Causes of Crime

• Social causes of crime


  • Drug and alcohol abuse
  • Peer pressure and education
• Drug and alcohol abuse


  Can't think clearing leading to crimes being committed
• Almost half of murders in Scotland over five years is committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Peer pressure


  To coerce or pressure people into crime
• 50% of violence and knife crime in London is linked to street gangs
• Economic causes of crime

  • Greed
  • Poverty
  • Broken windows theory
• Greed


  Drives people to gain huge amounts of something like money
• £26 million was stolen from Tamara Ecclestone
• Poverty


  Leads to people feeling socially excluded and committing petty crimes like shoplifting, car theft, fraud, housebreaking
• Towerhamlets has a high crime rate and poverty rate
• Broken windows theory


  Visible signs of crime and anti-social behaviour lead to less investment from businesses and less money coming in, providing space for crime to grow
• Possilpark is a known area of deprivation and very high crime rate
• Biological causes of crime

  • Genetics
  • Sex
  • Mental illness (psychopathy)
• Genetics


  • People with a lack of MAOA gene variant are 13x more likely to have a history of repeated violence
• Sex


  Excessively Y chromosomes are linked to more violent behaviour
• 93% of killers in 2021 were men
• Mental illness (psychopathy)


  Leads to a lack of empathy which can lead to crime
• Aaron Campbell raped and murdered 5 year old Alesha MacPhail
• Education 


  when you have a lack of education your opportunities are limited