PICT103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Social Darwinism, Twin Study, Enrico Ferri
5 Jun 2018
School
Course
Professor
PICT3
The Criminal Mind
What individual factors influence crime?
• Personality
• upbringing
• emotional maturity
• age
• gender
• family background
• mental health
• personal morality
• intelligene
• culture
• employment status
• education
• race
• past trauma
• sense of personal responsibility
• martical status
• genetics
• emotional state
• substance use/abuse
• personal attitudes towards from/violence
Why is this important
• How we respond to deviance is informed by why we think people are acting the way
they are.
• If we get the explanation or theory wrong, then our responses will also be wrong
• it is crucial that out understanding of crime causation is as robust and empirically
based as possible
• Avoid simplistic assumptions, reflexive political perspectives (left or right)
Classical criminology
• Notable scholars: Cesare Beccario and Jeremy Bentham
• Forms the basis for most modern criminal justice systems
• Rest on assumptions:
- Humans are motivated by self interested
- Humans are rational and calculating of pleasure and pain (Utilitarianism)
- Individuals have responsibility for their own actions
• Before these ideas formed, the concept of crime was dominated by unscientific
theory. Crime punishment was arbitrary and mainly defined in religious terms
Hedonistic calculus
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