A number of theories put forward to explain the criminality of the poor boy’s actions who had stolen a bottle of juice from a shopkeeper and got caught. The theories can be generally classified into sociological theories and biological theories. Sociological theories will tend to explain the boy’s action of stealing the bottle of orange juice as a result of influence from his environment, while biological theory tries to explain the boy’s act of theft as being biologically oriented as such, and he has no control over them. Some of the sociological theories in this case include the strain theory, social control theory, the rational control theory, and the biological theory.
1. Strain theory
Strain theory is a concept by Robert Merton which …show more content…
This cost-benefit analysis primarily focuses on the idea that an individual has the choice to progress with his or her actions. In the article of Akers (1990) “Rational Choice, Deterrence, and Social Learning Theory in Criminology: The Path Not Taken” elucidated that offender balance the crime by calculating consequence of the crime and the necessity of it. Basically, all crimes are pre-determined by individuals. Weighing the cost and benefits of a crime mostly comes in the form of analyzing: the chances of getting caught, the severity of the expected punishment, the value gained from committing crime and the immediate need for getting that value …show more content…
The most notable advocate of this approach is Cesare Lombroso. Cesare derived on the ideas of Charles Darwin and suggested that criminals were atavistic: as persons who had not had a progressive evolution. In the book Criminal Man by Lombroso et al (2006). Cesare implied that the brains were either mal-developed or not fully developed. In doing so, he suggested that involvement in crime was a product of biology and biological characteristics and criminals were born that way because they inherited from their family especially parents. Lombroso’s theory is essentially a theory of biological positivism (p.
1. Strain theory
Strain theory is a concept by Robert Merton which …show more content…
This cost-benefit analysis primarily focuses on the idea that an individual has the choice to progress with his or her actions. In the article of Akers (1990) “Rational Choice, Deterrence, and Social Learning Theory in Criminology: The Path Not Taken” elucidated that offender balance the crime by calculating consequence of the crime and the necessity of it. Basically, all crimes are pre-determined by individuals. Weighing the cost and benefits of a crime mostly comes in the form of analyzing: the chances of getting caught, the severity of the expected punishment, the value gained from committing crime and the immediate need for getting that value …show more content…
The most notable advocate of this approach is Cesare Lombroso. Cesare derived on the ideas of Charles Darwin and suggested that criminals were atavistic: as persons who had not had a progressive evolution. In the book Criminal Man by Lombroso et al (2006). Cesare implied that the brains were either mal-developed or not fully developed. In doing so, he suggested that involvement in crime was a product of biology and biological characteristics and criminals were born that way because they inherited from their family especially parents. Lombroso’s theory is essentially a theory of biological positivism (p.