Criminological Theory: Youth and Drug-Related Violence

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CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Criminological theory in relation to youth violence and drug-related violence
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CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Assignment 1...................................................................................................................................5
LO1. Understanding the various criminological approaches that is directly related to violence....5
Types of criminal violence and their impact...............................................................................5
Social learning and strain theory related to violence...................................................................7
Control balance and rational choice theory related to violence...................................................8
LO5: Understanding the major causal factors and theories that are related to serial murder..........8
Assignment 2.................................................................................................................................12
LO2 Analysing theory of criminology using youth and alcohol violence.....................................12
Features of young offenders different from the victims explained by criminological theory...12
Criminological models of violence due to alcohol consumption..............................................12
Psychopharmacological, economic motivation and systematic models of violence caused by
consuming drugs........................................................................................................................13
LO4 Criminological theory of violence due to hatred and terrorism............................................14
Criminological theory of violence due to hatred.......................................................................14
Relation of criminological theory and terrorist violence...........................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Introduction
Criminology is the systematic revise of the biological, physical and mental traits that pushes an
individual to commit a criminal offence. The criminological approach considers the criminals as
the victims of the unwanted situations that force them to have a change, which leads them in
committing criminal acts. The following project will deal with the study of various
criminological approaches, which is directly related to violence. In order to enhance the quality
of the study, the project will also deal with various kinds of violence that has been affecting the
society and its innocent people. Crimes like youth violence, drug related crimes, hate and
terrorism.

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Assignment 1
LO1. Understanding the various criminological approaches that is directly related to
violence
From the research work of Riedel and Welsh (2015), criminal violence is on the critical factors
that can be studied with a proper criminological approach to understand that cause of violence.
The types of criminal violence and its systematic study are done below.
Types of criminal violence and their impact
Some of the prominent crime of violence and its impacts on the victim are discussed below.
Abduction
Abduction, also known as kidnapping, is carrying a person to another place without the consent
of the individual. As stated by Helfgott, et al. (2019), kidnapping is a combination of two
separate crimes of falsely imprisoning an individual by abduction and confining them without
their consent. Thus, it is known as an amalgamated offense.
As per Ibrahim and Zamani (2019), abduction has serious impacts on the sufferer, during and
after the crime. The criminal event negatively affects the thought process of the victim. The
individual suffers from invasive thoughts, lack of concentration, over cautiousness, memory
impairment, fear and anxiety. The crime also affects the emotions of the individual and he deals
with shock, guilt, anger, helplessness and depression. The individual becomes detached from
others and stops interacting.
Robbery

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Robbery is another significant violent crime that affects the society and its innocent people.
According to Hu, et al. (2017), robbery is the unlawful action of procuring valuable assets and
properties from an individual by force or by threats. An illegal act can lead to many disastrous
consequences.
Robbery in common has an intense affect on the victim. As opined by Graveline and Greenberg
(2017), robbery, even though, does not physically affect the individual but the fact of loosing
property and the threat received can have many negative impacts on the sufferer. It can lead to
distress a person and cause anxiety issues. Robbery can cause various psychological issues that
can lead to many evils.
Rape
Rape is a horrific form of violent crime that has various negative impacts on the victim that stay
with him or her for a long time. As opined by Wei, et al. (2017), rape is a kind of sexual abuse
that involves sexual intercourse that is done without the consent of an individual.
From the research work of Zaleski, et al. (2016), rape is a traumatizing experience that develops
a negative impact on the body and mind of the survivor. The rape survivors are often
discriminated and looked down upon in the community that has an even worse impact on the
survivor. Physical impacts like unwanted pregnancy, gynaecological issues and transmission of
STDs are faced by the victim. The victims also face mental disorders like anxiety, post traumatic
stress disorder, self and depression to name a few. The victims, often, become suicidal and try to
kill themselves.
Homicide

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
According to McPhedran (2016), homicide is one the biggest violent crime that can be
committed as it means killing and taking the life of another individual. This serious crime
develops horrifying impacts on the society.
Homicide impacts prominently on the family and other people related to the victim. The friends
and family face a sense of shock that significantly affects the psychological conditions of the
individuals. The related people face anxiety, depression, PTSD and stress. A case of murder
spread a sense of feeling unsafe in the society (Regoeczi, et al., 2018).
Social learning and strain theory related to violence
The social learning and strain theory is a broad theory of criminality and crime that has been
implied in research to identify and discuss on the various behavioural changes that affect a
criminal’s mind. Committing a crime largely depends upon the psychological outlook of a
person, when the person is bound to commit a crime or feel superior committing one. From the
research works of Felson (2017), it is found that the probability of committing a crime by being
influenced by criminal I quite significant. Association with individuals that commit crime
influences the innocent individual to engage in deviant and criminal activities and lack the
senseof thinking before acting. As argued by Pauwels and Schils (2016), when a person is
associate in an area that discriminates people for not committing a crime impacts the psychology
of the person and, in order to be accepted, he or she commits and crime. Dealing in such criminal
activities makes the individuals feel justified and desired.

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Control balance and rational choice theory related to violence
As opined by Tittle (2018), the control balance and rational theory events to cater the variations
possessed in criminals as well as the gravity of these actions. However, unlike the other
criminological theories, control balance and rational choice theory deals with a variation of
criminological psychology, from adolescent felony and other street crimes to powerful crimes
like white-collar crimes and elite felony. As argued by Fox et al. (2016), the theory also deals
with felony across population cumulative. The theory helps to distinguish between repressive or
autonomous crimes. The seriousness and its types are also defined and subjected with the aid of
the theory. According to the theory, a felony is defined as influential behaviour that is adapted to
enhance the control power of an individual. The theory states that the rate of felony will
significantly increase with the increase in control ratio disparity.
LO5: Understanding the major causal factors and theories that are related to serial
murder
It is important to understand the reasons and the factors that are responsible for the development
of the mindset of serial killing within the murderer. The study would reflect on the major casual
factors in the light of the theories that are directly related to the serial killing of the people.
Psychological factors: It is seen that the development of the physiological factors are
responsible for the development of the serial killing mindset in the criminal. According to the
attachment theory of the criminology, it can be seen that due to the negligence of the family in
the childhood and lack of attachment and attention from the parents often drive to the rage
against them within the child (Williams, 2017). As a result, the instinct of killing can be

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
developed within them. Moreover, the lack of attention and attachment can also drive the
individual to the aggressive behaviour. The behaviour and the childhood of Charles Ng, a serial
murderer has been analysed and it has been seen that the psychological dysfunction is one of the
major casual factors which is responsible behind the mindset of the serial killer and it is existing
in the human nature for centuries (Reid, 2015). However, it can be debated whether the violence
and terrorism are human instinct or it can be social attribute for the criminal.
Psychological factors such as anxiety, stress, depression and the mental disorders are associated
with the factors of the criminal offence; however, it is debatable whether it can be applied over
the serial criminal offence or the serial killing (Forsyth, 2015). Sometimes, the psychological
disorders are responsible for the development of the criminal offence, though it is not justified
that the serial crime would be conducted through it.
Sociological factors: By the analysis of the human sociological approaches, it can be seen that
sociological problems often leads to the development of the factors related to the serial killing
instinct. Structural approach and the processual approach of the sociological factors are often
found in the different evidences of the criminal that are associated with the serial killing. On the
other hand, three theories related to the sociological factors can be identified. Strain or anomie
is one of the theories where it has been found that the strain within the society, the discrimination
of the societal classes is responsible for the development criminal mindset among the people
(Murray, 2017). Apart from that, the labelling theory is another theory is one of the theories
related to it. Here, it is justified that if a person were deviant of labelling, it would enforce him to
become more deviant and commit crime serially, especially murder. Moreover, in most of the
cases, the person is accepting the labelling and generating the self- conception where he is

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
responsible for the crime for the betterment of himself or the society. On the contrary, the third
theory is control theory, which demonstrates that the lack of control is one of the casual factors,
which is associated with that of the serial criminals that are doing the same crime or murder by
following the same pattern (Jenkins, 2017). The theory also concludes that the societal pressure
is often responsible for people losing their control over the crimes they are committed.
Insight of deviance can be understood due to these theories.
Biological factors: It is seen that the some biological factors are there that are responsible for the
development of the serial killing instinct within the individual. it has been seen that an extra Y
chromosome is present in the biological construction of the human body that may provide him
some unusual features. These features often are responsible for criminal minds within the
individual (Williams, 2017). Moreover, it is also seen that some degeneracy in the appearance of
the human being can often provide the evidence of their abnormal mind. Features such as
unusual sizes of ears and the unusual sharpness of nose can be taken into consideration in order
to understand the criminology among the serial killers as these features are often found among
them. At the same time, Lombroso also argues that the unusual features can be identified among
most of the criminals.
However, it is evident that some societal and peer pressure can be experienced by the individual
if they are having any unusual biological features (Murray, 2017). It may irritate them, as it is
common that friends and families make fun of them. This pressure can lead the individual
towards the killing as he might think of killing all of them who are making fun of him.

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
By analysing all the casual factors that are responsible for the development killing mindset of a
serial killer, it can be stated an individual can be affected by a number of reason that may create
social oppression, depression and anxiety among him. Therefore, this may lead to the crimes like
serial killings. Moreover, problems like necrophilia can be one of the reasons that may lead to
the serial killing.

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
Assignment 2
LO2 Analysing theory of criminology using youth and alcohol violence
Features of young offenders different from the victims explained by criminological theory
As opined by Lussier, (2015), the characters of the youthful criminals are different from those of
the adult sufferers because the juvenile criminals are inclined to doing such crime, because of the
factors related to the society. They may be brought up in such an environment in which too much
violence, physical abuse or drug abuse, harassment in schools has led them to get involved in
these hazards. Their upbringing must have been done in such a way that they have no other
option than to opt for this activity. The theory explains that some young individuals may have
such harmful mindset previously as the youth learn from where they belong. According to Hagan
and Daigle, (2018), the victims who are getting affected by means of the young offenders may
have done any previous crime, assault or any kind of torture on the young offender, which has
provoked them to take such step. It may also happen that any young offender who is inclined to
such practices has intentionally hurted someone who is not at all known by him. The victims are
also affected by means of domestic violence and sometimes they may not be killed but only
hurted. It can happen that the victim may not be able to sue such person in the court of law
because of self-respect (Plummer and Cossins, 2018).
Criminological models of violence due to alcohol consumption
In the words of Snowden, (2018), the alcohol-consumed individuals are prone to violence and
they are creating a nuisance by creating a negative impact on the minds of the individuals in the

CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORY
society. Some sections of individuals consume alcohol regularly or sometimes, and abuse their
family members. These family members cannot sue for their beloved in the court of law. Hence,
they escape from the eyes of the society. Some sections of individuals also belong to the
teenaged group are inclined to even binge drinking. Adopting this practice, they are always not
in their senses and they commit crimes without even knowing what they are doing. Block et al.,
(2019), has stated that many individuals consume alcohol more than their limit and perform
many criminal activities. According to the Alcohol Myopia Model, the consumption of alcohol
creates myopia effect on the individual, which provokes him to react to the immediate
environment. This helps in creation of relief and removal of stress of all consuming such alcohol
for the time being and lets them to forget temporarily about all the problems and worries. The
excess consumption of alcohol do not always instantiate violence in each individual, it is specific
in nature and arises in case of only some individuals (Lac and Brack, 2018).
Psychopharmacological, economic motivation and systematic models of violence caused by
consuming drugs
The psychopharmacological representation states that the intensive use of harmful substances
causes aggression and violence. It can cause mood changes or impaired decision-making ability
and others that can cause criminal mentality. There may be sexual assault conducted when the
victim has consumed alcohol or any murder or robbery because of the harmful effect of drugs.
The consumption of cocaine or other drugs causes psychopharmacological influenced violence
but it sometimes reduces violence in some people. Such drugs cannot always influence
criminology but various environmental factors can affect the behaviour of the individuals
(Nestler and Lüscher, 2019). The economic crimes are caused when people depend on any