Biological theories of crime and social policy implications

.....biological well-being and the features of the environment and how these affect a person's behavior and criminal tendencies is made clear by biological theories. Research has proved that the common traits and actions seen in criminals like delusion, brutality, loneliness and spontaneity are a function of several biological features such as physical problems, blood glucose levels and eating habits, external head damage, mental function and makeup, heredity, body systems and impaired mental function. The supporters of this theory believe that the biological insight into conventional actions of criminal minds give more effective tools, mechanisms, beliefs and examples which can work smoothly with the normal anticrime systems in keeping up their work quality.

The basic belief of the study targeted at biological makeup and criminality is that there is a connection between delusion, brutality, loneliness and spontaneity and crime. Several studies apply their own developed methods and parameters, a trend which complicates the drawing of inferences from their work. Due to the societal origins of crime, the identified links of biological make up with crime were derived from studies on the biological causes of actions and characteristics which are common to criminals such as delusion, brutality, spontaneity and others. As the number of studies covering this area is quite enormous, this paper only considered a selected group and put emphasis on the intriguing discoveries, theories and beliefs that are currently in use in criminology studies (Helfgott 50).

Question 2

The biological hypotheses claim that criminal tendencies in a person are due to one or several biological faults in the person's biological composition. The research by Raine postulates that these faults could be hereditary, cognitive (possibly due to trauma) or due to problems in their nerve function, in some cases, it could be a combination of two or all of the above (E-Criminal Psychology para 20).

Question 3

Severally, the actions and attitude of humans have been seen as a factor of their experiences and genetic build; on the other hand, the ways in which genetic modification affect one's behavior is still a hot topic of debate. Most times, this topic causes serious arguments with some even getting emotional as each try to shape the link between criminal tendencies. This unwillingness to factor in genetic influences on criminality is subtly caused by political benefits, nonetheless, it also brings our attention to the fact that this research, formerly, was carried out using twins as the case studies, and expectedly, the results from this were often unaccepted due to this method.

However, they argued that the experiences of identical twins are quite similar when compared to that of non-identical twins. They stated that whatever similarity existed between them could be as a result of their identical life experience. Nonetheless, there remains an unwillingness to use the inferences derived from the genetic study of twins. Instead it is generally agreed that studying adopted children is a more preferable option due to the ease of studying external and genetic influences separately. A high percentage of criminal adopted children who have criminal real fathers (based on the fixed parameters) will prove that genetics has an effect on criminality. Another backing of this method is the fact that in most cases, the adopted children have no idea of their real parents and some don't even know they were adopted (MacLaughlin, John and Gordon 89)

Question 4

Sociobiology refers to the interpretation of social conduct using the evolutionary hypothesis (Edward O. Wilson). The basis of sociobiology is the assumption that a number of attitudes are passed on from the preceding generation and is subject to influences from natural selection. This concept believes that social conduct has changed over the years, in a similar way to how bodily features have changes. In most cases, animals will look for and develop themselves following behavior that benefit them in the long-term and this leads to the creation of complicated social traditions and several others (Crossman para 1-3).

Question 5

In the criminal world, "constitutional" could mean a number of things. It mostly means the bodily buildup of the subject i.e. body frame and muscular status or a number of uncommon body characteristics (stigmata). In a few cases, it could mean hormone or body-controlled features which are the basics of the subject's conduct. The constitutional theories in the criminal world are based in ancient times and events, however their retained relevance and even greater attention in this conventional era is due to the work of the Italian psychiatrist.

A criminal was seen as one who is prone and always liable to committing criminal activities. This group of people was differentiated via their noticeable bodily features which include weird genital formations, weird gyri formations, irregular eye, ear, palate, teeth or lip formation, well developed cheekbones and jaws, small skull and small brain size, low forehead, swellings on the face, additional nipples or fingers, curly or rough hair, stammering, female attitudes in men and male attitudes in women, left-handedness and mental underdevelopment. For a person to be seen as a homo delinquens, more than five of these "degenerative symptoms" or alike characteristics must be noticeable in the person. (Eysenck and Gisli 18).

Question 6

The major problem which several social criminologists have on the topic of biological hypothesis is majorly in the area of the consequences on policy of this theory. This shouldn't come as a surprise due to the origins of crime which are the unclear and influenced biological workings of social conduct. This non-specification of the way biology impacts criminal behavior and other difficultly adapted ones, as well as a leaning towards racial discrimination, was the origin of the consequences of policy which are seen as immoral by the modern society. The erroneous opinions of politicians have also played a part in the opposition certain criminology researchers have to the biological hypothesis. A number of common literature on criminology are still focused on the effects of the biological hypothesis in which they discuss the effects of medication and the opinion that these hypotheses imply that people cannot be cured. The consequences of policy on biological criminology are arguably the biggest obstacle for its supporters.

A well-developed cognition is a crucial safeguard against criminal tendencies. A number of popular characteristics of criminal minds like sensitivity, spontaneity and neurological flaws can all be linked back to poor cognitive growth, most times in the early stages. Similarly, several factors are linked to a well-developed cognition, notable among them include eating habits and physical exertion.

Of recent, scholars have discovered that mental and neurological growth doesn't stop at puberty, instead it continues all through the post-teen years into the adult stages. These findings on the topic of "brain maturation" shows that modification in the working of the brain has an effect on higher participation of an adolescent in dangerous actions with this trend reducing when the person becomes a full-grown adult. It should be noted at this point, crucially, that the inferences drawn from this study show that biological makeup really has an effect on crime. Furthermore, on the topics of prevention, recovery and therapy, it is important to note that properly trained bio-criminologists do not believe that biological factors do not apply (Beaver, James and Brian 431 -445).

The infamous Supreme Court case, Buck v. Bell, was held in April 1927 and was presided over by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. One of the testifiers at this trial was Carrie Buck, who was branded a "moral imbecile" while she was just seventeen, and she later got sent to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded Persons. The motion wasn't aimed at changing the process which classified Carrie but rather, opposed the law peculiar to Virginia which restricted these "special" people from bearing children. They stated that this law, called the sterilization law, wasn't fair as it was mostly aimed at the "feeble-minded" people in a number of state facilities without providing an opening for "feeble-minded" people who were not in bondage as well as those in the other state facilities. This law has its basis on biological features instead of others which could have garnered a more favorable reaction (Buck v. Bell, para 1 -- 15).

Question 7

The trend of criminality has been broken down by biological theories; nevertheless, these theories have experiences severe criticism. Some of the identified reasons for this include;

• Inadequate focus on social, financial and external influences.

• The social landscape has changes and no one really applies biological theories. In most academic institutions of social science;

• They see this approach as weak

• They provide little or no experimental support to it (Ford 12).

Based on my personal opinion, I think these critics are better updated on the contemporary workings of society and this trend necessitates a check of the initial biological hypothesis.

Works Cited

"Buck v. Bell." West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. 2008. The Gale Group 25 May. 2017 http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Buck+v.+Bell

Beaver, Kevin M, James C. Barnes, and Brian B. Boutwell. The Nurture Versus Biosocial Debate in Criminology: On the Origins of Criminal Behavior and Criminality. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2015. Print.

Crossman, Ashley. "What is Sociobiology?" ThoughtCo. N.p., 02 Mar. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.

Eysenck, Hans J, and Gisli H. Gudjonsson. The Causes and Cures of Criminality. Boston, MA: Springer US, 1989. Internet resource.

E-Criminal Psychology. "Criminal Behavior." Criminal Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2017.

Ford, Robert. "Biological and Psychological Theories of Crime." Nature of Crime. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2017.

Helfgott, Jacqueline B. Criminal Behavior: Theories, Typologies, and Criminal Justice. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2008. Print.

MacLaughlin, Eugene, John Muncie, and Gordon Hughes. Criminological perspectives: essential readings. London: SAGE, 2013. Print.