Jim Jones Criminal Theory

Jim Jones, a power hungry preacher, forced over 900 people to commit suicide by leading a colt known as Peoples Temple (Wunrow, 2016). Jones was manipulative and charismatic, but because he grew up in the Great Depression, he lived in poverty. However, Jones did not let poverty affect his personal life and education; Jones excelled in school, graduated high school with honors, and even continued post-secondary education into graduate school (Wunrow, 2016). Jones was a student pastor and was even preaching in his community at age 16 (Wunrow, 2016). Jim Jones was a determined young man who destroyed all obstacles that blocked his path to success. Unfortunately, determination was an ugly trait on young Jim Jones; he grew up to create his own congregation …show more content…
Jones’ life experiences and escapades can be linked to numerous criminal theories that may explain his life choices that led him to live the life of a criminal. From poverty to rejection, Jim Jones’ manipulative behavior may be able to be defined by theories listed in Criminology: The Core, written by criminologist, Larry Siegel.
Because Jim Jones grew up in the Great Depression, his criminal career has potential to be categorized under the subtheory social structure theory. Social structure theory is “the view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime” (Siegel, 2015, p.139). Because Jones was part of the vast majority of the United States that suffered financially due to the Depression, his economic instability may be the main cause of his choice to kill 900 people. Jim Jones also falls under a handful of other criminal theories. For example, Jones can also be defined under the trait theory, the theory that “views criminality as …show more content…
For example, Jim Jones grew up to be extremely smart. Jones was an honor student and even did graduate work at Indiana University (Wunrow, 2016). The nature theory discusses “the view that intelligence is largely determined genetically and that low intelligence is linked to criminal behavior” (Siegel, 2015, p. 126). Albeit, Jones does not relate to the nature theory because he proved himself to be a highly intelligent man. Therefore, Jones’ criminal activity cannot be categorized under the nature theory. Jones was also labeled as an honor student, a graduate, and a pastor; all positive, self-esteem boosting labels. Because Jones had positive reactions from his peers and surrounding adults, social reaction theory cannot relate to his criminal behavior, even though he falls under neutralization theory, both which are subtheories of social process theory. Social reaction theory discusses the view that criminal behavior arises when members of society label a criminal negatively, causing their criminality to begin and continue (Siegel, 2015, p.168). Contrarily, Jones received positive labels from his society. In result, the mass murder that Jones committed cannot be defined by social reaction