Root Causes of Crime

Tue, Jun 26. 2012

by Leave out Violence in S.V.G Association (LOVNSVG)

“Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it.”- Henry Thomas Buckle

By the twenty-first century criminologists looked to a wide range of factors to explain why a person would commit crimes. There are certain factors in our societies, cultures (family values), system (educational, political, law-enforcement…), economy, and so on that endorse the potential of criminal activities of an individual.{{more}} Usually a combination of these factors is behind a person who commits a crime. Reasons for committing a crime include greed, anger, jealously, revenge, or pride. Some people decide to commit a crime and carefully plan everything in advance to increase gain and decrease risk. These people are making choices about their behaviour; some even consider a life of crime better than a regular job-believing crime brings in greater rewards, admiration, and excitement – at least until they are caught. Others get an adrenaline rush when successfully carrying out a dangerous crime. Others commit crimes on impulse, out of rage or fear.

Root causes of committing a crime

1. Poor parenting skills

Children who are neglected or abused are more likely to commit crimes later in life than others. Similarly, sexual abuse in childhood often leads these victims to become sexual predators as adults.

Fatherlessness is also an underestimated cause of crime.

2. Peer influence

A person’s peer group strongly influences a decision to commit crime. For example, young boys and girls who do not fit into expected standards of academic achievement can sometimes become lost in the competition. Children of families who cannot afford adequate clothing or school supplies can also fall into the same trap. Researchers believe these youth may abandon schoolmates in favour of criminal gangs, since membership in a gang earns respect and status in a different manner. In gangs, antisocial behaviour and criminal activity earns respect and street credibility. Like society in general, criminal gangs are usually focused on material gain. Gangs, however, resort to extortion, fraud, and theft as a means of achieving it.

3. Drugs and alcohol

Some social factors pose an especially strong influence over a person’s ability to make choices. Drug and alcohol abuse is one such factor. The urge to commit crime to support a drug habit definitely influences the decision process. Both drugs and alcohol impair judgment and reduce inhibitions (socially defined rules of behaviour), giving a person greater courage to commit a crime.

4. Income and education

The most common crimes committed by inmates are robbery, burglary, automobile theft, drug trafficking, and shoplifting. Because of their poor educational backgrounds, their employment histories consisted of mostly low wage jobs, with frequent periods of unemployment. People must make a choice between long-term low income and the prospect of profitable crime. While education can provide the chance to get a better job, it does not always overcome the effects of abuse, poverty, or other limiting factors.

5. Easy access

Another factor many criminologists consider key to making a life of crime easier is the availability of handguns in society. Many firearms used in crimes are stolen or purchased illegally. Firearms provide a simple means of committing a crime, while allowing offenders some distance or detachment from their victims. Similarly, the increased availability of free information on the Internet also makes it easy to commit certain kinds of crime. Easy access, however, will not be the primary factor in a person’s decision to commit a crime. Other factors – biological, psychological, or social – will also come into play.

Discouraging the choice of crime

The purpose of punishment is to discourage a person from committing a crime. Punishment is supposed to make criminal behaviour less attractive and more risky. Imprisonment and loss of income is a major hardship to many people. Another way of influencing choice is to make crime more difficult or to reduce the opportunities. This can be made by the presence of guard dogs, security systems, and neighbourhood watches and increasing the number of police officers on the streets. A change in a police force, however, is usually tied to its economic health. Normally, as unemployment rises, revenues decrease, because fewer people are paying taxes. This causes cutbacks in services including the police force. So, a rise in criminal activity may not be due to fewer police, but rather rising unemployment. Another means of discouraging people from choosing criminal activity is the length of imprisonment. The only way to decrease criminal activity is reformation – remodeling the system (educational, economic, jurisdiction…) that breeds criminals is a core necessity. There is a saying that if you want to change others, start by changing yourself. Everything is related and we all are in a way responsible for the way our world is. By transforming the causes (one of which is the system), we can both prevent and reduce crime.