Developmental Theories of Crime

Lesson 1: Life Course Theory

- Criminality cannot be attributed to a single cause, nor does it represent a single underlying
tendency because people are influenced by different factors as they mature.

-The multiple social and economic factors can influence criminality and also multiple factors
(maladaptive personality traits, educational failure, and family relations) that affect criminality
may change over time.

The disruption in any of the stages can lead to criminal behavior. It viewed criminality as a
dynamic process, influenced by a multitude of individual characteristics, traits, and social
experiences (Siegel, 2004).

Lesson 2: Latent Trait Theory

- claims that people do not change, criminal opportunities change; maturity brings fewer
opportunities, early social control like proper parenting can reduce criminal propensity.

- It also holds that human development is controlled by a "master trait-such as personality,

intelligence, and genetic makeup," present at birth.

- also believed that this trait remains stable and unchanging throughout a person's lifetime
whereas others suggest that it can be altered, influenced, or changed by subsequent experience
(Siegel, 2004).

Lesson 3: Interactional Theory

- Terence P. Thornberry (1987) has proposed an age-graded view of crime.

-Weak bonds lead kids to develop friendships with deviant peers and get involved in
delinquency (Siegel, 2004). Borrowed the principles of social bond theory by Travis Hirschi

- He agrees that the onset can be traced to a deterioration of the social bond during
adolescence, marked by weakened attachment to parents, commitment to school, and belief in
conventional values.

-The onset of criminal career is supported by residence in a social setting.

Lesson 4: Age-Graded Theory

-Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub, (1993) "Crime in the Making" identify the turning
points in a criminal career.

- They find out that the stability of delinquent behavior can be affected by the events that occur
in later life, even after a chronic delinquent career has been undertaken.

- They also state that children who enter delinquent careers are those who have trouble at
home and school and maintain deviant friends (Siegel, 2004).

- In this theory, the type of crime committed by a certain individual is in consonance with his
age or his age governs or dictates the type of crime to be committed by him.

- This is what Laub and Sampson called as the turning points: marriage and career.

Aging-out process- a.k.a desistance or spontaneous remission

- The tendency for youths to reduce the frequency of their offending behavior as they aged and
are thought to occur among all groups of offenders (Siegel, 2007).

Lesson 5: Social Developmental Model

- Joseph G. Weis, Richard F. Catalano, J. David Hawkins (2001),

- holds that commitment and attachment to conventional institutions, activities and beliefs
insulate youths from delinquency-producing influence in their environment

- According to their view, as children mature within their environment, elements of socialization
control, their developmental process and either insulate them from delinquency or encourage
their antisocial activities. The theory has number of important elements:

•Every child faces the risk of delinquent behavior , especially those forced to live in the poorest
neighbors and attend substandard schools.
Prosocial bonds- are developed within the context of family life, when parents routinely praise
children and give them consistent positive feedback.

• Parental attachment affects a child's behavior for life, determining both school experiences
and personal beliefs and values. Young people growing up in supportive homes are likely to
develop conventional beliefs and values, become committed to conventional activities, form
attachments to conventional others, and avoid delinquent entanglements.
• Children who cannot form prosocial bonds within their family are at risk for being exposed to
deviant attitudes and behavior. Their ties to conventional institutions such as schools are
weakened; see antisocial behavior as "cool" and rewarding.

• Adolescent who perceives opportunities and rewards for antisocial behavior will form deep
attachments to deviant peers and will become committed to a delinquent way of life. In
contrast, those who perceive opportunities for prosocial behavior will take a different path,
getting involved in conventional activities and forming attachment to others who share their
conventional lifestyle.

Lesson 6: General Theory of Crime

- Michael R. Gottfredson and Travis W. Hirschi (1935-2017) in their work, "General Theory of
Crime," modified and redefined some of the principles articulated in Hirschi's social control
theory by integrating the concepts of control with those biosocial, psychological, routine
activities, and rational choice theories. Shifting focus from social control to self-control or the
tendency to avoid acts whose long-term cost exceeds their momentary advantages.

-In this theory, Gottfredson and Hirschi consider the criminal offender and the criminal act as
separate concepts.

- Propensity to commit crime is dependent on one’s self-control level.

-They claim that crime is rational and predictable; people commit crime when it promises
rewards and minimal threat or pain; the threat of punishment can deter crime (Siegel, 2004).

Lesson 7: Differential Coercion Theory

- Mark Colvin (1952-2017) in his work, "Crime and Coercion”, identities master trait that may
guide behavioral choices, in which he calls "coercion"

Colvin identified two (2) sources of coercion: interpersonal and impersonal coercion.

1. Interpersonal coercion - is direct, involving the use or threat of force and intimidation from
parents, peers, and law enforcement officer.

2. Impersonal coercion - involves pressures beyond individual control, such as economic and
social pressure caused by unemployment, poverty, or competition among businesses or other
groups (Siegel, 2004).
- High levels of coercion produce criminality, especially when the episodes of coercive behavior
are inconsistent and random.

-Chronic offenders grew up in homes where parents used erratic control.

Lesson 8: Control Balance Theory

- By Charles R. Tittle's (1995) expands the concept of personal control as predisposing element
for criminality.

- said that deviance increases when there is control deficit and with excessive control. Control
imbalance represents a potential to commit crime and deviance (Siegel, 2004).

- He believed the concept of control has two (2) distinct elements: the amount of control one is
subject to by others and the amount of control one can exercise over others.

Conformity results when these 2 elements are in balance; control imbalances produce deviant
and criminal behaviors.

∞Developmental Theories
- Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck tracked the onset and termination of criminal careers which led
to the creation of developmental theories.

- seeks to identify, describe, and understand the developmental factors that explain the onset
and continuation of criminal career. Attempt to provide a more global vision of criminal career
including its onset, continuation and termination. Varieties are: Life-course theories and Latent
trait theories.

-Aim to answer the question why an individual criminal stops (desist) in committing crimes
while others continue (persisting) their criminal activities.

- Attempt to explain the “natural history" of a criminal career: its onset, the course it follows,
and its termination.

- attempted to know not only why people enter criminal way of life, but also why, once they do,
some are able to alter the trajectory of their criminal involvement.
Life Course Theory a.k.a Developmental Theory
- product of the collaborative efforts of Sheldon Glueck (Polish-American Criminologist)
together with his wife Eleanor Touroff-Glueck, an American social worker and criminologists.

- suggests that criminal behavior is a dynamic process, influenced by individual characteristics

as well as social experiences, and that the factors that cause anti-social behaviors change
dramatically over a person's life span.

- It mainly emphasizes that disruption in life's major transitions can be destructive and
ultimately can promote criminality. These transitions are expected to be place in an orderly
manner.

- look at such issues as the onset of crime, escalation of offenses, continuity of crime, and
desistance from crime

These include: Interactional Theory; Age-Graded Theory; and Social Development Model

Life course theory focuses on the social pathways of human lives, nestling these pathways in
historical time and place.

1) People’s lives – and this means individual development, experiences, decisions, and life
trajectories – are influenced by historical and biographical contexts that are ever-changing.

2) The impact and consequences of life transitions, events, and behaviours vary according to
their timing in a person’s life (what Elder calls “the timing of lives”).

3) Human lives are embedded in social relationships across the life span

4) The role of human agency is important for understanding people's life courses. People make
decisions within the options and constraints of the contexts they find themselves) writes that
“within the constraints of their world” people “are planful and make choices among options”
around them).

Latent Theory
- assume that a "master trait" exists that guides human development. seeks to provide a
reason for crime.

- View that criminal behavior is controlled by a master trait, present at birth or soon after, that
remains stable and unchanging throughout a person's lifetime.
- Every individual has a set of inborn traits in them with varying degrees.

These include: General Theory of Crime; Differential Coercion Theory; and Control Balance
Theory

A trait is defined as something that is representative of an individual and differentiates him or

her from other people. Latent refers to this characteristic being concealed.

Latent trait- a stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition, such as defective

intelligence, impulsive personality, genetic abnormalities, the physical- chemical functioning of
the brain and environmental influences on brain function such as drugs, chemicals and injuries
that make some people delinquency-prone over the life course.

- David Rowe, Wayne Osgood and Alan Nicewander (1990) focus on basic human behavior and
drive such as attachment, aggression, violence, impulsivity—that are linked to antisocial
behavior patterns.

Human traits alone do not produce criminality and that it is a combination of environmental
factors such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood
conditions.

- The lower the intelligence of the individual the more likely they are to commit a crime

- an individual with poor impulse control and an inability to feel fear or see the consequences of
their actions are more likely to be criminals because when a criminal thought comes in it usually
has a reward

- An individual who can control their impulse can hold back and not commit the crime, the one
with weaker control will tend to give in.

∞THEORIES ON WOMAN OFFENDER

ADLER’S liberalization THEORY
-Freda Adler (Sisters in Crime: The Rise of Female Criminal) published in 1975, proposes that
the global acceptance of equality between men and women allowed women to be as crime
prone as men.

- female criminal activity is based on access and opportunity, as females become more
independent; their crimes would increase in severity.
-believed that Increased economic and political opportunities for women, have forced their way
to be more visible to crimes, more particularly white-collar crime, and, thus, to be as crime
prone as men.

- wanted to debunk the stereotypical view of society to women and female criminals as
genetically passive. Women are not genetically passive. Wanted to reveal the effect of
independence of women to criminality

His theory on female criminality is anchored on:

1. Opportunity, and;

2. Accessibility.

Typical refers to a class or classification in describing a variety of crimes the female gender
tends to commit. These types of crimes do not require a degree of physical strength which men
used most often in the commission of crimes, and include, but not limited to the following:

1. Prostitution, for instance

2. Shoplifting

3. Murder- crime that female may commit usually involve with someone with whom she had
relationship. Could be caused by mental illness, sexual or emotional abuse, rejection by family
members or peers, financial difficulties or other similar factors

Steven Box and Chris Hale Female Liberation and Criminality

- According to Box and Hale, the increase in female criminality and deviancy has nothing to do

with liberation and/or emancipation. Instead, they noted that the increase in female offending
due to poverty and economic recession.

- Women power is now vogue. If we look around and in every places of the world, women are
asserting dominance in the public and private sector and even in the military and police where
it is used to be a male arena.

- They are even more dangerous than men as they can easily penetrate the corridor of women
using their charm.
Masculinization theory
-By Freda Adler

- Criminalities of women are mainly depended on the masculinity behavior of female. The
empowered women are involved in more serious violent crime than non-empowered
women due to the masculinity.

Opportunity theory
-Rita J. Simon

-The involvement of criminal activities is increased when women have different

opportunities.

- Increasing opportunities of women reduced the rates of violent female offending, but
increased the rates of property crimes.

Marginalization theory
- Marginality (low salary; inadequate job ; lower class position; family victimization) of a
woman penetrates criminality in contemporary societies.

- suggests that increased crime by women is directly related to the absence of real and
meaningful opportunities for women.

Chivalry or Paternalism theory

- by Margaret Farnworth and Raymond Teske Jr., proposed the selective chivalry and
differential discretion (2 causes of gender disparity in CJ proceedings.)

-States that, women are treated more leniently than men by the CJS.

Male Chivalry- police are less likely to charge women, even committed same offenses as men.
PATERNALISM THEORY
- The main concept behind judicial paternalism is protection; specifically, protecting women
from the criminal justice system, protecting women from themselves, and/or protecting
children from losing their mother due to incarceration (Daly, 1989). Therefore, judicial
paternalism can be viewed as a type of bounded rationality, acting as an extra legal variable
that influences judicial discretion.

OTTO POLLAK (THE CRIMINALITY OF WOMEN

Imbalance in the rates of male and female criminality - males are more likely to be charged and
convicted of crimes

Pollack suggested that this was a misrepresentation -due to the paternalistic attitudes of men
towards women

- Pollak's work is considered to be of importance in the area of explaining Female Criminality.

- He argued that the types of crime that women commit (i.e. shoplifting, petty theft, abortions,
perjury etc.) are under- represented in statistics for the following reasons: easy concealment,
chivalry in the criminal justice system, under-reporting.

- Crime rates between men and women are likely quite similar, but for these reasons, Female
Criminality appears less prevalent. argued that women were the criminal masterminds; the
instigators of crime as opposed to the perpetrators, that they could and would manipulate men
into committing offenses to keep their own name clear.

- Pollak's theory perceived inherent and deceitful nature of women which he believed to be
rooted in the passive role women maintained (i.e. during intercourse, or by hiding her
menstruation cycle).

PENIS ENVY BY SIGMUND FREUD

Young girls experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a penis.

- Freud considered this realization a defining moment in a series of transitions toward a mature
female sexuality and gender identity.

- Penis envy stage begins the transition from an attachment to the mother to competition with
the mother for the attention, recognition and affection of the father.