SID: 200304621

SLSP0091

INTRODUCTION TO CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

ASSESSED ESSAY QUESTIONS 2006-2007

2. Critically consider the strength of the argument that criminals are ‘born not made’.

        This essay shall attempt to critically consider the strengths and weaknesses of the argument that criminals are ’born not made’. It will look at a number of biological explanations for offending focusing on Positivism, that support a criminal being born with features that make them distinctively different from the average man in the street. It will also consider the view that criminals are products of their environment using explanations of offending including Classicism to the contemporary theories of labelling, anomie and strain.  

        The Classical movement, founded by Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), aimed to introduce a fairer and more rational system of organising control and punishments. It had little concern with establishing the causes of crime and was focused on establishing a more just social order within society. (Carrabine et al, 2004:32) The emphasis was on the criminal as an individual who was fully capable of calculating what he wanted to do and was assumed to have the same power of resistance as non-offenders. The reasoning was that an individual had free will and their behaviour was guided by hedonism, or the pleasure-pain principle where if individuals saw they would be punished for their actions, they would be deterred, whereas if they thought they could get away with criminal acts, they would (Lilly et al, 2002:15). There were problems in this theory as it has an overly rational, generalising view of human nature believing that individuals behave in a purely selfish and socially unconcerned manner, not taking into account personal circumstances (Carrabine et al, 2004:35). Following the Classicists was the Positivist movement headed by Lombroso’s theory of the Criminal man, a biological and psychological approach to criminology, where criminals were atavistic throwbacks to a form of species earlier on the evolutionary scale (Carrabine et al, 2004:36). Positivist wanted scientific proof that criminality was caused solely by features within an individual with the emphasis on the criminal mind and body, to the extent of neglecting external social factors affecting the individual. The central tenet of these early theories were that criminals possessed a peculiar physical type distinctively unlike those of non-criminals. Enrico Ferri (1856-1929) developed and expanded upon this, placing more emphasis on the relaton of social, economic and political factors that contributed to crime. Deviance, he argued, could be explained by examining the interrelated effects among physical factors, individual factors and social factors (Lilly et al, 2002:19). The positivist model has been harshly criticized for assuming that crimes are largely caused by individuals under the influence of outside forces. It is a simplistic mirror image of the classicist model, where people are not free and ultimately removes responsibility for their actions. While the classical and positivist theories are contradictory, they still have a great deal of influence in their modern day versions which continue to influence the working of penal policy.

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        Contemporary sociology, seeing crime as a social phenomenon, identified the Strain theory stating that strains are fabricated by society rather than an individual. As crime is connected with strains, stress and tensions within society, it can be understood by looking at those strains. From society in general, large cities prone to generating deviant lifestyles, to an individual’s everyday situations where meanings and values are learnt. Crime is seen a breakdown of social controls, a lack of groups valuing law abiding behaviour (Carrabine et al, 2004:46). This theory was inspired by Durkheim’s (1951) idea of social solidarity, integration and regulation, ...

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