WEEK 3 LESSON

Lesson 2. Theories of Crime and Delinquency

A. Supernatural, Classical, and Neoclassical Theories
1. Supernatural Theory. Supernatural Theories blame delinquency on demonic possession. In the Middle
Ages, people believed criminals possessed by the devil. Yet, supernatural explanations are not taken too
seriously because they cannot be scientifically tested. However, modern crime theories are based on
conditions and events that can be observed and measured. These theories are called natural explanations,
the first of which was constructed in the 18h century by Classical School.
2. Classical School Theory. The Classical School criminologists believe that people are rational, intelligent
beings who exercise free will or the ability to make choices. People calculate the costs and benefits of their
behavior before they act. In the same way, children who skip school first determine the likelihood of getting
caught against the potential fun they have. Similarly, juveniles who rape weigh the pleasure they imagine
they will have against being arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and seat to prison.
Because behavior is a conscious decision people make, they must be held accountable for their actions and
their consequences.
3. Neoclassical School Theory. Neoclassical School Theory strongly argued the rigidity of classical school
theory. It did not take into account why people commit crime. Instead, all people were held equally responsible
for their behavior. Those who commit similar crimes received identical punishments.
The Classical School focused on the criminal act (the crime) and not the actor (why it was committed). But,
in reality, people are not the same. Children, insane, and the incompetent are not as responsible for their
behavior as adults, the sane and the competent. The idea that there are real differences among people led
to the development of Neoclassical School.

Neoclassical reformers agreed to the concept of classical leaders that people were rational, intelligent beings
who exercised free will. But they also thought some crimes were caused by factors beyond the offender's
control. Mitigating circumstances, such as age or mental condition, sometimes influence the choices that are
made and affect a person's ability to form criminal intent or men’s rea (guilty mind). This is why children
under age of seven cannot legally commit a crime - they are presumed to be not capable of having guilty a
mind. Thus, the use of mitigating circumstance at criminal trials triggered the development of individual
justice, the idea that the criminal law must reflect differences among people and their circumstances
(Regoli & Hewit, 1991).
4. Modern Classical School Theory
4.1. Rational Choice Theory. It claimed that delinquents are rational people who make calculated choices
regarding what they are going to do before they act. Offenders collect, process, and evaluate information
about the crime and make the decision whether to commit it after they have weighed the cost and benefits in
doing so. Crime, in other words, is a well-thought out decision. Offenders decide where to commit it, who or
what to target, and how to execute it.
4.2. Routine Activity Theory. It is focused on the crime target or anything an offender wants to take control
of, whether it is a house to break into or a bottle of beer to shoplift. Before crime will occur, however, three
elements must come together:
a. motivated offenders,
b. suitable targets, and
c. an absence of people to deter the would-be offenders.
Crime thus increases when there are vulnerable targets (e.g unlocked house doors/keys left in the ignition)
and only a few people to protect them (e.g, police) (Burke, 2005).
B. Biological and Psychological Theories
"A tree is known by its fruit."
The emergence of the Positive School marked a shift in thinking about crime from a focus on the act of the
actor. Charles Darwin was largely responsible for this change. In his work, On the Origin of Species, he
argued that God had not created all the species of animals and that people had evolved from lower forms of
life over millions of years. Then, in Descent of Man, Darwin suggested that God had not made people in His
own image that there were few differences between people and criminals (Reeo & Hewitt, 1991).
I. Scientific Study of Crime. Scientific study of crime (positive School of Criminology) believed that crime
was caused by factors that are in place before the crime occurs. It is presumed that the behavior was their
job to discover what it was. Free will had nothing to do with what people did.
2. Biological Theories. These theories locate the causes of crime inside person. One early explanation
examined the role of physical appearance the

a. Physical Appearance and Crime

1. Criminal Anthropometry. Cesare Lombroso was the first to connect crime to human evolution. Criminals
were atavistic or throwbacks to an earlier, more primitive stage of human development. They closely
resembled their apelike ancestors in traits, abilities, and dispositions. Because criminals were not highly
evolved, they possessed stigmata or distinctive physical features such as asymmetrical face, an enormous
jaw, large or protruding ears, and receding chin. But Lombroso's findings were contradicted by Charles
Goring who physically measured 3000 English convicts and found no evidence of a physical type criminal.
2. Physiognomy. This was 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 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.
3. Phrenology. It comes from the Greek word: mind; and logos, knowledge, and this theory claimed that
character, personality traits and criminality are determined on the basis of the shape of the head (i.e., by
reading "bumps" and "fissures"). Franz Joseph Gall 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" (Wolfgang, 1961).
b. Body Type and Crime. William Sheldon (1954) suggested that there was a relationship between body
built and temperament which was known as Somatotype Theory. He believed that the human body consisted
of three components (see figure 1):
1. Endomorphy(ic) (Soft Temperament). Endomorphy is focused on the digestive system, particularly the
stomach (endoderm); has the tendency toward plumpness, corresponds to Viscerotonia temperament
tolerant, love of comfort and luxury, extravert. Ex.: Relaxed, comfortable, extroverted "softies."

Figure 1. Body Type

(Left to right: Endomorph; Mesomorph, Ectomorphic)
Source: Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice System (Chavez, Sarte,
Miguel, Pioqunito; Mindshaper Publishing House 2020)

2. Mesomorphy(ic) (Square Masculinity & Skeletal Massiveness).

Mesophorphy is focused on musculature and the circulatory system (mesoderm), has the tendency towards
muscularity and Mesomorphy(ic) (Square Masculinity & Skeletal Massiveness). Mesophorphy is focused on
musculature and the circulatory system (mesoderm), has the tendency towards muscularity, and corresponds
to the Somatotonia temperament courageous, energetic, active, dynamic, assertive, aggressive, risk taker.
Ex.: Active, assertive, and lust for power
3. Ectomorphy(ic) (Linearity and Frailty). Ectomorphy is focused on the nervous system and the brain
(ectoderm) - the tendency towards slightness, corresponds to Cerebrotonia temperament artistic, sensitive,
apprehensive, introvert. Ex.: Introverted, overly sensitive, and love piracy.
Sheldon typed the bodies of 200 incarcerated juvenile offend 4,000 male college students and discovered
that the delinquents were generally more mesomorphic and less ectomorphic.
Sheldon and Glueck also found that delinquents were likely than nondelinquents to be mesomorphs by
comparing the body types of 500 delinquents and 500 nondelinquents (Sheldon, 1954).
c. Heredity and Crime. In the late 19 century, people believed that criminality was inherited. Crime was
blamed on a substance called "germ. plasm" that caused people to have "bad blood". Once a person
committed a crime, that fact was encoded in her or his germ-plasm. When they were procreated, their "bad
blood" was transmitted to their children.
1. 1Q and Delinquency. The earliest studies to examine the relationship between heredity and crime
centered on intelligence, which is the ability to learn, exercise judgment, and be imaginative.
Alfred Binet and Theophile Simon (1916) developed the first standardized 1Q test in 1905. In 1912 the
German psychologist [Link] introduced the notion of an "Intelligence Quotient" or 1Q. Stem suggested that
every person had a mental age that could be represented by an IQ score.
2. Historical Studies. In the earlier study, Henry Goddard (Kallikak Family) administered intelligence tests
to prison and jail inmates and discovered that 70% were "feeble-minded". This extremely high percentage of
low-intelligence inmates led the public, social reformers, and state legislators to conclude that low intelligent
predisposed people to commit crime. Today, criminologists rather consistently report a link between IQ and
delinquency, leading Murray and Herrnstein to conclude that low-IQ people are more prone to criminal
behavior.
3. Psychoanalytic Theory. The Psychoanalytic Theory can be traced to Sigmund Freud, who believed that
personality consists of three parts: the id, ego, and superego.
a. Id. It is present at birth. It consists of blind, unreasoning, instinctual desires and motives. The id represents
basic biological and psychological drives; it does not differentiate between fantasy and reality. It is also
antisocial and knows no rules, boundaries, or limitations. If the id is left unchecked, it will destroy the person.
b. Ego. It grows from id and represents the problem-solving dimension of the personality; it deals with reality,
differentiating it from fantasy. It teaches children to delay gratification because acting on impulse will get them
into trouble.
c. Superego. It develops from ego and is the moral code, norms, and values the child has acquired. The
superego is responsible for the feelings of guilt and shame, and is more closely aligned with the conscience.
With mentally healthy children, the three parts of the personality work together. When three parts are in
conflict, children may become maladjusted and ready for delinquency.

4. Behavioral Theory and Delinquency. Burrhus Frederic Skinner, more popularly known as B.F. Skinner,
is the most widely acclaimed behaviorist who believed that environment shapes behavior. Skinner thought
children learn which aspects of their environment are pleasing and which ones are painful. Their behavior is
the result of the consequences it produces. His research with pigeons demonstrated that organisms act on
their environment to elicit a response through operant conditioning, a type of learning where subjects do
something and connect what they do to the response they receive. Children will repeat rewarded behavior
and abort punished behavior. Albert Bandura expanded on Skinner's ideas and developed the theory of
aggression where he said children learn by modeling and imitating others. Children learn to be aggressive
from their experiences. Delinquent behavior is learned from direct, face-to-face interaction or by observing
others in person or symbolically in literature, films, television, and music. Ex.: observing arguing parents,
seeing their peers fight, ad watching television and motion picture violence (Regoli & Hewitt, 1991).