Criminology unit 2

• Actus reus


  Latin for a guilty act - the action
• Mens rea


  Meaning a guilty mind - the intention
• The defendant must have done something that law forbids and they must have done so with bad intentions
• Social definition of criminal behaviour

  Illegal behaviour which has a harmful effect towards individuals
• Formal sanctions


  • Court sanctions
  • Non-court sanctions (police sanctions)
• Court sanctions


  • Custodial sentences: Going to prison or youth offenders
  • Community sentences: served in the community
  • Conditional discharge: offender may not have to go to prison but instead may be given conditions to meet
  • Absolute discharge: Occasions where someone may be guilty of crime, but punishment is not suitable
• Non-court sanctions (police sanctions)

  • Cautions: Warnings that can be given out by the police or Crown Prosecution
  • Conditional cautions: having to stick to certain rules
  • Penalty notice for disorder: can be used for minor crimes such as shoplifting can be issued without court proceedings
• Criminal acts (two types of offences)

  • Homosexuality
  • Discrimination
• Social construction


  An idea that has been created by the people in society rather than simply occurring naturally. Meaning that what counts as criminality is simply which ever acts society defines as criminal
• Homosexuality decriminalised for men over 21

  1967
• Age of consent for homosexuality set at 16

  2000
• Same sex marriage legalised

  2014
• Reasons for changes to homosexuality laws: A committee of professionals in 1950s or set up after an increase in number of homosexual men breaking the law which influenced law makers to change the law in 1967. Politicians enforced the Equality Act which band discrimination based on protected characteristics which led to same sex marriage being able to happen in 2014
• In 2001 Portugal changed the laws on drugs from criminal to civil offence To try and reduce the number of drugs being taken
• In 1997 Conservative government law was introduced to ban all handguns except .22 single shot weapons
• Reasons for changes to gun laws: 1987 Hungerford case, 1996 Dunblane primary school shooting
• Changes to laws relating to children reflect society's attitude towards children and society becoming more child central
• Limit set for the amount of alcohol permitted in the bloodstream when driving


  1967
• Dunblane


  1996
• All handguns banned in the UK

  1997
• Portugal decriminalised drugs


  2001
• Same sex marriage legalised in UK (first gay marriages the following year)

  2013
• Biological theories


  Assume that some people are 'born criminals', who are physiologically distinct from non-criminals
• Lombroso (Atavism)


  Lombroso was an Italian Doctor Who argued that criminals have facial features. He looked at the facial features of prisoners attempting to prove his theory. He discovered common traits amongst those who had committed crime. Features: large jaw and Jaw line, + large eye sockets. He discovered flat noses in thieves and pointed noses in murders
• Lombroso's theory


  • First scientific approach to explaining criminality and offer scientific and objective approach to understanding it
  • Gave more thorough understanding of criminality
• Limitations of Lombroso's theory


  • Research unreliable being questioned due to no one else ever being able to repeat it
  • Focuses on non-western features and could be considered racist
• Sheldon (somato types)


  Sheldon also argued that criminality and physiological traits are linked. He categorised body types into 3 categories, correlations between body type and criminality. Three body types where endomorphs, ectomorphs, and Mesomorphs. He found that criminals were more likely to have a mesomorph body type. Who are Muscular, strong limbs, and bored shoulders. Are sensation seeking and risk taking
• Strengths of Sheldon's theory

  • His work has been replicated by others. Gluek and Gluek replication work by looking at the somatotypes prisoners and found 60% of criminals had the mesomorph body type
• Limitations of Sheldon's theory

  • He proposed a body type determine criminality but it just likely that criminality can determine body type E.g. to become a feared and successful criminal they may need to change their appearance to be muscular and broad
  • Criminals are more likely to be working class and therefore work in manual labour impacting on body shape
• Genetic theories


  Suggest that it is the genetic structure of an individual that is the cause of criminal behaviour
• Jacobs XYY theory


  Additional male chromosome is found in XYY syndrome, also known as the supermale syndrome. Additional chromosome found to impact on behaviour of individuals. Explosive temper, hyperactivity, defiance, and anti – social behaviour can be found in individuals with XYY syndrome. More aggressive. 7 out of 196 males in prison had XYY syndrome compared to 1 in 1,000 of the population
• Strengths of Jacobs XYY theory

  • Price and Whitmore found that extra line males were unstable and likely to commit motiveless crimes, suggesting that lower intelligence be a factor that influences their criminality
• Limitations of Jacobs XYY theory

  • XYY syndrome is rare, only occurring in 1 in1,000 males, whilst around 80% of crime is committed by males
  • Difficult separate upbringing from genetic factors
• Twin studies


  • Dizygotic twins, born at the same time, come from separate eggs and share 50% of DNA
  • Monozygotic twins, born at the same time, come from 1 egg and share 100% of DNA
  • If one twin is a criminal than the other ought to be as well
• Christensen found a 52% concordance rate between MZ twins. 52% chance that if one commits crime so will the other. Only 23% chance in non-identical twins
• Strengths of twin studies

  • Some support to genetic explanations of crime because identical twins are genetically identical, if one is criminal, it is likely the other is to
  • Ishikawa and Raine discovered that there was a higher concordance rate in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins suggesting that criminality has a genetic basis
• Limitations of twin studies

  • If genetics are the only cause of criminality, identical twins would show 100% concordance and higher rates for MZ could be due to sharing same home meaning one could influence the other. Environmental factors could show impact on criminality
  • Hard to separate effects of nature. Share genetic information and likely to share experiences, life events and friendships
  • Concordance rates are never 100% if criminality was truly genetic then every identical twin sibling would both commit crime
• Adoption studies


  Help to adjust the problem of how twins share genes but also environment. Includes studies where adopted children are compared to their biological and adoptive parents to see which has more influence biology or environment. Impact of nature versus nurture
• Mednick's research: nine for adoption study in 1984 investigating whether criminal behaviour is affected to a greater degree by nature or nurture. Studied 14,000 adopted male children in Denmark from 1924 to 1947. Concordance rate is 20% of boys have criminal convictions as well as by her parents. Only 14.7% for those with adoptive parents
• Strengths of adoption studies

  • Adopted children grow up away from their bio parents it is possible to investigate the influence of genetics without the influence of their exposure to criminal behaviours