There are several disciplines which have proposed the reasons for crime and criminality; these include Sociology, Criminology, and Psychology. Even within these disciplines, there are a variety of theories of crime.
Crime is viewed as a deviation from the social norms within a society. There have been multiple proposals of why some people break the law while others do not. Factors such as age, personality, moral development, gender, attitude, adolescent, personality disorders and upbringing have all shown that they can influence a person’s behaviour. These can be classed into three broad explanations of crime: Biological; Psychological; and Social.
So which one is right? Can we say with 100% accuracy that criminals are either born or made? The simple answer is no, we can never be 100% certain. Each and every theory of crime begins with an experiment or test of some kind. Scientists usually collect data analyse it then make general assumptions about how well we can predict the phenomenon again.
On order to fully explain why each of theories is correct in their own right, I will need to explain the basic research framework. This is a very simplistic explanation just to give you an understanding of the stages in research.
A researcher begins with a question or a problem that requires a solution or explanation. They form their hypothesis, in other words, what they expect to happen or find. They first or all need to decide what type of data they are going to use in their research. When examining crime or criminal behaviour it may be unscripted interviews with offenders, police arrest records, conviction records, carefully worded questionnaires and so on. Then that data is put into a computer program and analysed using complex statistics which will show what can be statistically proven and what cannot be proved.
Then a research paper is written and sent to a journal and is reviewed by several experts in their field. If the experts agree with the findings of the paper it is published. Many different studies put together over time form theories of crime. So one research paper might examine 200 UK offenders and show their findings. Then it is repeated with 200 European offenders or any other group of offenders and supports the original findings.
Over time, every single theory of crime has been proven several times with various participants. Each of these is correct and right in its own right. Researchers may argue amongst each other about the various weaknesses of the data or analysis or conclusions drawn and this is why there are several theories of crime.
The starting point for each explanation of crime is so varied. One group of researchers may start with looking at brain activation patterns in violent offenders and find the same activation patterns in most. Another might look at personality characteristics of violent offenders and find a particular trait is evident in most. Just because one is right doesn’t make the other one wrong – the simply had different research patterns and focuses.
