What Creates A Criminal Mind - 2864 Words

‘Biosocial criminology is an emerging interdisciplinary perspective that seeks to explain crime and antisocial behavior by recognizing the potential importance of a host of factors including genetic factors, neuropsychological factors, environmental factors, and evolutionary factors’. (Beaver, 2009; Walsh, 2009; Walsh Beaver, 2009) â€Å"What creates a criminal mind?† This question has perplexed psychology and behavioural scholars for many years, and although it begs a straightforward answer, the reality is not. The question often reverts to a fundamental belief of nature or nurture, when in reality the answer lies somewhere in the combination of the two. Whilst theoretical physicists continue to search for a unified field theory to†¦show more content†¦Criminology was borne out of the need or desire to understand criminal behaviour and its causes with a view to prevent it. Adolphe Quetelet (1835), a social statistician, studied French crime statistics and assessing crime rates and demographics (Beirne 1987). His published findings concluded that: †¢ the majority of crimes were committed by under educated, poor, younger males. †¢ more crimes were committed in wealthier, more affluent geographical areas. †¢ the highest rates of crime occurred in wealthy areas closest to poorer regions, suggesting that poor individuals would go to wealthier area to commit crimes. These results demonstrated potential relationships between crime and environmental/social factors. Criminology theories with social premise propose that crime is an outcome of the breakdown in social structures. This can be either at a structural level, where societal processes affect and influence behaviour of society as a whole, or at an individual level, where people seek ways to satisfy their material needs. Merton (1938) was one of the first major theorists in this area. He analysed the relationship between society and the values and behaviours of members of that society which resulted in the development of what is now