Criminology

Criminology is the study of why people commit the crimes they do. Looking more into depth on an individual and the specific situation they were in. Understanding more about why a person commits a crime can lead to a rehabilitation to stop them from doing crimes again.  Why do people commit crimes? from a misdemeanor to violent felonies some individuals learn their lesson the first time they commit a crime, after spending time in jail. Criminology is analyzing on illegal human behavior, and why people do this behavior. It is a mix of social science of psychology and criminal justice. Articles found on criminology all lead up to nurture being the reason people commit crimes. The articles explain how research has shown that children with a bad childhood are more likely to have bad behaviors to lead to crimes in the future. research has shown that people can mostly rule out inheriting anything from parents that would cause someone to become a criminal. They found that it is more likely the environment a child grows up in that will affect the type of personality and behavior they will have in the future. Criminologist have found that certain offenders were just born into a bad environment. Criminology is the study of why people commit the crimes they do, criminologist have found that a likely reason that criminals commit crimes is because of the way they were raised and what type of social environmental setting they grew up in. Nurture on a person’s life can change what type of person they will become in the future.

Why do people commit crimes?

Criminals commit crimes for many different reasons and there is not any solid research on why one person may commit a crime. The theories on why people commit a crime have changed or emerged into something different over the years. Some key theories are:
1. Rational Choice Theory- People usually act in their self interest and make decisions to commit a crime after weighing the potential risks, like getting caught and punished.
2. Social Disorganization Theory- Someone's physical and social environments are primarily responsible for their behavioral choices. A neighborhood that has fraying social structures is more likely to have a high crime rate.
3. Strain Theory- A lot of people have similar aspirations, but not everyone has the same opportunities or abilities. When people fail to achieve society's expectations, they may try to achieve success through crime.
4. Social Learning Theory- People may develop motivation to commit crime and the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with.

brain activity predicts re-arrest

Why is it that people commit crimes, then they get out of jail and commit another crime and get themselves back into jail? Could science and biology have anything to do with the decisions criminals make? The science magazine states that there could be a biological reason to why people make poor decisions. The scientist magazine research and found that prisoners have a lower activity in a particular region of the brain while preforming computer-based decision making skills are more likely to get arrested again on release from prison. The prisoners that had a higher activity level in that region of the brain were less likely to get re-arrested than the prisoners with the low activity. (publish date, March, 25) the region of the brain that the neuroscientist were looking at was the cingulate cortex of the brain. This area of the brain has an impact on decision making, and motor control. The computer-base would test the prisoners with challenges that require quick decision making skills and they would record the inhibit impulsive reaction as they made quick decisions. The researchers then released the prisoners and then monitored them for the next four years and saw that the prisoners that tested a lower ACC activity were roughly twice as likely to get re-arrested than the prisoners with a higher ACC activity level. The result of this study has shown that it is possible that ACC activity level could be connected to cognitive levels. A higher ACC and cognitive level would reduce the prisoner from being  recidivism. The result of this study has shown that activity level in the cortex can predict if someone will get themselves re-arrested.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/criminal-mind.aspx

When people speak of criminals they think are they are just evil or psycho. But really a large percent of criminals have a biological factor that can back up why they did what they did. The brain is very complex but what researchers from many university's have found that the Amygdala which is in control of emotion and aggression. What they found was that a team of 26 year old men who had a lower amygdala volume has higher percent's of crime records, aggression, and violence versus those who have a higher volume. What they are looking at is just because it is the biological factor does that mean that they cant change it? Researchers went to a prison and did tests on inmates with various things such as just giving more vitamins and providing a more healthy life style to one group and placebo effect to the other and watches to see if their violence behavior changed at all. Those who were given a more healthy life style at the time, reduced their record for violence and penalties, while the other group remained steady with theirs. Another group was also put through a yoga class to find their inner peace and deal with their anger and stress and their violence reduced as well. Researchers believe that by giving someone with high anger and violence issues a healthier life style that they weren't given to begin with can actually help reduce their problems so they don't continue to behave in the way they have. Although other people may have more serious conditions such as tumors, malformations, and even drug issues. There are possible ways to prevent a criminal from lashing out more.
http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/action/showFullTextImages?pii=S0006-3223%2813%2900312-0

What motivates smart talented people to commit fraud?

There are some smart and talented people who get caught for fraud all the time and end up in jail or prison for it. Now what motivates these people to do this? Some people have tunnel vision and having a single-minded focus can blind people. The power of names, like the use of nicknames and euphemisms for questionable practices can free them for their moral connotations, making them see it more acceptable. Social bond theory, employees can begin to feel more like numbers or cogs in machines; when these people start to feel detached they are more likely to commit fraud, steal, or hurt the company. The Galatea effect, their self image can determine their behavior; people who have a strong self image are less likely to do unethical things. Acceptance of small theft, when they have temptations to take small things like sugar packets or toilet paper and those small thefts are ignored they are more likely to commit bigger ones then. Conspicuous consumption, extreme wealth or environments that have extreme wealth can lead to some unethical behavior in people; the presence of more money makes people more selfish. The Pygmalion effect, the way some people are seen and treated can influence the way that they act. Winner take-all competition, when there is a defined winner and loser people are going to be more likely to cheat.

Mental Motivations

Many things can trigger a person to murder.  A person can be very unstable and kill because of anger.  They can be mentally ill and believe that killing the other person is the answer to the problem.  Another reason to kill could be because of drugs.  Either they want drugs, a drug dealer ripped them off, or their minds have become warped on the drugs which causes their logic and trains of thought to be all over the board. Criminals could also be raised in a very hostile environment. They could have grown up in neighborhoods where murders and crime were part of everyday lives.  They have grown up to mirror the actions they watched while growing up.  They think the only way to manage their anger is by getting violent, which can sometimes result in murder.  Murderers can also be triggered by conditions in their environment such as paranoia other fears.  One time murderers don't kill for fun.  They end up killing because they feel threatened.  A different, however intriguing theory is that counselors have a way of warping the thinking process of murderers.  They say that counselors and therapists can change somebody's thinking about a certain topic. This can be used in either a good or bad way.  Depending on the stability of the counselor, they can actually use their patients to commit crimes and do tasks for them.  I found this very interesting because of how outlandish it seemed.  It doesn't seem like a counselor would have the drive or means to try to do something like this, however it is completely plausible.  It almost seemed like something out of a movie.

Criminals & thiers brains

New research is showing that the minds of criminals are actually different than those who are not.  There are differences in the brain itself.  A few different parts of the brain actually have up to 19% less volume than others with a “normal” brain.  They also might have deformations in their amygdala and/or a thinning cortex.  Since the amygdala is the place in the brain where emotion is processed once it gets damaged it affects the types of emotion you feel if any.  Psychopaths lack emotion which would be explained by the deformed amygdala.  In addition to having different brains they also show different behavioral patterns, these are the types of things that criminal psychologists would look at is how they and why they do what they do.  Looking into the different parts of the brain and their behavior would help them do that.  The rest of the article does a really good job of looking into the differences of different disorders and how they look in the brain.  So if you’re interested here’s the link (: http://www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html