Criminal Behaviour
Criminal act is when any behaviour breaks the law.
Some people may argue that crime only occurs when someone intends to break the law.
Other people say that its when crime is intended and causes harm to people or their property.
Criminal behaviour also depends on time and culture.
The problems of official crime is:
* statistics count the number of criminal acts rather than the number of criminals. So they make a mistake by counting one crime that might be committed by a group of criminals.
* some people may not report the crime.
* some people may not be aware that they are the victim of the crime.
Crime as an act against the law would make most people as a criminal as every adult breaks the law at some point in their lives.
The common characteristics of criminals are:
* impulsiveness
* no feelings of guilt
* pleasure seeking
* self importance
Criminal Personality - attitudes that make a person different from normal.
Core Theory: Biological Theory
The biological theory states that criminal behaviour is inherited. This means that a person is already genetically programmed to behave in anti social ways. Studies do show that there are criminal families. So if a persons parent is a criminal then there is a high chance of them being a criminal.
Genes have an affect on the brain development also known as brain dysfunction. The areas that the brain gets damaged are:
* Pre-frontal cortex. For criminals this area is not very active. It is the part of the brain where humans are conditioned to form fear and anti social behaviour.
* Limbic System. This area of the brain controls the aggressive part which is increased in criminals.
* Corpus callosum. the rational part of the brain communicates with the irrational part. Murderers have this part of their brain unactive so communication between the two hemispheres are week.
*