Criminology Essay: Exploring Theories on Criminal Behaviour

This essay explores various theories that attempt to define and explain criminal behavior. It begins by introducing the concept of criminal behavior and the different theoretical perspectives used to understand it. The discussion section delves into three primary theories: biological, psychological, and classical. The biological explanation examines the physical and genetic aspects of criminals, referencing theories by Cesare Lombroso, the Y chromosome theory, and William Sheldon. The psychological explanation focuses on the mental processes of criminals, including failures in psychological development, learned aggression, inherent personality traits, and psychological disorders, with references to Hans Eysenck. The classical explanation emphasizes free will and rational choice in criminal behavior, rejecting biological and psychological factors. The essay concludes by summarizing the core ideas of each theory, highlighting their common goal of identifying the characteristics and root causes of criminal behavior. The essay references key academic sources to support its arguments and provide a comprehensive overview of criminological theories.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
Theories on Criminal Behaviour
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1CRIMINOLOGY
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
Biological explanation:...........................................................................................................2
Psychological explanation:.....................................................................................................3
Classical explanation:.............................................................................................................3
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................4
Reference:..................................................................................................................................5

2CRIMINOLOGY
Introduction:
There are certain theories that define the criminal behaviour and attempts to
find out the reason for criminal activities that differentiate a criminal from an innocent person
(Cornish & Clarke, 2014). The theories can be divided into four parts:
 Biological theory;
 Psychological theory;
 Sociological theory; and
 Cultural theory.
All the theories have described the reason of criminal behaviour from their own
perspective and pointed out the characteristics of the criminals. Each theory has their
credibility and some comparative characters as against each other. However, all the theories
are intended to define the criminal characteristics of the person and attempted to find out the
source of mens rea that resulted into actus reus.
Discussion:
Biological explanation:
The biological explanation is based on three theories: Cesare Lombroso
theory, Y chromosome theory and William Sheldon theory (McCaghy et al., 2016).
According to the biological explanation, the criminal behaviour of a person is based on the
physical shape of the person. In this theory, it has been stated that twisted nose, long arms
and large jaws are the symbol of borne criminals. It has also been stated that the physical
profile of a person can also differentiate the criminal from others. According to this theory,
the muscular persons have a prone to commit crime.

3CRIMINOLOGY
Psychological explanation:
Unlike biological explanation, psychological theories concentrate on the
thinking capacity of the criminals. The supporter of the theory believes that the thought of a
person dictate the criminal activities and the theory is based on four basic ideas: failure in
psychological development, learned behaviour of aggression, inherent personality traits and
psychological disorders (Morizot, 2015). According to Hans Eysenck, the criminal has lack
of strong conscience. He has concentrated on the Psychotics of a person. It has been observed
that many criminals face trouble regarding the failure in psychological development. They do
not have any knowledge regarding the differences between the right and wrong.
Circumstances are also playing an important role behind the criminal behaviour. It has been
observed that the persons who were victimised in their early childhood, often grow criminal
mentality. Albert DeSalvo, Andre Crawford is the instances of this kind. Psychological
disorders can also drive a person to commit crime.
Classical explanation:
Classical theory has attempted to define the free will of a person and held this
responsible for the criminal behaviour. This theory does not support the mental stability of
the criminals (Farrington, 2017). According to this theory, the criminals are committed the
offence with free will and they are stable enough to identify the criminal activities. This
theory has rejected the biological formation of the criminal and stated that any person can be
a criminal irrespective of physical shape. This theory supports the punishment process to curb
the crime.

4CRIMINOLOGY
Conclusion:
It can, therefore be said that all the three theories have their own notion
regarding the criminal behaviour of a person and conducted research from different aspects.
However, all the three theories have identified the criminal behaviour of a person and the
objective of all the theories is common.

5CRIMINOLOGY
Reference:
Cornish, D. B., & Clarke, R. V. (Eds.). (2014). The reasoning criminal: Rational choice
perspectives on offending. Transaction Publishers.
Farrington, D. P. (Ed.). (2017). Integrated developmental and life-course theories of
offending. Routledge.
McCaghy, C. H., Capron, T. A., Jamieson, J. D., & Carey, S. H. H. (2016). Deviant behavior:
Crime, conflict, and interest groups. Routledge.
Morizot, J. (2015). 10 The Contribution of Temperament and Personality Traits to Criminal
and Antisocial Behavior Development and Desistance. In The development of
criminal and antisocial behavior (pp. 137-165). Springer International Publishing.