Siminar to Criminal Justice paper 4 - Essay Example

RUNNING HEAD: CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR AND CRIMINAL PROPENSITY Criminal Behavior and Criminal Propensity School Criminal Behavior and Criminal Propensity How stable is criminal behavior over time? Why is this important? The life course is a new approach in criminology that studies the potential of a person to commit crimes by studying the “life histories of convicted and nonconvicted individuals” and understand criminal behavior in the process (Glueck & Glueck, 1950, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008, p. 2). The study on two groups (one convicted and the other not convicted) revealed that there are “multiple risk factors” that steer individuals to become delinquent and commit crimes in adulthood (Glueck & Glueck, 1950, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008, p. 2). The multifactor approach used by Glueck and Glueck (1950, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008) is influential in modern criminology that applies scientific methodology.

This approach stresses the point that the tendency to commit crime and violence develops through time (Glueck & Glueck, 1950, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008). In the cohort longitudinal studies made by Farrington and West (1990), Shannon (1982) and Racine (1949), the same trend emerged with only a minority of the subjects being responsible for committing a majority of the crimes, thus reflecting a career from crime (Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008). A criminal career approach studies the stages of offending for a period of time (Blumstein et al.

, 1986, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008) which typically spans for a short period (beginning at adolescence and ending at early adulthood) (Blumstein, Cohen, & Farrington, 1988, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008). Based from the studies, criminal behavior is not stable through time. There is an onset period that begins during the teenage years. The behavior escalates and later dwindles in early adulthood. A study on stability of criminal behavior based on actual cases is important because it can provide an overview of the period wherein an individual will be disposed to the commission of crime.

Also, still using the life course approach, studies have revealed that only a minority in the cohorts studied have propensity to commission of majority of the crimes. On the other hand, the majority of the subjects were predisposed to commit a fraction of the crimes. Thus, on a given population, criminologists can already approximate the percentage of persons who will have stable criminal behavior, which comprise only a small fraction. Criminologists can then approximate on who will be the individuals who have stable criminal behavior.

Are genetic factors associated with criminal propensity? How do we know? Criminology is beginning to embrace the advances in other disciplines in the study of criminal conduct (Wright, Tibbetts, & Daigle, 2008). Thus, biology, psychology and genetics are being explored by some crime theorists in determining crime propensity. According to Wright, Tibbetts and Daigle (2008), it seems that genes are “turned on” and “turned off” at certain periods during the life course (p. 44). Reiss et al (2000, as cited in Wright, Tibbetts & Daigle, 2008) purports that some conditions in the environment contribute to the manifestation of certain traits.

According to them, the genes are responsible for the gradual accumulation of “deficits” that manifest in great force later as to affect behavior. The emergence of the field of behavioral genetics during the later part of the 20th century added credence to the theory that genes affect behavior. The genes have a role in the difference between aggressive and non-aggressive individuals. The large-scale study made by Reiss et al (2000) on 720 pairs of siblings (of similar sex) and their parents revealed the great influence of genetic inheritance upon aggressive and sociable behaviors (Wright, Tibbetts & Daigle, 2008).

Their analyses showed that “69 percent of the stability of antisocial behavior” is attributed to genetic influences (Wright, Tibbetts & Daigle, 2008, p. 44). The report added that it is the change in genetic expression that alters the environment and level of stability. An example given by Wright, Tibbetts and Daigle (2008) on young individuals who formerly were shy or inhibited chose a different environment when they became more bold or vocal later in life. It scientifically accepted that genes do create traits susceptible of measurement, as well as influence continuity of behavior.

The present available data though cannot explain the process of genetic transformation that affects the criminal behavior traits. The mechanism that influences the changes in genetic manifestation is also unknown. Reference Wright, J. P., Tibbetts, S. G., & Daigle, L. E. (2008). Criminals in the making: Criminality across the life-course. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 1-70.