Criminal Psychology: Exploring Theories Behind Criminal Behavior

Running head: CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
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1CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction
From the very beginning of human civilization man has been constantly endeavoring to
understand his own mind, which is probably the most complex part of the entire human body.
Human beings use only less than 10 percent of the brains ability and understands even lesser
about the functioning of the brain in spite of detailed and dedicated researches. Why some people
show the tendency to engage in criminal behavior is one of the questions to which researchers
have been trying to find answers.
Reiman and Leighton has pointed out various causes that may lead to the making of a
criminal including poverty, social injustice and discrimination (Reiman and Leighton 2015).
However, this cannot be taken as entirely true because other people in the same set up may not
exhibit criminal activities. Therefore, the question lies whether some genetic factors
determine criminal behaviors in a person as pointed by Tiihonen et al. in 2015, or it is
caused by the external factors which induce the criminal behavior in innocent people
(Clinard, Quinney and Wildeman 2014).
This paper will analyze various theories formulated or discussed by experts and
researchers which endeavor in explaining the causative factors behind the criminal behavior in
people, and the theories will be critically analyzed and compared with examples. Special
emphasis will be given on the behavior of the “sadistic rapists” and how the theories prove to be
helpful in explaining such trait.
Discussion
Criminal behavior is displayed when one individual performs some activity which is
considered to be unlawful, unethical and immoral by the larger section of the society and is

2CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
punishable by the justice system of a particular place. Criminology deals with the study and
analysis of such criminal behaviors and reasons behind them (Presser and Sandberg 2015). There
are various theories that aims to explain criminal behaviors and their causes. The history of
criminology and the study of criminal behaviors can be dated back to the mid-18th Century.
Cesare Beccaria who was a famous jurist, politician and philosopher in Italy started his
experimentations on the subject and authored “On Crimes and Punishments”. This is the
founding base of Classical Criminology and the author argues that the punishment should
quickly follow the crime in order to keep both of these psychologically associated (Porta and
Bruni 2014). Cesare Lombroso who was Italian physician is widely regarded as the “father of
criminology” for his contributions in the study (Ystehede 2017). What Lombroso did was
establishing a new theory of criminology discarding the “classical criminology.” His theory of
criminology included degeneration theory, psychology and psychiatry.
All the theories of criminal behaviors can be broadly categorized into mainly three
categories- Psychological, sociological and biological. Though they have different approaches
towards crime they cannot be separated as altogether new theories because all of these have
effects on human criminal behavior.
The psychological approach to criminal behavior states that mainly personality is the
reason behind human behavior and when there is imbalance in human psychology. Mental
process if works in dysfunctional inappropriate way gives rise to adoption of criminal behavior
in human beings. There is a category of mindset that can be termed as “antisocial personality
disorder”. These people are rebellious about social norms and shows little empathy towards other
lives. They do not care about ethics or morals. This slowly leads to up taking of criminal
activities in later life. Hollin in his “Psychology and crime: An introduction to criminological