Theories of Criminal Behavior LSCJ 3133
Mikle DeShazer
University of Oklahoma
Causes of Crime Overview
There are several theories used to describe the reasons behind criminal behavior, the biological theories maintain that human behavior and criminal activity can be physiologically based which is often inherited, the biological theories focus on the brain being the cause of the human behavior that leads to deviant or criminal acts. Unlike the free will and external forces the biological theories look at the internal cause of behavior which include the genetic and physical makeup that influence mental processes, these traits include facial features, body type, and skull shape all of which are said to contribute to criminal behavior. …show more content…
2017) several criminal and deviant behavior theories have been discredited, deviant behavior are those exhibited behaviors that are different from social norms, there are several theories that attempt to explain the causes of deviant behavior such as biological, psychological and sociological theories. These are biological explanations for deviant behavior that have been discredited. Biological Theories of Deviance: Stated that deviant behavior is caused by illness in specific types of individuals and they are "born criminals" being mentally and physical inferior causes an inability to learn and follow rules. Lombroso’s Theory: States that criminality is inherited and people with large monkey-like ears, large lips, a twisted nose, excessive cheekbones, long arms and excessive wrinkled skin may have criminal issues. For example, males with five or more of these characteristics should be known as criminals. However, females only need three of these characteristics to be known as criminals. Sheldon's Theory of Body Types: States that there are three human body types with only one being responsible for criminal activity and these are ectomorphs, endomorphs and …show more content…
(Wilcox,
Mikle DeShazer
University of Oklahoma
Causes of Crime Overview
There are several theories used to describe the reasons behind criminal behavior, the biological theories maintain that human behavior and criminal activity can be physiologically based which is often inherited, the biological theories focus on the brain being the cause of the human behavior that leads to deviant or criminal acts. Unlike the free will and external forces the biological theories look at the internal cause of behavior which include the genetic and physical makeup that influence mental processes, these traits include facial features, body type, and skull shape all of which are said to contribute to criminal behavior. …show more content…
2017) several criminal and deviant behavior theories have been discredited, deviant behavior are those exhibited behaviors that are different from social norms, there are several theories that attempt to explain the causes of deviant behavior such as biological, psychological and sociological theories. These are biological explanations for deviant behavior that have been discredited. Biological Theories of Deviance: Stated that deviant behavior is caused by illness in specific types of individuals and they are "born criminals" being mentally and physical inferior causes an inability to learn and follow rules. Lombroso’s Theory: States that criminality is inherited and people with large monkey-like ears, large lips, a twisted nose, excessive cheekbones, long arms and excessive wrinkled skin may have criminal issues. For example, males with five or more of these characteristics should be known as criminals. However, females only need three of these characteristics to be known as criminals. Sheldon's Theory of Body Types: States that there are three human body types with only one being responsible for criminal activity and these are ectomorphs, endomorphs and …show more content…
(Wilcox,