Our Lady of Lourdes College Foundation

COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION

Vinzons Avenue, Daet, Camarines Norte 4604

CRIMINOLOGY 1
Introduction to Criminology
(Pre-Final)

Topics:
• Criminal Etiology
• Crime in the Philippines
• Crime Theories
• Theoretical Explanation on Why People Commits Crime
• Factors Affecting Development and Existence
Of Crimes and Criminality
• Sociological Theories of The Causes Of Crimes

CRIMINAL ETIOLOGY

What is Crime?

In the legal point of view, it refers to any violation or infraction of the existing
policies, laws, rules and regulations of the society.

Criminality is a serious problem. This maybe explained by the following

characteristics of crime:

1. It does not respect age, sex, culture, customs and tradition, race, and religion of the
society.
2. Crime is a worldwide phenomenon.
3. It occurs in all the existing economic strata.
4. Its causes are multifarious.
5. It is difficult to eradicate.

People cannot avoid offending others. Some offensive actions are considered
abnormal behavior while some are classified as crime. What therefore is the requirement
before an act is considered a crime? The following is the “Differentiae” of crime:

1. An at maybe called crime if there is a certain external consequence or harm. Physical

injury is the most obvious external consequence of an offensive action.
2. The harm must be legally forbidden and prescribed by law.
3. There must be a conduct; that is, there must be an intentional or reckless action that
results to harmful consequence.

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4. “Mens Rea” must be present.
5. There must be a fusion or concurrence of mens rea and conduct.
6. There must be a casual relationship between the legally forbidden harm and the
voluntary misconduct.
7. There must be legally prescribed punishment of the misconduct.

Close Examination of Crime:

1. Before saying that a crime has been committed, you must have a “personal
knowledge” of the its actual commission or that you must have caught the offender
“in flagrante delicto”.
2. An act can only be called as crime if there is a law that defines it, prohibit its
commission, and provides punishment for its commission.
3. In a criminal act, there should be malicious intent – a harmful consequence (oppressive
outcome of an act) is an inherent result.
4. There should be a continuity of the criminal act before an offender is criminally
charged.

What are the stages of a criminal act that defines the continuity of the action?
(Article 6, Book I of Republic Act Nr. 3815 – Revised Penal Code)

1. Attempted crime: A stage of crime wherein the offender starts the commission of a
felony directly by overt acts, and does not perform all the acts of execution which
should produce the crime by reason of some cause or accident other than his won
spontaneous desistance. The elements of the criminal offense were initially executed.
2. Frustrated Crime: A crime is frustrated when the offender performs all the acts of
execution which would produce the felony as a consequence but which, nevertheless,
do not produce it by reason of causes independent of the will of the perpetrator. The
elements of the criminal offense were all executed but the main evil intent of the
offender did not take place.

3. Consummated Crime: A crime is consummated when all the elements necessary for
its execution and accomplishment are present. The elements of the criminal act were
all completely executed thus producing the corpus delicti (body of the crime).

Relativity of Crime:

What are the changing concepts of crime and criminal laws?

1. Most of the existing laws define acts as crimes when some acts were not crimes a few
years ago.
2. Laws differ from jurisdiction to another and so with acts, which are considered as
crimes.
3. Interpretation and implementation of laws vary in terms of:

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 a. characteristics of crime c. status of offenders
b. age d. status of enforcers

General Classification of Crimes:

1. As to atrocity – severity of the criminal act or offense

a. grave offense
b. less grave offense
c. minor or light offense

2. As to intent

a. crime mala in se – acts which are evil in themselves

b. crime mala prohibita – acts which are prohibited because the law has defined it to
be a crime.

3. As to Motive

a. economic crimes
b. sexual crimes
c. political crimes
d. miscellaneous crimes

4. As to Statistical Purpose

a. crimes against property

b. crimes against persons
c. crimes against morals
d. crimes against public order
e. crime against security
f. crimes against chastity

5. As to Penalty

a. crimes punishable by afflictive penalties

b. crimes punishable by correctional penalties
c. crimes punishable by light penalties

Circumstances affecting criminal liability

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1. Justifying circumstance – a condition that proves the fact that the act of a person is
said to be in accordance with law, so that such person is deemed not to have
transgressed the law and is free from both criminal and civil liability; no crime
committed if the act is justified.
2. Exempting circumstance – non-imputability; ground from exemption from punishment
because there is an existing natural condition that makes the act voluntary, or
negligent; basis of exemption from punishment are:
- complete absence of intelligence, freedom of action, or intent
- absence of negligence on the part of the accused
3. Mitigating circumstance – a condition, if present in the commission of the crime, does
not entirely free the actor from criminal liability, but serves only to reduce the penalty
based on:
-diminution of either freedom of action, intelligence, or intent
- the lesser perversity of the offender
4. Alternative circumstance – circumstance that mitigates or aggravates the crime
depending on the nature of the offense or the state of the person committing the
crime.
5. Aggravating circumstance – circumstance that serve to increase the penalty without
however exceeding the maximum penalty of the law for the offense.

Crime in the Philippines

Criminologist has accepted that criminality tendencies and behavior could be

influenced by social conditions. In the Philippines, crimes committed are invariably
associated with some of the following contributing factors such as:
1. Economic
2. Cultural influences
3. Environment
4. Social conditions, and
5. Individual personal temperaments

Geographically speaking, the Philippines is in the tropic zone and theoretically

Filipinos are hot-blooded people with very volatile temperaments.

Sexual offenses ranging from rape, abduction, acts of lasciviousness, and

prostitution are prevalent in some different localities of the country because the criminal
behavior of the people is greatly affected by poor economic and social conditions,
thus making the act as social phenomena.

Other Basic Causes of Crime

1. Hatred

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 2. Passion - general desires and passions.

3. Personal Gain - to improve life. “Get Rich Quick”.

2. Insanity

3. Revenge - This literally means to retaliate.

2. Unpopular Laws - Laws or ordinances that is ambiguous

CRIME THEORIES

1. Biochemistry- oldest theory is known by many names: biological, constitutional,

genetic, and anthropological criminology. The oldest field is criminal anthropology,
founded by the father of modern criminology, Cesare Lombroso, in 1876. Historically,
theories of the biochemistry type have tried to establish the biological inferiority of
criminals, but modern bio criminology simply says that heredity and body organ
dysfunctions produce a predisposition toward crime.

2. Psychological criminology has been around since 1914, and attempts to explain the
consistent finding that there is an eight-point IQ difference between criminals and
noncriminal. Other psychocriminologists focus on personality disorders, like the
psychopaths, sociopaths, and antisocial personalities.

3. Ecological criminology was the first sociological criminology, developed during the 1920s
at the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. Hence, it is also called
Chicago School sociology. Ecology is the study of relationships between an organism
and its environment, and this type of theory explains crime by the disorganized eco-
areas where people live rather than by the kind of people who live there.

4. Strain, sometimes called by the French word anomie, is a 1938 American version of
French sociology, invented by the father of modern sociology, Emile Durkheim
(1858-1917). This type of theory sees crime as the normal result of an "American
dream" in which people set their aspirations (for wealth, education, occupation, any
status symbol) too high, and inevitably discover strain, or goal blockages, along the way.
The only two things to do are reduce aspirations or increase opportunities.

5. Learning theories tend to follow the lead of Edwin Sutherland's theory of differential
association, developed in 1947, although ideas about imitation or modeling go back to
1890. Often oversimplified as "peer group" theories, learning is much more than that, and
involves the analysis of what is positively and negatively rewarding (reinforcing) for
individuals.

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 6. Control theories in criminology are all about social control. It focuses upon a person's
relationships to their agents of socialization, such as parents, teachers, preachers,
coaches, scout leaders, or police officers.

7. Labelling theory - labelling or shunning reaction.

8. Conflict theory holds that society is based on conflict between competing interest groups;
for example, rich against poor, management against labor, whites against minorities, men
against women, adults against children, etc. These kind of dog-eat-dog theories also
have their origins in the 1960s and 1970s, and are characterized by the study of power
and powerlessness.

9. Radical theories, also from the 1960s and 1970s, typically involve Marxist (referring to
Karl Marx 1818-1883).

10. Left realism is a mid-1980s British development that focuses upon the reasons why
people of the working class prey upon one another, that is, victimize other poor people of
their own race and kind.

11. Peace-making criminology came about during the 1990s as the study of how "wars" on
crime only make matters worse. It suggests that the solution to crime is to create more
caring, mutually dependent communities and strive for inner rebirth or spiritual
rejuvenation (inner peace).

12. Feminist criminology matured in the 1990s, although feminist ideas have been around
for decades. The central concept is patriarchy, or male domination, as the main cause
of crime.

13. Postmodern criminology matured in the 1990s, although postmodernism itself (as a
rejection of scientific rationality to the pursuit of knowledge) was born in the late 1960s.

It tends to focus upon how stereotypical words, thoughts, and conceptions limit
our understanding, and how crime develops from feelings of being disconnected and
dehumanized. It advocates replacing our current legal system with informal social
controls such as group and neighbourhood tribunals.

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 Theoretical Explanation on Why People Commits Crime

1. Social Structure Theories

1.1. Social Disorganization (Neighborhoods)

Based on the work of Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw of the Chicago
School. Social disorganization theory postulates that neighborhoods plagued
with poverty and economic deprivation tend to experience high rates of
population turnover. Informal social structure often fails to develop, which in
turn makes it difficult to maintain social order in a community.

1.2. Social Ecology

Since the 1970s, social ecology studies have built on the social disorganization
theories. Many studies have found that crime rates are associated with
poverty, disorder, high numbers of abandoned buildings, and other signs
of community deterioration.

1.3. Strain Theory (Social Class)

Strain Theories have been advanced by Merton (1938), Cohen (1955),
Cloward and Ohlin (1960), Agnew (1992), and Messner and Rosenfeld
(1994). Strain may be either:
• Structural: societal level filters down and affect how the individual
perceives his or her needs. or
• Individual: this refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an
individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy his or her needs.

Robert Merton-suggests that mainstream culture, especially in the

United States, is saturated with dreams of opportunity, freedom and
prosperity; as Merton put it, the American Dream.

Albert Cohen-tied anomie theory with Freud's reaction formation

idea, suggesting that delinquency among lower class youths is a reaction
against the social norms of the middle class. From poorer areas where
opportunities are scarce, might adopt social norms specific to those places
which may include "toughness" and disrespect for authority.

Robert Agnew-In the 1990s, self-generated norms, focused on an

individual's immediate social environment. Individual's actual or anticipated
failure to achieve positively valued goals, actual or anticipated removal of
positively valued stimuli, and actual or anticipated presentation of negative
stimuli all result in strain.

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 Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin-suggested that delinquency can
result from differential opportunity for lower class youth. Such youths may
be tempted to take up criminal activities, choosing an illegitimate path that
provides them more lucrative economic benefits than conventional, over legal
options such as minimum wage-paying jobs available to Steven F. Messner
and Richard Rosenfeld (1994).

1.4. Subcultural theory

Focused on small cultural groups fragmenting away from the
mainstream to form their own values and meanings about life. The
primary focus is on juvenile delinquency because theorists believe that if
this pattern of offending can be understood and controlled, it will break the
transition from teenage offender into habitual criminal.
Culture is all that is transmitted socially
rather than biologically, representing the norms, customs and values against
which behavior is judged by the majority.

2. Individual Theories

2.1 Trait Theories

Biosocial and psychological trait theories have emerged in modern
criminology, as scientific knowledge of genetics, biochemistry, and
neurology has grown. Biosocial theorists believe in equipotentiality and that
genetics significantly influence human behavior. They believe that
biological factors, together with environmental and social factors,
influence a person's propensity for crime.

2.2. Control Theories

Another approach is made by the social bond or social control theory.
Instead of looking for factors that make people become criminal, those
theories try to explain why people do not become criminal.

Travis Hirschi identified four main characteristics:

1. Attachment to others
2. Belief in moral validity of rules
3. Commitment to achievement and
4. Involvement in conventional activities

Hirschi expanded on this theory, with the idea that a person with low self-
control is more likely to become criminal. Social bonds, through peers, parents,
and others, can have a countering effect on one's low self-control.

In criminology, Social Control Theory as represented in the work of

Travis Hirschi fits into the Positivist School, Neo-Classical School, and, later, Right
Realism. It proposes that exploiting the process of socialization and social learning

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 builds self-control and reduces the inclination to indulge in behavior recognized as
antisocial.

Four types of control:

• Direct: by which punishment is threatened or applied for wrongful

behavior, and compliance is rewarded by parents, family, and
authority figures.

• Indirect: by which a youth refrains from delinquency through the

conscience or superego.

• Internal: by identification with those who influence behavior, say

because his or her delinquent act might cause pain and
disappointment to parents and others with whom he or she has close
relationships.

• Control through needs satisfaction, i.e. if all an individual's

needs are met, there is no point in criminal activity.

Social Control Theory (later also called Social Bonding Theory)

proposes that people's relationships, commitments, values, norms, and
beliefs encourage them not to break the law. Thus, if moral codes are
internalized and individuals are tied into, and have a stake in their wider
community, they will voluntarily limit their propensity to commit deviant
acts.

2.3. Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism draws on the phenomenology of Edmund

Husserl and George Herbert Mead, as well as subcultural theory and
conflict theory. This school of thought focused on the relationship
between the powerful state, media and conservative ruling elite
on the one hand, and the less powerful groups on the other. The
powerful groups had the ability to become the 'significant other' in the less
powerful groups' processes of generating meaning.

3. Drift theory

David Matza (1964) also adopted the concept of free will. Delinquent youth were
neither compelled nor committed to their delinquent actions, but were simply less
receptive to other more conventional traditions. Thus, delinquent youth were "drifting"
between criminal and non-criminal behavior, and were relatively free to choose whether
to take part in delinquency.

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4. Routine Activity Theory

Developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence Cohen, drew upon control theories
and explained crime in terms of crime opportunities that occur in everyday life. A crime
opportunity requires that elements converge in time and place including:

(1) a motivated offender (2) suitable target or victim (3) lack of a capable guardian.

5. Anomie

In contemporary English, means a condition or malaise in individuals,

characterized by an absence or diminution of standards or values. When applied to
a government or society, anomie implies a social unrest or chaos. The word comes from
Greek, namely the prefix a- “without”, and nomos “law”. Anomie is a reaction against
or a retreat from the regulatory social controls of society. Anomie defined anything or
anyone against or outside the law, or a condition where the current laws were not applied
resulting in a state of illegitimacy or lawlessness.

Anomie = Lack of Regulation / Breakdown of Norms

6. Rational Choice Theory

Rational choice theory is based on the utilitarian, classical school philosophies of

Cesare Beccaria, which were popularized by Jeremy Bentham. They argued that
punishment, if certain, swift, and proportionate to the crime, was a deterrent for crime,
with risks outweighing possible benefits to the offender.

FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT AND EXISTENCE

OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALITY

A. Geographic factors
B. Biological factor
C. Psychoanalytic and psychiatric factors
D. Sociological factors
E. Other criminogenic factors

A. THE GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS

1. North and South Pole– According to the Quetelet “Thermic Law of Delinquency,”
crimes against person predominate in the South Pole and during warm season while crimes
against property predominate in the North Pole and cold countries.

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 2. Approach to the Equator– According to the Montesquieu (Spirits of Laws, 1748)
criminality increase in proportion as one approach the equator and drunkenness
increase as one approaches the north and South Pole.

3. Season of the Year– Crimes against person is more in summer than in rainy season.
Climatic condition directly affects one’s irritability and cause criminality. During dry season,
people get out of the house more, and there is more contact and consequently more
probability of personal violence.

4. Soil Formation– More crimes of violence are recorded in fertile level lands than in
hilly rugged terrain. Here are more congregations of people and there is more irritation.
There is also more incidence of rape in level districts.

5. Month of the Year– there is more incidences of violent crimes during warm months
from April up to July having its peak in May. This is due to May Festivals, excursion, picnics
and other sorts of festivities wherein people are more in contact with one another.

6. Temperature– According to Dexter, the number of arrest increases quite regularly

with the increase of temperature affects the emotional state of the individual and leads
to fighting. The influence of temperature upon females is greater than upon males.

7. Humidity and Atmosphere Pressure– According to survey, large numbers of

assaults are to be found correlated with low humidity and a small number with high
humidity. It was explained that low and high humidity are both vitality and emotionally
depressing to the individual.

8. Wind Velocity– under the same study, it was explained that during high wind, the
number of arrest were less. It may be due to the presence of more carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere that lessens the vitality of men to commit violence.

B. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

• A man as a living organism has been the object of several studies which has the
purpose of determining the causes of his crimes.

• Anthropological Criminology - It is sometimes referred to as criminal

anthropology, literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study
of criminals. Based on perceived links between the nature of a crime and the
personality or physical appearance of the offender.

Theories of Criminal Anthropology

1. Physiognomy- founded by J. Baptiste Della Porte - The physiognomist Johann

Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801) was one of the first to suggest a link between facial figures
and crime. Victor Hugo referred to his work in Les Misérables, about what he would have

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 said about Thénardier's face. The philosopher Jacob Fries (1773–1843) also suggested
a link between crime and physical appearance when he published a criminal anthropology
handbook in 1820. Physiognomy is a theory based upon the idea that the assessment
of the person's outer appearance, primarily the face, may give insights into one's character
or personality.

2. Phrenology-from Greek: "mind"; and logos, "knowledge") is a theory which claims to

be able to determine character, personality traits and criminality on the basis of the shape
of the head (i.e., by reading "bumps" and "fissures") then developed in 1810 his work
on craniology; in which he alleged that crime was one of the behaviors organically
controlled by a specific area of the brain.

In 1843, François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of

the present day" Phrenology is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the
mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules.
Phrenology, which focuses on personality and character, should be distinguished
from craniometry, which is the study of skull size, weight and shape, and
physiognomy, the study of facial features.

3. Study of Physical Defects and Handicapped in relation to crimes– Leaders of

notorious criminal groups are usually nicknamed in accordance with their physical defects
and handicapped such as funny words “Dodong Pilay”, “Ashiong Bingot”, “Densiong
Unano”, “Roger Komaang” and others.

4. Study of Kretschmer by classifying Types of Physique and type of crimes they are
prone to commit:

a. Pyknic Type- those who are stout and with round bodies. They tend to
commit deception, fraud and violence.

b. Athletic Type- those who are muscular and strong. They are usually
connected with crimes or violence.

c. Asthenic Type- those who are skinny and slender. Their crimes are petty
thieves and fraud.

d. Dysplastic or Mixed Type– those who are less clear evident having any
predominant type. Their offenses are against decency and morality.

5. Study of William Sheldon (Varieties of Delinquent Youth)

The Somatotype Theory

a. Ectomorphic- long arms and legs and a short upper body and narrow shoulders,
and supposedly has a higher proportion of nervous tissue. They also have long

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 and thin muscles. Ectomorphs usually have a very low fat storage; therefore, they
are usually referred to as slim.

b. Mesomorphic- characterized by a high rate of muscle growth and a higher

proportion of muscular tissue. They have large bones, solid torso combined with
low fat levels. It is also noted that they have wide shoulders with a narrow waist.

c. Endomorphic- characterized by an increased amount of fat storage, due to

having a larger number of fat cells than the average person, as well as higher
proportion of digestive tissue.

6. Study of Heredity as the Cause of Crimes - The common household expression like
“it is in the blood” “like father like son”.

The following are some proofs to show the role of heredity in the
development of criminality:

1. Study of Kallikkak Family Tree - Henry H. Goddard - He is known especially for

his 1912 work The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-
Mindedness. He also introduced the term "moron" into the field. Goddard invented
the pseudonym Kallikak by combining a Greek root meaning "beauty" (kallos) with
one meaning "bad" (kakos). The lesson was clear and dramatic: the study linked
medical and moral deviance and fused the new mendelian laws with the old biblical
injunction that "the sins of the fathers shall be visited on the sons."

2. Study of Juke Family Tree (Dugdale and Estabrook) - The 19th-century view of
"degeneracy" (roughly synonymous with "bad heredity") led theorists to conceive of
social problems such as insanity, poverty, intemperance, and criminality — as well as
idiocy — as interchangeable. This view was expounded in The Jukes: A Study in
Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Heredity (Richard Dugdale, 1875), a study of
a rural clan that "over seven generations produced 1,200 bastards, beggars,
murderers, prostitutes, thieves and syphilitics."

From Juke Family:

a. 310 who died as paupers,
b. 150 were criminals,
c. 7 were murderers,
d. 100 were drunkards, and more than half of the women were prostitutes.

3. Study of Sir Jonathan Edwards Family Tree - Sir Jonathan Edwards was a famous
preacher during the colonial period. Then his family tree was traced none of the
descendants was found to be criminal.

From Edwards Family:

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 a. practically no lawbreakers
b. more than 100 lawyers, 30 judges
c. 13 college presidents and hundred and more professors
d. 60 physicians
e. 100 clergymen, missionaries, and theological professors
f. 80 elected to public office, including 3 mayors, 3 governors, several members
of congress, 3 senators, and 1 vice president
g. 60 have attained prominence in authorship or editorial life, with 135 books of
merit
h. 75 army or navy officers
i. An addendum of a family found after the book was in type reports 2 more
physicians and a comptroller of the U.S. treasury.

C. PSYCHOANALYTIC AND PSYCHIATRIC FACTORS

Definition
a. Psychoanalytic – the analysis of human behaviour.
b. Psychiatry – the study of human mind.

Various Studies of the human behavior and mind in relation

to the causes of crimes

1. Aichorn in his book entitled Wayward Youth, 1925 said the cause of crime and
delinquency is the fault development of child during the first few years of his life (faulty
ego-development)

2. Abrahamsen in his crime and the human mind, 1945 explained the causes of crime through
formula (CB = CT + Inducing situation / PMRT)

2. Cyrill Burt (Young Delinquent, 1925) gave the theory of General emotionality. Excess or a
deficiency of a particular instinct account for the tendency of many criminals to be weak
willed or easily led. Callous type of offenders may be due to the deficiency in the primitive
emotion of love and an excuse of the instinct of hate.

3. Healy (individual Delinquency) claimed that crime is an expression of the mental content of
the individual. Frustration of the individual causes emotional discomfort; personality demands
removal of pain and pain is eliminated by substitute behavior, that is, crime delinquency of
the individual.

4. Bromberg (Crime and the mind, 1946) claimed that criminality is the result of emotional
immaturity.

5. Sigmund Freud (The Ego and the Id., 1927) in his Psychoanalytical theory of human
personality and crimes has the following explanations.

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 a. Id-pleasure principle Selfishness, violence, and anti-social wishes are part of the
original instinct of man.

b. Ego- The child begins to acquire an awareness of one self-instinct from the
environment. Decisions are reached in terms of reality principle.

c. Super Ego-means the conscience of man. The super-ego tries to correct or control
the ego and may be represented by the voice of God. Moral truth, Commandments
of society, good for the whole will of the majority, cultural conventions and other rules.

6. The Gianell Index of Criminality - This criminosynthesis explain the reason why a
person may commit a crime and inhibit himself from doing so under the following
conditions:

1. Need Frustration

2. Internal Inhibition - It refers to all types of internal forces which may prevent
a person from committing a crime. Ex. respect.

3. External Inhibition- This refers to all type of external forces which may prevent
an individual from committing crime. Ex. disgrace in the community or punishment.

4. Contact with Reality - This refers to the extent to which the person can learn
from his past experiences, especially his past mistake and foresee the consequence
of his present action in relation to his future.

5. Situation Crime Potential (opportunity)-This refers to the cultural

opportunity to commit the crime, that is to the easiness or possibilities to commit
a crime offered by a given place, situation person or environment.

6. Satisfaction- This refers to the balance and loss that a person may experience if
he commits a given crime. If a person has nothing to lose, he is more likely to
commit the crime.

Psychiatry - Is a branch of medicine which exists to study, prevent, and treat mental disorders
in humans.

Mental Disturbance as Cause of Crimes

1. Mental Deficiency – a condition or incomplete development of the mind existing before the
age of 18, whether arising from the inherent causes or induce by disease or injury. Mentally
deficient person is prone to commit malicious damage to property and unnatural sex offenses.
They may commit violent crimes but definitely not crimes involving the use of mentality.

Classes of Mental Deficiency:

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 a. Idiot– Their mentality is compared to a 2 years old person.
b. Imbecile– Their mentality is like a child of 2 to 7 years old.
c. Feeble-minded Person– Not amounting to imbecility is yet so pronounce that they
required care, supervision and control for their own or for the protection of others.
d. Schizophrenia– this is something called dementia praecox which is a form of
psychosis characterized by thinking disturbance and regression to a more
relatively impaired and intellectual functions are well preserve. The personal
appearance is dilapidated and the patient is liable to impulsive acts, destructively and
may commit suicide.
e. Compulsive Neurosis– this is the uncontrollable or irresistible impulse to do
something.

This neurosis maybe in the following forms:

1. Pyromania– compulsive desire to set fire.
2. Homicidal Compulsion– the irresistible urge to kill somebody.
3. Kleptomania– the completive desire to steal.
4. Dipsomania– the compulsive desire to drink alcohol.

f. Psychopathic Personality– this is the most important cause of criminality among

youthful offenders and habitual criminals. This is characterized by infantile level of
response lack of conscience, deficient feeling of affection to other and
aggression to environment and other people.

g. Epilepsy– this is a condition characterized by conclusive seizure and a tendency to

mental deterioration. The seizure may result to extreme loss of consciousness. During
the attack the person become muscularly rigid, respiration cases, froth on the mouth
and tongue maybe bitter. Just before the actual convulsion, there may be mental
confusion, hallucination or delusion and may commit violent crimes without
provocation. After the attack, the person may be at the state of altered
consciousness and may wonder from one place to another and inflict bodily harm.

Types of Epilepsy
1. Grand Mal – there is complete loss of consciousness and general contraction
of the muscles.
2. Petit Mal – mild or complete loss of consciousness and contraction of muscles.
2. Jackonism Type – localized contraction of muscle with or without loss of
consciousness.

h. Alcoholism– this is a form of vice causing mental disturbance. Person is under the
influence of liquor may commit violent crimes and inflict physical injuries. Habitual
drunkard may commit suicide, sex offence and exquisites crimes. Young children,
likewise, may become delinquent.

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 i. Drug Addiction– this is another form of vice which cause strong mental disturbance.

D. SOCIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF CRIMES

Sociological causes refer to things, place and people with whom we come in
contact which play a part in determining out actions and conduct.

Sociological Theories of the Causes of Crimes

1. Differential Association Theory (DAT)

In criminology, Differential Association(1883–1950) is a theory

developed by Edwin Sutherland proposing that through interaction with others,
individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior.

He was the author of the leading text Criminology, published in 1924, first
stating the principle of differential association in the third edition retitled Principles
of Criminology. He coined the phrase white-collar criminal in a speech to the
American Sociological Association on December 27, 1939.
Note: Edwin Sutherland was known as the Father of American Criminology

2. Differential Identification Theory by Daniel Classer

A person with the propensities of becoming a thief will consider thieves as

their ideal person to identify themselves. It may be done by identifying themselves
with character in movies, radio and televisions.

3. Imitation-Suggestion, Theory of Gabriel Tarde

The learning process may either be conscious type of copying (imitation) or

unconscious copying (suggestion) of confronting patterns of behavior.

4. Differential Social Organization Theory

This is sometimes called social disorganization; there is social

disorganization when there is a social change, conflict of values between the new
and the old. There is lack of well-defined limit to behavior, a breakdown of
rules and absence of definite role for the adolescence to play.

5. Conflict of Culture Theory by Thorsten Sellin

It was emphasized that the multiplicity of conflicting culture is the principal

source of social disorganization. The high crime and delinquency rates of certain
ethics or racial group is explained by their exposure to diverse and incongruent
standards and codes of larger society.

6. Containment Theory by Reckless

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 Accordingly, criminality is brought about by the inability of the group to
contain the behavior of its group and that of effective containment of the individual
into the value of system and structure of society will minimize the crime.

Other Sociological Causes of Crime

1. Lack of Parental Guidance- today’s delinquent is tomorrow’s Criminal.

2. Broken Homes and Family

3. Injuring Status of Neighborhood - The residence is slum or impoverished areas will

lower the social status of the child. As a rule, people are influenced by these surroundings
and often get in trouble.

4. Bad association with Criminal Groups - The old age that says, “One bad apple will
spoil a barrel of good ones”.

5. Lack of Recreational Facilities for Proper use of Leisure Time - An idle mind is the
devil’s workshop.

6. Lack of Employment

E. OTHER CRIMINOGENIC FACTORS OR CAUSES OF CRIMES

a. Failure of the School in Character Development of the Children and the Youth.
b. The Mass Communication Media develop an artificial environment of crimes and
delinquency and influence the public to violate the law.
c. Political causes may bring about on artificial set or crime:
1. There are too many laws and ordinances passed and violated.
2. The police and other law enforcement agencies are enforcing the laws carelessly
and the people are impressed with the idea that they can break the law with
impunity from punishment and arrest.
3. Leniency of the courts to imposed stiffer penalties which encourage commission
of crimes etc...

Activity:

Read this module conscientiously, after that read it again, once you learned it, never forget it.

Reference:
• Introduction to criminology Ariel Malusoc
• Tradio, Cirilino, Introduction to Criminology, Bacolod City Phil.
• Fundamentals of criminology Rommel k. Manwong
• Proferio C. Madelo, Jr. et. al, (2010) Introduction to Criminology and Psychology Crimes.,
Mindshaper Co. Inc., Intramuros Manila Kalalang,

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