Criminology [508]

Asma Sultana
Lecturer, School of Law, CIU
Email:taniasultana@ciu.edu.bd

MD. Arman Uddin

ID_LL.M-17154024 [school of law]
Chittagong independent university
Mobile 01671704698, 01819275453
E-mail-khokabd@gmail.com
What is crime?
Definition of crime
Crime is generally means some unlawful act or anti-social behavior which are detrimental to the society or state.
But more specifically it includes such intentional act or omission which violates criminal law and subject to
punishment.

Sociological Definition of crime

Crime has also been defined in social or non-legal terms. The social definition of crime is that it is behavior or an
activity that offends the social code of a particular community.

Caldwell has explained it as "an act or omission that is considered to be so detrimental to the well-being of a
society, as judged by its prevailing standards, that action against it cannot be entrusted to private initiative or to
haphazard methods but must be taken by an organized society in accordance with tested procedures."

Thorsten Selling has described crime as "violation of conduct norms of the normative groups".

But Marshall Clinard has argued that all deviations from social norms are not crimes. He talks of three types of
deviation:
(I) Tolerated deviation,
(ii) Deviation which is mildly disapproved, and
(iii) Deviation which is strongly disapproved.

And he recognized the third type of deviation as crime.

For example: Gandhiji not only himself deviated from caste norms but also prompted others not to follow them.
Yet, Gandhiji was not considered a deviant because his deviation was for the good of the society. The deviation
that harms the society is strongly disapproved.

Legal definition of crime

The legal definition of crime is that it is behavior or an activity in violation of the legal code.

Paul Tappan defines crime as an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law, committed without any
defense or justification and sanctioned by the state as felony or misdemeanor.
Hall Jerome has defined crime as "legally forbidden and intentional action which has a harmful impact on social
interests, which has a criminal intent, and which has legally-prescribed punishment for it."
Penal code 1860 defines crime. It states that except in the chapters and sections mentioned in clauses 2 and 3 of
this section, the word "offence" denotes a thing made punishable by this Code.
Elements of crime
 Some elements are essential for an act to constitute crime. Those are….

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  To be a crime the Act must have some harmful consequence on society. Only intention is not enough.
Example: A person planned to do harm another person and afterward changes his mind and did not do
that, this person cannot be accused of that crime.
 The harmful act must be prescribed by the penal law, an act cannot be considered as crime because of its
being anti-social, unless it is forbidden by the penal law.
 An intentional or reckless action or omission must bring about this harmful consequence.
 Actus reus is an essential elements of crime. It is the Latin term which means which means wrongful deed
.It must be show that the act committed is prohibited by law .It is the physical act.
 Means rea
It means the guilty mind. It must also be shown that the person committed the crime has intended to
commit it .The reason behind the rule is that it is wrong for the society to punish those who innocently
cause harm to the society. It is the mental part of the crime.
 To constitute criminal behavior, the actus reus and the mens rea must occur at the same time.
 There must be a causal relation between the legally forbidden harm and intentional misconduct. Example:
If a person dies to heart attack after hearing the sound of heavy firing, in that case, the relation between
the firing and death is not so clear cut.
 The penal law must prescribe punishment for the forbidden Act.

As my observation: Crime is unlawful act or anti-social behaviors or activity

which are violated legal code or omission or social norms. But more specifically it is
violation of intentional act or omission and committed with evil intention which are
detrimental to society or state and subject to punishment. Some of offence
are not illegal as criminal law but violation to social norms or social
custom or common sense which known to deviation. it has not punishment but it
is social culpable.
Elements of crime:
 Unlawful or illegal behaviors or activity
 Evil or unfair intention which did not changes
 Violation of legal code or omission or norms or intentional act
 Subject to punishment
Classification of crimes:
There are different kinds of crimes ……
 Serious felony: Felonies are serious and grave crimes which are usually punished by death or confinement
in a prison. For example: murder, armed robbery, rape etc.
 Serious less felony: Misdemeanors are minor and less serious crimes than felony.
 Crime against person: Crimes against person are those crimes which causes harm to the person .Such
as…..Murder, Assault, Rape and Robbery.
 Crime against property: Crimes against property are those crimes which cause to the property without
causing any bodily pain, For example: burglary, theft, arson etc.
 Victimless crime: Crime against morality is also called victimless crime because there is no victim or
complainant, prostitution ,illegal gambling, illegal drug use etc are the victimless crime,
 White collar crime: White collar crimes are those crimes which are committed by the person of high
social status and who commits the crimes in context of their occupation. Such as: Embezzlement, Tax
evasion etc.
 Organized crimes: Organized crimes are those crimes which are mainly committed by a structured group
which typically involves the distribution of illegal goods and services among them. The term organized
crime refers to any group that has control over the large illegal enterprises such as drug trade, illegal
gumbling, weapons smuggling etc.
 Sexual crimes: Sexual crimes are those crimes relating to the instinct, physiological processes and
activities connected with the physical attraction. Such as: Rape, prostitution, Homosexuality etc.
 Economical crimes: Economic crimes are relating to economics or the economy: such as: Smuggling, Black
marketing etc.

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  Political crime: When a crime is committed relating to the government or public affairs of a country it is
called political crimes. For example: Election crimes, treason, spying etc.
 Public disorder crimes: Public disorder crimes includes unlawful assembly, public drunkenness, gambling,
violation of traffic rules public nuisance, malicious propaganda etc.

Who is criminal?
Criminal is a person who has committed crime and convicted by the court. If any person commits any crime but
has not been convicted as a criminal under the existing criminal law, that person will not be considered as a
criminal. The reason behind the rule is that law presumes every person innocent until he has been proved guilty by
the court beyond all reasonable doubt. So, the court has only the power to designate a person to criminal through
the procedure of criminal court. The requirement which is necessary for the constitution of a crime is also the
precondition to for a person to be a criminal.

Classification of criminal
Criminals can be of different types. But there are two major types of criminals. They are…… professional and
occasional.
 Professional criminal: Professional criminals are those who commit crime regularly. They are not criminal
by birth, but in course of time they develop some dirty habits which force them to criminality. And they
commit crime as a profession to earning.
 Occasional criminal: Occasional criminals are those who commit a few crimes. Basically they are not
criminals but due to certain circumstances, temptation, compulsion or associations, they are drawn to the
criminal activity. They commit crime as occasion to provide by any one.

Famous Italian criminologists Lombroso has classified criminal into five categories. They are…….
 Habitual criminal : Habitual criminal is a professional criminal
 Occasional criminal: occasional criminal is commit offence to provide by any one.
 Born Criminal: Born criminals are those persons who crime without any objective provocation or crime
inducing circumstances.
 Insane criminal: Insane criminals are those who are mental patient and who commits crimes because of
this mental imbalance.
 Criminal by passion or causal criminal: Criminal by passion or causal criminals are those who do not
commits crime often but under certain circumstances, they prone to crime and which is not always
successfully resisted.
Crime and deviation
 Deviation and crime are not same .There are some basic distinction between crime and deviant behavior.
Every crime is deviation but every deviation is not crime.
 To have control over the actions and behaviors of individuals and groups in a society, there are systems of
social norms that are as old as civilizations themselves. These social norms got developed to keep people
away from certain behaviors that were considered dangerous for the society. Social norms are mostly
cultural and usually have religious sanctions. Deviation means that behavior which violates those social
norms, standards of conduct of a society but is not recognized as crimes under criminal law.
 On the contrary crime is the violation of specific criminal law which is subject to punishment.

Difference between crime and deviation

 Deviance is violation of social norms whereas crime is violation of laws of the land.
 Agents of control for deviance are societal pressure and fear of Gods whereas agents of control for crime
are police and judiciary.
 Society has no coercive power to deal with deviance whereas governments have the power of
punishment to tackle crime.
 Deviance can be criminal or non-criminal, whereas crime is always criminal in nature.
 Many behaviors that were crimes earlier have today become deviant behaviors.
 Violation of law makes deviance a crime.

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  Deviance is less severe in nature than a crime.
 All crimes are deviance but all deviance is not crime.
Crime and sin
 Sin is the violation of moral or religious rules. There is no prescribed punishment for the
violation of religious rules or sin. But it is considered as a hatred of god and defiance of his
commandments and it is believed that the violation of moral or religious rules will be subject to
punishment in hereafter. The concept of sin is mainly based on the religious aspects and
distinguished from crime and any other wrongful conduct.
 Where crime means any act or omission which is in violation of criminal law .In order to become
crime an act or omission must have some harmful effect on society. Crime is a social
phenomenon which is defined and executed by the positive law of human society.
What is Criminology?
Definition of criminology.
 The term criminology was first introduced by An Italian professor Raffaele Garofalo in 1885 as
“Criminologia”.The word Criminology has mainly derived from the Latin word “Crimino “and
which means related to crime and the Greek word “Logos” which means knowledge or science
.So, Criminology means the knowledge relating to crime. It is the scientific approach to studying
crime, criminal behavior and Criminal justice system. It is an interdisciplinary subjects that seeks
to explain the causes, extent and nature of crime. Criminology is closely related to Psychology,
sociology, Economics and political science.
 According to Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey criminology is a body of knowledge
regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making laws,
breaking of laws and the reaction towards breaking of laws.
 Criminology means the knowledge or science relating to crime.
 An interdisciplinary subject that seeks to explain the causes, extent and nature of crime.
 Scientific approach to studying crime, criminal behavior and Criminal justice system.
 “Criminology is a body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within
its scope the process of making laws, breaking of laws and the reaction towards breaking of
laws”- Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey

Nature and Scope of criminology

In narrower sense Criminology mainly deals with crime and criminal behavior, Origin of criminal law,
Etiology of crimes, social reactions to crimes. But in wider sense, Criminology includes methods of
punishment, prevention and correction of criminals, criminal justice system, The Study of Victim logy,
Penology etc (deals with the control of crimes and determination of the causes of crime).Scientific
studies and research in the field of penology, prevention of crimes and correction of criminals for
ensuring better social control is within the subject matter of criminology.
Development of Criminology
• Criminology is an interdisciplinary discipline mostly based on sociology, but also incorporates
psychology, biology, anthropology, law, and other fields.
 More recently has been separated from its mother discipline sociology and started journey as a
new discipline to study about crime and criminal behavior
 Today it is defined as “the scientific study of the causation, correction, and prevention of crime.
 Criminology has developed over time, and there are three phases behind the development of
criminology as a discipline…
A) First phase began in the 18th century known as classical criminology.
B) The second phase began in the 19th century known as modern criminology.

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 C) The third phase, beginning in the second half of the 20th century known as independent
criminology.

Age of Classical criminology

• Although crimes and criminal existed from the very beginning of civilization, systematic study
about it began at the late 18th century.
• Before that crime was considered as sin, (the violation of a sacred obligation).
• At that period scholars first distinguished crime from sin which was different from theological or
religious explanation.
 In 10th century BC certain acts were prohibited and consequences for the violation of those rules
were also provided.
• In 5th century BC Greek historian Thucydides wrote about the usefulness of the death penalty.
 In the 1st century AD, questions of crime and punishment were discussed in religious terms.
• Christian Philosophy emphasized on personal responsibility for wrongdoing.
• Penitence or remorse by criminal was necessary for forgiveness, by God.
• Church or Christian philosophers had a moderating influence on the brutal punishment practices
during the Middle Ages (5th to 15th century BC)
• They considered punishment as a way to reform and salvage the sinner.
• In 18th century, concept of crime became much clearer and penal policy was put into systematic
consideration.
• Authors began to condemn the frequent use of torture and the widespread imposition of
capital punishment and other brutal and degrading penalties.
• In 1764 Italian criminologist Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di Beccaria published Tratto dei delitti
e delle pene n jurist which was translated as Essays on Crimes and Punishments, (1880).
• Beccaria criticized the use of torture and secret judicial proceedings and advocated abolition of
the death penalty
• Emphasized on reformation rather than severe punishment as a more effective deterrent to
crime. And argued that penalties imposed should be in proportion to the seriousness of the
offense.
• At the same time, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed the systematic codification of
criminal law.
• Bentham introduced the principle of utility–that is, the greatest good for the greatest number
and argued that law should be applied based on this principle.
• He condemns the excessive severity of punishments prescribed in the criminal law.
• Afterwards those ideas were introduced as legislation into the British Parliament, and his efforts
laid the groundwork for substantial legal reform in the next generation.
The age of modern criminology
• Introduced as a separate discipline within the emerging disciplines of psychology, sociology, and
economics.
• Criminological societies and Scholars founded criminology journals. A wide range of theories
were developed based on empirical tests (observations or experiments) .
• In19th century, scholars began to apply the concepts and technologies of biological and
behavioral sciences to the study of crime and attempted to identify various biological,
psychological, and social characteristics of offenders.
The Italian School
• The Italian School, the foundation of modern scientific criminology has been expounded by its
three principal exponents– Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri, and Raffaele Garofalo.

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 • Lombroso's most important work, L'uomo delinquente (The Criminal Man, (1876), was
published which attracted a great deal of attention as it appeared to demonstrate the
applicability of a genuinely scientific study of criminal behavior.
• Lombroso expounded his theory on the principle that the criminals are of a distinct physical and
biological type who could be identified by observing certain physical traits, including a long
lower jaw, asymmetric cranium, and other detectable conditions, according to Lombroso, These
traits did not cause criminal behavior, but they revealed an inherent propensity (inclination) to
crime.
• One of Lombroso's students, Enrico Ferri, accepted the theory of his master but also focused on
other factors than physical characteristics as predictors of crime. He considered social factors
such as population trends, religion, and the nature of the family. Ferri also proposed a more
elaborate classification of criminal types, including the born or instinctive criminal, the insane
criminal, the passionate criminal, the involuntary criminal, the occasional criminal, and the
habitual criminal.
• Italian lawyer Raffaele Garofalo's major contribution to modern criminology is the concept of
natural crime.
• According to Garofalo, natural or true crime is a conduct that evaluated against the average
moral sense of the community, offends the basic altruistic (unselfish) sense of humankind. And
the true criminal lacks the basic altruistic sentiments of pity and honesty and they are of distinct
biological or psychic type whose altruistic deficiencies were organic or inherited.
• Garofalo acknowledged that certain forms of criminal behavior might be encouraged by social
and environmental circumstances.
Independent Criminology
• Criminology began to assert its independence from others disciplines. The evolution toward an
independent criminology freed the discipline from the dominance of sociology.
• Criminological theories have become more multidisciplinary. included a greater variety of causal
factors, including biological, psychological, and sociological factors. Because independent
criminologists seek to understand crime itself rather than study crime as one aspect of an
overall sociological or psychological theory.
• Criminologists expanded their professional associations and published an increasing number of
journals. A number of universities developed graduate programs in criminology.
• In the late 1960s and early 1970s criminology began to emerge from the more established social
sciences and became a discipline in its own right. The number of instructional programs in
criminology and criminal justice by themselves increased significantly. Existing professional
associations, such as the American Society of Criminology (ASC), grew substantially, new
professional organizations such as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) were formed,
and the number of criminology journals increased.
Schools of Criminology
 Schools or theories of criminology mean the systematic thought on criminal behavior. Schools or
theories are mainly based on experiment.
 Systematic study of criminal behavior was first introduced by the Italian Scholar Cesare Bonasa
Marchese De Bacceria who is known as the father of Modern criminology.
 His greatest contribution is that he, for the first time proceeded with the study of criminals on
scientific basis.
 In order to find a rational explanation of crime, a large number of theories have been
introduced. Various factors such as evil spirit, Sin, decease, heredity Economic maladjustment
have been taken into consideration to explain criminality.
Pre-Classical School on Criminology

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  Pre-classical school is not considered as a school in the true sense of term. This school mainly
focused on the social and intellectual element from which classical school formulated its thesis.
 The period of seventeenth and eighteenth century in Europe was dominated by the
scholasticism of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
 Social contract theories expounded by Hobbes and locks considered as the basis of social
evolution.
 The dominance of religion in State activities was the chief characteristic of that time. King is
considered as the representative of God and has power to punish criminals for their wrongs.
 At that time the concept of crime was vague and obscure.
 A man commits crime due to the influence of some external spirit called ‘demon’ or ‘devil’.
Thus an offender commits a wrongful act not because of his own free will but due to the
influence of some external super power.
• For that reason no attempt was made to find out the real causes of crime.
• This demonological theory of criminality propounded by the exponents of pre-classical school
acknowledged the omnipotence of spirit, which they regarded as a great power.
• An ordeal is an ancient manner of trial in criminal cases.
• When a criminal pleaded not guilty, he might choose whether he might choose to put himself
upon trial by God or by men and if he choose to judged by God, then it was called the judgment
of God,
• Examples of such ordeals are throwing into water, throwing into fire, Trial by battle etc.
 Oaths and ordeals played a very important role in determining the guilt of the offender.
• The right of Society to punish the criminals was well recognized. The offender was regarded as
an innate depraved person who could only be cured by torture and pain.
• The evolution of criminal law was in rudimentary stage.
Criticism of Pre classical School
• Pre –classical School has been criticized on various grounds. Those are…..
• The causes or commission of crime cannot be due to the influence of any evil spirit or demon
rather various psychological or social factors are responsible for that.
• The demo logical theories if accepted will not serve any purpose to find out the real causes of
crime.
• The basis of this theory is purely imaginary because nobody has ever seen devil spirit.
Classical School
 The classical school of criminology was developed in the eighteenth century. Classical thinking
emerged in response to the cruel forms of punishment imposed on the criminals.
 The classical School is mainly based on the Hedonism principle which means a person governs
his activities by consideration of pain and pleasure
 The Hedonism principle was first introduced by two main contributors to this theory Jeremy
Bentham and Cesare de Beccaria. They are seen as the most important enlightenment thinkers
in the area of ‘classical' thinking and are considered the founding fathers of the classical school
of criminology. They both sought to reduce the harshness of eighteenth century judicial
systems.
 Classical School based on rational choice, theory which states that people choose to do criminal
acts due to maximum pleasure and minimum pain.
 The classical school says criminals are rational, considered about the gain and pain out of that
crime and therefore state should create deterrents or punishment which slightly more painful
than the pleasure what would be gained from the crime.

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  This is the reason behind the death penalty being viewed by classical thinkers such as Beccaria
and Bentham as pointless, because there would be no deterrent.
 However considering manslaughter, where the crime is so heinous that the punishment slightly
outweighs the in that case capital punishment should could be imposed.
 Classical thinking has had a significant impact on criminological thinking in general and perhaps
a greater impact on criminal justice practice.
Jeremy Bentham
• Bentham's contribution to ‘classical' theory is based on the principle of Utilitarianism, Which
states about the principle of greatest happiness for the greatest number. The heart of his idea is
that human behavior is directed at maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, (the pleasure-pain
principle).
• He believed that man is rational being who choose to do the acts because it brings pleasure and
avoids the acts which are likely to result in pain.
• So, punishment should be severe to outweigh the pleasure one gets by committing crime.
• Bentham is interested about the greatest happiness for the greatest number .According to
Bentham law is there to ensure the happiness for the community. As punishment creates
unhappiness it can only be justified when it if it prevents greater evil.
Cesare Beccaria
• Beccaria stated that; ‘It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them'.
• This is at the heart of the classical school of criminology. Beccaria believed that laws needed to
be put into place in order to make punishments consistent and in line with the crime. He
believed the people who takes away the rights of others and oversteps the prescribe limit of law
should be punished by the state. The penal law made by the legislator cans only the punishment
of crime. He strongly argued that no judges or magistrate could inflict or enhance punishment
which ids beyond the mandate of law.
Major features of this School
• The main characteristics of this School are…
• All people have free will to choose how to act.
• Pain and pleasure motivates people to commit crime .People commits due to gain some pain
and avoid some pleasure.
• Punishment imposed by the state on criminal should be limited .certain and only to control
criminal behavior.
• The criminal justice system needs to be organized to prevent crime rather than punishing the
criminals.
Criticism of this School
• This School has been criticized on the following grounds…..
• The major defects of this school is that it proceeded on an abstract presumption of free will and
relied solely on the act (i.e., crime but did not have any attention to the state of mind of the
criminal.
• In this school the importance of the Society and circumstances of responsible for crime were
completely ignored.
• The measure to prevent crime in the society has also not been suggested in this theory.

New-Classical School
 Certain problems arose in the implementation of the classical theory (free will theory) for that
reason the ‘free will’ theory of classical school did not survive for long. It was soon realized that
the exponents of classical school faltered in their approach in ignoring the individual differences
under certain situations and treating first offenders and the habitual alike on the basis of

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 similarity of act or crime the neo classical School suggested the modification of the Doctrine of
free will.
 The neo-classists asserted that certain categories of offenders such as minors, idiots, insane or
incompetent had to be treated considerably in matters of punishment irrespective of the
similarity of their criminal act because these persons were incapable of judging the difference
between right and wrong. This tendency of neo-classists to distinguish criminals according to
their mental capacity was indeed a progressive step inasmuch as it emphasized the need for
modifying the classical view. Thus the contribution of neo-classical thought to the science of
criminology has its own merits.
Major Features of neo-classical School
• The main features of neo classical Schools are…..
• Mental disorder of a crime deprives a criminal to control his conduct and thus commits crimes.
• The Schools mainly focused on the means real of the criminal.
• Punishment should be based on the criminal intention of the offender.
• All criminals must be separated or segregated from the society.
• A criminal who cannot distinguish between right and wrong cannot be punished in the same
way as the mentally sound criminal.
Positive School
• In the nineteenth century, a new vision of the world was taking place. At that stage human
thinking shifted to such a stage which can be considered as intellectual Revolution. Empirical
and experimental science became well established this view was challenging the validity of the
Classical Theory. This was an innovative way of looking at the causation of crime. This was the
Positivist Theory.
• The positivist school of criminology takes its name from the positive philosophy of the
nineteenth century, which applied the scientific method to the study of social problems. The
group of thinkers we consider from this school Cesare Lombroso, Raffaele Garofalo, and Enrico
Ferri.
• Human behavior is considered to be determined by his/her Biological, Psychological and
cultural antecedents.
• Cesare Lombroso (1835 – 1909)
• Italian physician and psychiatrist.
• Studied corpse of some executed criminals in an effort to determine scientifically whether
criminals were physically any different from non-criminals.
• He believed that people were born criminals and facial features of criminals included things like
enormous jaws and strong canine teeth.
• Cesare Lombroso, famous in the nineteenth century because he claimed to have discovered the
cause of crime, became known as the father of criminology.
• Lombroso wrote The Criminal Man, published in 1876, in which he claimed that the dead bodies
of criminals revealed that they were physically different than normal people. Specifically, he
claimed that criminals have abnormal dimensions of the skull and jaw. Lombroso believed that
criminals were born with these characteristics and did not commit crimes according to free will,
as the classical school of criminology had suggested.
Enrico Ferri
• Lombroso did not come up with the Positivist School of Criminology in his own. With the help of
Ferri and Goring, the Positivist School of Criminology was created.
• Although interested in Lombroso's Biological causation of crime, Ferri is credited with
emphasizing the importance of anthropological and social, economic and political factors along
with the physical factors.

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 • Crime as per his view consequence of many factors which can be classified into three categories.
• Physical (Race, climate, geographic location ,seasonal effect, temparature)
• Anthropological (age ,sex, organic and psychological condition etc)
• Social (density of population, custom, religion etc.)
Raffaele Garofalo
• He rejected the doctrine of free will and considered that crime could be understood if it was
studied through scientific method. He introduced the idea of natural crime.
• He stated that crimes are those activities which offend two basic altruistic sentiment of every
Human being the sentiment of pity and probity.
• He suggested a design of punishment on the basis of Darwinism principle of adaptation. He
argued that people exhibiting criminal behavior must be eliminated from the society by death
penalty or life imprisonment or by transportation. This plan helps slow eradication of criminals
and their progeny.
Basic characteristics of this School
• The main features of this School are…..
• This school mainly based on the biological determination of the criminal.
• Scientific proof is required to determine criminality.
• It gives more important on the personality of criminal rather than criminal act.
• The criminal should be given proper treatment to remove criminal behavior from him.
• The punishment should be imposed on criminal according to the circumstances of the case but
not only depending on the criminal act.
Psychological school
The Psychological or Psychodynamic theory is centered on the notion that an individual’s early
childhood experience influences his or her likelihood for committing future crimes. When the body of
the individuals does not receive social needs in early childhood then he will come into contact with
society. Proponents of psychodynamic theory suggest that an individual’s personality is controlled by
unconscious mental processes that are grounded in early childhood.
 The Psychological theory primarily started its journey with the theory of Sigmund Freud, the
founder of psychoanalysis.
 Imperative to this theory are the three elements or structures that make up the human
personality: (1) the id, (2), the ego, and (3) the superego.
 Id is as the primitive part of a person’s mental makeup that is present at birth. It is the reservoir
of the all basic biological drive .Id exists in the unconscious state of mind in the every individual
from his birth .when the desire of the id is not fulfilled ,it does not vanish.
 Rather it express through dreams or the activities which is not approved by the Society.
 Most important is the idea that the id is concerned with instant pleasure or gratification while
disregarding concern for others. This is known as the pleasure principle.
 The second element of the human personality is the ego, which is thought to develop early in a
person’s life. For example, when children learn that their wishes cannot be gratified
instantaneously, they become very angry.
 Freud suggested that the ego compensates for the demands of the id by guiding an individual’s
 Actions or behaviors to keep him or her within the boundaries of society. The ego is guided by
the reality principle.
 Ego is in a position to sustain and value the demands of the id and the desire of the superego.
 The third element of personality, the superego, develops as a person incorporates the moral
standards and values of the community; parents; and significant part of the society. The focus of
the superego is morality. The superego serves to pass judgment on the behavior and actions of
individuals.

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  The ego mediates between the id’s desire for instant gratification and the strict morality of the
superego. However, when a crime is committed, advocates of psychodynamic theory would
suggest that an individual committed a crime because he or she has an underdeveloped
superego.
Basic characteristics of psychological School
• The school is based on human psychology i.e. the emotional aspect of human nature.
• It takes into account different account factors such as experience of life and personality of the
criminal.
• Punishment should depend on personality of the criminal.
• The criminal should be reformed through correctional method of treatment.
Sociological school
• The sociological school of criminology is wide and diverse. The cartographic and socialist school
first started to analyze the causes of crime in a in a sociological context. Trade, a French Social
psychologist and contemporary of Lombroso, rejected the biological theory of criminality and
developed the theory of imitation in determining the cause of crime.
• He argued that one behaved according to the according to the customs of his Society. When one
commits a crime, he is only imitating someone else.
• Sociological school is very wide and diverse. It embraces all the institution of the society and
relates those to the crimes situation of a given society, Family, educational institutions,
economic conditions ,religion, government are important institution of society which can
influence the behavior
• Pattern of an individual. Those have impact on the crime situation of a society .Sociological
school is diverse in the sense that an individual takes birth and develops his behavior within the
structure of a society. For that reason society comes as a leading point in analyzing the criminal
behavior of an individual.
• Sociologist give rise to various sociological explanation of crime such as: Anomie, Social process,
Social control approach, critical or alternative approach: labeling, conflict and radical approach.
• Anomie theory holds that anomie occurs when deregulation takes place in any society. Rapid
social change, contradiction between social goals and approved means may cause deregulation
in a society, which creates normlessness and gives birth crime and delinquency.
• Anomie is a social condition in which there is a disintegration or disappearance of the norms and
values that were previously common to the society.
• The concept, thought of as “normlessness,” was developed by founding sociologist, Émile
Durkheim He discovered, through research, that anomie occurs during and follows periods of
drastic and rapid changes to the social, economic, or political structures of society.
• It is, per Durkheim's view, a transition phase wherein the values and norms common during one
period of time are no longer valid, but new ones have not yet evolved to take their place.
• Durkheim wrote about an anomic division of labor, a phrase he used to describe a disordered
division of labor in which some groups no longer fit in, though they did in the past.
• The social process perspective includes Learning, differential association and sub cultural
theories. Social process theories consider that criminal behavior arises out of the same behavior
as other criminal behavior does.
• Social process theories hold that criminal behavior is learnt through a process of social
interaction.
• Social learning theory is the view that people learn by observing others. Associated with Albert
Bandura's work in the 1960s, social learning theory explains how people learn new behaviors,
values, and attitudes. For example, a teenager might learn slang by observing peers.

11
 • Social learning requires attention to the person(s) observed, remembering the observed
behavior, the ability to replicate the behavior, and a motivation to act the same way. For
example, a child might see a sibling receive a lollipop for behaving politely and imitate the
sibling in the hope of getting a treat, too.
• Differential association theory is a criminology theory that essentially states that criminals exist
because they associate with similar criminals who teach them criminal behaviors Criminal
behavior is learned behavior.
• For example, a child who grows up among professional thieves is more likely to learn to steal;
such a person might learn not only to regard stealing as acceptable, but also specific techniques
for stealing. In this view, younger people are more likely to learn deviance than older people.
• Conflict theory states that tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are
unevenly distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for
social change.
• Conflict theory originated in the work of Karl Marx, who focused on the causes and
consequences of class conflict between the bourgeoisie (the owners of the means of production
and the capitalists) and the proletariat (the working class and the poor).
• Focusing on the economic, social, and political implications of the rise of capitalism in Europe,
Marx theorized that this system, premised on the existence of a powerful minority class (the
bourgeoisie) and an oppressed majority class (the proletariat), created class conflict because the
interests of the two were at odds, and resources were unjustly distributed among them.
• Labeling theory of criminology is one of the most important theory which is directed by the
sociological factor. People in power decide what acts are crimes, and the act of labeling
someone a criminal is what makes him a criminal. Once a person is labeled a criminal, society
takes away his opportunities, which may ultimately lead to more criminal behavior.
Major characteristics of sociological school
• The causation of crime is mainly located in social environment.
• Multiple factors such as poverty, mobility, low levels of education, religion, economy, culture,
political ideologies, unemployment, overpopulation and various social problems are the causes
of committing the crime.
• Conflict of interest in the society causes criminal behavior.
• Age, sex, race, occupational standard, residence etc. has direct influence on criminal behavior.
Socialist or Marxist School
• On the basis of the theory of Marx and Engels socialist or economic school emerged after 1850.
They believe in economic determinism. Marx discussed very little about crime and criminology,
but advocates of socialist schools applied Marxist theories to explain the causes of crime.
• Marxist recognized that for a society to function efficiently, social order is necessary.
• He considered that not only in communist society but also in all societies’ one class, the ruling
class gain far more.
• Marx's agrees with the socialization plays a crucial role in promoting infirmity and order.
• However, Socialization is highly critical for the ideas, values and norms of capitalist society,
which they termed as capitalist ideology.
• Marxist theory condemns Western capitalist society as an unjust divide between two classes:
the ruling bourgeoisie who own the means of production (the capitalists), and the proletariat,
the poor masses with nothing to offer but their own labor.
• Because the bourgeoisie control the means of production, they control the political state and
thus their position of power over the proletariat is perpetuated.
• In the words of Karl Marx, “There must be something rotten in the very core of a social system
which increases its wealth without diminishing its misery,”

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 • According to Marxist theory, the bourgeoisie will remain in power unjustly oppressing the
proletariat until the poor masses cooperate with one another to violently overthrow the
capitalist government and economy and replace it with a classless, socialist system. This system
leaves the proletariat oppressed, with no power to alleviate their situation.
• The Marxist approach to crime centers on this class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. Because the capitalists control the political state, they also control the criminal
justice system which creates oppression.
• For Marxists then, the cause of crime is dictated by social forces, namely capitalism, and thus
remains beyond the control of individuals.
Cartographic School
• The cartographic School is mainly known as the geographical school or Ecological school which
emerged in 19th century. It is the mapping of crime and establish relationship between society
and the physical environment. It dominated in 1830-1880 in France and spread to England. The
work based on social data of demographic information on population including its density,
religion affiliation and wealth.
Major features of this school
• The basis of this school is that crime is caused by the conflict of values in the lower socio-
economic class, various age groups, religious group, interest group in certain geographical areas.
• The major cause of commission of crime is the poverty, misery and depravity.
• The school also enunciated juvenile delinquency and professional crimes.
Clinical school
• The proponents of this school are Mr. Eience De Greeff and Mr. C.H. Anderson and developed
during 19th to 20th century.
• According to this school, personality of man is a combination of internal and external factor
.therefore criminal should be subjected to correctional methods, such as- probation, parole,
reformatories. Open-air camp etc.
• Criminals, who do not respond favorably to the correctional methods, should be punished with
imprisonment and transportation of life.

 Causes of crime
• The causes of crime are those factors which directed an individual to commit crime. Every
individual has his own explanation for committing a crime .But what causes a specific individual
to break a social sanction or a law is a major concern of criminology.
• Urbanization, rapid economic liberalization, growing mass political upheaval, violent conflict and
inappropriate and inadequate policy are the bases of crime in urban areas. Moreover, poverty
and inequality caused due to rising expectations and a sense of moral outrage that some
members of the society are growing rich have contributed to higher and growing levels of crime.

Different approaches of criminology

• There are two approaches of crime causation

• Subjective
• Objective
• Subjective causes are influenced by personal feelings, taste or opinion such as biological,
physiological and psychological causes.
• Objective causes are not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and
representing facts such as: Socio- economic, ecological, topographical and cultural environment.

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Major Causes
Broken families: Family is an important factor for the sound physical and psychological development of
an individual in society. Broken families or dysfunctional families are the main cause for juvenile
delinquency and crime. Some children coming from poor homes that cannot provide economic security
may also resort to criminal activities such as theft, robbery, mugging, and so on, to earn money. They
usually form delinquent gangs in the initial days, which in the subsequent years may turn into mafia or
underworld gangs.
• Absence of social control: Social control is very much important for preventing crime .but where
there is absence of this control or the criminal administration is ineffective, the crime occurs
frequently in that society.
• Religion: No religion of the world encourages or supports violence or criminal behavior.
However, the differences in the opinions on the basis of religion lead to religious intolerance,
which in turn leads to crimes like murder, communal riots and such other criminal activities in
the name of the religion. Such situations are usually instigated by the vested interests for their
own ends.
• Lack of proper Education: Absence of proper education is also an important factor for the
causation of crime. Education is important in molding the personality of the individual. When it
fails to develop the personality of the student in a right or positive direction, it leads to the
development of deviant tendencies. There must be proper co-ordination between the
educational institutions and the family. If this co-ordination is lacking, it is possible that the
educated individuals can develop anti-social tendencies. For instance, a gap between attaining a
degree and gaining employment may lead to frustration among the educated youth and may
lead to unwanted influences on them.
• Criminal Associates: This a major causes for being engaged in criminal activities. When any
person comes in contact with a criminal, He started to follow that criminal and ultimately
engaged with the criminal world.
• Extreme poverty: This is the mainstream reason for a person being engaged in criminal
activities. Financial crisis and the non-fulfillment of basic necessities of crime compelled an
individual to be engaged in criminal activities.
• Poor parenting skills: Children who are neglected or abused are more likely to commit crimes
later in life than others. Similarly, sexual abuse in childhood often leads these victims to become
sexual predators as adults. Fatherlessness is also one of underestimated cause of crime.
• Drugs and alcohol: Some social factors pose an especially strong influence over a person's ability
to make choices. Drug and alcohol abuse is one such factor. Both drugs and alcohol impair
judgment and reduce inhibitions (socially defined rules of behavior), giving a person greater
courage to commit a crime.
• Peer influence: A person's peer group strongly influences a decision to commit crime. For
example, young boys and girls who do not fit into expected standards of academic achievement
can sometimes become lost in the competition. Children of families who cannot afford adequate
clothing or school supplies can fall into the trap of committing crime . Researchers believe these
youth may abandon schoolmates in favor of criminal gangs, since membership in a gang earns
respect and status in a different manner. In gangs, antisocial behavior and criminal activity earns
respect and street credibility.
• Low Income: The most of the people cannot afford a standard income up to their demands in
life. Because of their poor educational background their employment histories consisted of
mostly low wage jobs with frequent periods of unemployment. People must make a choice

14
 between long-term low income and the prospect of profitable crime which drives them to
commit in criminal activities.
• Easy access: Another factor many criminologists consider key to making a life of crime easier is
the availability of hand guns in society. Many firearms used in crimes are stolen or purchased
illegally. Firearms provide a simple means of committing a crime. By the beginning of the
twenty-first century firearm use was the eighth leading cause of death in the world. Similarly,
the increased availability of free information on the Internet also makes it easy to commit
certain kinds of crime. Web sites provide instructions on how to make bombs and buy poisons.
• Hot weather: Studies have suggested that warmer temperatures boost aggression hormones
such as epinephrine and testosterone. It has long been known by police officers that cold winter
nights keep criminals off the streets and crime levels down.
• TV violence: The cultural aggression through satellite is also an important cause of crime. Multi
cultural access in a particular society creates maladjustment in society which ultimately makes
an individual to break social norms.
• Unemployment: Growing unemployment among young men, which often results in growing
drug and alcohol abuse, is seen as one of the key factors causing crime and violence. The
unemployed need not necessarily belong to the section of the urban poor. Even a person
coming from a well-to-do family may turn to some form of crime.
• Physical defects: Physical defects are also a reason for being engaged in criminal activity.
Physical defect is a bar to the employment of a person. Due to depression and financial crisis out
of this disability directed a person to the commission of crime.
• Generation gap: The older generation cannot easily accept these values and as a result there
arise conflicts between the older and younger generations. Such situations lead to generation
gap. The conflicts between the traditional and modern values tend to bring about confusion
among the individuals especially the youth. Proper guidance should be given to them to face
such situations. Failure or lack of proper guidance may tend to develop criminal tendencies in
them.
• Superstitions: Though we are well civilized and have achieved high success in science and
technology, superstitions persist especially in rural areas. According to Madan, a strong belief in
charm and sacrifice to obtain material wealth is a frequent cause of crime. Many times, murders
are committed in the belief that human sacrifice would reveal hidden treasure. Thus,
superstition continues to exist in considerable measure among the illiterate and ignorant
masses and among schedule tribes and aborigines and even among more advanced
communities in varying degree.
• Lack of family control: Family is the first and fundamental institution of socializing a child. It
exerts enormous influence on the personality of the child throughout his life. It is an important
agency of socialization and also social control. With the rapid increase in the cost of living in
many urban centers, family is unable to perform all of its functions regarding social control and
socialization. This situation may lead to the disorganization of the family as a whole. Another
reason for disorganization might be single-parent families caused due to divorce or death of one
parent.
• Changes of social value: Now a day, new notions such as individualism, respect for wealth,
material success and lack of restrictions on premarital sex get imbibed into the modern value
system. Such values tend to develop criminal tendencies among the youth under certain
circumstances.
• Slum environment
• Slum environment also contributes to the commission of crime, the children who grown up
within slum area is more prone to criminal activities than other child because they are familiar

15
 with the crime and criminal activities. They associate with the adult’s criminal of the slum area
and learn the ways to engaged in crime world.
• Cultural conflict: The cultural aggression creates cultural conflict. The cultural norms and values
differ from society to society, country to country. But when culture of one country or society
intrudes to the culture of another country or society there arises a cultural conflict which
ultimately causes the disorganization or maladjustment in society. This disorganization causes
crime among the people within that society,
• Bad cinema: Cinemas indirectly influences the criminals by teaching crime technique, by
exhibiting many kinds of crime, By stimulating the desire for wealth and comfort, toughness and
adventure etc.
• Mental imbalance or defects: Mental imbalance may drive a person to commit a crime. Because
a person who is not mentally sound can commit crime for lack of knowledge to judge the
difference between right and wrong .Those person are also not conscious of moral sense.
Nexus between causation and liability
• The causation of an event is not sufficient to create a legal liability. Causation is only a part to
criminal liability. For example: the defendant to be held liable for criminal negligence, the
defendant must have……..
• duty to care ,
• The breach of that duty
• By such breach, caused damage to plaintiff.
• The damage must not have been so remote.
• On other cases, Causation is the only requirement for legal liability. For example, in case of
product liability, The defendants product caused the plaintiffs harm is the only things that
matters, the defendant need not to be negligent also.
• In case of another case, causation is irrelevant to legal liability. for example: under a contract of
indemnity insurance, the insurer agrees to indemnify the victim for harm not caused by the
insurer, but by other party.
Establishing causation
• The causation can be established from two perspective:
• Establishing factual causation which means the act of the defendant causes loss or sufferings to
the plaintiff.
• Establishing Legal causation where the actual loss or sufferings is not the major fact for creating
liability. The factual causation may or may not be the reason for legal liability.
Criminogenic factors.
 The criminogenic factors may be divided into two major parts
 Individual centric causes are those causes which are mainly related to the individual. the oldest
theory of criminality was mainly based on individualistic causes or diabolical possession .For
example: people commits crime due to the instigation or evil spirit. So, the punishment was
either to exercise or get rid of the criminal by death or exile.
 The Society centric causes seek to explain the criminal behavior in the context of external
factors, resulting from social interaction.
Crime and Heredity
• According to Lombroso, certain criminals inherit criminality by birth .They inherit those
criminal behavior from their earlier generation. For example: Different tribes or a gypsy
commits tribal offence for generations. Such as: whichcraft, intoxication etc.
• But the modern criminologist does not admit the fact of hereditary criminality. They believe that
heredity has only had a little influence on criminality. On studies of Heredity as causation off

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 crime Mr.Goring, Mr. Hearlry, Mr. Glueck has concluded that it is difficult to establish any
possible relation heredity and criminal behavior.

Mental disorder and criminal behavior

• Mental disorder or mental abnormality means that the mind is in a state of confusion or is
suffering from some disease .Mr. Goring found that mental disorder is a major cause of criminal
behavior except in case of fraud. But the statement of goring has been discarded by Mary
Woodward who examined all the studies of low intelligence crime and convinced that low
intelligence has no relation with delinquency.
Crime and Bio physical factors
• Both biological and physical abnormalities are generally responsible for criminal behavior.
Therefore biological differences in human personality also accounts for criminality in human
beings. But it requires some special physical or biological characteristics which is different from
others people.
• Hormonal imbalance of a person can also affect the criminal behavior. For example: young
people between 18 to 30 years commit theft, gambling, theft, drunkenness etc easily.
Psychology and crime
Psychology means the study of human mind and its function .Psychology presents a number of
perspective on the causes of crime .psychological theories of crime mainly establishes a link between a
crime and individual personality. Psychological theories shows that there are some factors deeply
rooted in the society which causes the individual immature personality such as: child rearing practices,
neglect, abuse, supervision and the parents own anti- social or criminal behavior.
• A criminal will learn criminality when he comes to the contact with different person .For
example: a child will start stealing if he sees his father to do so.
• Therefore, the central concept is that each criminal does not invent any crime separately or
individually but learn to do that like other forms of behavior. It is learnt from direct contact
with others criminals.
Crime and Gender
• Female commits fewer crimes than male. They only commits 10% of crime. Female commits
crime due to some reason….
• Females are more vulnerable to be affected by phchological disturbance.
• Social factors play a greater role to influence criminal behavior.
• Liberalization of women causes to increase criminal behavior.
• Extra marital relationship
• Demands of Dowry by the in- laws.
• Criminal justice system treats women lightly in matter of punishment.

[End for midterm]

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 Biological theories of criminology

 Biological theories of criminality established the link between biological factors and criminal
behavior.
 Biological theories established that physical characteristics are a distinguished mark of criminal.
Criminals are physically and structurally different from ordinary persons.
 Biological theories pictured a criminal as biologically abnormal, defective and inferior .These
biological defectiveness and inferiority influenced a person to commit crime.
 So, according to this theory the real cause of criminal activities is this defectiveness.
There are three physical theories of criminal behavior………..
1. Physiognomy
2. Phrenology
3. Criminal anthropology
Physiognomy
 This theory suggests that a person’s character should be judged by his/her facial features. 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.
 Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived from 384 to 322 BC, introduced the concept of
physiognomy.
 The publication of On Physiognomy in 1586 by Italian scholar Giambattista della Porta brought
renewed focus to this belief and practice of the ancient Greeks.
 He examined patients during his medical practice and concluded that appearance and character
were related to criminal behavior.
 He studied this relationship from a magical– 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.
 Della Porta’s ideas were extremely influential to Johann Kaspar Lavater, a Swiss theologian who
published four volume work on physiognomy in 1775.
 He concluded that one could determine criminal behavior through an examination of a person’s
eyes, ears, nose, chin, and facial shape.
Phrenology
 It is a better organized and logical study of criminal behavior. It is based on the belief that human
behavior originated in the brain.
 It emerged from the aristototolian idea that brain is the organ of mind.
 This theory tried to establish a relationship between different faculties of mind with skull and
determine human conduct from the exterior feature of skull.
 The interior shape of the brain is expressed through the exterior feature of the skull.
 Different parts of the brain are associated with different faculties or functions of the mind.
 So, the exterior feature of the skull revealed the functioning pattern of the mind.
 Franz Joseph Gall, a German neurologist and physiologist who introduced study of the human brain
as the source of mental faculties, developed the practice of cranioscopy, a technique by which
human behaviors and characteristics could be inferred from external examination of the skull
(cranium).

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 According to Gall, a person’s strengths, weaknesses, morals, character, and personality could be
determined by physical characteristics of his or her skull.
 Gall listed 26 special parts of the Skull and each part is associated with different faculties or function
of the mind. Some of them are Amativeness, friendlessness, philoprogenitiveness, destructiveness,
Acquisitiveness, Benevolence…..etc.
 All these faculties also grouped into three categories….The intellectual faculties, moral sentiment
and the lower or active propensities.
 People commits crime because of the involvement of lower propensities and that can be minimized
by moral or intellectual faculties.
Destructiveness- culpable Homicide or hurt.
Amativeness- rape or sexual offence.
Acquisitiveness…..Theft, extortion, robbery.

Criminal anthropology
 Criminal anthropology means study of criminology relating to humankind.
 Cesare Lombroso introduced the Atavism theory which claimed that there was a relationship
between criminality and physical traits. This theory was also supported by Hotton.
 Atavism theory suggests the acquisition of characteristics from primitive people or humanitarian
animals and in that sense organs and limbs of a person carries the identity of inferior or primitive
people .Lombroso’s idea was that criminals are biologically similar to the more primitive people of
human civilization. This primitive feature directed them to act contrary to the rules of modern
civilization.
Lombroso’s Theory
 Cesare Lombroso was an Italian criminologist, Physician and founder of the Italian School of
positivist criminology.
 Cesare Lombroso rejected the classical explanation which believed that crime was a characteristic of
Human nature and instead believed that criminality was inherited.
 Cesare Lombroso extended the tradition of Physiognomy and phrenology by studying all anatomical
features of the human body ,not only the features .of the face or the shape of the skull
 From this believe he developed a ‘theory of Deviance’ in which a person’s bodily constitution
indicates whether he is a born criminal or not. These born criminals are throwbacks to the earlier
stage of human evolution with the physical make up, mental capacities and instincts of primitive
people.
 In developing this theory Cesare Lombroso observe the physical characteristics of Italian prisoners
and compared them to those of Italian soldiers.
Physical traits of criminals
 Cesare Lombroso concluded that criminals are physically different from non-criminals. The physical
characteristics that he used to identify prisoners included….
 An asymmetry of the face or head.
 Large monkey like ears.
 Large lips.
 A twisted nose.
 Excessive check bones.
 Long arms.
 Excessive wrinkles on the skin.
 Large Jaw
 Large chin

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 Lombroso declared that males with five or more of these characteristics can be marked as born
criminal.
 On the other hand, Females with three or more of these characteristics can be marked as born
criminals.
 Lombroso also believed that tattoos were also the marks of born criminals because they stood as
evidence of both immortality and insensitivity to physical pain.
Types of criminals
 Lombroso classified the criminals into four types….
 Born criminals
 Habitual criminals.
 Criminals by passion
 Insane criminals.
 Occasional criminals.
Goring’s theory of criminality
 After comparing prisoners with the officers and men of Royal Engineers Charles Goring found no
Such Anomalies like Lombroso.
 He also compared nasal contours, Color of eyes, color of hair and left-handedness .But found no
significant difference.
 While conducting his study Goring developed his own theory of hereditary inferiority.
 He concluded that criminals were two or three inches shorter and weight three to seven pounds less
than non-criminals of the same occupational group.
 Goring interpreted inferiority in height and in body weight as indicative of hereditary inferiority on
the part of criminals.
Criminological theory of Earnest A. Hotton
 Earnest A. Hotton, a Harvard anthropologists believed the Cesare Lombroso’s theory of born
criminals.
 He undertook an extensive research on physical type when the Goring’s theory was unchallenged.
 Hotton made a comparison of about 14000 prisoners with more than 3000 non criminals. He
concluded that criminals were organically inferior without indicating any special characteristics.
 The Environ impacts on the low grade human organism which ultimate consequence is criminal
activities. His data revealed that…….
 Tall thin men tended to be murderers and robbers.
 Tall heavy men commit killing, fraud and forgery.
 Undersized men were thieves and burglars.
 Short heavy person commits rape, assault and other sexual crimes.
 Men having mediocre physique commit other crimes with no specialty.
 Hooton's theory was criticized on two grounds……
1. Lack of any Special independent evidence of inferiority.
2. Hotton agrees with the physical traits theory but disregard many points of differences between
criminals and non-criminals.
Body type theory or theory of Somatotype
 William Sheldon was an American Psychologist who spent his life observing the varieties of human
bodies or Somatotype.
 Somatotype mainly means the shape of body.
 Sheldon believed that people can be classified into three body shapes which correspond with three
different personality types.

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 Endomorphic: Endomorphs are considered as soft and fat. they are described as having a soft body
,underdeveloped muscles round physique and they often have difficulty losing weight.
 Ectomorphic : Ectomorphs are thin and fragile. Their body is described as flat-chested, fragile, lean,
lightly muscled, small shouldered and thin.
Physical features of criminals

Mesomorphic : Mesomorphs are muscular and athletic. Their body is described as hourglass shaped
in case of female and rectangular shape in case of male, has excellent posture, gains muscles easily
and has thick skin.
 According to Sheldon mesomorphs are more prone to commit crime and deviant behavior.
 Sheldon's theory shows that….
 Everyone has elements of all three types but one type usually predominates.
 Criminals are more mesomorphic than non-criminals.
 Criminals are higher in number in mesomorphs than in Ectomorphs.
 Family tree studies: Family tees means a diagram showing the relationship between people in
several generation of a family. Family tree studies show that criminal behavior could easily be
learned or adopted from the families.
 According to Osborn west study 40% of son becomes criminal from the criminal families and 30% of
son becomes criminal from the non-criminal families.
 Twine study
 Several studies have found general evidence for a connection between biology and criminality for
both twins. There are two types of twins………
 Identical or monozygotic: A single fertilized egg produced identical twins and they have identical
heredity.
 Fraternal or dizygotic twins: when two eggs are simultaneously fertilized by two separate sperm,
they will be fraternal twins.
 Twins are more likely to exhibit similar tendencies towards criminality if they are identical
(monozygotic) than if they are fraternal (dizygotic).
 Identical twins share 100% of genes where fraternal twins share 50% of genes.
 Genetically, identical twins become more criminal than fraternal twins which suggest the existence
of genetic influences on criminal behavior.
 Adoption and criminality: Recent studies have found a general evidence for a connection between
biology and criminality for both adoptees.
 Studies of adopted children have shown that the likelihood of criminality generally correspond with
that of their biological parents.

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 The rate of criminality is higher among adopted children with one biological parent who is a criminal
than it is among children who have one adoptive parent who is a criminal but whose biological
parents are not criminals.
 The highest rates of criminality are found among children whose biological and adoptive parents
both are criminals.
Y chromosome theory
o The chromosomes are the basic structure that contain our genes- the biological materials that
makes each of us unique. Every human being has twenty three pairs of inherited chromosomes. One
pair determines gender.
o A female receives an X chromosome both father and mother and a male receives a X chromosome
from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father.
o But sometimes a defect in the process results in genetic abnormalities.
o The Extra Y chromosome theory is the belief that the criminal has a extra Y chromosome, giving
them an XYY chromosome makeup rather than an XX or XY chromosome makeup.
o Those persons with XYY chromosome tended to be tall, physically aggressive and frequently violent.
o That creates a strong compulsion within them to create crime.
o This person is sometimes called as superman. They may commit violent crime.
o Some studies found that the proportion of XYY male in the prison is higher than the general male
population.
Hormonal reaction and criminal behavior
 The studies of Hormone dates back to 1828 when German chemist Fredric Wohler tried to
established Human as a chemical being.
 Implications of hormonal balance and imbalance became very important part of human physiology.
Hormonal imbalance strongly influenced criminal behavior.
 The secretions of the Endocrine gland hormones were found to have some effects on physiology and
psychology of an individual.
 Recent studies relate male testosterone and female premenstrual cycles with aggressive or criminal
behavior.
 Some studies revealed that higher testosterone levels of some people caused increased criminal
behavior, though most of the time their testosterone levels remains normal.
 The relationship between testosterone and anti-social behavior may be intervened by social
variables. It is also related to juvenile delinquency.
DNA test and the identification of criminals
 Most of the countries of the world are now using the DNA technology for the identification of
criminals especially in case of murder, rape, paternity determination and immigration dispute cases.
 Susceptive criminals can be potentially identified by DNA sample, collected from the crime scene.
 DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) is found in the nucleus of human cell. DNA sample can be collected
from the evidence lay in the crime scene such as Saliva, hair, blood Semen, sweat etc…….
 DNA analysis is done by micro satellite sequence.
 DNA consists of four types of bases, variation of which helps in identifying the individual difference.
 Sample registered in a police case is analyzed in laboratory. The laboratory works in three phases…..
 First……The sample is screened to ensure the presence of DNA.
 Second……If the screening of DNA found positive, DNA would be extracted.
 Third…….extracted DNA is analyzed and report is prepared.
 The report of DNA analysis is provided to the police, judges and lawyers.
Neurotransmitter
 Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that allows for the transmission of electric impulses within
the brain and are the basis for the brains processing of information.

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  About thirty Studies showed the relationship between neurotransmitter and anti-social behaviour.
 Those studies suggest that the levels of three different neurotransmitters may be associated with
criminal behavior. They are……Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine.
 Scerbo and Raine concluded that people committing anti-social behavior have lower level of
Serotonin than normal people. Some studies also found effect of norepinephrine on anti-social
behavior.
 Genetics initially determines the levels of Neurotransmitter, but it be manipulated or reduced by
many other factor.
Diet, vitamin, minerals and criminality
 There is a relationship between the food (what we eat) and behavior (how we eat).
 Lack of dieting leads to depression, aggression and others criminal behavior.
 Vitamin such as B3,B6 has negative effect on behavior, for example…frustration ,daydreaming etc.
 Mineral such as cobalt (Vitamin b12) and vitamin B also causes violent behavior.
 Alcohol, Drugs and Criminality
 Researcher has identified other biological factors associated with increased violence and
aggressiveness including alcohol, intoxication and the use of some other drugs and ingestion of
toxic substance.
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Sociological theories of criminal behavior
 The biological and psychological school identified the biological and psychological factors
responsible for criminal behavior.
 Sociological school explains the social factors which are responsible for criminal behavior.
 Such as Family, Educational background, Economy, Society, Community or environment where a
person grow up etc….
 Sociological theories states that creates condition under which people commits crime.
 The major sociological theories are……Theory of imitation, Social conflict theory, anomie theory,
differential association theory. Sub-cultural theory, strain theory, Social control theory, Labeling
theory etc.
Tarde’s theory of imitation
Tarde explain three laws of imitation
 The law of Close contact
 The law of imitation by superiors to inferiors
 The law of Insertion
 Law of close contact: individuals in close intimate contact with one another imitate each other’s
behavior. it means that people have a greater tendency to imitate the fashions and customs of those
with whom they have more closely connected.
 If someone were regularly surrounded by people involved in criminal behavior they would be more
likely to imitate these people than they would others with whom they had little association.
 The law of imitation by superiors to inferiors
 Tarde’s second law of imitation spreads from the top to down; Such as : young people imitate older
individuals, poor people imitate the rich, peasants imitate royalty, and so on.
 The law of Insertion: Tarde’s third law of imitation states that new acts or behavior is replaced by
the old acts or behavior. For Example: drug taking may be a popular trend among the person who
previously used alcohol .The replacement of the knife or sword by a gun as a weapon of committing
crime.
Theory of differential association

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 Differential Association theory focuses on the point that the acts of the criminal as learned
behaviors.
 Differential Association theory, believes that the behaviors of an individual are influenced and
shaped by other individuals they associate with.
 Sutherlands explain nine assumptions regarding that differential association theory……..
 Criminal behavior is learned…….
 It is learned through the process of communication
 Learning criminal behavior occurs within primary groups such as family, friends and other most
intimate personal companions.
 The learning includes ….
1. The technique of committing the crime
2. The specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations and attitude.
 The specific direction of motives or drives is learned from definition of legal codes as favorable or
unfavorable. In some societies an individual is surrounded by persons who define the law or legal
codes to be observed .On the contrary an individual may be surrounded by some person who
defines or encourages the violations of the law legal codes.
 A person engaged criminal activities when there is excess definition in favor of the violation of law
than which is unfavorable to the violation of law.
 Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.
 The process of learning criminal behavior involves all the mechanisms involved in any other learning.
 Although criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and attitudes, criminal behavior and
motives are not explained nor excused by the same needs and attitudes, since non-criminal
behavior is explained by the same general needs and attitudes.
Albert Bandhura’s Social learning theories
 People develop motivation to commit crime and the skills to commit crime through the people they
associate with.
 It was Albert Bandura’s intention to explain how children learn in social environments by observing
and then imitating the behavior of others
 Social learning theory postulates that there are three mechanisms by which individuals learn to
engage in crime:.
1. Differential reinforcement,
2. Beliefs favorable to crime
3. And Modeling.
Differential reinforcement: Reinforcement means support something and make it stronger.
 Crime is more likely to occur …..
 When it is frequently reinforced and infrequently punished.
 Results in large amounts of reinforcement (such as money, social approval, or pleasure) and little
punishment.
2. Beliefs favorable to crime: Besides reinforcing criminal behavior, other individuals can also teach
person beliefs that are favorable to crime.
The imitation of criminal models: four principles of learning. These are-
• Attention: We cannot learn if we are not focused on the task.
• Retention: We learn by internalizing information in our memories. We recall that information later
when we are required to respond to a situation that is similar the situation within which we first
learnt the information.
• Reproduction: We reproduce previously learnt information (behavior, skills, knowledge) when
required.

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• Motivation: We need to be motivated to do anything. Often that motivation originates from our
observation of someone else being rewarded or punished for something they have done or said.
This usually motivates us later to do, or avoid doing, the same thing.

Social control theory

 Control theories presuppose the existence of some social forces which restrain people from
committing crime. If those control mechanism breakdown or weakened, the society experience
increased rate of crime.
 It considers crime as a result of social institutions losing control over individuals. Weak institutions
such as certain types of families, the breakdown of local communities, and the breakdown of trust in
the government and the police are all linked to higher crime rates.
 Travis Hirschi argued that criminal activity occurs when an individual’s attachment to society is
weakened. This attachment depends on the strength of social bonds that hold people to society.
According to Hirschi there are four social bonds that bind us together – Attachment; Commitment;
Involvement and Belief.
 The four basic elements of social bond theory are
 attachment,
 commitment,
 involvement in conventional versus deviant or criminal activities, and
 lastly the common value system within an individual’s society or subgroup
 Attachment is described as the level of values and or norms that an individual holds in society.
Attachment is created through close communication with people .The attachment is strongly
established with parents and family.
 Commitment, this can be described as the level of commitment that an individual has to abide by
legal behavior. From very early in our lives we hopefully learn the difference between “right” and
“wrong". When a child does not get this norm from the family or society he has the possibility of
being engaged in criminal activities.
 For example, if a child is raised in a home where drugs are bought, sold, and used regularly, then
that child has a greater chance of having involvement with drugs in the future.
 Involvement: A person has less time to involve in criminal activities when he is more involved in
productive or creative activities. Dedication to productive task reduces the chance of getting
engaged in crimes.
 Belief: People with a strong moral belief in law are less likely to engage in criminal activities.
Anomie theory
Anomie is a social condition in which there is a disintegration or disappearance of the norms and
values that were previously common to the society.
The concept, thought of as “normlessness,” was developed by founding sociologist, Émile Durkheim.
He discovered, through research, that anomie occurs during and follows periods of drastic and rapid
changes to the social, economic, or political structures of society.
This theory mainly introduced after the French revolution in 1789 when a rapid change took place
after that industrial revolution. Dr kheim mainly presented in his thesis the process of social change
during industrialization.
After French Revolution the primitive mechanic Society Transformed to more advanced organic
society. In mechanical society there was no division of labor and people do similar work and holds
similar beliefs and values. But in organic society there was a huge division of labor and people of

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 that society engaged in different work. Those people were different in case of social values and
beliefs which ultimately weakened the social bond.
It is, per Durkheim's view, a transition phase wherein the values and norms common during one
period of time are no longer valid, but new ones have not yet evolved to take their place.
People who live during periods of anomie typically feel disconnected from their society because
they no longer see the norms and values that they hold dear reflected in society itself.
Dr kheim in his book division of labor wrote about an anomic division of labor, where he showed
that some groups is no longer for the work, though they did in the past because of the changing
nature of the work after the industrial revolution and they became unemployed.
Durkheim saw that this occurred as European societies industrialized and the nature of work
changed along with the development of a more complex division of labor.
Strain theory
 Dr Kheim’s theory of anomie proved influential to American sociologist Robert K. Merton.
 Merton acknowledged the Durkheim’s theory that anomie is a social condition in which people's
norms and values no longer comply with those of society.
 Afterwards Merton created structural strain theory which explains how anomie leads to deviance
and crime.
 The theory states that when society does not provide the necessary legitimate and legal means that
allow people to achieve culturally valued goals, people seek out alternative means that may simply
break from the norm, or may violate norms and laws.
 For example, if society does not provide enough jobs that pay a living wage so that people survive,
many will turn too engaged in criminal acts for earning livelihood.
 So according to Merton, deviance and crime are results of anomie, a state of social disorder.
 Merton's explained five categories of person….
 Conformists :Accept both goals and means for achieving goals
 Ritualists: does not accept goals but accept the means of achieving it.
 Innovator: Accept goals but does not accepts the method of achieving it.
 Retreatists: Reject both Goals and method of its achievement.
 Revels: Reject both and substitute with a new one.
Labeling theory
• The focus of this perspective is the interaction between individuals in society, which is the basis for
meanings within that society.
• These theorists suggested that powerful individuals and the state create crime by labeling some
behaviors as inappropriate. The focus of these theorists is on the reactions of members in society to
crime and deviance.
• Leveling theories argues that social control agencies leveled some persons as criminals.
• This theory claim that by leveling some people as criminal or deviant behavior society encourages
them to do so.
• In case of primary deviance, the deviant act is not publicly leveled .Those acts are not serious and
nature and most of the person go uncaught. Those persons does not consider them as deviant.
• Secondary deviance is a result of the societal reaction towards crime. Leveling someone as offender
may stigmatize that person and exclude them from normal society.
• Societal reaction reinforces that stigmatized situation of that person and ultimately leads them to
join in a deviant sub cultural group that supports to build a deviant career.
Sub-cultural theory
• Subculture is a group that has values that are different to the mainstream culture.

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• Subcultural theorists argue that deviance is the result of whole groups breaking off from society who
have deviant values (subcultures) and deviance is a result of these individuals conforming to the
values and norms of the subculture to which they belong.
• Albert Cohen: Status frustration
• Albert Cohen argues that working class subcultures emerge because they are denied status in
society. Cohen argued that working class boys’ wants to get themselves adjusted to the middle-class
values and aspirations, but lacked the means to achieve success. This led to status frustration: a
sense of personal failure.
• Subculture is a group that has values that are different to the mainstream culture.
• Subcultural theorists argue that deviance is the result of whole groups breaking off from society who
have deviant values (subcultures) and deviance is a result of these individuals conforming to the
values and norms of the subculture to which they belong.
• Albert Cohen: Status frustration
• Albert Cohen argues that working class subcultures emerge because they are denied status in
society. Cohen argued that working class boys wants to get themselves adjusted to the middle-class
values and aspirations, but lacked the means to achieve success. This led to status frustration: a
sense of personal failure.
• Conflict subculture: It emerges in socially disorganized areas where there is a high rate of
population and lack of social order. Young people express their frustration at this situation through
violence or street crime.
• Retreats subcultures: It emerge among those lower class youth who are ‘double failures’ – they
have failed to succeed in both mainstream society and in the crime and gang cultures above.
• Walter B miller
• Miller said that deviant behavior does not arise because they denied status in the society instead
crime among them is a result of a fact that they have distinct lower class subculture with different
norms and values from the, mainstream society. The main characteristics of that value are
toughness, smartness and excitement.
• David Matza:
• Matza developed his theory of interaction approach for understanding subculture. Matza suggested
that there were no distinct subcultures among young people. Rather, all groups in society share a
set of subterranean values (Example: going to a party or drinking too much). Young people involved
in delinquent behavior as a part time law breaker and ultimately return to the values of mainstream
society. Although the subterranean values are within the set of the values of mainstream society,
they could be seen as a criminal when they encourage the behavior which breaks the law.
• Social conflict theory
White collar crime
• White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime committed for financial gain. It is that kind of crime which is
committed by a person, who, by virtue of their occupation exploits social, economic or technological
power for their personal gain. Such as Embezzlement, corporate fraud ,money laundering,
intellectual property crimes ,bribery ,tax evasion or any other crime relating to tax ,perjury etc.
• Professors Sutherland's defines white collar crime as “a crime by a person of the upper socio-
economic class, who violates the criminal law in the course of his occupational or professional
activities.
Characteristics of white collar crime
• The major characteristics of white collar crime are…..
• Non-violent — white collar crimes differ primarily from other types of crime in that they are non-
violent offenses.

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• Deception — white collar crimes encompass activities that use deception to obtain money, property
or some other advantage or to cover up other criminal activity.
• It takes place directly or indirectly in connection with a legitimate profession.
• There must be intention to commit the crime. It will not amount to a crime where the person does
not intent to commit the crime but it occurs as a result of mistake or error.
• Multiple defendants — most white collar crimes involve multiple actors who conspire together to
commit fraud.
• Corporations — white collars crimes are often business crimes, and involve charges against
companies as well as company officials.
• Parallel proceedings — white collar cases often involve parallel proceedings, where defendants are
charged with both criminal and civil violations.
• Grand jury — in most criminal cases, the investigative work is done by law enforcement
officials. When it comes to white collar crimes, the prosecutor’s main investigative tool is the grand
jury that can compel the production of evidence and witness from the company which is reluctant to
do that.
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