Criminology Which Uses Psychological Knowledge to Analyze

¶ … criminology which uses psychological knowledge to analyze criminal behavior. This will include a consideration of historical values ant trait and choice theories. Also, the author will compare how society responds to a criminal's behavior with options of punishment and prevention. We will then contrast these historical values with trait choice theories to analyze how society responds to criminal behavior in terms of punishment and prevention.

It is important to understand both the trait and choice theories when considering the reasons that lead to criminal activity. The traits theory supplies the base from which a range of options arises. This theory considers that criminal behavior emerges from the biological and/or psychological conditions of a person. Theoretically, their control coping strategies ultimately result in criminal behavior. According to this theory, people are born with inherited traits. Some of these traits are suited to leadership or participation in criminal enterprises. Control of crime under such a regime would involve profiling to prevent the crimes that law enforcement would expect the individuals to potentially commit (Volkert, 2007)

Choice theory touches upon how society can deter criminal acts by controlling these options. It takes into account is taking into account the stages in life. The stages of choice theory combined with the natural temperament and genetic makeup of a person contribute to the choices criminals make. This theory claims that a criminal person chooses crime because the benefits of it far out weighs the alternatives. The individual's life in such a situation appears to be worthless, so the consequences of the crime appear to be worth the risks for the criminal. Under this regime, punishment is an option that is less appealing for the criminal. This would deter an accused criminal from repeating the a like offense and deter other potential criminals from attempting criminal activities (ibid).

One can not explain the decision making process that leads to act however just by looking at crime from the choice standpoint. Obviously, criminal acts still happen. It is therefore the opinion of this author that criminal acts need to be analyzed from both the traits and choice standpoints. One aspect of human behavior does not stand alone. When attempting to understand the "whole" person, all approaches need to considered. While choice theory may not be perfect, it does have an advantage over traits theory in that it is dealing with the crime near the time of commission and not far before. In traits theory, the crime is not even close to happening. Rather, the person is just seen to be more prone to criminal activity. There is no proof that this will happen. Rather, the person simply has "bad" genes as some scientists would say.

In our Western culture, we are uncomfortable with such characterizations. We believe in the value of the individual and give the individual the benefit of the doubt. In America for instance, a person is guilty until prove innocent. Therefore, we can not punish before the act because this is fundamentally unjust and unconstitutional at a base level. The present war on terrorism has changed this considerably, but it is still the foundation of British common law that U.S. constitutional law is based upon. This has even become a principle of international law via the UN ("Unted nations cyber," 2011).

The historical values of our society therefore favor choice theory. An individual is responsible for their own choices and should be punished based only upon that basis. We can not punish based upon the sins of the father or the "sins" of bad genes. Rather, we are only comfortable punishing crime near to the point when it happens. In the opinion of this author, this is contradictory with the claim and the expectation of government that we can be protected from crime at all time.