Theories on crime causation (Criminological theories) - Tanzania

UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM SCHOOL OF LAW

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LAW

By JABA TUMAINI SHADRACK, Assistant Lecturer

                                              INTRODUCTION 

Criminologists, just like other professionals, use scientific methods to study the nature, extent, cause, and control of crimes. In this context, the topic at hand intends to cover one of the four aspects of criminological studies, that is, the “causes” of crime. Let us start our discussion by defining key concepts under the topic:

·                      

              Theory

A theory is said to be a set of assumptions, propositions, or accepted facts that attempts to provide a rational explanation of cause and effect (causal) relationships among a group of observed phenomenon. In short, a theory is an idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain facts or events.

·                    Criminological Theory

A proposition/assumption that attempts to explain criminal behaviour (crime), and behaviours of key actors (e.g. police, attorneys, prosecutors, judges/magistrates, social welfare officers, victims/witnesses, accused and etc.,) in the criminal justice system. Basically, theories about the causes of crime are based on religion, philosophy, biology, politics, economy, and social forces.

·                         

            Crime

“Crime” is an act that the law makes punishable; the breach of a legal duty treated as the subject-matter of a criminal proceeding. Generally, a crime is a violation of societal rules of behaviour as interpreted and expressed by the criminal law, which reflects public opinion, traditional values, and the viewpoint of people currently holding social and political power. Individuals who violate these rules are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of status.

Note: The concepts of Mala in se and Mala prohibitum.

            CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES

A.     DEMONOLOGY THEORY

Basis: Religious beliefs (evil spirit/demons/satanic actions/theology/superstition/ supernatural powers).

Theorists: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine (Augustine of Hippo) and etc.

School of Thought: Demonological / Pre-scientific School

Origin: Demonology is the most ancient theory of crime and dates back to pre-scientific age.

Ideas:

• ·       Criminals are possessed by some evil spirit that force them to commit evil deeds.
• ·       A Crime is not a product of free will, but rather [it] is determined by forces beyond the control of an individual i.e. deterministic approach.
• ·     A crime is perceived as a sin, thus a handiwork of the devil/Satan.
• ·      There are Godly and Satanic forces in the World.
• ·       The Godly forces keep a man away from crime and help him to do good, whereas the devilish forces distract man from the right path i.e. makes him commit crimes.
• ·       The devil/demon takes possession of the soul of a man and makes him think and do wrong i.e. he becomes reckless and is unable to foresee the consequences of his action.
• ·     In that state, a man can be regarded as a passive agent only; the active agent (the demon) is a force external to soul but which somehow enters a man and take possession of his soul.

Crime control:

·         

     To drive away the evil spirits/demons from the mind and/or body of a perceived criminal, the following approaches may be adopted:- exorcising[1], lacerating, macerating, fasting, praying, repenting (confessing), trephining[2], beating and burning of the possessed individual.

Strength: it was an early effort to explain criminal behavior as a social problem.

Critique: the theory’s claims cannot be testable/proved scientifically, since it is based on faith. Again, those who persist in claiming innocence were often thought to be completely under the control of evil spirits, thus unable to tell the truth. Punishments imposed on criminals are said to be arbitrary, irrational, cruel and barbaric.

Cases: Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693) – in Colonial Massachusetts, USA.

Legislation: The Witchcraft Act, Cap. 18 (RE: 2002), Tanzania.

B.      CLASSICAL THEORY (1764) – 16^th to 18^th Centuries.

Basis: Rational choice, maximization of happiness (utilitarianism) and deterrence.

Theorists: Cesare Beccaria, Jeremy Bentham, Ludwig Feuerbach and John Stuart Mill.

School of Thought: Classical Criminology

Origin: The Classical Theory is a product of the Enlightenment. In 1764, Cesare Beccaria (An Essay on Crimes and Punishments) set forth classical criminological theory.

Branches: Rational Choice Theory, Neoclassical Theory, Utilitarianism Theory, Routine Activities Theory,[3] and Deterrence Theory.

Idea: the theory is based on the assumption that people exercise free will, and are thus completely responsible for their actions. In classical theory, human behaviour, including criminal behaviour, is motivated by a hedonistic rationality, in which actors weigh the potential pleasure of an action against the possible pain associated with it.

·         Criminals weigh/assess the costs and benefits and makes a conscious, rational choice to commit crime/maximisation of pleasure and minimisation of pains.

·         Human beings have free will to choose legal or illegal behaviour i.e. a crime is committed after an individual weighs the pros and cons.

·         Crime is attractive.

Crime control & Punishment:

·         The basis of the society, as well as the origin of punishments and the right to punish, is the social contract.[4]

·         Crime may be controlled through the fear of punishment.

·         Punishment works best when perceived to be: severe, certain, & swift.

·         The only legitimate purpose of punishment is deterrence (i.e. specific and general deterrence).

·         An effective policy/law/punishment should provide the greatest happiness shared by the greatest number i.e. utility.

Critique:

Under the theory, juveniles are treated the same as adults, likewise first-time offenders are treated the same as recidivists/repeated offenders (proportionality theory[5]). Besides, the theory focuses on the actus reus and ignored the mens rea.

Development of the Classical Theory:

Classical theory was difficult to apply in practice. It was modified in the early 1800s and became known as Neoclassical Theory. Essentially, neoclassical theory is a modification of classical theory in which it was conceded that certain factors, such as insanity, might inhibit the exercise of free will. 

Neoclassical theorists introduced the idea of:

·         **Premeditation as a measure of the degree of free will (actus reus and mens rea)

·         **Mitigating circumstances as legitimate grounds for diminished responsibility.

Note: classical and neoclassical theory are the basis of the criminal justice system in the USA.

Cases: R. v. Arnold (1724) 16 How St. Tr. 765, and M’Naghten’s Case (1843) 10 C & F 200.

C.     POSITIVIST THEORY/SOCIOBIOLOGY (1810)

Theorists: Cesare Lombroso[6], Enrico Ferri, Raffaele Garofalo, Sigmund Freud, Albert Bandura, Jean Piaget, Edward O. Wilson, Lawrence Kohlberg, Franz Joseph Gall, Johann Spurzheim, J.K. Lavater, Earnest Hooton, Charles Goring, Ernst Kretchmer, and William Sheldon.

School of Thought: Positivist Criminology

Basis: the theory is based on the positive philosophy, logic and methodology of experimental science (i.e. scientific method, logic, empirical verification and value-free).

Origin: the school is associated with the work of Cesare Lombroso (the Criminal Man), who published his theory of a physical criminal type in 1876. Lombroso believed that criminals are by birth a distinct type or species which can be recognised by physical characteristics or stigmata such as; asymmetrical cranium, long lower jaw, flattered nose, scanty beard, high cheekbones and low sensitivity to pain.

Branches: Biological Positivism i.e., Bio-social and Psychological Theory, Born Criminal (atavism/savage type/hereditary), Cognitive Theory, Behavioural Theory, Ecological Theory, Evolutionary Theory, Trait Theory, and Arousal Theory.

Ideas: Early biological theories viewed criminal behaviour as the result of a defect in an individual. This defect can be biological or genetic in nature, and serves to separate the criminal from the law abiding citizen.

·         Human behaviour is determined and not a matter of free will. Likewise, the society is based on consensus, but not on a social contract.

·         Criminals are fundamentally different from non-criminals.

·         Crime is frequently caused by multiple factors.

·         Basically, criminal behaviour is the result of biological or inborn defects.

·         For instance, crimes may be caused by abnormality or low intelligence/IQ, defective chromosomes (e.g. XYY or XXY - aggressive/sexual offenders) - Klinefelter Syndrome, psychological traits, mental illness, personality disorder, shape and appearance.

·         Psychoanalytic theorists (e.g. Sigmund Freud) believe that criminal behaviour is the result of a mental disturbance caused by a conflict between the id, ego, and superego, or it may be the result of an improper fixation during a stage of emotional development.[7]

·         Personality theorists believe that criminal behaviour is the result of an improper or defective personality or personality traits.

·         Instead of developing a conforming appropriate-social personality, a criminal develops personality based upon conflict, impulsiveness, and aggression.

·         The criminal does not have the ability to feel empathy, remorse, or guilt for his or her actions, and fails to develop a sense of right and wrong.

Crime Control:

·         Under a biological perspective, deterrence is of little value. This is because there is an inherent defect or abnormality within the individual, deterrence or the threat of punishment will not affect behaviour.

·         Therefore, criminality can be fixed through medication, treatment, or therapy, deportation, sterilisation, and etc.

Critique:

·         **The theory ignores the process by which behaviours are made illegal.

·        ** It assumes that most people agree about most things, most of the time.

·         **Theorists believe that action is determined by causes independent of a person’s free will.

Note:

·   

   **Contemporary biological theories concentrate more on variations in genetic and other biological factors in interaction with the environment, and are less likely to refer to biological defects or abnormalities.

·  **Today, most criminologists believe that criminal behaviour is the product of a complex interaction between biology and environmental or social conditions.

·         **Biology or genetics gives an individual a predisposition to behave in a certain way.

·        ** Whether a person actually behaves in that way and whether that behaviour is defined as a crime depend on environmental or social conditions.

Cases: Agnes Doris Liundi v. R. [1980] TLR 46 (CA) & R. v. Agnes Doris Liundi [1980] TLR 38 (HC).

D.    MARXIST/CONFLICT/CRITICAL THEORY (1848)

Theorists: Karl Marx, Willem Bonger, Otto Kirchheimer, Richard Quinney, Georg Rusche, Ralf Dahrendorf, George Vold, William J. Chambliss, Rita Simon, Freda Adler, and Meda Chesney-Lind.

School of Thought: Critical Criminology

Branches: Critical Theory[8], Conflict Theory[9], Radical Theory[10], Radical and Critical Feminism Theory[11], Left/British Realism[12], Peacemaking Theory[13], Power-Control Theory, Postmodernism Theory[14], Re-integrative Shaming Theory, Restorative Justice, Structural Theory/Marxism[15], Social Conflict Theory, Instrumental Theory/Marxism[16], and etc.

Ideas: Critical theories assume that human beings are the creators of laws, institutions and structures that ultimately dominate and constrain them. Critical theories assume that the society is characterised primarily by conflict over moral values and conflicts between social classes.

·         The view that society is divided into two or more groups with competing ideas and values.

·         Marxists believe that capitalism is the cause of crime and delinquency. This is means that, political and socio-economic unrest, racism, class and gender discrimination/patriarchy; and exploitation of the working class/capitalism/marginalisation lead to criminality. 

·         Crimes are either committed by the ruling class to keep the working class in place, or by the working class to strike out against the ruling class.

·         The group(s) with the most power makes the laws and controls the society i.e. criminal law and the criminal justice system are crafted and used by dominant groups to control subordinate ones e.g. bourgeoisie and proletariat.

·         Groups lacking the formal power to make the rules still maintain their own group norms, and continue in their behaviour which may be viewed as crimes by the larger society.

·         Conflict theory proposes that the law and the criminal justice system primarily embody the interests and norms of the most powerful groups in society, rather than those of the society as a whole.

·         On the other hand, the Feminist theory questions whether or not theories of crime developed by men and for men adequately explain female crime.

·         According to feminist theory, women can be treated less severely than men for committing a crime, or more severely than men in an attempt to keep them subservient to men.

·         Logically, feminists seek to understand why men traditionally commit so many more crimes than women (gender differences in crimes), victimisation of women, and Gendered justice (differing treatment of female and male offenders and victims by the criminal justice system).

·         The principal goal of most feminist theory is to abolish patriarchy[17] by ensuring women equal opportunity and equal rights.

·         Conversely, the Radical theorists define crime as any act which violates human rights (e.g. sexism, racism, imperialism; and not prostitution, gambling, strikes, homosexuality), thus to them, the current definition of crime supports the ruling class.

Crime Control:

·         Karl Marx (Communist Manifesto, 1848), urges the lower class (especially, workers) to unite against the ruling class, because they have nothing to lose but their chains of oppression. Besides, Marxists scholars advocates for socialism and communism as a solution to imperialism/oppression and criminality. It is believed that an egalitarian society is free from criminal activities.

Note: Subordinate groups appear in official criminal statistics more frequently, because

           the dominant groups have control over the definition of criminality.

Legislation: The Deportation Act (Cap. 380, RE: 2002), Economic Sabotage (Special Provisions) Act, No.9 of 1983, and the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1994 (RE: 2007).

E.      SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY/CHICAGO SCHOOL (1897)

Theorists: Emile Durkheim, Robert Ezra Park, Ernest Burgess, Clifford R. Shaw, Walter Miller, Gabriel Tarde, Frederic Thrasher, Henry D. McKay, John McKenzie, Edwin Sutherland, Travis Hirschi, Edwin Lemert, Howard Becker, D.R. Taft, Albert Cohen, Richard Cloward, and Lloyd Ohlin).

School of Thought: Sociological Criminology

Branches: Social Disorganisation Theory[18], Strain or Anomie Theory, Cultural Deviance Theory, Subculture Theory[19], Differential Opportunity Theory, Social Learning/Imitation/Modeling Theory,[20] Differential Association Theory,[21] Neutralisation Theory, Social Control Theory,[22] Labeling Theory,[23] Social Reaction Theory, Cartographic/Geographical Theory[24] and etc.

Origin: Many sociological theories of crime causation stem from the work of Emile Durkheim who rejected the idea that the world is simply the product of individual actions. Durkheim believed that laws and institutions are “social facts” and all people can do is submit to them. The sociological theory was shaped by the Chicago School in 1920s.[25]

Ideas: In a nutshell, sociologists emphasize that human beings live in social groups, thus it is such groups and the social structure that create influence behavior. Most sociological theories of crime causation assume that a criminal’s behavior is determined by his or her social environment.

·         A criminal and criminality is a product of the society. Durkheim argued that crime is a social fact, and the cause of crime is anomie.[26]

·         Individuals do not simply become criminals by rational choice/free will, neither do they commit crimes just because they were born criminals or out of being abnormal.

·         Criminality occurs as a result of group interaction and socialisation process. Crime is a result of an individual’s location within the structure of society (socio-economic forces) – poverty, peer and family relation, neighbourhood, socialisation, and group interaction.

·         In short, the theory attempts to show the relationship between social factors and crime.

Crime Control:

·         Crime/criminality is a social phenomenon that can be reduced by improving socio-economic conditions.

Case: R. v. Bukuku [1995–1998] 1 EA 286 (HCT).

F.      DEVELOPMENTAL/MULTIFACTOR/INTEGRATED THEORY (1930)

Theorists: William Sheldon, Eleanor Glueck, John Laub, Robert Sampson, Richard Herrnstein, Travis Hirschi, and Michael Gottfredson.

School of Thought: Developmental Criminology/ Integrating Criminological Theories

Branches: Life Course Theory, Latent Trait Theory, Social Development Model, Interactional Theory, General Theory of Crime and Delinquency/General Theory of Crime (GTC), Age-graded Theory, Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) Theory, Differential Coercion Theory, Control Balance Theory.

Ideas: Theoretical integration is the process of combining similar theories. The goal is to produce a theory that is superior to any theory individually. It also recognizes the fact that new theories are not created in isolation; and that they are created with the knowledge gained from earlier theoretical exercises.

·         Crime is function of environmental, socialization, physical and psychological factors, i.e. each makes an independent contribution to shaping and directing behaviour patterns.

·         Basically, the theory integrates classical, sociological, psychological/biological, and economic elements to explain crimes and criminality.

Critique: Theoretical integration has had minimal success.

QUIZZES:

1.      With the aid of hypothetical cases, show the similarities and differences between a crime, deviancy/delinquency, and a sin.

2.      Which one of the criminological school of thought you perceive to be the most complete school? And Why? 

3.      Discuss the Neoclassical, sociological and Biological theories of crime causation in the context of the cases below: - 

       a)      M’Naghten’s Case (1843) 10 C & F 200; and

       b)     R. v. Agnes Doris Liundi [1980] TLR 38 (HC) & Agnes Doris Liundi v. R. [1980] TLR 46 (CA).

REFERENCES:

Bohm, R.M. & Haley, K.N., Introduction to Criminal Justice, 3^rd Ed., Chapter 3.

Sharma, R.K. (1998) Criminology and Penology. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.

See, Eric (2004) Student Study Guide for Ronald L. Akers and Christine S. Sellers’ Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Applications - 4^th Ed. Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles, California.

Siegel, L.J. (2010) Criminology: The Core, 4^th Ed. Wadsworth Publishing.

Siegel, L.J. (2011) Criminology, 11^th Ed. Cengage Learning.

End notes:

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[1] To expel or attempt to expel evil spirit/s from a person or place (believed to be possessed or haunted) by way of prayers, adjurations, and religious rites.

[2] Consisted of drilling holes in the skulls of those perceived as deviants to allow the evil spirits to escape.

[3] This theory states that for crime to be committed, three elements must be present: an available target, a motivated offender, and a lack of guardians.

[4] Social Contract - an imaginary agreement to sacrifice the minimum amount of liberty to prevent anarchy and chaos.

[5] Punishment should fit the crime without regard to individual differences.

[6] Criminal Anthropology.

[7] Psychopaths - Persons characterised by no sense of guilt, no subjective conscience, and no sense of right and wrong. They have difficulty in forming relationships with other people; they cannot empathise with other people. They are also called sociopaths or antisocial personalities.

[8] An extension of Marxist theory that goes beyond the examination of the effects of capitalism on crime.

[9] A theory that assumes that society is based primarily on conflict between competing interest groups and that criminal law and the criminal justice system are used to control subordinate groups. Crime is caused by relative powerlessness.

[10] A theory of crime causation that are generally based on a Marxist theory of class struggle.

[11] This theory attempts to define criminology and criminal justice based upon the experiences, understanding, and view of the world as perceived by women. It tries to counter most theories of criminology that have been developed, tested, and applied by men to men, which have only incorporated women as an afterthought. It covers issues such as patriarchy, masculinities, paternalism, power-control theory, and etc.

[12] They focus on crime by and against the working class. Left realists want to give more power to police to combat crime, but also want to make the police more accountable for their actions.

[13] An approach that suggests that the solution to all social problems, including crime, is the transformation of human beings, mutual dependence, reduction of class structures, the creation of communities of caring people, and universal social justice. Peacemaking criminologists believe that reducing suffering will reduce crime, thus rejects the idea that criminal violence can be reduced by state violence.

[14] An area of critical thought which, among other things, attempts to understand the creation of knowledge, and how knowledge and language create hierarchy and domination. Postmodernist criminologists argue that interpretations of the law are dependent on the particular social context in which they arise, thus insists on informal social controls.

[15] Political state is not under the total control of the ruling elite; that from time to time, laws may be passed that harm the ruling elite; and that their members, on occasion, may be subject to state control.

[16] The political state (including the law and the criminal justice system) is always and only a tool of the capitalist class to oppress the working class.

[17] Patriarchy - Men’s control over women’s labor and sexuality.

[18] It associates criminality among juveniles with breakdown of communal institutions (e.g. family, schools, church & local governments) and communal relationship that traditionally encouraged close relationships among people.

[19] States that a group of delinquent peers may influence an individual to commit criminal acts in order to receive approval from the group, or creating a new culture (subculture) which departs from the mainstream culture, thus criminality. [Cohen argued that instead they form a subculture that "takes its norms from the larger culture but turns them upside down"].

[20] Gabriel Tarde (Penal Philosophy in 1890) was one of the first theorists to believe that crime was something learned by normal people as they adapted to other people and the conditions of their environment.

[21] Edwin H. Sutherland’s theory that persons who become criminal do so because of contacts with criminal patterns and isolation from anti-criminal patterns. Sutherland’s theory was modified by several researchers and became generally known as learning theory.

[22] Social Control Theory, a view in which people are expected to commit crime and delinquency unless they are prevented from doing so or there is a mechanism to control them.

[23] Labelling Theory, the theory that the formal and informal application of stigmatising and deviant “labels” or tags applied to an individual by society will not deter, but rather instigate future deviant or criminal acts. Conversely, the labelling theory mirrors conflict theory in that the individuals with power create and enforce rules at the expense of the less powerful.

[24] The School attempt to show the influence upon criminal behaviour of such factors as climate (i.e. temperature, humidity, barometric, pressure or change in the weather), topography, natural resources and geographical location. (Read: Taft, Quetlet, Guerry & Montesquieu).

[25] Chicago School - A group of sociologists at the University of Chicago who assumed in their research that delinquent behaviour was a product of social disorganisation. Also, they attempted to uncover the relationship between a neighbourhood's crime rate and the characteristics of the neighbourhood.

[26] Anomie/strain theory - A state of normlessness or norm confusion within a society. It also means that the dissociation of the individual from the collective conscience. For Albert K. Cohen, it is caused by the inability of juveniles to achieve status among peers by socially acceptable means. While Robert Merton argue that the contradiction between the cultural goal of achieving wealth and the social structure’s inability to provide legitimate institutional means for achieving the goal, thus criminality.