activities theory and situational crime prevention.
a. Routine activity theory –
1) Proposed by Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus Felson, offers an account of how
opportunities for crime arise through the day-to-day activities carried out by
individuals to meet their needs.
2) Individuals have different routines of life—traveling to and from work, going
to school or attending religious functions, shopping, recreating,
communicating via various electronic technologies, etc.—and these variations
determine the likelihood of when and where a crime will be committed and
who or what is the victim (Francis T. Cullen and Pamela Wilcox (2012) @
oxfordhandbooks.com, n.d.)
3) It emphasizes that crime occurs when three elements converge: (1) a
motivated offender, (2) a suitable target, and (3) the absence of a capable
guardian. This theory includes the routine activities of both offender and
victim.
b. Situational Crime Prevention
1) It focuses on the settings for criminal acts rather than on the characteristics
of offenders.
2) It provides a practical approach to improving safety and challenges
criminological theories based on offenders‘ propensities for mischief.
3) Crime is the result of an interaction between disposition and situation.
Offenders choose to commit crime based on their perceptions of available
opportunities.
4) Consequently, situational factors can stimulate crime and addressing these
factors can reduce crime. Situational crime prevention focuses on very
specific categories of crime or disorder, and takes particular note of crime

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concentrations. Understanding how crimes are committed is critically
important to situational crime prevention.
2. It emphasizes the importance of geographic location and architectural features in
terms of prevalence of victimization. Such ―hot spots‖ of crime, including
neighborhoods, specific streets, and even individual houses and businesses, have been
identified by recent writers.
3. Policing hot spots, also known variously as place-based policing and place-based
crime prevention, is a concept that was popularized by George Mason University‘s
David Weisburd, University of Maryland‘s John Eck, Harvard University professor
Anthony Braga, and others.
4. Rodney Stark developed a theory of deviant neighborhoods consisting of 30
propositions, including the following:
a. To the extent that neighborhoods are dense and poor, homes will be crowded.
b. Where homes are more crowded, there will be a greater tendency to congregate
outside the home in places and circumstances that raise levels of temptation and
offer opportunity to deviate.
c. Where homes are more crowded, there will be lower levels of supervision of
children.
d. Reduced levels of child supervision will result in poor school achievement, with a
consequent reduction in stakes in conformity and an increase in deviant behavior.
e. Poor, dense neighborhoods tend to be mixed-use neighborhoods.
f. Mixed use increases familiarity with and easy access to places offering the
opportunity for deviance.
5. Broken Windows Theory –
a. It holds that physical deterioration such as increases in unrepaired buildings leads
to greater concerns for personal safety among area residents. These concerns lead
to further decreases in maintenance and repair; to increased delinquency,
vandalism, and crime; and to even further deterioration in safety and the physical
environment—all resulting in offenders from other neighborhoods being
increasingly attracted by the area‘s perceived vulnerability.
b. Physical disorder, left unchecked, leads to crime by driving residents indoors and
sending a message to would-be offenders that a neighborhood is out of control.
c. The broken windows perspective, first advanced in a 1982 article by James Q.
Wilson and George L. Kelling titled ―Broken Windows: The Police and
Neighborhood Safety.‖
6. Defensible Space - The concept was developed by architect Oscar Newman in 1972,
and means ―the range of mechanisms—real and symbolic barriers, strongly defined
areas of influence, and improved opportunities for surveillance—that combine to
bring an environment under the control of its residents.‖
7. The criminology of place holds that location can be as predictive of criminal activity
as the lifestyles of victimized individuals or the social features of victimized
households. (Place has been defined by researchers as ―a fixed physical environment
that can be seen completely and simultaneously, at least on its surface, by one‘s naked
eyes.‖ Places can be criminogenic because they have certain routine activities
associated with them or because they provide the characteristics that facilitate crime
commission.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

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MODULE 5 – SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 2 – STRAIN THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Strain theory - Strain can be defined as the pressure that individuals feel to reach socially
determined goals.

A. Anomie Theory
1. Emile Durkheim popularized the concept of Anomie in his 1897 book Suicide, in
which he used the term to explain how a breakdown of predictable social conditions
can lead to feelings of personal loss, dissolution, and lack of a sense of belonging.
2. Robert K. Merton introduced in 1938 the classic statement of strain theory —which
depicts delinquency as a form of adaptive problem-solving behavior committed in
response to problems involving frustrating and undesirable social environments
a. He refined the concept of anomie (a French word meaning ―normlessness‖).
b. Merton‘s use of the term anomie was somewhat different and meant a disjunction
between socially approved means to success and legitimate goals.
c. Merton maintained that legitimate goals, such as wealth, status, and personal
happiness are generally portrayed as desirable for everyone, but the widely
acceptable means to these goals, such as education, hard work, and financial
savings, are not equally available.
d. As a consequence, crime and deviance tend to arise as alternative means to
success when individuals feel the strain of being pressed to succeed in socially
approved ways but find that the tools necessary for such success are not available
to them and that strain increases as the gulf between the goals and the means
available to achieve them widens.
e. Merton‘s emphasis on the felt strain resulting from a lack of fit between goals and
means led to his approach being called strain theory.
f. Merton‘s Deviant Typologies
1) Conformity (Conformists), signifies acceptance of the goals that society holds
as legitimate for everyone, with ready availability of the means approved for
achieving those goals; the mode of adaptation associated with this
combination of goals and means typifies most middle- and upper-class
individuals. Conformity is the most common mode of adaptation prevalent in
society
2) Innovation (Innovatists) arises when an emphasis on approved goal
achievement combines with a lack of opportunity to participate fully in
socially acceptable means to success, which is experienced by many lower-
class individuals who have been socialized to desire traditional success
symbols (expensive cars, large homes, big bank accounts) but do not have
ready access to approved means of acquiring them (educational opportunity);

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innovative behavioral responses, including crime, can be expected to develop
when individuals find themselves deprived.
3) Ritualism (Ritualists), refers to the type of behavior arising when members of
society participate in socially desirable means but show little interest in goal
achievement. A ritualist may get a good education, work every day in an
acceptable occupation, and appear to be leading a solid middle-class lifestyle,
yet care little for the symbols of success, choosing to live an otherwise
independent lifestyle.
4) Retreatism (Retreatists) describes the behavior of those who reject both the
socially approved goals and the means. They may become dropouts, drug
abusers, or homeless persons or participate in alternative lifestyles, such as
communal living; they are often socially and psychologically quite separate
from the larger society around them. Retreatism is the least common mode of
adaptation.
5) Rebellion (Rebels), describes the actions of a person who wishes to replace
socially approved goals and means with some other system; political radicals,
revolutionaries, and antiestablishment agitators fit into this category.

B. Relative Deprivation
1. Steven F. Messner and Richard Rosenfeld - They proposed another version of
Merton‘s anomie theory has been proposed, who suggested that inconsistencies in the
American Dream are to be blamed for most criminal activity: ―Our thesis is that the
American Dream itself exerts pressures toward crime by encouraging an anomic
cultural environment, an environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an
‗anything goes‘ mentality in the pursuit of personal goals.‖
2. Relative deprivation (by Judith Blau and Peter Blau) refers to the economic and
social gaps that exist between rich and poor who live in close proximity to one
another.
a. People assess their position in life by way of comparison with things and people
they already know.
b. Relative deprivation creates feelings of anger, frustration, hostility, and social
injustice on the part of those who experience it.
c. According to distributive justice, which refers to people‘s perceptions of their
rightful place in the reward structure of society, even wealthy and socially
privileged individuals may feel slighted or shortchanged if they feel inadequately
rewarded for their behavior or accomplishments.
d. Two types of relative deprivation:
1) Personal relative deprivation is characteristic of individuals who feel deprived
compared with other people. People who experience personal deprivation are
likely to feel socially isolated and personally stressed
2) Group relative deprivation is a communal sense of injustice that is shared by
members of the same group, and those who believe their entire social group is
deprived relative to other groups are more prone to participate in social
movements and may actively attempt to change the social system, making
group relative deprivation a powerful force for social change.

C. General Strain Theory

1. Robert Agnew and others formulated the strain theory in 1992 and molded it into a
comprehensive perspective called general strain theory (GST).

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2. GST sees law-breaking behavior as a coping mechanism enabling those who engage
in it to deal with the socio-emotional problems generated by negative social relations.
3. Six Central Propositions of GST
a. Strains refer to events and conditions that are disliked by individuals. There are
three major sources of strain: Individuals may (a) lose something they value, (b)
be treated in an aversive or negative manner by others, and (c) be unable to
achieve their goals.
b. Strains increase the likelihood of particular crimes primarily through their impact
on a range of negative emotional states. Certain kinds of strains, for example,
might lead to revenge seeking, while others cause those who experience them to
steal things of value.
c. Those strains most likely to cause crime are perceived (a) as high in magnitude or,
(b) as unjust, (c) are associated with low self-control, and (d) create some pressure
or incentive to engage in criminal coping.
d. The likelihood that individuals will react to strains with criminal behavior depends
on a range of factors that influence the individual‘s (a) ability to engage in legal
coping, (b) costs of crime, and (c) disposition of crime.
e. Patterns of offending over the life course, group differences in crime, and
community and societal differences in crime can be partly explained in terms of
differences in the exposure to strains conducive to crime.
f. Crime can be reduced by reducing individuals‘ exposure to strains that are
conducive to crime and by reducing their likelihood of responding to strains with
crime.
4. Agnew saw the crime-producing effects of strain as cumulative and concluded that
whatever form it takes, ―strain creates a predisposition for delinquency in those cases
in which it is chronic or repetitive.‖ Predispositions may be manifested in the form of
negative affective states, meaning emotions such as anger, fear, depression, and
disappointment. Agnew said that strain theories focus -
a. (1) ―explicitly on negative relationships with others, relationships in which the
individual is not treated as he or she wants to be treated,‖ and he argued that
b. (2) ―adolescents are pressured into delinquency by the negative affective states—
most notably anger and related emotions— that often result from negative
relationships.‖

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

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MODULE 5 – SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION
LESSON 3 – CULTURE CONFLICTS OR CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Culture Conflict Theory (also called cultural deviance theory), suggests that the root
cause of criminality can be found in a clash of values between differently socialized groups
over what is acceptable or proper behavior. The culture conflict concept is inherent in
ecological criminology (discussed earlier in this chapter) and its belief that zones of transition
tend to be in flux and harbor groups of people whose values are often at odds with those of
the larger society.

The culture conflict perspective found its clearest expression in the writings of Thorsten
Sellin in his 1938 book Culture Conflict and Crime, where he stated that the root cause of
crime could be found in different values for what is acceptable or proper behavior. According
to Sellin, conduct norms, which provide the valuative basis for human behavior, are
acquired early in life through childhood socialization, and it is the clash of norms between
variously socialized groups that results in crime. Because crime is a violation of laws
established by legislative decree, the criminal event itself is nothing other than a
disagreement over what should be acceptable behavior. Sellin described two types of culture
conflict.
1. Primary conflict arises when a fundamental clash of cultures occurs, as when an
immigrant father kills his daughter‘s lover following an Old World tradition that
demands a family‘s honor be kept intact.
2. Secondary conflict occurs, according to Sellin, when smaller cultures within the
primary one clash, as when middle-class values (on which most criminal laws are
based) find fault with inner city or lower-class norms, resulting in the social
phenomenon we call crime.

A. Subcultural Theory
1. Fundamental to the notion of culture conflict is the idea of a subculture, a collection
of values and preferences that is communicated to subcultural participants through a
process of socialization. Subcultures differ from the larger culture in that they claim
the allegiance of smaller groups of people.
2. Subcultural theory is a sociological perspective that emphasizes the contributions
made by variously socialized cultural groups to the phenomenon of crime.
3. Frederic M. Thrasher In his writings ―The Gang” after studying 1,313 gangs in
Chicago in 1927 led to a typology in which he described different types of gangs.
4. William F. Whyte, in n 1943, drawing on Thrasher‘s work, published Street Corner
Society. Whyte, in describing his three-year study of the Italian slum he called
―Cornerville,‖ further developed the subcultural thesis, showing that lower-class
residents of a typical slum could achieve success through the opportunities afforded
by slum culture, including racketeering and bookmaking.

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B. Focal Concerns of Subcultures - In 1958, Walter B. Miller attempted to detail the
values that drive members of lower-class subcultures into delinquent pursuits, describing
lower-class culture as ―a long established, distinctively patterned tradition with an
integrity of its own.‖ Miller also outlined what he termed the focal concerns (key values)
of delinquent subcultures: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy.
Miller concluded that subcultural crime and deviance are not the direct consequences of
poverty and lack of opportunity but emanate from specific values characteristic of such
subcultures.
1. Trouble is a dominant feature of lower-class culture. Getting into trouble, staying out
of trouble, and dealing with trouble when it arises become focal points in the lives of
many members of lower-class culture.
2. Toughness may have been due to many men in the groups he examined being raised
in female-headed families and may have reflected an almost obsessive concern with
masculinity as a reaction to the perceived threat of over identification with female role
models.
3. Smartness as the ―capacity to outsmart, outfox, outwit, dupe, take, [or] con another or
others and the concomitant capacity to avoid being outwitted, taken or duped oneself.
In its essence, smartness involves the capacity to achieve valued entity—material
goods, personal status—through a maximum use of mental agility and a minimum of
physical effort.‖
4. Excitement was seen as a search for thrills—often necessary to overcome the
boredom inherent in lower-class lifestyles. Fighting, gambling, picking up women,
and making the rounds were all described as derivative aspects of the lower-class
concern with excitement.
5. Fate is related to the quest for excitement and to the concept of luck. As Miller stated,
―Many lower-class persons feel that their lives are subject to a set of forces over
which they have relatively little control. These are not supernatural forces or
organized religion but relate more to a concept of ‗destiny‘ or man as a pawn. This
often-implicit worldview is associated with a conception of the ultimate futility of
directed effort toward a goal.‖
6. Autonomy, manifested in statements like ―I can take care of myself‖ and ―No one‘s
going to push me around,‖ produces behavioral problems from the perspective of
middle-class expectations when it surfaces in work environments, public schools, or
other social institutions built on expectations of conformity.

C. Drift Theory and Neutralization Techniques

1. Drift Theory – It explains how juvenile delinquents can hold both conventional and
deviant values and attitudes. The theory claims that delinquents use techniques of
neutralization to rationalize their delinquent and/or deviant behaviors.
2. Gresham Sykes and David Matza, in their article ―Techniques of Neutralization‖
suggested that offenders and delinquents are aware of conventional values, understand
that their offending is wrong, but engage in neutralizing self-talk before offending to
mitigate the anticipated shame and guilt associated with violating societal norms.
Offenders can overcome feelings of responsibility when involved in crime
commission by using five types of justification:
a. Denying responsibility. They point to their background of poverty, abuse, and
lack of opportunity: ―The trouble I get into is not my fault.‖
b. Denying injury. They explain that everyone does it or that individuals or
companies can afford it: ―They‘re so rich, they‘ll never miss it.‖

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c. Denying the victim. They justify the harm done by claiming that the victim
deserved the victimization: ―I only beat up drunks.‖
d. Condemning the condemners. They assert that authorities are corrupt or are
responsible for their own victimization and that society has made them what they
are and must now suffer the consequences: ―They‘re worse than I am. They‘re all
on the take.‖
e. Appealing to higher loyalties. They use defense of their family honor, gang,
girlfriend, or neighborhood: ―I have to protect myself.‖
3. Matza used the phrase “Soft determinism” to describe drift, saying that delinquents
are neither forced to make choices because of fateful experiences early in life nor
entirely free to make choices unencumbered by the realities of their situation. robbers,
and carjackers have also used neutralization techniques.
4. Subterranean values - underground values (i.e., pornography) that exist alongside
conventional values. Rather than being wholly committed to delinquency, most
delinquents are dabbling in it and are acting out subterranean values (Matza, 1964).
Conventional society attempts to control the expression of these values and reserve it
for the proper time and place; in a sense, it is the practice of ―morality with a wink.‖
The delinquent, rather than being committed to goals that are alien to society,
exaggerates society‘s subterranean values and acts them out in caricature.

D. Violent Subcultures
1. Franco Ferracuti and Marvin Wolfgang in 1967 published their seminal work The
Subculture of Violence: Toward an Integrated Theory of Criminology, which drew
together many of the sociological perspectives previously advanced to explain
delinquency and crime.
2. Ferracuti and Wolfgang‘s main thesis was that violence is a learned form of
adaptation to certain problematic life circumstances and that learning to be violent
takes place within the context of a subcultural milieu emphasizing the advantages of
violence over other forms of adaptation.
3. These subcultures of violence both expect violence from their members and legitimize
it when it occurs: ―The use of violence is not necessarily viewed as illicit conduct, and
the users do not have to deal with feelings of guilt about their aggression.‖
4. Ferracuti and Wolfgang extended their theory of subcultural violence with the
following ―corollary propositions‖ -
a. No subculture can be totally different from or totally in conflict with the society of
which it is a part.
b. To establish the existence of a subculture of violence does not require that the
actors sharing in these basic value elements should express violence in all
situations.
c. The potential resort or willingness to resort to violence in a variety of situations
emphasizes the penetrating and diffusive character of this culture theme.
d. The subcultural ethos of violence may be shared by all ages in a subsociety, but
this ethos is most prominent in a limited age group, ranging from late adolescence
to middle age.
e. The counter norm is nonviolence.
f. The development of favorable attitudes toward violence and its use in a subculture
usually involves learned behavior and a process of differential learning,
association, or identification.

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g. The use of violence in a subculture is not necessarily viewed as illicit conduct, and
the users therefore do not have to deal with feelings of guilt about their
aggression.

E. Differential Opportunity Theory

1. Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd E. Ohlin published Delinquency and Opportunity in
1960 which contains a report on the nature and activities of juvenile gangs, blends the
subcultural thesis with ideas derived from strain theory and identifies two types of
socially structured opportunities for success: legitimate and illegitimate.
a. Legitimate opportunities are generally available to individuals born into middle-
class culture, but participants in lower-class subcultures are often denied access to
them, so illegitimate opportunities for success are often seen as quite acceptable
by participants in so-called illegitimate subcultures.
b. Illegitimate opportunity structure to describe preexisting subcultural paths to
success not approved of by the wider culture. Where illegitimate paths to success
are not already in place, alienated individuals may undertake a process of
ideational evolution through which ―a collective delinquent solution‖ or a
―delinquent means of achieving success‖ may be decided upon by members of a
gang.
2. Their Theory - Because the two paths to success—legitimate and illegitimate—differ
in their availability to members of society, Cloward and Ohlin‘s perspective has been
called “differential opportunity.”
a. A delinquent behavior may result from the ready availability of illegitimate
opportunities and the effective replacement of the norms of the wider culture with
expedient and ―legitimate‖ subcultural rules.
b. ―A delinquent subculture is one in which certain forms of delinquent activity are
essential requirements for the performance of the dominant roles supported by the
subculture.‖ Its most critical elements are the ―prescriptions, norms, or rules of
conduct that define the activities required of a full-fledged member.‖
3. Three Types Of Delinquent Subcultures:
a. criminal subcultures, in which criminal role models are readily available for
adoption by those being socialized into the subculture;
b. conflict subcultures, in which participants seek status through violence; and
c. retreatist subcultures, in which drug use and withdrawal from the wider society
predominate.
4. These delinquent subcultures have at least three identifiable features: ―acts of
delinquency that reflect subculturals upport are likely to recur with great frequency,
access to a successful adult criminal career sometimes results from participation in a
delinquent subculture, and the delinquent subculture imparts to the conduct of its
members a high degree of stability and resistance to control or change.
5. Cloward and Ohlin divided lower-class youths into four types based on the degree of
commitment to middle-class values and material achievement:
a. Type I youths desire entry to the middle class via improvement in their economic
position,
b. Type II youths desire entry to the middle class but not improvement in their
economic position,
c. Type III youths desire wealth but not entry to the middle class and are seen as the
most crime prone, and

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d. Type IV youths are dropouts who retreat from the cultural mainstream through
drug and alcohol use (see the creative example in the Who‘s to Blame box in this
chapter).

F. Reaction Formation
1. Albert Cohen, focused primarily on the gang behavior of delinquent youths: ―When
we speak of a delinquent subculture, we speak of a way of life that has somehow
become traditional among certain groups in American society. These groups are the
boys‘ gangs that flourish most conspicuously in the ‗delinquency neighborhoods‘ of
our larger American cities. The members of these gangs grow up, some to become
law-abiding citizens and others to graduate to more professional and adult forms of
criminality, but the delinquent tradition is kept alive by the age-groups that succeed
them.‖
2. “Middleclass Measuring Rod” - Cohen argued that youths from all backgrounds are
generally held accountable to the norms of the wider society through a ―middleclass
measuring rod‖ of expectations related to school performance, language proficiency,
cleanliness, punctuality, neatness, nonviolent behavior, and allegiance to other similar
standards, but noted that not everyone is prepared, by birth circumstances and
subsequent socialization, to effectively meet such expectations.
3. “Nonutilitarian” - In an examination of vandalism, Cohen found that
“nonutilitarian” delinquency, in which things of value are destroyed rather than
stolen or otherwise used for financial gain, is the result of middle-class values turned
upside down.
4. Delinquent youths, often alienated from middle-class values and lifestyles through
deprivation and limited opportunities, can achieve status among their subcultural
peers via vandalism and other forms of delinquent behavior.
5. Children from deprived backgrounds turn to delinquency because they experience
status frustration when judged by adults and others according to middle-class
standards and goals that they are unable to achieve.
6. Reaction Formation - Because it is nearly impossible for them to succeed in middle-
class terms, they also may overcome anxiety through the process of reaction
formation, in which hostility toward middle-class values develops. From psychiatric
perspectives, reaction formation is ―the process in which a person openly rejects that
which he wants, or aspires to, but cannot obtain or achieve.‖
7. Cohen discovered the roots of delinquent subcultures in what he termed the
―collective solution to the problem of status.‖ When youths who experience the same
kind of alienation from middle-class ideals band together, they achieve a collective
and independent solution and create a delinquent subculture.
8. Cohen‘s approach is summarized by Donald J. Shoemaker, who said that lower-
class youths undergo a working-class socialization combining lower-class values and
habits with middle-class success values. Lower-class youths experience failure in
school because they cannot live up to the middle-class norms, suffer a consequent loss
of self-esteem and increased feelings of rejection, drop out of school and associate
with delinquent peers, and experience hostility and resentment toward middle-class
standards through reaction formation. Such alienated youths achieve status and a
sense of improved self-worth through participation in a gang of like-minded peers;
delinquency and crime are the result.

IV. Progress Check or Review questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 1 – FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. The Perspective of Social Interaction or Sociological Theories - The theories discussed in

the first part of Sociological Theories are called social process theories, or interactionist
perspectives, because they depend on the process of interaction between individuals and
society for their explanatory power. The various types of social process theories include
social learning theory, social control theory, and labeling theory. The second part of
Sociological Theories focuses on social development theories, which tend to offer an
integrated perspective and place a greater emphasis on changes in offending over time.

Social process theories of crime causation assume that everyone has the potential to
violate the law and that criminality is not an innate human characteristic; instead, criminal
behavior is learned in interaction with others, and the socialization process occurring as
the result of group membership is seen as the primary route through which learning
occurs. Among the most important groups contributing to the process of socialization are
the family, peers, work groups, and reference groups with which one identifies because
they instill values and norms in their members and communicate their acceptable
worldviews and patterns of behavior.

Social process perspectives hold that the process through which criminality is
acquired, deviant self-concepts are established, and criminal behavior results is active,
open-ended, and ongoing throughout a person‘s life. They suggest that individuals who
have weak stakes in conformity are more likely to be influenced by the social processes
and contingent experiences that lead to crime, and that criminal choices tend to persist
because they are reinforced by the reaction of society to those whom it has identified as
deviant.

B. Types Of Social Process Approaches - A number of theories can be classified under the
social process umbrella: social learning theory, social control theory, labeling theory,
reintegrative shaming, and dramaturgical perspective. Social learning theory places
primary emphasis on the role of communication and socialization in the acquisition of
learned patterns of criminal behavior and the values supporting that behavior.

Whereas social control theory focuses on the strength of the bond people share with
individuals and institutions around them, especially as those relationships shape their
behavior. Labeling theory points to the special significance of society‘s response to the
criminal and sees the process through which a person comes to be defined as a criminal,
along with society‘s imposition of the label ―criminal,‖ as a significant contributory factor

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in future criminality. Reintegrative shaming, a contemporary offshoot of labeling theory,
emphasizes possible positive outcomes of the labeling process; the dramaturgical
perspective focuses on how people can effectively manage the impressions they make on
others. It is to different social learning theories that we now turn our attention.

C. Principles of Social Process and Social Development Theories

1. Social process theories of crime causation assume that everyone has the potential to
violate the law and that criminality is not an innate human characteristic.
2. Criminal behavior is learned through interaction with others, and the socialization
process that occurs as the result of group membership is seen as the primary route
through which learning occurs.
3. Among the most important groups contributing to the process of socialization are
family, peers, work groups, and reference groups with which one identifies.
4. This is the process through which criminality is acquired; deviant self-concepts are
established; and criminal behavior results are active, open-minded, and ongoing
throughout a person‘s life.
5. Individuals who have low stakes in conformity are more likely to be influenced by the
social processes and contingent experiences that lead to crime. Criminal choices, once
made, tend to persist because they are reinforced by the reaction of society to those
whom it has identified as deviant.
6. The social development perspective understands that development begins at birth (and
perhaps even earlier) and occurs primarily within a social context.
7. Human development occurs on many levels simultaneously, including psychological,
biological, familial, interpersonal, cultural, societal, and ecological. Hence, social
development theories tend to be integrated theories, or theories that combine various
points of view on the process of development.
8. Social development theories focus more on individual rates of offending and seek to
understand both increases and decreases in rates of offending over the individual‘s
lifetime. Social development theories generally use longitudinal (over time)
measurements of delinquency and offending, and they pay special attention to the
transitions that people face as they move through the life cycle.
9. Most theories of social development recognize that a critical transitional period occurs
as a person moves from childhood to adulthood.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 2 – SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Social learning theory (also called learning theory) says that all behavior is learned in
much the same way and that such learning includes the acquisition of norms, values, and
patterns of behaviors conducive to crime, meaning that crime is also learned and that people
learn to commit crime from others. Criminal behavior is a product of the social environment,
not an innate characteristic of particular people.

A. Differential Association
1. Edwin Sutherland in 1939, who stated that criminality is learned through a process
of differential association with others who communicate criminal values and who
advocate the commission of crimes.
2. He emphasized the role of social learning as an explanation for crime because he
believed that many concepts popular in the field of criminology at the time—
including social pathology, genetic inheritance, biological characteristics, and
personality flaws—were inadequate to explain the process by which an otherwise
normal individual turns to crime.
3. Sutherland was the first well-known criminologist to suggest that all significant
human behavior is learned and that crime is not substantively different from any other
form of behavior.
4. Although Sutherland died in 1950, the tenth edition of his famous book, Criminology,
was published in 1978 under the authorship of Donald R. Cressey. The 1978 edition
of Criminology contained the finalized principles of differential association (which,
for all practical purposes, were complete as early as 1947) as listed as follows -
a. Criminal behavior is learned.
b. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with others in a process of
communication.
c. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate
personal groups.
d. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes (a) techniques of
committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated and sometimes very
simple, and (b) the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and
attitudes.
e. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the
legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
f. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to law
violation over definitions unfavorable to law violation.
g. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
h. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-
criminal patterns involves all mechanisms involved in any other learning.

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i. Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not
explained by those general needs values because noncriminal behavior is also an
expression of the same needs and values.

B. Differential Association–Reinforcement Theory

1. Robert Burgess and Ronald L. Akers. in 1966, published an article titled ―A
Differential Association–Reinforcement Theory of Criminal Behavior.‖
2. The perspective, often termed differential reinforcement theory or sociological
learning theory, expands on Sutherland‘s original idea of differential association by
adding the idea of reinforcement, the concept of the power of punishments and
rewards to shape behavior (as discussed in ―Behavior Theory‖.
3. They integrated psychological principles of operant conditioning with sociological
notions of differential association, and they reorganized Sutherland‘s nine principles
into seven, the first of which stated, ―Criminal behavior is learned according to the
principles of operant conditioning.‖ Fundamental to this perspective is the belief that
human beings learn to define behaviors that are rewarded as positive and that an
individual‘s criminal behavior is rewarded at least sometimes by individuals and
groups that value such activity.
4. Akers began to apply that term to differential association– reinforcement theory with
the 1973 publication of his book Deviant Behavior: A Social Learning Approach.
a. According to Akers, ―The basic assumption in social learning theory is that the
same learning process, operating in a context of social structure, interaction, and
situation, produces both conforming and deviant behavior.‖
b. Akers identified two primary learning mechanisms: differential reinforcement
(also called instrumental conditioning), in which behavior is a function of the
frequency, amount, and probability of experienced and perceived contingent
rewards and punishments, and imitation, in which the behavior of others and its
consequences are observed and modeled.
c. These learning mechanisms, said Akers, operate in a process of differential
association involving direct and indirect verbal and nonverbal communication,
interaction, and identification with others.
d. Interpersonal association also plays an important role because it can expose
individuals to deviant or conforming norms and role models. Akers continued to
develop learning theory and in 1998 published the book Social Learning and
Social Structure, in which he explained crime rates as a function of social learning
that occurs within a social structure.
e. He called this explanation of the model of crime the social structure–social
learning model (SSSL) and summarized it in seven concise propositions:
1) Deviant behavior is learned according to the principles of operant
conditioning.
2) Deviant behavior is learned both in nonsocial situations that are reinforcing or
discriminating and through social interaction in which the behavior of others is
reinforcing or discriminating for such behavior.
3) The principal part of the learning of deviant behavior occurs in those groups
that comprise or control the individual‘s major source of reinforcements.
4) The learning of deviant behavior, including specific techniques, attitudes, and
avoidance procedures, is a function of the effective and available reinforcers
and the existing reinforcement contingencies.
5) The specific class of behavior learned and its frequency of occurrence are a
function of the effective and available reinforcers and the deviant or

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nondeviant direction of the norms, rules, and definitions that in the past have
accompanied the reinforcement.
6) The probability that a person will commit deviant behavior is increased in the
presence of normative statements, definitions, and verbalizations that, in the
process of differential reinforcement of such behavior over conforming
behavior, have acquired discriminative value.
7) The strength of deviant behavior is a direct function of the amount, frequency,
and probability of its reinforcement. The modalities of association with
deviant patterns are important insofar as they affect the source, amount, and
scheduling of reinforcement.

C. Differential Identification Theory

1. Daniel Glaser also built on Sutherland‘s notion of differential association, and Glaser
offered a differential identification theory.
2. The central tenet of Glaser‘s theory is that ―a person pursues criminal behavior to the
extent that he identifies himself with real or imaginary persons from whose
perspective his criminal behavior seems acceptable.‖
3. Glaser proposed that the process of differential association leads to an intimate
personal identification with lawbreakers, resulting in criminal or delinquent acts.
4. Glaser recognized that people will identify with various people and that some of these
identifications will be relatively strong and others weaker.
a. According to Glaser, it is not the frequency or intensity of association that
determines behavior (as Sutherland believed) but the symbolic process of
identification.
b. Identification with a person or with an abstract understanding of what that person
might be like can be more important than actual associations with real people.
c. Role models can consist of abstract ideas as well as actual people, so an individual
might identify with a serial killer or a terrorist bomber even though he or she has
never met that person.
d. Glaser also recognized the role of economic conditions, frustrations with one‘s
place in the social structure, learned moral creeds, and group participation in
producing differential identifications.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 3 - SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

It was mentioned earlier that theories of social control focus primarily on the strength of
the bond that people share with the individuals and institutions around them, especially as
those relationships shape their behavior. According to Charles R. Tittle, a prominent
sociologist at Washington State University with a specialty in crime and deviance, social
control theory emphasizes ―the inhibiting effect of social and psychological integration with
others whose potential negative response, surveillance, and expectations regulate or constrain
criminal impulses.‖

In other words, social control theorists seek to identify those features of the personality
and the environment that keep people from committing crimes. According to Tittle, social
control theorists take a step beyond static aspects of the personality and physical features of
the environment in order to focus on the process through which social integration develops.
The extent of a person‘s integration with positive social institutions and with significant
others determines that person‘s resistance to criminal temptations, and social control theorists
focus on the process through which such integration develops. Rather than stressing causative
factors in criminal behavior, social control theories tend to ask why people actually obey
rules instead of breaking them.

A. Containment Theory
1. Walter C. Reckless, a student of the Chicago School of criminology, wrote in 1950‘s
The Crime Problem.
2. Containment Theory is the termed used by Reckless in calling his approach and
compared it with a biological immune response, saying that only some people
exposed to a disease actually come down with it and that both sickness and crime
result from the failure of control mechanisms, some internal and others external.
a. External Containment consists of ―the holding power of the group.‖Under most
circumstances, ―the society, the state, the tribe, the village, the family, and other
nuclear groups are able to hold the individual within the bounds of the accepted
norms and expectations.‖ In addition to setting limits, he saw society as
providing individuals with meaningful roles and activities, also important factors
of external containment.
b. Inner Containment ―represents the ability of the person to follow the expected
norms, to direct himself.‖ This ability is enhanced by a positive self-image, a
focus on socially approved goals, personal aspirations in line with reality, a
tolerance for frustration, and a general adherence to society‘s norms and values.
c. ―Pushes toward Crime‖ represents those factors in an individual‘s background
that might propel him or her into criminal behavior, including a criminogenic
background or upbringing involving participation in a delinquent subculture,

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deprivation, biological propensities toward deviant behavior, and psychological
maladjustment.
d. ―Pulls toward Crime‖ signifies all the perceived rewards, including financial
gain, sexual satisfaction, and higher status, that crime may offer.
3. Containment is a stabilizing force that blocks such pushes and pulls from leading the
individual into crime. Reckless believed that inner containment was far more effective
than external containment in preventing law violations. ―As social relations become
more impersonal, as society becomes more diverse and alienated, as people
participate more and more for longer periods of time away from a home base, the self
becomes more and more important as a controllingagent.‖

B. Delinquency and Self-Esteem

1. Howard B. Kaplan in the mid-1970s, when he proposed that people who are
ridiculed by their peers suffer a loss of self-esteem, assess themselves poorly, and
abandon the motivation to conform.
2. This approach has come to be known as the self-derogation theory of delinquency.
Numerous studies appear to support the idea that low self-esteem fosters delinquent
behavior.
3. However, it appears that delinquency can also enhance self-esteem, at least for some
delinquents; for example, one study found that delinquent behavior enhances self-
esteem in adolescents whose self-esteem is already very low.
4. Some researchers have examined ethnic identification as both a factor in low self-
esteem and a precursor to delinquent

C. Social Bond Theory

1. Travis Hirschi popularized An important form of social control theory in his 1969
book Causes of Delinquency.
2. Hirschi argued that through successful socialization, a bond forms between
individuals and the social group, but when that bond is weakened or broken, deviance
and crime may result. Hirschi described four components of the social bond:
a. Attachment (a person‘s shared interests with others) – It refers to a person‘s
shared interests with others. The psychopath as an example of the kind of person
whose attachment to society is nearly nonexistent. Other relatively normal
individuals may find their attachment to society loosened through ―the process of
becoming alienated from others [which] often involves or is based on active
interpersonal conflict,‖ says Hirschi.
b. Commitment (the amount of energy and effort put into activities with others) – It
reflects a person‘s investment of time and energies into conforming behavior and the
potential loss of the rewards that he or she has already gained from that behavior. In
Hirschi‘s words, ―The idea, then, is that the person invests time, energy, himself, in a
certain line of activity—say, getting an education, building up a business, acquiring a
reputation for virtue. Whenever he considers deviant behavior, he must consider the
costs of this deviant behavior, the risk he runs of losing the investment he has made in
conventional behavior.‖
c. Involvement (the amount of time spent with others in shared activities) - means
―engrossment in conventional activities‖ and is similar to Reckless‘s concept of
meaningful roles. Hirschi cited the colloquial saying that ―idle hands are the devil‘s
workshop‖—time and energy are limited, so if a person is busy with legitimate
pursuits, he or she will have little opportunity for crime and deviance.

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d. Belief (a shared value and moral system) - sets Hirschi‘s control theory apart from
subcultural approaches because ―control theory assumes the existence of a common
value system within the society or group whose norms are being violated. We not
only assume the deviant has believed the [but also] assume he believes the rules even
as he violates them.‖ How can a person simultaneously believe it is wrong to commit
a crime and still commit it? Hirschi‘s answer that ―many persons do have an attitude
of respect toward the rules of society.‖Although they know the rules exist, they
basically do not care and invest little of their sense of self in moral standards.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: This will be posted or administered thru Google
Form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 4 - THE GENERAL THEORY OF CRIME

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Michael Gottfredson, in collaboration with Hirschi in 1990, proposed a general theory

of crime (GTC) based on the concepts advanced earlier in control theory.

B. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory Of Crime claims to be general, in part, due
to its assertion that the operation of a single mechanism, low self-control, accounts for ‗all
crime, at all times‘; acts ranging from vandalism to homicide, from rape to white-collar
crime.‖
1. Self-Control - Gottfredson and Hirschi defined self-control as the degree to which a
person is vulnerable to temptations of the moment.
a. They proposed that self-control is acquired early in life and that low self-control
combined with impulsivity is the premier individual-level cause of crime. It
develops by the end of childhood and is fostered through parental emotional
investment in the child, monitoring the child‘s behavior, recognizing deviance
when it occurs, and punishing the child.
b. Their general theory is built on a classical or rational choice perspective—the
belief that crime is a natural consequence of unrestrained human tendencies to
seek pleasure and avoid pain.
c. Offenders appear to have little control over their own desires, so when personal
desires conflict with long-term interests, those who lack self-control often opt for
the desires of the moment, thus contravening legal restrictions and becoming
involved in crime.
d. Central to Gottfredson and Hirschi‘s thesis is the belief that a well-developed
social bond will result in the creation of effective mechanisms of self-control.
e. ―For Gottfredson and Hirschi, self-control is the key concept in the explanation of
all forms of crime as well as other types of behavior. Indeed, they believe that all
current differences in rates of crime between groups and categories may be
explained by differences in the management of self-control.‖
2. Parenting and Self-Control - One recent Canadian study found that the effect of
good parenting on the development of positive self-control was very strong, but that
the role of factors such as household size and family structure also could make an
important difference.
a. Families in which children lived with both biological parents seemed to be best at
developing self-control in their children, whereas lower levels of self-control were
found in single-parent families and in reconstituted families in which the parents
had been divorced and remarried.
b. ―Overall, regardless of family structure, it is evident that a nurturing, accepting
family environment is positively associated self-control.‖

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c. Some researchers have called the argument that self-control develops early in
childhood and persists over time the stability thesis.
d. Consequently, young people with low self-control tend to associate with their
deviant peers, meaning that those with low levels of self-control are essentially
self-selected into groups of people who share their characteristics. Constance L.
Chapple of the University of Nebraska explained that ―the delinquent peer group
may provide increased opportunities for crime or exert situational pushes towards
delinquency‖ because of the lack of self-control that characterizes its members.

C. Wikström’s Situational Action Theory (SAT) suggests that an individual‘s ability to

exercise self-control is an outcome of the interaction between his or her personal traits
and the situation in which he or she is involved.
1. SAT highlights the situation as the core unit of analysis and places emphasis on a
person‘s sense of morality—which expresses itself when an individual is faced with a
particular set of circumstances.
2. In other words, Wikström proposes that acts of violence are essentially moral actions
and that all such acts can be explained by a theory of moral action that takes into
account both personal characteristics and the social setting.
3. SAT argues that there is no fundamental difference between people who follow or
break moral rules in general and those who follow or break rules defined by the law as
criminal. The basic causal processes that operate in both cases are the same, it says—
but the decision-making process is one in which moral interpretations are more
important than degree of self-control.
4. Moral Understanding - The theory suggests that the particulars of a given situation,
in combination with an actor‘s understanding of moral rules, determines what is right
or wrong for that individual and, consequently, what that person will do.
5. Deterrence is seen as the ―main causal mechanism through which formal and
informal social controls influence a person‘s moral actions.‖ Deterrence is defined by
Wikström as ―the felt worry about or fear of consequences when considering breaking
a moral rule or committing an act of crime.‖
6. Motivation and frictions are other important concepts in SAT. Motivation is defined
as goal-directed attention, in which people are tempted to fill desires and
commitments, and will seek out opportunities for fulfillment.
7. Provocations, another important concept in SAT, can result from frictions, or
unwanted interferences (i.e., verbal insults, physical interference), that arise in
situation-specific circumstances.

D. Control–Balance Theory - Traditional control theories posit that deviance and crime
result from either weak social bonds or low levels of self-control, but a novel form of
control theory can be found in the control– balance theory of Charles R. Tittle.
1. Tittle’s control–balance approach resulted from blending the social bond and
containment perspectives, and he argued that too much control can be just as
dangerous as too little.
2. Contro Ratio - The crucial concept in Tittle ‗approach is what he called the control
ratio—the amount of control to which a person is subject versus the amount of
control that person exerts over others—which predicts not only the probability that
one will engage in deviance but also the specific form that deviance will take.
a. High levels of control (or overcontrol) are termed control surplus. Individuals
with control surpluses are able to exercise a great deal of control over others and
will work to extend their degree of control even further. Their efforts lead to

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deviant actions involving exploitation, plunder, and decadence—frequently seen
in cases of white-collar crime and political corruption. Control surpluses build on
―the fundamental drive toward autonomy,‖ which involves ―a desire to extend
control as far as possible‖ and results in forms of deviance that he called
―autonomous.‖
b. Low levels are called control deficit. A control deficit exists for people unable to
exercise much control over others (and who are hence overly controlled) and
results in deviance as an attempt to escape repressive controls.Deviance
engendered by control deficit takes the form of predation (physical violence, theft,
sexual assault, robbery), defiance (challenges to conventional norms, including
vandalism, curfew violations, and sullenness), or submission (―passive,
unthinking, slavish obedience to the expectations, commands, or anticipated
desires of others‖
c. Control Imbalance - Control imbalance only sets the stage for deviance:
Deviance ultimately occurs once a person realizes, at some level, that acts of
deviance can reset the control ratio in a favorable way.
d. Opportunity also plays a significant role in Tittle‘s theory. ―No matter how
favorable the motivational and constraint configuration,‖ said Tittle, ―the actual
likelihood of deviance occurring depends on there being an opportunity for it to
happen.‖

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 5 – LABELING THEORY

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

Society seems to never forget. Society‘s response to known or suspected offenders is

important not only because it determines the future of those who are labeled as criminals but
also because it may contribute to a heightened incidence of criminality by reducing the
behavioral options available to labeled offenders.

A. Tagging
1. An early description of societal reaction to deviance can be found in the work of
Frank Tannenbaum, whose 1938 book Crime and the Community popularized the
term tagging to explain what happens to offenders following arrest, conviction, and
sentencing.
2. Tannenbaum told his readers that crime is essentially the result of two opposing
views—those of the delinquent and those of the community at large. ―This conflict
over the situation is one that arises out of a divergence of values.
3. As the problem develops, the situation gradually becomes redefined. The attitude of
the community hardens definitely into a demand for suppression. There is a gradual
shift from the definition of the specific acts as evil to a definition of the individual as
evil, so that all his acts come to be looked upon with suspicion.
4. From the community‘s point of view, the individual who used to do bad and
mischievous things has now become a bad and unredeemable human being. There is a
persistent demand for consistency in character. The community cannot deal with
people whom it cannot define.‖
5. After the process whereby an offender comes to be seen as ultimately and irrevocably
bad has been completed, Tannenbaum said, the offender ―now lives in a different
world. He has been tagged.
6. The process of making the criminal, therefore, is a process of tagging.‖ Once the
offender has been defined as bad, he or she finds that few legitimate opportunities
remain open and that only other people who have been similarly defined by society as
bad are available to associate with him or her, and this continued association with
negatively defined others leads to continued crime.

B. Primary and Secondary Deviance - Using terminology developed by Edwin M.

Lemert, it became fashionable to call an offender‘s initial acts of deviance primary
deviance and his or her continued acts of deviance (especially those resulting from forced
association with other offenders) secondary deviance.
1. Primary Deviance may be undertaken to solve some immediate problem or to meet
the expectations of one‘s subcultural group. For example, the robbery of a
convenience store by a college student temporarily desperate for tuition money may
be the first serious criminal offense he or she has ever committed, and he or she may

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well intend for it to be the last, but if arrest ensues and the student is tagged with the
status of a criminal, then secondary deviance may occur as a means of adjustment to
the negative status. In Lemert‘s words, ―When a person begins to employ his deviant
behavior or a role based upon it as a means of defense, attack, or adjustment to the
overt and covert problems created by the consequent societal reaction to him, his
deviation is secondary.‖
2. Secondary Deviance is especially important due to the forceful role it plays in
causing tagged individuals both to internalize the negative labels applied to them and
to assume the role of the deviant. According to Lemert, ―Objective evidences of this
change will be found in the symbolic appurtenances of the new role, in clothes,
speech, posture, and mannerisms, which in some cases heighten social visibility, and
which in some cases serve as symbolic cues to professionalization.‖

C. Labeling
1. The person most often associated with labeling theory is Howard Becker, who
published Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, the work in which the
perspective of labeling theory (the idea that society‘s response to the criminal and the
process through which a person comes to be defined as a criminal and labeled
―criminal‖ are significant contributory factors in future criminality) found its fullest
development.
2. In Becker‘s words, ―Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose
infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and
labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act
the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and
sanctions. The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied.
3. For Becker and other labeling theorists, no act is intrinsically deviant or criminal but
must be defined as such by others; becoming deviant involves a sequence of steps that
eventually leads to commitment to a deviant identity and participation in a deviant
career. In developing labeling theory, Becker attempted to explain how some rules
carry the force of law whereas others have less weight or apply only within the
context of marginal subcultures.
4. His explanation centered on the concept of moral enterprise, meaning all the efforts
a particular interest group makes to have its sense of propriety embodied in law.
―Rules are the products of someone‘s initiative, and we can think of the people who
exhibit such enterprise as moral entrepreneurs.‖ An early example of moral enterprise
can be found in the Women‘s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a group devoted
to the prohibition of alcohol. From 1881 to 1919, the WCTU was highly visible in its
nationwide fight against alcohol—holding marches and demonstrations, closing
drinking establishments, and lobbying legislators.
5. Becker was especially interested in describing deviant careers and the processes by
which individuals become members of deviant subcultures and take on the attributes
associated with the deviant role.
6. Becker argued that most deviance is likely to be transitory but that transitory deviance
can be effectively stabilized in a person‘s behavioral repertoire through the labeling
process. Once a person is labeled deviant, opportunities for conforming behavior are
seriously reduced and behavioral opportunities that remain open are primarily deviant
ones; the budding deviant increasingly exhibits deviant behavior because his or her
choices are restricted by society. Successful deviants must acquire the techniques and
resources necessary to undertake the deviant act (drug use, bank robbery) and develop
the mind-set characteristic of others like them. Near the end of a deviant career, the

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person labeled a deviant has internalized society‘s negative label, has assumed a
deviant self-concept, and is likely a member of a deviant subgroup. In this way,
explained Becker, deviance becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, so labeling is a cause
of crime insofar as the actions of society in defining the rule breaker as deviant push
the person further in the direction of continued deviance.
7. Contributions of Labeling Theory - Labeling theory contributed a number of unique
ideas to criminological literature:
a. Deviance is the result of social processes involving the imposition of definitions
rather than the consequence of any quality inherent in human activity itself.
b. Deviant individuals achieve their status by virtue of social definition rather than
inborn traits.
c. The reaction of society to deviant behavior and to those who engage in such
behavior is the major element in determining the criminality of the behavior and
the person in question.
d. Negative self-images follow processing by the formal criminal justice system
rather than precede delinquency.
e. Labeling by society and handling by the justice system tend to perpetuate crime
and delinquency rather than reduce them.
8. Becker‘s typology of delinquents—the pure deviant, the falsely accused deviant, and
the secret deviant—helped explain the labeling approach.
a. The pure deviant is one who commits norm-breaking behavior and is accurately
appraised by society, who is tried and convicted, and who gets what he or she
deserves.
b. The falsely accused individual is one who is not guilty but is labeled deviant
nonetheless, who experiences the impact of conviction and of the experiences that
attend prison life, and who is left with a negative self-concept and with group
associations practically indistinguishable from those of a true deviant. This person
demonstrates the power of social definition—the life of the falsely accused is
changed just as thoroughly as the life of the pure deviant by the process of
labeling.
c. The secret deviant violates social norms, but his or her behavior is not noticed, so
negative societal reactions do not follow; a secret deviant again demonstrates the
power of societal reaction, but in this case by the lack of consequences.

D. Reintegrative Shaming. In a contemporary offshoot of labeling theory, John

Braithwaite and colleagues at the Australian National University (ANU) reported initial
results of studies in 1997 on reintegrative shaming, which describes processes by which
a deviant is labeled and sanctioned but then is brought back into a community of
conformity through words, gestures, or rituals. At the core of the study was Braithwaite‘s
belief that two different kinds of shame exist.
1. Stigmatic shaming (disintegrative shaming) is thought to destroy the moral bond
between the offender and the community. Stigmatic shaming sets the offender apart as
an outcast—often for the rest of the offender‘s life
2. Reintegrative Shaming is thought to strength the moral bond between the offender
and the community.

IV. Progress Check or Review questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

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MODULE 6 – THEORIES OF SOCIAL PROCESS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
LESSON 6 – LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVES

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Explain the link between level of intelligence quotient (IQ) and crime
B. Compare and contrast the nurture theory and nature theory

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Life Course Perspective (also called life course criminology) shifted the traditional focus
away from the reasons why people begin offending to questions about what the
dimensions of criminal offending are over the entire life course.
1. It has its roots in a 1986 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel report prepared
by Alfred Blumstein, Jacqueline Cohen, Jeffrey Roth, and Christy Visher that
emphasized the importance of the study of criminal careers and of crime over the life
course.
2. The NAS panel defined a criminal career as ―the longitudinal sequence of crimes
committed by an individual offender.‖The report was especially important for its
analysis of ―offending development,‖ a concept that underlies the life course
perspective
3. The panel noted that criminal careers can be described in terms of four dimensions:
a. Participation, which refers to the fraction of a population that is criminally active,
depends on the scope of criminal acts considered and the length of the observation
period.
b. Frequency refers to the number of crimes committed by an individual offender per
unit of time. Hence, a burglar who commits one burglary a year has a much lower
frequency than one who is active monthly or weekly. Frequency is generally not
constant and varies over the life course—even for habitual offenders.
c. Duration refers to the length of the criminal career. A criminal career can be very
short, consisting of only one offense, or it can be quite long, as in the case of
habitual or chronic criminals.
d. Seriousness is relatively self-explanatory, although it is worthwhile to note that
some offenders with long criminal careers commit only petty crimes, whereas
others are serious habitual offenders, and still others commit offenses with a
mixed degree of seriousness.

B. Life Course Criminology was given its name in a book written by Robert J. Sampson
and John H. Laub in 1993, entitled Crime in the Making.
1. the concept of life course had been defined as ―pathways through the life span
involving a sequence of culturally defined, age-graded roles and social transitions
enacted over time.‖
2. Life course theories, which build on social learning and social control principles,
recognize that criminal careers may develop as the result of various criminogenic
influences that affect individuals over the course of their lives.
3. Life course researchers examine ―trajectories and transitions through the age-
differentiated life span.‖According to Sampson and Laub,
a. ―Trajectories refer to longer-term patterns and sequences of behavior

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b. transitions are marked by specific life events (e.g., first job or the onset of crime)
that are embedded in trajectories and evolve over shorter time spans.‖
4. Three sets of dynamic concepts are important to the life course perspective:
a. Activation, the way that delinquent behaviors are stimulated and he processes by
which the continuity, frequency, and diversity of delinquency are shaped, comes
in three types: (1) acceleration (increased frequency of offending over time), (2)
stabilization (increased continuity over time), and (3) diversification (propensity
of individuals to become involved in more diverse delinquent activities).
b. Aggravation, the second dynamic process, refers to the existence of a
developmental sequence of activities that escalates or increases in seriousness
over time.
c. Desistance, the third process, which is discussed in greater detail later in this
chapter, describes a slowing down in the frequency of offending (deceleration), a
reduction in its variety (specialization), or a reduction in its seriousness (de-
escalation).
5. Linked Lives - Another central organizing principle of life course theories is linked
lives, a concept meaning that human lives ―are typically embedded in social
relationships with kin and friends across the life span‖; these relationships exercise
considerable influence on the life course of most people.
6. Glen H. Elder, Jr., has identified five important life course principles that provide a
concise summary of life course theory:
a. The principle of historical time and place. The life course of individuals is
embedded in and shaped by the historical times and places they experience over
their lifetime. Hence, children born in the United States during the Great
Depression or in Nazi Germany during World War II were no doubt strongly
influenced by the conditions around them.
b. The principle of timing in lives. The developmental impact of a succession of life
transitions or events is contingent on when they occur in a person‘s life. Early
marriage, for example, or childbearing at an early age can significantly influence
the course of people‘s lives through the long-term consequences of such events.
c. The principle of linked lives. Lives are lived interdependently, and social and
historical influences are expressed through a network of shared relationships. If a
child or a spouse develops a serious illness, for example, the lives of other family
members are likely to be affected.
d. The principle of human agency. Human agency refers to the fact that individuals
construct their own life course through the choices they make and the actions they
take within the opportunities and constraints of history and social circumstances.
The example that Elder gives is of hard-pressed Depression-era parents who
―moved their residence to cheaper quarters and sought alternative forms of
income.‖ In making such choices, they were involved in the process of building a
new life course.
e. The principle of life-long learning development. Learning is not limited to youth,
and individuals continue to acquire knowledge from the experiences they have at
every stage in the life course.

C. Laub And Sampson’s Age-Graded Theory

1. Using a sophisticated cyberanalysis of the Gluecks‘ original data, Laub and Sampson
developed an ―age-graded theory of informal social control.‖ Like Hirschi (discussed
earlier), Laub and Sampson suggested that delinquency is more likely to occur when
an individual‘s bond to society is weak or broken, but they also recognized that

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―social ties embedded in adult transitions (e.g., marital attachment, job stability)
explain variations in crime unaccounted for by childhood deviance.‖
2. Hence, although it incorporated the concept of social bonds, Laub and Sampson‘s
perspective also emphasized the significance of continuity and change over the life
course.
3. Central to Laub and Sampson‘s approach is the idea of turning points in a criminal
career—―the interlocking nature of trajectories and transitions may generate turning
points or a change in the life course.‖Turning points were first identified by G. B.
Trasler in 1980 when he wrote, ―As they grow older, most young men gain access to
other sources of achievement and social satisfaction— a job, a girlfriend, a wife, a
home and eventually children—and in doing so become gradually less dependent
upon peer-group support.‖
4. Another important concept in Laub and Sampson‘s theory is social capital, which
refers to the degree of positive relationships with other people and with social
institutions that individuals build up over the course of their lives. Social capital
directly impacts life course trajectories: The greater a person‘s social capital, the less
chance there is of criminal activity.

D. Dual Taxonomic Theory - Criminologists have long noted that although adult
criminality is usually preceded by antisocial behavior during adolescence, most antisocial
children do not become adult criminals.
1. Terrie E. Moffitt developed a two-path (dual taxonomic) theory of criminality that
helps to explain this observation.
2. Moffit‘s theory contends that as a result of neuropsychological deficits (specifically,
early brain damage or chemical imbalances) combined with poverty and family
dysfunction, some people come to display more or less constant patterns of
misbehavior throughout life. These people are called life course– persistent
offenders or life course persisters.
3. Life course persisters tend to fail in school and become involved in delinquency at
an early age. As a consequence, their opportunities for legitimate success become
increasingly limited with the passage of time. Other teenagers, go through limited
periods where they exhibit high probabilities of offending. Probabilities of offending
are generally highest for these people during the mid-teen years.
4. Adolescence-limited offenders, is led to offending primarily by structural
disadvantages, according to two-path theory. The most significant of these
disadvantages is the status anxiety of teenagers that stems from modern society‘s
inadequacy at easing the transition from adolescence to adulthood for significant
numbers of young people.

E. Delinquent Development Theory (David Farrington)

1. Aging-Out Phenomenon. a concept that holds that offenders commit less crime as
they get older because they have less strength, initiative, stamina, and mobility.
2. Persistence and Desistance - Life course theorists use the term persistence to
describe continuity in crime or continual involvement in offending; desistance refers
to the cessation of criminal activity or the termination of a period of involvement in
offending behavior.
3. Unaided desistance refers to desistance that occurs without the formal intervention or
assistance of criminal justice agencies like probation or parole agencies, the courts, or
prison or jail, and aided desistance, involving agencies of the justice system, is
generally referred to as rehabilitation.

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4. Delinquents often mature successfully and grow out of offending; even older
persistent offenders may tire of justice system interventions, lose the personal energy
required for continued offending, and ―burn out.‖
5. Marvin Wolfgang described the process of desistance as one of ―spontaneous
remission.‖
6. Adolphe Quetelet argued in 1883 that the penchant for crime diminished with age
―due to the enfeeblement of physical vitality and the passions.‖
7. The Gluecks later developed the concept of maturational reform to explain the
phenomenon and suggested that the “sheer passage of time” caused delinquents to
―grow out‖ of this transitory phase and to ―burn out‖ physiologically, concluding,
―Ageing is the only factor which emerges as significant in the reformative process.‖
8. Walter R. Grove proposed a maturational theory of biopsychosocial desistance that
sees the desistance phenomenon as a natural or normal consequence of the aging
process.― As persons move through the life cycle,
a. they will shift from self-absorption to concern for others;
b. they will increasingly accept societal values and behave in socially appropriate
ways;
c. they will become more comfortable with social relations;
d. their activities will increasingly reflect a concern for others in their community;
and
e. they will become increasingly concerned with the issue of the meaning of life.‖
9. Resilience, another important concept in life course research, refers to the
psychological ability to successfully cope with severe stress and negative events and
has important implications for the development of delinquency and criminal
offending.

F. Evolutionary Ecology
1. Lawrence E. Cohen and Richard Machalek pioneered the ecological perspective on
crime control.
2. Evolutionary ecology builds on the approach of social ecology while emphasizing
developmental pathways encountered early in life.
3. Criminologist Bryan Vila stated that
a. ―The evolutionary ecological approach draws attention to the ways people develop
over the course of their lives. Experiences and environment early in life,
especially those that affect child development and the transmission of biological
traits and family management practices across generations, seem particularly
important.‖
b. Evolutionary ecology ―ttempts to explain how people acquire criminality—a
predisposition that disproportionately favors criminal behavior—when and why
they express it as crime, how individuals and groups respond to those crimes, and
how all these phenomena interact as a dynamic self-reinforcing system that
evolves over time.‖

G. Interactional Theory - Terence Thornberry proposed this theory regarding crime,

which integrates social control and social learning explanations of delinquency.
1. Thornberry was attentive to the impact of social structure on behavior and noted how
delinquency and crime seem to develop within the context of reciprocal social
arrangements.

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2. Reciprocity was especially important to Thornberry because he believed that too
many other theories were overly simplistic in their dependence on simple
unidirectional causal relationships.
3. The fundamental cause of delinquency according to interactional theory is a
weakening of a person’s bond to conventional society. Adolescents who are
strongly attached to their parents and family and who strive to achieve within the
context of approved social arrangements, such as education, rarely turn to serious
delinquency.
4. It takes more than weak conventional bonds, however, for delinquency to develop;
it requires the presence of an environment in which delinquency can be learned and in
which rule-violating behavior can be positively rewarded.
5. Delinquent peers are especially important in providing the kind of environment
necessary for criminal behavior to develop, and gang membership can play a highly
significant role in the development and continuation of such behavior.

H. Differential Oppression Theory ( Beverly Kingston, Bob Regoli, and John D. Hewitt)
1. The developmental-ecological perspective provides a means for understanding how
the oppression of children occurs within multiple social contexts that interrelate to
produce harmful outcomes for children.
2. Because children lack power due to their age, size, and lack of resources, they are
easy targets for adult oppression.
3. Children are exposed to different levels and types of oppression that vary depending
on their age, level of development, socioeconomic class, race, and the beliefs and
perceptions of their parents.
4. According to the theory of differential oppression, oppression leads to adaptive
reactions by children: passive acceptance, exercise of illegitimate coercive power,
manipulation of one's peers, and retaliation.
5. Reducing the oppressive acts of adults and alleviating the damaging circumstances
that characterize the social environment of children is critical to reducing the
prevalence of juvenile delinquency and other problem behaviors

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

form.

V01-2018-07-17
MODULE 7 – OTHER CRIME CAUSATION PERSPECTIVES
LESSON 1 – BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES OF CRIME CAUSATION

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Identify the biblical causes of crime
B. Explain the concepts of crime causation in the medieval period

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. Christian Worldview (Biblical Worldview) – It refers to the ideas and beliefs to which
a Christian individual, group, or culture interprets the world and interacts with it
(Worthen, 2017).

B. Christian Criminology – The study of crimes through the eyes of Christ (Hallett, 1999).

C. Biblical Criminology – The study of crimes in the context of the Holy Bible (Delizo,
2021).

D. Biblical, Roots Of Crimes, Vices, Or Sins

1. Depravity of Man (Fall of Adam and Eve)
a. Genesis 2:17 - but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.‖
b. Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
c. Consequence of the Fall of Man - Commencement of the sinful nature of man
such as lusting of the flesh (Genesis 3:6a), lusting of the eyes (Genesis 3:6b), and
pride of life (Genesis 3:6c)
2. Works of the Flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) - Now the works of the flesh are evident:
sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits
of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like
these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
3. Roman Catholics Seven deadly sins (a.ka. seven capital sins or seven cardinal
sins). It was first enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and
elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas. These are also considered
causes of criminal behavior or sinful behavior in the Bible.
a. vainglory, or pride
b. greed, or covetousness
c. lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire
d. envy
e. gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness
f. wrath, or anger
g. sloth.

E. Etymology of Crimes and/or Sins. In essence, the word crime is mostly used in secular
as transgressions against the law of man or society while sin as used both in theology
and in the world is a transgression against God or man or both.

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In Ezekiel 7:23, the word crime as used in this verse is taken from the Hebrew
― i h ‖ which means a ―judgment‖ or ―verdict.‖ Conversely, the Latin ―crimen‖ was
literally understood as judgment, or verdict. In like manner, the Greek origin ― g ”
can be translated as ―indictment‖ (ISBE), n.d.).
In the Bible, the English word crime is equivalent of the Hebrew i h , or
―judgment,‖ ―verdict‖ as used in Ezekiel 7:23; i h, ―a heinous crime‖ as meant in Job
31:11; and h which is understood as ―a fault,‖ ―sin‖ or ―guiltiness‖ in Genesis
26:10. Further, in the New Testament, the word crime is synonymous to the Greek i ,
or ―case,‖ ―cause,‖ ―fault,‖ or ―charges‖ as referred to in Acts 25:27; g , or
―indictment,‖ ―charge,‖ or matter as understood in Acts 25:16 (ISBE, n.d.). The Hebrew,
Latin, and Greek origins of the word crime pertains to an act that is already ruled guilty as
charged.
On the other hand and as earlier stated, the English word sin is related to the
Biblical Hebrew h or ―a missing,‖ ―perversity,‖ e h‛ or ―transgression,‖
or ―evil,‖ or cha h an offence, and the penalty or sacrifice for it, and the Greek
hamartano or ―miss the mark,‖ i ―transgression‖ with a suggestion of
violence, and i which means ―injustice,‖ ―unrighteousness (ISBE, n.d.).‖

F. Classifications of Crimes According to Secular and Biblical Worldviews - Crimes are

classified and categorized differently by countries and government. Classifications or
categorizations are dependent on the definition of crime itself, the violated law or statute,
according to the common law, means of commission, degree of gravity of the crimes,
imposable penalty or punishment, characteristics of offenders and victims, and some
depending on the occasion of committing the crime.

G. Based on the Common Legal Definition

1. Black‘s Law Dictionary (n.d.) defines crime as an act committed or omitted, in
violation of a public law commanding or forbidding it. The Philippine jurisprudence,
as stated earlier, adopted such definition. Hence, in the Philippines, felonies are acts
and omissions punishable by law (RPC, 1930/2016, Book 1, Art. 3). Crimes of
commissions involve an overt act like theft, robbery, homicide, arson, and any other
felony or crime in which an
2. There are also crimes of omission. These are the crimes in which the offender failed
to perform an act which he is ought to do as provided by a particular law. There is
omission when a duty is not accomplished either because it is forgotten or negligence
in performance for which the person can be held legally liable for breach of duty
(―Omission‖, 2007). A mere failure to issue official receipts to a customer or buyer is
also a crime of omission if issuance of official receipts is directed by a particular law.
These crimes by omission are legally termed nonfeasance or the ―intentional failure to
perform a required duty or obligation‖ (―Non-feasance‖, n.d.). Some of the omissions
in RPC are: Delay in the Delivery of Detained Persons to the proper judicial authority
(Art. 125); Delaying Release (Art. 126); Disloyalty of Public officers or employees
through their failure to resist a rebellion (Art. 137); Failure of accountable officer to
render accounts (Art. 218); Failure to make delivery of public funds or property (Art.
221); Abandonment of office or position (Art. 238); Abandonment of persons in
danger, one‘s own victim, and minor (Art. 275-277); and Failure to deliver a found
lost property to the local authorities or to its owner.
3. Equally, the Bible has set good deeds as well as duties to be performed by every
human being particularly those who believe in God. First is one‘s duty to his
neighbors as can be gleaned from Mark 12:31 (KJV) which states, ―And the second is

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like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these (see also Romans 13:10, 15:1, 15:2, Galatians 5:4,
& James 2:8).‖ Duty to one‘s enemies is also commanded in Matthew 5:44 which
states (NKJV), ―But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and
persecute you (see also Exodus 23:4, Proverbs 24:17, Proverbs 25:21, Proverbs 25:22,
& Romans 12:20).‖ Finally, duty to neighbors is also commanded as can be
understood in Matthew 25:35ff (KJV) which states, ―Naked, and ye clothed me: I was
sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me (see also Exodus 22:21,
Leviticus 19:34, 25:35, Deuteronomy 27:19 & 31:12).‖
4. In addition to these duties, believers of God and/or Jesus are expected to love their
fellowmen. In fact, it is the mark of being a follower of Christ (John 13:35). James
on the other hand exhorted that true religion is one who loves and helps the needy
(James 1:27). James further enumerated the expected good deeds as a result of one‘s
faith in God (James 2). Failure to perform all these good deeds and duties are
considered as sins of omission as directly exhorted in James 4:17 which states (NIV),
―Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn‘t do it, sins.‖ This is
corroborated by Richard T. Ritenbaugh (n.d.) when he stated, ―We have all the
knowledge about what to do and how to live righteously, but if we fail to do it, to put
it into practice, it is sin to us. It becomes a selfish pursuit of knowledge, and we are
missing the reason that God gave it to us.‖ One of the omissions in the Bible, which
is also punishable by the RPC is the failure of a person to return to the owner a found
lost property. Like the RPC, the Bible considers it also as a form of stealing (Leviticus
6:3).

H. According to Violated Laws

1. General categories of crimes are based on the violated laws. The American
jurisprudence categorized crimes as either felonies, misdemeanors, or offenses.
Felonies refer to serious crimes which include murder, rape, aggravated assault,
robbery, burglary, and arson. Misdemeanors are relatively minor crimes such petty
theft, simple assault resulting to no serious injuries, breaking and entering, disorderly
conduct, disturbing the peace, filing a false crime report, and writing bad checks.
Offenses, in American Criminal Justice refers to minor violations of law that are less
serious than misdemeanors like jaywalking, spitting on the sidewalk, littering, and
committing certain traffic violation like failure to fasten seatbelt (Hagan, 2002).
2. In the Philippines, felonies are violations of any crime listed in the Revised Penal
Code Book Two (RPC Book 2). Offenses in broad sense are those punishable by the
penal code, but which, by statute, carries with it a penalty similar to those imposed by
law for the punishment of the crime (Callanta versus Carnation Philippines, 145
SCRA 275), as cited by Moreno, 2007). Examples of offenses in the Philippines are
those punishable by special penal laws such as provided by Presidential Decrees (PD),
Batasang Pambansa (BP), Executive Orders (EO), Republic Acts (RA), and other
special laws making an act a crime. Misdemeanors are minor infractions of law such
as a violation of an ordinance (Brabante, 2008).
3. There are no specific categories of crimes in the Bible concerning what law has been
violated. However, there are three (3) major laws in the Bible: the Moral Laws;
Ceremonial Laws; and Judicial or Civil Laws. Moral Laws or ―mishpatim‖ is often
translated as ―ordinances.‖ These moral laws are based on the holy nature of God.
These moral laws include the Ten Commandments, and regulations on justice,
respect, and sexual conduct. On the other hand, Ceremonial Laws are called ―hukkim‖

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or ―chuqqah‖ which literally means ―custom of the nation‖ or often translated as
―statutes.‖ These laws include instructions on offering sacrifices and other
ceremonies regarding uncleanliness, remembrance of fasts and festivals, specific
regulations on dietary and clothing restrictions, observation of the Sabbath,
circumcision, Passover, and redemption of the first-born. Ceremonial laws were
mandatory for the Jews in the Old Testament, and Christians today are divided on the
mandatory or optional observance of these laws (Kohler, n.d.). Judicial laws or civil
laws were specifically given for the culture and place of the Israelites and include all
moral laws except the Ten Commandments. Bayes (2012), added that the judicial or
civil laws are the application of the moral laws and Decalogue.

I. According to the Common Law

1. In the worldview criminology, an act is only considered a crime when there is a law
punishing or prohibiting such act. Crimes under this are called ―mala prohibita‖ or
―bad because prohibited, as being against sound policy which, unless prohibited,
would be innocent or indifferent (RPC Book 1).‖ In the Philippines, some of the
examples of ―mala prohibita‖ crime is the illegal possession of firearms and
ammunitions (R.A. 10591, 2013). In this law, evil intent is not necessary as long as
an individual is holding or carrying a firearm or ammunition without authority to
possess or carry such firearm or ammunition. There are also crimes that are
punishable because their nature is evil or evil in themselves. These are forbidden
behaviors for which there is wide-scale consensus in the mores for prohibition
(Hagan, 2002). Crimes under this are commonly called ―mala inse.‖ Both dictate that
the commission of the criminal act is commenced and completed by overt actions. A
criminal thought is never a crime unless it is put into action or it is carried out by
overt actions. In any country, including the Philippines, ―mala inse‖ crimes are those
involving the intentional and malicious destruction of lives and properties, sexual
assaults, taking one‘s property, and other deliberate and malicious violations of
human rights.
2. Biblically, acts against the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5) are
the major ―mala inse‖ sins or crimes. In addition to the Ten Commandments, the
Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy listed numerous prohibited acts which are
obviously evil such as those sexually-related acts in Leviticus 19 & 20, and
Deuteronomy 22. There are also mala prohibita sins in the Bible. One of which is the
eating of forbidden foods as enumerated in Leviticus 11. On the other hand, the New
Testament is silent concerning the continuous observance of the Old Testament laws
and commandments regarding sins or crimes. However, it can be alluded that Jesus
Christ mandated the continuous observance of the Ten Commandments when He said
that the greatest commandment is fully loving God and loving one‘s neighbor
(Matthew 22:34-40). Speaking to the Jews in Matthew 5:18, Jesus Christ also said
that the Law will remain enforceable and not even a single letter or stroke of pen will
disappear in the Law unless everything has been fulfilled. It can be alluded that Jesus
Christ was talking about the Law in the Old Testament which is embodied in the
Torah or the Law of Moses since Jesus Christ‘s audience were the Jews.

J. According to the Means of Commission

1. Under the secular laws, crimes could be committed by means of deceit or ―dolo‖
and/or by means of faults or ―culpa.‖ Deceit exists when the act is performed with
deliberate intent while fault occurs when the wrongful act results from imprudence,
negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill (RPC Book 1, 1930). Examples of

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deceitful crimes in secular laws are those involving fraudulent acts such as
falsification, forgery, and counterfeiting of documents, swindling, estafa,
malversation of public funds, corruption of minors, concealment of truth, dishonesty,
and other similar acts which the offender exploits others by lying or deceitful acts.
Crimes due to imprudence are those involving misadventures or recklessness such as
damage to property, injury or death through reckless imprudence by a driver.
Negligence or misfeasance is the improper performance of some acts which a man
may lawfully do (Black‘s Law Dictionary). Misfeasance in the RPC is usually
committed by public officers such as Judgment rendered through negligence (Art.
205), and Evasion through negligence (Art. 224).
2. By means of deceit or by means of fault, the criminal or offender while committing or
omitting the act should be acting with freedom and intelligence. There is freedom
when the act or omission is voluntary and there is no external compulsion.
Intelligence requires that the offender or criminal has the capacity to understand the
morality and consequences of an act but the offender must not be minor, imbecile, or
insane. The distinction between ―dolo‖ and ―culpa‖ is that dolo is done with intent
which is presumed unless otherwise disproved while in ―culpa,‖ intent is replaced by
imprudence, negligence, and/or lack of foresight or skill (Estrada, 2008).
3. The Bible also speaks about sins by means of deceit or ―dolo‖ and/or by means of
fault or ―culpa.‖ Proverbs 6:17 says that two of the seven things God hates is a ―lying
tongue‖ and a ―heart that devices evil.‖ The Hebrew origin of the word ―lying‖ can be
understood as ―untruth,‖ ―falsehood,‖ and ―pretention.‖ One commits deceit if he does
things to another which is contrary to what is true. While the Hebrew origin of the
word ―devices‖ is to ―fabricate.‖ Fabricate in the negative sense involves planning or
premeditation to commit sin or crime against another person. Basically, the
commission of the Ten Commandments requires that the offender or sinner must act
with deliberate intent to commit these acts. God gave human beings a soul and spirit.
As earlier discussed, the soul is composed of man‘s mind, emotion, and will while the
spirit of man consisted of the conscience and intuition. These enable man to act
deliberately and with freedom and intelligence.
4. There are passages in the Bible that imply man to be having free will to choose which
actions an individual wants. One of which is Deuteronomy 30:19 which said (GNB),
―I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God s blessing and
God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life
(see also Joshua 24:15).‖ In this passage, people are given the freedom to choose and
if man chooses God‘s way, he will be blessed. If he chooses the evil way, man will
suffer the consequences to be cursed. In the area of sinning, Hebrews 10:26 used the
phrase ―if we go on sinning deliberately (ESV).‖ The Greek origin of the word
deliberately is translated into English as ―willfully,‖ ―voluntarily,‖ or ―willingly.‖
These words connote the use of one‘s will, one‘s freedom, and one‘s deliberate
intention. On the contrary, it can be alluded in Hebrews 10:26 that there are sins
which are not deliberately or intentionally done.
5. In reiteration, the Bible also identifies crimes by means of fault or culpa as can be
gleaned from Leviticus 4:2 which says (CEV), ―to say to the community of Israel:
offer a sacrifice to ask forgiveness when you sin by accidentally doing something I
have told you not to do (see also Leviticus 5:17, Luke 12:48, Acts 3:17, & 1 Timothy
1:13).‖ In Exodus 22:5, a man is held responsible if his loose livestock grazes other‘s
field. Further, it was stated in Numbers 5:6 that if ―Any man or woman who wrongs
another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty (NIV).‖ The phrase ―in
any way‖ can be referring to an act either done deliberately or unintentionally. With

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these, the Bible similarly states that deliberate intent can also be replaced by
ignorance, lack of foresight and lack of skill. Further, these bible passages imply that
an individual committing sin is still liable and accountable though he/she acted in
ignorance or negligence.

K. According to the Severity of the Crime

a. Article 9 of RPC Book 2 categorizes crimes according to gravity as Grave Felonies,
Less Grave Felonies, and Light Felonies. Grave felonies are those which the law
attaches a capital punishment or a penalty which is afflictive in any of its periods.
Less grave felonies are those in which the penalties in their maximum period are
correctional. Light felonies are those infractions of law in which the penalty of arresto
menor or a fine of not exceeding P200.00 or both.
b. In the Bible, sins are similarly categorized as either Mortal or Venial Sin. The
Apostle John mentioned a sin that does not cause death and a sin that causes death (1
John 5:16). To theologians, the term mortal sins refer to those that cause death or are
not punishable by death, and venial sins are those that do not cause death or are not
punishable by death. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be met together:
"Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full
knowledge and deliberate consent.‖ Grave matter is specified by the Ten
Commandments. The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft.
One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself
graver than violence against a stranger. Mortal sin requires full
knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of
the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate
to be a personal choice. On the other hand, venial sin includes a less serious matter, as
such when one does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he
or she disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or
without complete consent (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n.d., Art. 8, para. IV).

L. Medieval Times – Crime causations perspectives in the medieval times follows the
dictates of the Holy Bible and the respective religious beliefs of the people in that era so
with the forms of punishment which is an eye for an eye (retribution) and trial by ordeal.

IV. Progress Check or Review Questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form.

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MODULE 7 – OTHER CRIME CAUSATION PERSPECTIVES
LESSON 2 – PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Identify the psychological disorders causing criminal behavior
B. Explain the concepts of psychological disorders

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

The term psychological disorder is sometimes used to refer to what is more frequently
known as mental disorders or psychiatric disorders. Mental disorders are patterns of
behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple areas of life. These disorders
create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms.

A. Neurodevelopmental Disorders – These are those that are typically diagnosed during
infancy, childhood, or adolescence. These psychological disorders include:
1. Intellectual Disability - Sometimes called Intellectual Developmental Disorder, this
diagnosis was formerly referred to as mental retardation.1 This type of developmental
disorder originates prior to the age of 18 and is characterized by limitations in both
intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors.
2. Global Developmental Delay - This diagnosis is for developmental disabilities in
children who are under the age of five. Such delays relate to cognition, social
functioning, speech, language, and motor skills.
3. Communication Disorders - These disorders are those that impact the ability to use,
understand, or detect language and speech. The DSM-5 identifies four different
subtypes of communication disorders: language disorder, speech sound disorder,
childhood onset fluency disorder (stuttering), and social (pragmatic) communication
disorder.
4. Autism Spectrum Disorder - This disorder is characterized by persistent deficits in
social interaction and communication in multiple life areas as well as restricted and
repetitive patterns of behaviors. The DSM specifies that symptoms of autism
spectrum disorder must be present during the early developmental period and that
these symptoms must cause significant impairment in important areas of life including
social and occupational functioning.
5. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – It is characterized by a
persistent pattern of hyperactivity-impulsivity and/or inattention that interferes with
functioning and presents itself in two or more settings such as at home, work, school,
and social situations.

B. Bipolar and Related Disorders – It is characterized by shifts in mood as well as changes

in activity and energy levels. The disorder often involves experiencing shifts between
elevated moods and periods of depression. Such elevated moods can be pronounced and
are referred to either as mania or hypomania.
1. Mania - This mood is characterized by a distinct period of elevated, expansive, or
irritable mood accompanied by increased activity and energy. Periods of mania are
sometimes marked by feelings of distraction, irritability, and excessive confidence.

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People experiencing mania are also more prone to engage in activities that might have
negative long-term consequences such as gambling and shopping sprees.
2. Depressive Episodes - These episodes are characterized by feelings of a depressed or
sad mood along with a lack of interest in activities. It may also involve feelings of
guilt, fatigue, and irritability. During a depressive period, people with bipolar disorder
may lose interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, experience sleeping
difficulties, and even have thoughts of suicide.

C. Anxiety Disorders – These are those that are characterized by excessive and
persistent fear, worry, anxiety and related behavioral disturbances.5 Fear involves an
emotional response to a threat, whether that threat is real or perceived. Anxiety involves
the anticipation that a future threat may arise. Types of anxiety disorders include:
1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) - This disorder is marked by excessive worry
about everyday events. While some stress and worry are a normal and even common
part of life, GAD involves worry that is so excessive that it interferes with a person's
well-being and functioning.
2. Agoraphobia - This condition is characterized by a pronounced fear a wide range of
public places. People who experience this disorder often fear that they will suffer
a panic attack in a setting where escape might be difficult.
3. Social Anxiety Disorder - It is a fairly common psychological disorder that involves
an irrational fear of being watched or judged. The anxiety caused by this disorder can
have a major impact on an individual's life and make it difficult to function at school,
work, and other social settings.
4. Specific Phobias - These phobias involve an extreme fear of a specific object or
situation in the environment. Some examples of common specific phobias include the
fear of spiders, fear of heights, or fear of snakes. The four main types of specific
phobias involve natural events (thunder, lightning, tornadoes), medical (medical
procedures, dental procedures, medical equipment), animals (dogs, snakes, bugs), and
situational (small spaces, leaving home, driving). When confronted by a phobic object
or situation, people may experience nausea, trembling, rapid heart rate, and even a
fear of dying.
5. Panic Disorder - This psychiatric disorder is characterized by panic attacks that often
seem to strike out of the blue and for no reason at all. Because of this, people
with panic disorder often experience anxiety and preoccupation over the possibility of
having another panic attack.
6. Separation Anxiety Disorder - This condition is a type of anxiety disorder
involving an excessive amount of fear or anxiety related to being separated from
attachment figures. People are often familiar with the idea of separation anxiety as it
relates to young children's fear of being apart from their parents, but older children
and adults can experience it as well.

D. Stress-Related Disorders - Trauma and stressor-related disorders involve exposure to a

stressful or traumatic event. These were previously grouped with anxiety disorders but
are now considered a distinct category of disorders. Disorders included in this category
include:
1. Acute Stress Disorder – It is characterized by the emergence of severe anxiety for up
to a one month period after exposure to a traumatic event. Some examples of
traumatic events include natural disasters, war, accidents, and witnessing a death. As a
result, the individual may experience dissociative symptoms such as a sense of altered
reality, an inability to remember important aspects of the event, and vivid flashbacks

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as if the event were reoccurring. Other symptoms can include reduced emotional
responsiveness, distressing memories of the trauma, and difficulty experiencing
positive emotions.
2. Adjustment Disorders – This can occur as a response to a sudden change such as
divorce, job loss, end of a close relationship, a move, or some other loss or
disappointment. This type of psychological disorder can affect both children and
adults and is characterized by symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, depressed mood,
worry, anger, hopelessness, and feelings of isolation.
3. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - This can develop after an individual has
experienced exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
Symptoms of PTSD include episodes of reliving or re-experiencing the event,
avoiding things that remind the individual about the event, feeling on edge, and
having negative thoughts.
4. Reactive Attachment Disorder - This can result when children do not form normal
healthy relationships and attachments with adult caregivers during the first few years
of childhood. Symptoms of the disorder include being withdrawn from adult
caregivers and social and emotional disturbances that result from patterns of
insufficient care and neglect.

E. Dissociative Disorders – These are psychological disorders that involve a dissociation or

interruption in aspects of consciousness, including identity and memory. Dissociative
disorders include:
1. Dissociative Amnesia - This disorder involves a temporary loss of memory as a result
of dissociation. In many cases, this memory loss, which may last for just a brief
period or for many years, is a result of some type of psychological trauma.
2. Dissociative Identity Disorder - Formerly known as multiple personality
disorder, this involves the presence of two or more different identities or personalities.
Each of these personalities has its own way of perceiving and interacting with the
environment. People with this disorder experience changes in behavior, memory,
perception, emotional response, and consciousness.
3. Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder is characterized by experiencing a sense
of being outside of one's own body (depersonalization) and being disconnected from
reality (derealization). People who have this disorder often feel a sense of unreality
and an involuntary disconnect from their own memories, feelings, and consciousness.

F. Somatic Symptom Disorders - Formerly referred to under the heading of somatoform

disorders, this category is now known as somatic symptoms and related disorders.
Somatic symptom disorders are a class of psychological disorders that involve prominent
physical symptoms that may not have a diagnosable physical cause. In contrast to
previous ways of conceptualizing these disorders based on the absence of a medical
explanation for the physical symptoms, the current diagnosis emphasizes the abnormal
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that occur in response to these symptoms. Disorders
included in this category:
1. Somatic Symptom Disorder - It involves a preoccupation with physical symptoms
that make it difficult to function normally. This preoccupation with symptoms results
in emotional distress and difficulty coping with daily life.
2. Illness Anxiety Disorder – It is characterized by excessive concern about having an
undiagnosed medical condition. Those who experience this psychological disorder
worry excessively about body functions and sensations are convinced that they have

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or will get a serious disease, and are not reassured when medical tests come back
negative.
3. Conversion Disorder – It involves experiencing motor or sensory symptoms that
lack a compatible neurological or medical explanation. In many cases, the disorder
follows a real physical injury or stressful even which then results in a psychological
and emotional response.
4. Factitious Disorder - used to have its own category, is now included under the
somatic symptom and related disorders category of the DSM-5. A factitious disorder
is when an individual intentionally creates, fakes, or exaggerates symptoms of illness.
Munchausen syndrome, in which people feign an illness to attract attention, is one
severe form of factitious disorder.

G. Eating Disorders are characterized by obsessive concerns with weight and disruptive
eating patterns that negatively impact physical and mental health. Feeding and eating
disorders that used to be diagnosed during infancy and childhood have been moved to this
category in the DSM-5. Types of eating disorders include:
1. Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by restricted food consumption that leads to
weight loss and a very low body weight. Those who experience this disorder also
have a preoccupation and fear of gaining weight as well as a distorted view of their
own appearance and behavior.
2. Bulimia Nervosa involves binging and then taking extreme steps to compensate for
these binges. These compensatory behaviors might include self-induced vomiting, the
abuse of laxatives or diuretics, and excessive exercise.
3. Rumination Disorder is marked by regurgitating previously chewed or swallowed
food in order to either spit it out or re-swallow it. Most of those affected by this
disorder are children or adults who also have a developmental delay or intellectual
disability.
4. Pica involves craving and consuming non-food substances such as dirt, paint, or soap.
The disorder most commonly affects children and those with developmental
disabilities.
5. Binge-Eating Disorder was first introduced in the DSM-5 and involves episodes of
binge eating where the individual consumes an unusually large amount of over the
course of a couple hours. Not only do people overeat, however, they also feel as if
they have no control over their eating. Binge eating episodes are sometimes triggered
by certain emotions such as feeling happy or anxious, by boredom or following
stressful events.

H. Sleep Disorders - Sleep disorders involve an interruption in sleep patterns that lead to
distress and affects daytime functioning. Examples of sleep disorders include:
1. Narcolepsy is a condition in which people experience an irrepressible need to
sleep. People with narcolepsy may experience a sudden loss of muscle tone.
2. Insomnia disorder involves being unable to get enough sleep to feel rested. While all
people experience sleeping difficulties and interruptions at some point, insomnia is
considered a disorder when it is accompanied by significant distress or impairment
over time.
3. Hypersomnolence disorder is characterized by excessive sleepiness despite an
adequate main sleep period. People with this condition may fall asleep during the day
at inappropriate times such as at work and school.
4. Breathing-related sleep disorders are those that involve breathing anomalies such as
sleep apnea that can occur during sleep. These breathing problems can result in brief

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interruptions in sleep that can lead to other problems including insomnia and daytime
sleepiness.
5. Parasomnias involve disorders that feature abnormal behaviors that take place during
sleep. Such disorders include sleepwalking, sleep terrors, sleep talking, and sleep
eating.
6. Restless legs syndrome is a neurological condition that involves having
uncomfortable sensations in the legs and an irresistible urge to move the legs in order
to relieve the sensations. People with this condition may feel tugging, creeping,
burning, and crawling sensations in their legs resulting in an excessive movement
which then interferes with sleep.

I. Disruptive Disorders - Impulse-control disorders are those that involve an inability to

control emotions and behaviors, resulting in harm to oneself or others. These problems
with emotional and behavioral regulation are characterized by actions that violate the
rights of others such as destroying property or physical aggression and/or those that
conflict with societal norms, authority figures, and laws. Types of impulse-control
disorders include:
1. Kleptomania involves an inability to control the impulse to steal. People who have
kleptomania will often steal things that they do not really need or that have no real
monetary value. Those with this condition experience escalating tension prior to
committing a theft and feel relief and gratification afterwards.
2. Pyromania involves a fascination with fire that results in acts of fire-starting that
endanger the self and others. People who struggle with pyromania purposefully and
deliberately have set fires more than one time. They also experience tension and
emotional arousal before setting a fire.
3. Intermittent explosive disorder is characterized by brief outbursts of anger and
violence that are out of proportion for the situation. People with this disorder may
erupt into angry outbursts or violent actions in response to everyday annoyances or
disappointments.
4. Conduct Disorder is a condition diagnosed in children and adolescents under the age
of 18 who regularly violate social norms and the rights of others. Children with this
disorder display aggression toward people and animals, destroy property, steal and
deceive, and violate other rules and laws.
5. Oppositional Defiant Disorder begins prior to the age of 18 and is characterized by
defiance, irritability, anger, aggression, and vindictiveness. While all kids behave
defiantly sometimes, kids with oppositional defiant disorder refuse to comply with
adult requests almost all the time and engage in behaviors to deliberately annoy
others.

J. Depressive Disorders - These are a type of mood disorder that include a number of
conditions. They are all characterized by the presence of sad, empty, or irritable moods
accompanied by physical and cognitive symptoms. They differ in terms of duration,
timing, or presumed etiology.
1. Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: A childhood condition characterized by
extreme anger and irritability. Children display frequent and intense outbursts of
temper.
2. Major depressive disorder: A condition characterized by loss of interest in activities
and depressed mood which leads to significant impairments in how a person is able to
function.

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3. Persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia): This is a type of ongoing, chronic
depression that is characterized by other symptoms of depression that, while often less
severe, are longer lasting. Diagnosis requires experiencing depressed mood on most
days for a period of at least two years.
4. Other or unspecified depressive disorder: This diagnosis is for cases when
symptoms do not meet the criteria for the diagnosis of another depressive disorder,
but they still create problems with an individual's life and functioning.
5. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: This condition is a form of premenstrual
syndrome (PMS) characterized by significant depression, irritability, and anxiety that
begins a week or two before menstruation begins. Symptoms usually go away within
a few day's following a woman's period.
6. Substance/medication-induced depressive disorder: This condition occurs when an
individual experiences symptoms of a depressive disorder either while using alcohol
or other substances or while going through withdrawal from a substance.
7. Depressive disorder due to another medical condition: This condition is diagnosed
when a person's medical history suggests that their depressive symptoms may be the
result of a medical condition. Medical conditions that may contribute to or cause
depression include diabetes, stroke, Parkinson's disease, autoimmune conditions,
chronic pain conditions, cancer, infections and HIV/AIDS.

K. Substance-Related Disorders – These are those that involve the use and abuse of
different substances such as cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates, and alcohol.1 These
disorders may include substance-induced conditions that can result in many associated
diagnoses including intoxication, withdrawal, the emergence of psychosis, anxiety, and
delirium. Examples of substance-related disorders:
1. Alcohol-related disorders involve the consumption of alcohol, the most widely used
(and frequently overused) drug in the United States.
2. Cannabis-related disorders include symptoms such as using more than originally
intended, feeling unable to stop using the drug, and continuing to use despite adverse
effects in one's life.
3. Inhalant-use disorders involve inhaling fumes from things such as paints or
solvents. As with other substance-related disorders, people with this condition
experience cravings for the substance and find it difficult to control or stop engaging
in the behavior.
4. Stimulant use disorder involves the use of stimulants such as meth, amphetamines,
and cocaine.
5. Tobacco use disorder is characterized by symptoms such as consuming more
tobacco than intended, difficulty cutting back or quitting, cravings, and suffering
adverse social consequences as a result of tobacco use.
6. Gambling Disorder - The DSM-5 also includes gambling disorder under this
classification. The American Psychiatric Association explains that this change
"reflects the increasing and consistent evidence that some behaviors, such as
gambling, activate the brain reward system with effects similar to those of drugs of
abuse and that gambling disorder symptoms resemble substance use disorders to a
certain extent."

L. Neurocognitive Disorders - are characterized by acquired deficits in cognitive function.

These disorders do not include those in which impaired cognition was present at birth or
early in life. Types of cognitive disorders include:

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1. Delirium is also known as acute confusional state. This disorder develops over a
short period of time—usually a few hours or a few days—and is characterized by
disturbances in attention and awareness.
2. Neurocognitive Disorders - Major and mild neurocognitive disorders have the
primary feature of acquired cognitive decline in one or more areas including
memory, attention, language, learning, and perception. These cognitive disorders can
be due to medical conditions including Alzheimer's disease, HIV infection,
Parkinson's disease, substance/medication use, vascular disease, and others.
3. Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric condition that affects a person‘s thinking,
feeling, and behavior. It is a complex, long-term condition that affects about one
percent of people in the United States.

M. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders is a category of psychiatric conditions that include:

1. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - The diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 specify that
in order to be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a person must
experience obsessions, compulsions, or both.
a. Obsessions: defined as recurrent, persistent thoughts, impulses, and urges that lead
to distress or anxiety
b. Compulsions: repetitive and excessive behaviors that the individual feels that they
must perform. These actions are performed to reduce anxiety or to prevent some
dreaded outcome from occurring.
2. Body-dysmorphic Disorder - is a mental health condition characterized by an
unhealthy and excessive preoccupation with one's physical appearance.
3. Hoarding disorder – known also as a "pack rat," that is, someone who enjoys
collecting items and doesn't like to throw things away.
4. Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder)
5. Excoriation disorder (skin picking)
6. Substance/medication - induced obsessive-compulsive and related disorder
Obsessive-compulsive and related disorder due to another medical condition

N. Personality Disorders are characterized by an enduring pattern of maladaptive thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors that can cause serious detriments to relationships and other life
areas.
1. Antisocial Personality Disorder is characterized by a long-standing disregard for
rules, social norms, and the rights of others. People with this disorder typically begin
displaying symptoms during childhood, have difficulty feeling empathy for others,
and lack remorse for their destructive behaviors.
2. Avoidant Personality Disorder involves severe social inhibition and sensitivity to
rejection. Such feelings of insecurity lead to significant problems with the individual's
daily life and functioning.
3. Borderline Personality Disorder unstable and intense interpersonal
relationships, unstable self-image, and impulsive behaviors.
4. Dependent Personality Disorder involves a chronic pattern of fearing separation and
an excessive need to be taken care of. People with this disorder will often engage in
behaviors that are designed to produce care-giving actions in others.
5. Histrionic Personality Disorder is associated with patterns of extreme emotionality
and attention-seeking behaviors. People with this condition feel uncomfortable in
settings where they are not the center of attention, have rapidly changing emotions,
and may engage in socially inappropriate behaviors designed to attract attention from
others.

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6. Narcissistic Personality Disorder is associated with a lasting pattern of exaggerated
self-image, self-centeredness, and low empathy. People with this condition tend to be
more interested in themselves than with others.
7. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of preoccupation
with orderliness, perfectionism, inflexibility, and mental and interpersonal control.
This is a different condition than obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
8. Paranoid Personality Disorder is characterized by a distrust of others, even family,
friends, and romantic partners. People with this disorder perceive others intentions as
malevolent, even without any evidence or justification.
9. Schizoid Personality Disorder involves symptoms that include being detached from
social relationships. People with this disorder are directed toward their inner lives and
are often indifferent to relationships. They generally display a lack of emotional
expression and can appear cold and aloof.
10. Schizotypal Personality Disorder features eccentricities in speech, behaviors,
appearance, and thought. People with this condition may experience odd beliefs or
"magical thinking" and difficulty forming relationships.

IV. Progress Check or Review questions: To Be posted or to be administered thru Google

Form

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MODULE 7 – OTHER CRIME CAUSATION PERSPECTIVES
LESSON 3 – TOP CAUSES OF CRIMES AND VIOLENCE

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Identify the contemporary top causes of crimes and violence
B. Explain the policy implications on the contemporary top causes of crimes and violence

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. PERSONAL TRAITS (WEAKNESSES) - suffering from severe mental abnormalities.

Abnormal personality structures, including such traits as depression, impulsivity,
aggression, dishonesty, pathological lying, lack of remorse, borderline personality
syndrome, and psychopathology, have been associated with various forms of violence.

B. INEFFECTIVE FAMILIES (FAMILY CONDITIONS) - Absent or deviant parents,

inconsistent discipline, physical abuse, and lack of supervision have all been linked to
persistent violent offending. Some parents abuse their children sexually and physically.
Those exposed to even minimal amounts of physical punishment may be more likely one
day to use violence themselves; if the abuse is prolonged, so are the effects. Abused kids
suffer from long-term mental, cognitive, and social dysfunctions. They are more likely to
physically abuse a sibling and later to engage in spouse abuse and other forms of criminal
violence. Abusive childhood experiences may be a key factor in the later development of
relationship aggression.

C. EVOLUTIONARY FACTORS/HUMAN INSTINCT - Perhaps violent responses and

emotions are simply inherent in all humans, and the right spark can trigger them.
Sigmund Freud believed that human aggression and violence are produced by instinctual
drives. Freud maintained that humans possess two opposing instinctual drives that interact
to control behavior: eros, the life instinct, which drives people toward self-fulfillment and
enjoyment; and thanatos, the death instinct, which impels toward self-destruction.
Thanatos can be expressed externally (as violence and sadism) or internally (as suicide,
alcoholism, or other self-destructive habits). Because aggression is instinctual, Freud saw
little hope for its treatment.
A number of biologists and anthropologists have also speculated that instinctual
violence-promoting traits may be common in the human species. One view is that
aggression and violence are the result of instincts inborn in all animals, humans among
them. Unlike other animals, however, humans lack the inhibition against killing members
of their own species, which protects animals from self-extinction, and are capable of
killing their own kind in war or as a result of interpersonal conflicts.

D. EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE (BEING A VICTIM IN A CHAIN OF EVENTS) -

Kids who are constantly exposed to violence at home, at school, or in the environment
may adopt violent methods themselves. Exposure to violence can also occur at the
neighborhood level when people are forced to live in violent, dangerous neighborhoods.

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E. SUBSTANCE ABUSE (DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL) – This has been associated
with violence on both the individual and social levels. Substance abusers have higher
rates of violence than non-abusers. Substance abuse influences violence in three ways:
1. Psychopharmacological Relationship may be the direct consequence of ingesting
mood-altering substances. Binge drinking, for example, has been closely associated
with violent crime rates. Heavy drinking reduces cognitive ability, information
processing skills, and the ability to process and react to verbal and non-verbal
behavior. As a result, miscommunication becomes more likely, and the capacity for
rational dialogue is compromised. It is not surprising that males involved in sexual
assaults often claim that they were drinking and misunderstood their victim‘s
intentions.
2. Economic Compulsive Behavior, in which drug users resort to violence to support
their habit.
3. Systemic Link between drugs and violence occurs when drug dealers turn violent in
their competition with rival gangs.

F. FIREARM AVAILABILITY - Although firearm availability alone does not cause

violence, it may be a facilitating factor. A petty argument can escalate into a fatal
encounter if one party has a handgun.

G. CULTURAL VALUES - Areas that experience violence seem to cluster together.

Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti formulated the famous concept that some areas
are characterized by an independent subculture of violence. The subculture‘s norms are
separate from society‘s central, dominant value system. In this subculture, a potent theme
of violence influences lifestyles, the socialization process, and interpersonal relationships.
Even though the members of the subculture share some of the dominant culture‘s values,
they expect that violence will be used to solve social conflicts and dilemmas. In some
cultural subgroups, then, violence has become legitimized by custom and norms. It is
considered appropriate behavior within culturally defined conflict situations in which an
individual who has been offended by a negative outcome in a dispute seeks reparations
through violent means (―disputatiousness‖).

H. NATIONAL VALUES - Some nations—including the United States, Sri Lanka, Angola,
Uganda, and the Philippines—have relatively high violence rates; others are much more
peaceful. According to research by sociologist Jerome Neapolitan, a number of national
characteristics are predictive of violence: a high level of social disorganization, economic
stress, high efficient justice system, people arm themselves or hire private security forces
for protection.
In contrast, nations such as Japan have relatively low violence rates because of
cultural and economic strengths. Japan boasts a system of exceptionally effective
informal social controls that help reduce crime. It also has had a robust economy, which
may alleviate the stresses that produce violence.

I. OTHER TOP CAUSES OF CRIMES

1. Poor Judgment - A great deal of research supports the fact that the human brain does
not fully mature until the mid-20s. The last part of the brain to mature is the prefrontal
cortex, the part of the brain that controls reasoning and decision-making. So, it is not
surprising that kids and young adults can make impulsive and poorly thought-out
decisions. Sometimes, these poor decisions can land young people in trouble
(https://www.contant-law.com/poor-judgement-becomes-a-crime/}.

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2. Lack Of Love - Obviously, parents play a huge role in the social and psychological
development of their children. Parents are the first attachment children have. If
parental bonds are stable, nurturing, loving, and built on a foundation of trust,
children learn how to have similarly positive relationships and attachments with other
people throughout life. These strong familial ties teach children how to relate to others
and to the world around them. With a loving family at home who you feel accountable
to, there are more reasons not to commit a crime.
3. Poverty and Deprived Neighborhoods - One of the reasons that poverty has been
associated with crime is because it is an opportunity for the poor to acquire materials
that they could otherwise not afford. Poverty can also produce violent crimes because
force is an easy way to get a large quantity of goods. Many impoverished criminals
feel the hope of treasures is worth the possibility of being caught. Thus, poverty
causes desire, and in turn, increases the crime rate (―Poverty and Crime‖ 1). Ludwig,
Duncan and Hirschi also believe that there is a possibility that most crime can be
linked to high poverty neighborhoods. They believe that criminal behaviors can
spread throughout a community, tempting others to commit crimes
4. Fatherlessness - A fatherless household simply has fewer eyes on the job. A single
parent simply can‘t provide the amount of supervision that two parents can, and this
also works to increase the risk of criminality in children with only one parent. Coming
from a fatherless home can lead to many unfortunate outcomes for young people. Not
only are children from single parent homes more likely to commit crime, but they are
also more likely to commit suicide, struggle with a behavioral disorder, have greater
levels of aggression, and drop out of high school.
5. Ecological - Ecological Factors Ecological factors involve interactions between
people and their activities in a physical environment. This category includes things
associated with the physical environment such as geography and topography,
crowding, pollution, and recreational opportunities. These ecological factors can
affect how people develop physically and emotionally over their lives as well as the
level of hostility, fear, or well-being they feel from moment to moment as they
experience, for example, a crowded subway, dark lonely parking lot, or serene park.
6. Overpopulation - Violence is more prevalent in highly populated areas, as are other
forms of criminal behavior. This is probably due to aggression and anxiety brought
on by a lack of personal space. Overpopulation also leads to poverty, disease and
famine as people desperately compete for jobs, food and shelter.
7. Politics – Negative political practice may cause criminality. When public officials
interfere with the criminal justice system, it may lead to unfair enforcement of the
law. Thus, those victims of the unfair treatment by the CJS agencies may further
resort to criminality. On the other hand, those unfairly favored by the CJS may
become repeat offenders. An example of malpractices in the CJS process may include
negative selective enforcement, negative selective prosecution, and fraudulent or
dubious court rulings (dbgdelizo).
8. Racism - Racism is prejudice or hostility towards a person's race, colour, language,
nationality, or national or ethnic origin. While some communities are particularly
vulnerable, any ethnic group can be the target of racism. Intolerant discourse in the
media or from politicians can lead to increased racist sentiments towards migrants and
other minorities, including in the form of scapegoating in times of economic crisis.
9. Tv Violence (& Media) - Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes
greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase
aggressiveness. Children who view tv or media shows in which violence is very
realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see.

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Children with emotional, behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be
more easily influenced by TV violence. The impact of TV violence may show
immediately in the child's behavior or may surface years later. Young people can be
affected even when their home life shows no tendency toward violence
(https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-
Guide/Children-And-TV-Violence-013.aspx)
10. Regionalism – Regionalism is defined as consciousness of and loyalty to a
distinct region with a homogeneous population (Merriam-Webster). It is a
major cause of crime and unrest among people. Such people that harbor
such regionalist feelings often go to great lengths to commit crimes against other
communities.
11. Peer Influence/Gang Wars – This factor has been mentioned in most of the
psychological and sociological theories of crime causation. As Siegel (2011) stated,
―Troubled kids find it tough to make friends; they choose delinquent peers out of
necessity rather than desire. Being a social outcast causes them to hook up with
friends who are dangerous and get them into trouble. Those who acquire delinquent
friends may find that peer influence is a powerful determinant of behavior. Deviant
peers may sustain or amplify antisocial behavior trends and reinforce delinquent
careers. The fear of punishment is diminished among kids who hang with delinquent
friends, and loyalty to delinquent peers may outweigh the fear of punishment.‖

IV. Progress Check and Review questions: To be posted or to be administered thru Google
Form.

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MODULE 7 – OTHER CRIME CAUSATION PERSPECTIVES
LESSON 4 – TYPES OF CRIMINALS

I. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the learner should be able to:
A. Compare and contrast the various typologies of criminals
B. Identify the causes of criminal behavior of the various typologies of criminals

II. Activity: Class Discussion (online/offline)

Materials: PowerPoint/handouts, educational videos

III. Concept:

A. CRIME AND CRIMINALS BY RAFAEL GAROFALO

1. Concept of Natural Crime – Garofalo formulates one of his most important
concepts, the idea of "natural crime." "Natural" he defines as that ".... which is not
conventional,...which exists in human society independently of the circumstances and
exigencies of a given epoch or the particular views of the law-maker." ' In short,
"natural crime" consists of that conduct which offends the basic moral sentiments of
pity (revulsion against the voluntary infliction of suffering on others)': and probity
(respect for property rights of others)) The basic moral sensibilities appear in more or
less advanced form in all civilized societies and are, indeed, essential to the
coexistence of individuals in society.
Hence, the true criminal against whom society must make defense is he who has
revealed the absence or deficiency of either or both these essential moral capacities.
The true criminal is he whose altruistic sensibilities are lacking or are in a deficient
state of development. The concepts of crime and the criminal are thus integrally
related.
2. Types of Criminals by Garofalo - He identifies four basic criminal classes which,
though distinct, are yet related in that each is characterized by a deficiency in the
basic altruistic sentiments of pity and probity. These four classes are those of (1) the
murderer, (2) the violent criminal, (3) the thief, and- (4) the lascivious criminal.
a. The Murderer – It is the man in whom altruism is wholly lacking. The
sentiments of both pity and probity are absent, and such a criminal will steal or
kill as the occasion arises or when given the opportunity. This extreme form of the
moral anomaly is frequently revealed in the very circumstances of the crime
committed.
b. The Violent Criminal – He is considered a lesser offender characterized by the
lack of pity
1) Endemic crimes - The violent criminal may often be guilty of offenses against
the person of the type particularly characteristic of a given locality.
Admittedly, these patterns of criminal behavior are strongly influenced by
environmental factors.
2) Crimes of passion - sometimes under the influence of alcohol. For Garofolo,
such crimes, committed in a fit of anger, are indicative of inferior innate moral
capacities.
c. The Thief – another lesser offender characterized by the lack of probity. Garofolo
recognizes that the thieves may be more the product of social factors than the
criminals in other classes. Certain environments, particularly, contribute to crimes
against property. "The limits of such an environment need not be wide;" he writes,
"two or three evil companions, sometimes a single intimate friend are sufficient to

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lead a youth into this sort of crime." Nevertheless, many manifestations of such
behavior can only be attributed to "a remote atavism" and, in other cases, to a
general deficiency in "'moral energy."
d. The Lascivious Criminal – His conduct is characterized less by the absence of
the sentiment of pity than by a low level of moral energy and deficient moral
perception.

B. VIOLENT CRIMES AND VIOLENT CRIMINALS

1. Violent Crime - In a violent crime, a victim is harmed by or threatened with violence.
Violent crimes include rape and sexual assault, robbery, assault and murder.
2. Typology of Violent Offenders - John Conrad (cited in Spencer, 1966; Vetter &
Silverman, 1978) as cited also by Hagan and Daigle (2020), proposed a useful
typology of violent offenders:
a. Culturally violent offenders are individuals who live in subcultures (cultures
within a culture) in which violence is an acceptable problem-solving mechanism.
b. Criminally violent offenders use violence as a means of accomplishing a
criminal act, such as robbery. Mental illness or brain damage characterizes
pathologically violent offenders.
c. Situationally violent offenders commit acts of violence on rare occasions, often
under provocation, such as in domestic disputes that get out of hand. These
incidents are frequently described as crimes of passion, in which the individual
temporarily loses control and often expresses regret for the actions later. The
culturally and situationally violent offenders are the most common.

C. HOMICIDE, MURDER, AND MURDERERS

1. Generic definition of murder - ―the unlawful killing of a human being with malice
aforethought.‖ (Siegel, 2011)
2. Degrees of murder in American context (Siegel, 2011)
a. First-degree murder occurs when a person kills another after premeditation and
deliberation. Premeditation means that the killing was considered beforehand and
suggests that it was motivated by more than a simple desire to engage in an act of
violence. Deliberation means the killing was planned after careful thought rather
than carried out on impulse: ―To constitute a deliberate and premeditated killing,
the slayer must weigh and consider the question of killing and the reasons for and
against such a choice; having in mind the consequences, he decides to and does
kill.‖100 The planning implied by this definition need not be a long process; it
may be an almost instantaneous decision to take another‘s life. Also, a killing that
accompanies a felony, such as robbery or rape, usually constitutes first-degree
murder (felony murder).
b. Second-degree murder requires the killer to have malice aforethought but not
premeditation or deliberation. It occurs when a person‘s wanton disregard for the
victim‘s life and his or her desire to inflict serious bodily harm on the victim result
in the victim‘s death. Homicide without malice is called manslaughter and is
usually punished by anywhere from 1 to 15 years in prison.
c. Voluntary or nonnegligent manslaughter refers to a killing committed in the
heat of passion or during a sudden quarrel that provoked violence. Although intent
may be present, malice is not.
d. Involuntary or negligent manslaughter refers to a killing that occurs when a
person‘s acts are negligent and without regard for the harm they may cause others.

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Most involuntary manslaughter cases involve motor vehicle deaths—for example,
when a drunk driver kills a pedestrian.
3. Destruction of Life (Philippine Revised Penal Code) –
a. Art. 246. Parricide. — Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child,
whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his
spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of
reclusion perpetua to death.
b. Art. 247. Death or physical injuries inflicted under exceptional circumstances. —
Any legally married person who having surprised his spouse in the act of
committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both
of them in the act or immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious
physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro.
1) If he shall inflict upon them physical injuries of any other kind, he shall be
exempt from punishment.
2) These rules shall be applicable, under the same circumstances, to parents with
respect to their daughters under eighteen years of age, and their seducer, while
the daughters are living with their parents.
3) Any person who shall promote or facilitate the prostitution of his wife or
daughter, or shall otherwise have consented to the infidelity of the other
spouse shall not be entitled to the benefits of this article.
c. Art. 248. Murder. — Any person who, not falling within the provisions of
Article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by
reclusion temporal in its maximum period to death, if committed with any of the
following attendant circumstances:
1) With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed
men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of means or persons to
insure or afford impunity.
2) In consideration of a price, reward, or promise.
3) By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a
vessel, derailment or assault upon a street car or locomotive, fall of an airship,
by means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving
great waste and ruin.
4) On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph,
or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic or
other public calamity.
5) With evident premeditation.
6) With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering of the
victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.
d. Art. 249. Homicide. — Any person who, not falling within the provisions of
Article 246, shall kill another without the attendance of any of the circumstances
enumerated in the next preceding article, shall be deemed guilty of homicide and
be punished by reclusion temporal.
4. Murderous Relations (Siegel, 2011) - Most murders are expressive—that is,
motivated by rage or anger— and they typically involve friends, relatives, and
acquaintances. Murderous relations are also shaped by gender: Males are more likely
to kill others of similar social standing in more public contexts, whereas women kill
family members and intimate partners in private locations. Other forms of murderous
relations take?
a. Romantic Relations - involve husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends,
and others involved in romantic relationships. Causes: most females who kill their

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mates do so after suffering repeated violent attacks; Some kill their mates because
they find themselves involved in a love triangle.
b. Personal Relations - occur among people who are acquainted. Causes, it is often
the result of a long-simmering dispute motivated by revenge, dispute resolution,
jealousy, drug deals, racial bias, or threats to identity or status.113 For example, a
prior act of violence, motivated by profit or greed, such as when a buyer robs his
dealer during a drug transaction, may generate revenge killing.
c. Stranger Relations In the past, people who killed tended to kill someone they
knew or were related to, but over the last decade, the number of stranger
homicides has increased. Stranger homicides occur most often as felony murders
during rapes, robberies, and burglaries. Others are random acts of urban violence
that fuel public fear. For example, a homeowner tells a motorist to move his car
because it is blocking the driveway, an argument ensues, and the owner gets a
pistol and kills the motorist.
d. Student Relations - violence in schools has become commonplace. Causes:
Violence and bullying; some students bring weapons to school on a regular basis;
some of those involved in school violence are kids who have a history of being
abused and bullied; many perceive a lack of support from peers, parents, and
teachers.
5. Serial Killers, Mass Murderers, and Spree Killers
a. Serial Killers Criminologists consider a serial killer, to be a person who kills
three or more persons in three or more separate events. In between the murders, a
serial killer reverts to his or her normal lifestyle. Some serial killers are sadists
who gain satisfaction from torturing and killing their victims. Some serial killers
think they are helping people when they put them to death. Harold Frederick
Shipman, Britain‘s most notorious serial killer, was a general practitioner
convicted of 15 murders, most involving elderly patients. After he committed
suicide in 2004, further investigation found that he had actually killed at least 218
patients, and perhaps even more. According to James A. Fox and Jack Levin (as
cited by Siegel, 2011), there are at least three different types of serial killers:129
1) ―Thrill killers‖ strive for either sexual sadism or dominance. They enjoy the
thrill, the sexual gratification, and the dominance they achieve over the lives
of their victims. Serial killers rarely use a gun because this method is too quick
and would deprive them of their greatest pleasure—exulting in the victim‘s
suffering. Extending the time it takes the victim to die increases the pleasure
they experience from killing and prolongs their ability to ignore or enjoy their
victims‘ suffering.
2) ―Mission killers‖ want to reform the world or have a vision that drives them to
kill.
3) ―Expedience killers‖ are out for profit or want to protect themselves from a
perceived threat.
For Holmes and DeBurger (1988), as cited by Hagan and Daigle (2020), they
identify the following types of serial killers
1) Visionaries. Believed to be suffering from some sort of psychosis, they kill in
response to voices or visions.
2) Mission oriented. Their mission in life is to rid society of ―undesirables,‖ for
example, prostitutes.
3) Hedonists. These are thrill seekers who murder for creature comforts, profit, or
pleasure in life, as well as lust murderers.

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4) Power/control. These killers enjoy power and control over helpless victims
and enjoy watching them suffer and beg for mercy.
b. Female Serial Killers An estimated 10 to 15 percent of serial killers are women.
Criminologists Belea Keeney and Kathleen Heide investigated the characteristics
of a sample of 14 female serial killers and found some striking differences
between the way male and female killers carried out their crimes.
1) Males were much more likely than females to use extreme violence and
torture. Whereas males used a ―hands-on‖ approach, including beating,
bludgeoning, and strangling their victims, females were more likely to poison
or smother their victims. Men tracked or stalked their victims, but women
were more likely to lure victims to their death.
2) Female killers, somewhat older than their male counterparts, abused both
alcohol and drugs; males were not likely to be substance abusers. Women
were diagnosed as having histrionic, manic-depressive, borderline,
dissociative, and antisocial personality disorders.
3) Men were more often diagnosed as having antisocial personalities.
4) Aileen Wuornos, executed for killing seven men, was diagnosed with a severe
psychopathic personality, which probably arose from her horrific childhood
marred by beatings, alcoholism, rape, incest, and prostitution. Thus, the typical
female serial killer is a person who smothers or poisons someone she knows.
During childhood she suffered from an abusive relationship in a disrupted
family. Female killers‘ education levels are below average, and if they hold
jobs, they are in low-status positions.
c. Mass Murderers - involve the killing of four or more victims by one or a few
assailants within a single event. The murderous incident can last but a few minutes
or as long as several hours. In order to qualify as a mass murder, the incident must
be carried out by one or a few offenders. Highly organized or institutionalized
killings (such as war crimes and large-scale acts of political terrorism, as well as
certain acts of highly organized crime rings), though atrocious, are not considered
mass murder and are motivated by a totally different set of factors. Fox and Levin
(as cited by Siegel, 2011) define four types of mass murderers:
1) ―Revenge killers‖ want to get even with individuals or society at large. Their
typical target is an estranged wife and ―her‖ children or an employer and ―his‖
employees.
2) ―Love killers‖ are motivated by a warped sense of devotion. They are often
despondent people who commit suicide and take others, such as a wife and
children, with them.
3) ―Profit killers‖ are usually trying to cover up a crime, eliminate witnesses, and
carry out a criminal conspiracy.
4) ―Terrorist killers‖ are trying to send a message. Gang killings tell rivals to
watch out; cult killers may actually leave a message behind to warn society
about impending doom.
Other types of serial killers as cited by Hagan and Daigle (2020)
1) Organized serial killers usually plan their offenses, transport their victims, and
keep ―trophies‖ (victim belongings); they are normal in appearance and
socially competent.
2) Disorganized serial killers are usually socially and sexually incompetent. Both
types often return to the gravesite or dumpsite, often to satisfy their sexual
fantasy through masturbation.

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d. Spree Killers - Spree killing is not confined to a single outburst, and unlike serial
killers, spree killers do not return to their normal identities in between killings.
Spree killers engage in a rampage of violence over a period of days or weeks.
6. Vengeance/Revenge – This is considered as the most motivating factor in murderous
acts

D. RAPE
1. Rape (from the Latin rapere, ―to take by force‖) is ―the carnal knowledge of a female
forcibly and against her will.‖
2. Rape in the Philippines - Republic Act 8353 also known as "The Anti-Rape Law of
1997." Section 2. Rape as a Crime Against Persons. - The crime of rape shall
hereafter be classified as a Crime Against Persons under Title Eight of Act No. 3815,
as amended, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code. Accordingly, there shall be
incorporated into Title Eight of the same Code a new chapter to be known as Chapter
Three on Rape, to read as follows: ("Chapter Three", Rape) "Article 266-A.
Rape: When And How Committed. - Rape is committed: By a man who shall have
carnal knowledge of a woman under any of the following circumstances:
a. Through force, threat, or intimidation;
b. When the offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise unconscious;
c. By means of fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; and
d. When the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or is demented, even
though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present.
e. By any person who, under any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph 1
hereof, shall commit an act of sexual assault by inserting his penis into another
person's mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or object, into the genital or anal
orifice of another person.
3. Rape as a Violent Act - Rape is often perceived primarily as a sexually motivated
act, but some authorities on rape identify it as primarily a violent act in which sexual
relations are merely a means of expressing violence, aggression, and domination.
Types of Rapists
a. Types of Rape and Rapist Based on Motivations - Some rapes are planned,
whereas others are spontaneous; some focus on a particular victim, whereas others
occur almost as an afterthought during the commission of another crime, such as a
burglary. Some rapists commit a single crime, whereas others are multiple
offenders; some attack alone, and others engage in group or gang rapes.
Because there is no single type of rape or rapist, criminologists have attempted
to define and categorize the vast variety of rape situations. Criminologists now
recognize that there are numerous motivations for rape—and, consequently,
various types of rapists. One of the best-known attempts to classify the
personalities of rapists was that of A. Nicholas Groth, an expert on classifying and
treating sex offenders. According to Groth, every rape encounter contains at least
one of three elements: anger, power, or sadism.
1) Anger rape occurs when sexuality becomes a means of expressing and
discharging pent-up anger and rage. The rapist uses far more brutality than
would have been necessary if his real objective had been simply to have sex
with his victim. His aim is to hurt his victim as much as possible; the sexual
aspect of rape may be an afterthought. Often the anger rapist acts on the spur
of the moment after an upsetting incident has caused him conflict, irritation, or
aggravation.

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2) Power rape involves an attacker who does not want to harm his victim as
much as he wants to possess her sexually. His goal is sexual conquest, and he
uses only the amount of force necessary to achieve his objective. The power
rapist wants to be in control, to be able to dominate women and have them at
his mercy. Yet it is not sexual gratification that drives the power rapist; in fact,
he often has a consenting relationship with his wife or girlfriend. Rape is
instead a way of putting personal insecurities to rest, asserting heterosexuality,
and preserving a sense of manhood.
3) Sadistic rape involves both sexuality and aggression. The sadistic rapist is
bound up in ritual—he may torment his victim, bind her, or torture her. In the
rapist‘s view, victims are usually related to a personal characteristic that he
wants to harm or destroy. The rape experience is intensely exciting to the
sadist; he gets satisfaction from abusing, degrading, or humiliating his
captive..
b. Other Types of Rape and/or Rapist
1) Date Rape One disturbing trend involves people who are in some form of
courting relationship— known as date rape. Some date rapes occur on first
dates, others after a relationship has begun developing, and still others after
the couple have been involved for some time. In long-term or close
relationships, the male partner may feel he has invested so much time and
money in his partner that he is owed sexual relations or that sexual intimacy is
an expression or acknowledgment that the involvement is progressing.
2) Marital Rape Traditionally, a legally married husband could not be charged
with raping his wife; this immunity was referred to as the marital exemption.
However, research indicates that many women are raped each year by their
husbands as part of an overall pattern of spousal abuse. Many spousal rapes
are accompanied by brutal, sadistic beatings and have little to do with normal
sexual interests.
3) Statutory Rape It refers to sexual relations between an underage minor
female and an adult male. Although the sex is not forced or coerced, the law
says that young girls are incapable of giving informed consent, so the act is
legally considered nonconsensual. In the Philippines, statutory rape is
committed when the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or is
demented. However, there is a recent House Bill increasing the age of
statutory rape to 16 years old.
c. Causes Of Rape
1) Evolutionary, Biological Factors - This perspective suggests that rape may
be instinctual, developed over the ages as a means of perpetuating the species.
In more primitive times, forcible sexual contact may have helped spread genes
and maximize offspring. Some believe that these prehistoric drives remain:
Males still have a natural sexual drive that encourages them to have intimate
relations with as many women as possible.
2) Male Socialization – This argues that rape is a function of socialization.
Some men have been socialized to be aggressive with women and believe that
the use of violence or force is legitimate if their sexual advances are rebuffed
(―Women like to play hard to get and expect to be forced to have sex‖).
3) Psychological Abnormality Rapists may suffer from some type of personality
disorder or mental illness. Research shows that a significant percentage of
incarcerated rapists exhibit psychotic tendencies, and many others have
hostile, sadistic feelings toward women. A high proportion of serial rapists and

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repeat sexual offenders exhibit psychopathic personality structures. There is
evidence linking rape proclivity with narcissistic personality disorder, a
pattern of traits and behaviors that indicate infatuation and fixation with one‘s
self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one‘s
own gratification, dominance, and ambition.
4) Social Learning According to this perspective, men learn to commit rapes in
much the same way they learn any other behavior. For example, sexual
aggression may be learned through interaction with peers who articulate
attitudes supportive of sexual violence. Observing or experiencing sexual
violence has also been linked to sexual aggression.
5) Sexual Motivation Even though criminologists now consider rape a violent
act without sexual motivation, there is evidence that at least some rapists have
sexual feelings for their victim. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
data reveals that rape victims tend to be young and that rapists prefer younger,
presumably more attractive victims;

E. CONTEMPORARY THIEVES
1. Occasional Thieves - Criminologists suspect that most economic crimes are the work
of amateur occasional criminals, whose decision to steal is spontaneous and whose
acts are unskilled, unplanned, and haphazard. Many of these theft offenses are
committed by school-age youths who are unlikely to enter criminal careers and who
drift between conventional and criminal behavior. Occasional property crime occurs
when there is an opportunity, or situational inducement, to commit crime. Members
of the upper class have the opportunity to engage in lucrative business-related crimes
such as price-fixing, bribery, and embezzlement; lower-class individuals, lacking such
opportunities, are overrepresented in street crime. Situational inducements are short-
term influences on a person‘s behavior that increase risk taking. They include
psychological factors, such as financial problems, and social factors, such as peer
pressure.
2. Professional Thieves - Professional criminals make a significant portion of their
income from crime. Professionals do not delude themselves with the belief that their
acts are impulsive, onetime efforts, nor do they use elaborate rationalizations to
excuse the harmfulness of their actions (―Shoplifting doesn‘t really hurt anyone‖).
Consequently, professionals pursue their craft with vigor, attempting to learn from
older, experienced criminals the techniques that will enable them to ―earn‖ the most
money with the least risk. Professional theft consists of nonviolent forms of criminal
behavior that are undertaken with a high degree of skill for monetary gain and that
maximize financial opportunities and minimize the odds of apprehension.

F. HATE CRIMES
1. Hate crimes defined - hate crimes (bias crimes) Violent acts directed toward a
particular person or members of a group merely because the targets share a
discernible racial, ethnic, religious, or gender characteristic. Such crimes range from
desecration of a house of worship or cemetery to racially motivated murder.
2. Roots of Hate Why do people commit bias crimes? In a series of research studies,
Jack McDevitt, Jack Levin, and Susan Bennett identify four motivations for hate
crimes:
a. Thrill-seeking hate crimes. In the same way some kids like to get together to
shoot hoops, hate-mongers join forces to have fun by bashing minorities or
destroying property. Inflicting pain on others gives them a sadistic thrill.

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b. Reactive (defensive) hate crimes. Perpetrators of these crimes rationalize their
behavior as a defensive stand taken against outsiders who they believe threaten
their community or way of life. A gang of teens that attacks a new family in the
neighborhood because they are the ―wrong‖ race is committing a reactive hate
crime.
c. Mission hate crimes. Some disturbed individuals see it as their duty to rid the
world of evil. Those ―on a mission,‖ such as skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK),
and white supremacist groups, may seek to eliminate people who threaten their
religious beliefs because they are members of a different faith, or threaten ―racial
purity‖ because they are of a different race.
d. Retaliatory hate crimes. These offenses are committed in response to a hate
crime either real or perceived; whether the original incident actually occurred is
irrelevant. Sometimes a rumor of an incident may cause a group of offenders to
exact vengeance, even if the original information was unfounded or inaccurate;
the retaliatory crimes are perpetrated before anyone has had a chance to verify the
accuracy of the original rumor. Attacks based on revenge tend to have the greatest
potential for fueling and refueling additional hate offenses.

G. CRIMES AGAINST MORALITY – It is argued that all crimes have a general moral
basis, condemned as ‗wrong‘ or ‗bad‘ and proscribed by a society, there is a specific
group of offences in modern democratic nations labeled crimes against morality. Included
within this group are offences related to prostitution, pornography and homosexuality.
Commonly, these crimes tend to have a sexual basis and are often argued to do sexual
harm, in both a moral and/or psychological sense, as well as physically. They are also
considered as victimless crimes, especially when the acts occur between consenting
adults. Finally, they are considered essentially private acts but they often occur and, are
regulated, in the public domain.
1. Prostitution - Prostitution has been known of for thousands of years. The term
derives from the Latin prostituere, which means ―to cause to stand in front of.‖ The
prostitute is viewed as publicly offering his or her body for sale. The earliest record of
prostitution appears in ancient Mesopotamia, where priests engaged in sex to promote
fertility in the community. All women were required to do temple duty, and passing
strangers were expected to make donations to the temple after enjoying their services.
Modern commercial sex appears to have its roots in ancient Greece, where Solon
established licensed brothels in 500 B.C.E. The earnings of Greek prostitutes helped
pay for the temple of Aphrodite. Famous men openly went to prostitutes to enjoy
intellectual, aesthetic, and sexual stimulation; prostitutes, however, were prohibited
from marrying. Today, prostitution can be defined as granting nonmarital sexual
access for remuneration, under terms established by mutual agreement of the
prostitutes, their clients, and their employers. Included in this process are the
following elements:
a. Activity that has sexual significance for the customer. This includes the entire
range of sexual behavior, from sexual intercourse to exhibitionism,
sadomasochism, oral sex, and so on.
b. Economic transaction. Something of economic value, not necessarily money, is
exchanged for the activity.
c. Emotional indifference. The sexual exchange is simply for economic
consideration. Although the participants may know one another, their interaction
has nothing to do with affection for one another

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2. Pornography - The term pornography derives from the Greek porne, meaning
―prostitute,‖ and graphein, meaning ―to write.‖ In the heart of many major cities are
stores that display and sell books, magazines, and films explicitly depicting every
imaginable sex act. Suburban video stores also rent and sell sexually explicit tapes,
which make up 15 to 30 percent of the home rental market. The purpose of this
material is to provide sexual titillation and excitement for paying customers
Obscenity, derived from the Latin caenum, for ―filth,‖ is defined by Webster‘s
Dictionary as ―deeply offensive to morality or decency . . . designed to incite to lust or
depravity.‖ The problem of controlling pornography centers on this definition of
obscenity.
3. Homosexuality (copied and pasted from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/homosexuality)
Homosexuality is a sexual interest in and attraction to members of one‘s own sex.
The term gay is frequently used as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexuality
is often referred to as lesbianism.
At different times and in different cultures, homosexual behaviour has been
variously approved of, tolerated, punished, and banned. Homosexuality was not
uncommon in ancient Greece and Rome, and the relationships between adult and
adolescent males in particular have become a chief focus of Western classicists in
recent years. Judeo-Christian as well as Muslim cultures have generally perceived
homosexual behaviour as sinful. Many Jewish and Christian leaders, however, have
gone to great lengths to make clear that it is the acts and not the individuals or even
their ―inclination‖ or ―orientation‖ that their faiths proscribe. Others—from factions
within mainstream Protestantism to organizations of Reform Rabbis rabbis—have
advocated, on theological as well as social grounds, the full acceptance of
homosexuals and their relationships. The topic has threatened to cause outright
schisms in some denominations.
Today, even with the increasing support to homosexuality (LGBTQ – lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning), homosexuality is still debatable
whether it could be considered harmful to the morality of the society or whether a
threat to public order.

H. ENTERPRISE CRIMES - It is now routine in the global free enterprise economy, for
people to use complex and technologically sophisticated methods to secure illegal profits
and/or provide criminal services. Sometimes these schemes are so complex that it takes
enforcement agencies years to unravel them even after they become known. We refer here
to these crimes of the marketplace as enterprise crime, because they mesh crime with
business practices.
1. White-Collar Crime - In the late 1930s, the distinguished criminologist Edwin
Sutherland first used the phrase ―white-collar crime‖ to describe the criminal
activities of the rich and powerful. He defined white-collar crime as ―a crime
committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his
occupation.‖ As Sutherland saw it, white-collar crime involved conspiracies by
members of the wealthy classes to use their positions in commerce and industry for
personal gain without regard to the law. These actions were usually handled by civil
courts, because injured parties were more concerned with recovering their losses than
with seeing the offenders punished criminally. Consequently, Sutherland believed that
the great majority of white-collar criminals avoided detection and that those who were
caught generally avoided punishment. Theories of White-Collar Crime are:

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a. Rationalization/Neutralization View - Donald Cressey found that the door to
solving personal financial problems through criminal means is opened by the
rationalizations people develop for white-collar crime: ―Some of our most
respectable citizens got their start in life by using other people‘s money
temporarily―; ―in the real estate business, there is nothing wrong about using
deposits before the deal is closed―; ―all people steal when they get in a tight spot.―
Offenders use these and other rationalizations to resolve the conflict they
experience over engaging in illegal behavior. Rationalizations allow offenders to
meet their financial needs without compromising their values. Common
rationalizations are:
(1) Everyone else does it,
(2) it‘s not my fault or responsibility, and
(3) No one is hurt except insurance companies, and they are wealthy.
b. Corporate Culture View - Some business organizations promote white-collar
criminality in the same way that lower-class culture encourages the development
of juvenile gangs and street crime. Some business enterprises cause crime by
placing excessive demands on employees, while maintaining a business climate
tolerant of employee deviance. Those holding the corporate culture view would
point to the Enron scandal as a prime example of what happens when people work
in organizations in which the cultural values stress profit over fair play,
government scrutiny is limited and regulators are viewed as the enemy, and senior
members encourage newcomers to believe that ―greed is good.‖
c. Self-Control View - Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson take exception to the
hypothesis that white-collar crime is a product of corporate culture. If that were
true, there would be much more white-collar crime than actually exists, and white-
collar criminals would not be embarrassed by their misdeeds, as most seem to be.
Instead, Hirschi and Gottfredson maintain that the motives that produce white-
collar crimes—quick benefits with minimal effort—are the same as those that
produce any other criminal behaviors. White-collar criminals have low self-
control and are inclined to follow momentary impulses without considering the
long-term costs of such behavior. White-collar crime is relatively rare because, as
a matter of course, business executives tend to hire people with self-control, a
practice that limits the number of potential white-collar criminals.
2. Cyber Crime - Any act of criminal enterprise that involves the use of
communication, computer, and Internet networks. Cybercrime presents a compelling
challenge for criminologists because –
a. it is rapidly evolving, with new schemes being created daily,
b. it is difficult to detect through traditional law enforcement channels, and
c. planning or coordinating its control demands technical skills that match those of
the perpetrators.
3. Organized Crime - The third branch of enterprise crime involves organized crime—
ongoing criminal enterprise groups whose ultimate purpose is personal economic gain
through illegitimate means. Here, a structured enterprise system is set up to
continuously supply consumers with merchandise and services banned by criminal
law but for which a ready market exists: prostitution, pornography, gambling, and
narcotics. The system may resemble a legitimate business run by an ambitious chief
executive officer, his or her assistants, staff attorneys, and accountants, with thorough,
efficient accounts receivable and complaint departments. Characteristics of
organized crime are -

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a. It is a conspiratorial activity involving the coordination of numerous people in
the planning and execution of illegal acts or in the pursuit of a legitimate
objective by unlawful means (for example, threatening a legitimate business to
get a stake in it). Organized crime involves continuous commitment by primary
members, although individuals with specialized skills may be brought in as
needed. Organized crime is usually structured along hierarchical lines—a
chieftain supported by close advisers, lower subordinates, and so on.
b. It has economic gain as its primary goal, although power and status may also be
motivating factors. Economic gain is achieved through maintenance of a near-
monopoly on illegal goods and services, including drugs, gambling,
pornography, and prostitution.
c. Its activities are not limited to providing illicit services. They include such
sophisticated activities as laundering illegally acquired money through legitimate
businesses, land fraud, and computer crime.
d. It employs predatory tactics, such as intimidation, violence, and corruption. It
appeals to greed to accomplish its objectives and preserve its gains.
e. By experience, custom, and practice, organized crime‘s conspiratorial groups are
usually very quick and effective in controlling and disciplining their members,
associates, and victims. The individuals involved know that any deviation from
the rules of the organization will evoke a prompt response from the other
participants. This response may range from a reduction in rank and responsibility
to a death sentence.
f. It is not synonymous with the Mafia, although this widespread assumption about
organized crime is shared by many, including the federal government. Several
families in the organization called the Mafia are important components of
organized crime activities, but they do not have a monopoly on underworld
activities.
g. It does not include terrorists dedicated to political change. Although violent acts
are a major tactic of organized crime, the use of violence per se does not
necessarily mean that a group is part of a confederacy of organized criminals.

I. INCHOATE CRIME - Inchoate crimes, also known as incomplete crimes, are acts taken
toward committing a crime or acts that constitute indirect participation in a crime.
Although these acts are not themselves crimes, they are illegal because they are
conducted in furtherance of a crime, and society wishes to deter individuals from taking
such steps. Three primary inchoate crimes are attempt, conspiracy, and aiding and
abetting.
1. Criminal Attempt - Attempt is the act of trying to commit a crime and failing.
Because attempt can involve very serious crimes, like murder, it is often seen as the
most serious of the inchoate crimes. Criminal attempt has three requirements. First,
the person must have had the specific intent to commit the actual crime. Second, the
person must take actions in furtherance of the crime. Third, the crime must not have
been completed. If it was completed, the individual would be charged with the actual
crime and not attempt.
2. Conspiracy - Conspiracy occurs when two or more people agree to commit a crime
together. Thus, conspiracy requires two or more participants. One person cannot
singly conspire to commit a crime. In many states, conspiracy also requires that the
individuals conspiring have carried out an obvious act in furtherance of the criminal
plan. Unlike with attempt, a defendant can be charged for both conspiracy to commit

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a crime and the actual crime itself. These are seen as two separate offenses in criminal
law.
3. Aiding and Abetting - It is an inchoate crime that applies to individuals who, while
usually not present for the crime itself, may have assisted the crime in some way
either before or after the fact. A person who aids and abets a crime may also be
known as an accessory to the crime. Aiding and abetting requires that the individual
had the intent to assist in the commission of the crime. Someone who is merely
present while a crime occurs and does nothing is not considered an accomplice to the
crime.

J. STATUTORY CRIME - statutory crime is defined by legislative bodies in response to

changing social conditions, public opinion, and custom.

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