SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME AND ETHICS

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY OF

CRIMES (CRIM 1)

CRIMINOLOGY
- the entire body of knowledge regarding crimes,
criminals and the efforts of society to prevent and
repress them
- a body of knowledge regarding delinquency and crime
as a social phenomenon; it includes within its
scope, the making of laws, the breaking of laws and
the reactions toward the breaking of laws (Edwin
Sutherland)
- the scientific study of the causes of crime in
relation to man and society who set and define rules
and regulations for himself and others to govern
- the study of crimes, causes of crimes, the meaning
of crime in terms of law and community reaction to
crime
- the study that aims to explain the connection
between crime and the personal characteristics of
the offender including his environment

The scientific study of crimes and criminals is

extended in three basic lines:

1) nature of criminal law and its administration

2) causes of crimes and behavior of criminals
3) control of crimes and rehabilitation of offenders

NATURE OF CRIMINOLOGY

1) It is an applied science.
In the study of the causes of crimes, anthropology,
psychology, sociology and other natural sciences may be
applied. While in crime detection, chemistry, medicine,
physics, mathematics, ballistics, polygraphy, questioned
document examination may be utilized. This is called
instrumentation.
2) It is a social science.
In as much as crime is a social creation, that it
exists in a society being a social phenomenon, its study
must be considered a part of social science.

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3) It is dynamic.
Criminology changes as social condition changes. It is
concomitant with the advancement of other sciences that have
been applied to it.
4) It is nationalistic.
The study of crimes must be in relation with the
existing criminal law within a territory or country. The
question as to whether an act is a crime is dependent on the
criminal law of a state. It follows therefore that the
causes of crime must be determined from its social needs and
standards.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY

1) study of the origin and development of criminal law

2) study of the causes of crimes and development of
criminals.
3) study of the different factors that enhances the
development of criminal behavior, such as:
a) criminal demography – the study of the
relationship between criminality and population
b) criminal epidiomology – the study of the
relationship between environment and criminality
c) criminal ecology – the study of criminality in
relation to the spatial distribution in a
community
d) criminal physical anthropology – the study of
criminality in relation to physical constitution
of men
e) criminal psychology – the study of human behavior
in relation to criminality
f) criminal psychiatry – the study of human mind in
relation to criminality
g) victimology – the study of the role of the victim
in the commission of a crime

CRIME
- an act or omission in violation of a public law
forbidding or commanding it

TRIANGLE OF CRIME/ELEMENTS OF CRIME

1) DESIRE
2) CAPABILITY/ABILITY
3) OPPORTUNITY

CRIME OF COMMISSION
- an act that is in violation of a law forbidding it

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 - performing an act that is prohibited by law

CRIME OF OMISSION
- an act that is in violation of a law commanding it
- failure to perform an act that is commanded by law

ACT
- any action with outward manifestation
- overt and physical action done in pursuance and
manifestation of a criminal design or intent

SUB-CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES

1) FELONY
- an act or omission punishable by law which is
committed by means of dolo (deceit) or culpa
(fault)and punishable under the Revised Penal Code
2) OFFENSE
- an act or omission in violation of a special law
3) INFRACTION
- an act or omission in violation of a city or municipal
ordinance

ELEMENTS OF A FELONY

a) INTENTIONAL FELONIES:
- felonies committed by means of dolo (deceit)
- the act or omission is performed with deliberate
intent or malice
1) freedom or voluntariness
o when the person acted on his own accord, without
irresistible force and/or uncontrollable fear
2) intelligence
o when the person who committed the crime has the
ability to determine what is right from what is
wrong and to realize the consequences of one’s act
3) intent
o when the person knowingly and purposely committed
the crime to effect the desired result

b) CULPABLE FELONIES:
- felonies committed by means of culpa (fault)
- the act or omission of the offender is not
malicious and the injury caused by the offender is
unintentional, it being simply the incident of
another act performed without malice
1) imprudence

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 o deficiency in action; failure to take the
necessary precaution to prevent the danger due to
carelessness
2) negligence
o deficiency in perception; failure to foresee the
danger
3) lack of foresight
o when the crime resulted due to the person’s
inability to predict the obvious possible outcome
of his actions
4) lack of skill
o when the crime resulted because the person does
not have the necessary skill to perform the action
safely

LEGAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES

1) as to the manner crimes are committed:

a) by means of dolo or deceit
b) by means of culpa or fault

2) as to the stages in the commission of crimes:

a) consummated crime – when all the elements
necessary for its execution and accomplishment are
present
b) frustrated crime – when the offender has performed
all the acts of execution which will produce the
felony as a consequence but which nevertheless do
not produce it, by reason of causes independent of
the will of the perpetrator

c) attempted crime - when the offender commences the

commission of a crime directly by overt acts and
does not perform all the acts of execution which
should produce the felony by reason of some cause
or accident other than his own spontaneous
desistance

3) according to plurality:
a) simple crime – single act constituting only one
offense
b) complex crime – single act constituting two or more
grave felonies or an act is a necessary means for
committing the other (ex. Robbery with Homicide,
Robbery with Rape,

4) according to gravity:

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 a) grave felonies – those to which the law attaches
the capital punishment or afflictive
penalties
b) less grave felonies – those to which the law
attaches correccional penalties
c) light felonies – those to which the law attaches
the penalty of arresto menor or a fine not
exceeding P200.00

CRIMINOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMES

1) according to the result of the crime:

a) acquisitive crime – the offender acquires
something
b) extinctive crime – the consequence of the act is
destructive
2) according to the time or period of the commission of
the crime:
a) seasonal crime – committed only during a certain
period of the year
b) situational crime – committed only when the
situation is conducive to its commission
3) according to the length of time of the commission of
the crime:
a) instant crime – committed in the shortest possible
time
b) episoidal crime – committed by a series of acts in
a lengthy space of time
4) according to the place or location:
a) static crime – committed in only one place
b) continuing crime – committed in several places
5) according to the use of mental faculties:
a) rational crime – committed with intent and the
offender is in full possession of his sanity
b) irrational crime – committed by an offender who
does not know the nature and quality of his act on
account of the disease of the mind
6) according to the type of offender:
a) white-collar crime – committed by a person
belonging to the upper socio-economic class in the
course of his occupational activities
b) blue-collar crime – committed by ordinary
professional criminal to maintain his livelihood

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CRIME STATISTICS
- attempts to provide a statistical measure of the
level, or amount of, crime that is prevalent in
societies
- usually refers to figures compiled by the police and
similar law enforcement agencies

INDEX CRIMES
- crimes which are sufficiently significant and which
occur with sufficient regularity to be meaningful,
such as murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery,
theft and rape

NON-INDEX CRIMES
- all types of crimes not considered as index crimes

CRIME RATE
- measure of the rate of occurrence of crimes
committed in a given area and time
- the number of crimes committed among a given number
of persons
- the number of crimes committed per 100,000
population
- stated mathematically:

number of crimes
crime rate = _______________________ X 100,000

total number of population

CRIME INCIDENCE
- the number of crimes reported as to index or non-
index within a given period

CRIMINAL
- in the legal sense, a criminal is any person who has
been found to have committed a wrongful act in the
course of the standard judicial process; there must
be a final verdict of his guilt
- in the criminological sense, a person is already
considered a criminal the moment he committed a
crime

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF CRIMINALS

1) on the basis of etiology:

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 a) acute criminals – persons who violate criminal law
because of the impulse of the moment, fit of
passion or anger
b) chronic criminals – persons who acted in
consonance with deliberated thinking, such as:
b.1) neurotic criminals – persons whose actions
arise from the intra-psychic conflict between
the social and anti-social components of his
personality
b.2) normal criminals – persons whose psychic
organization resembles that of a normal
individual except that he identifies himself
with criminal prototype
2) on the basis of behavioral system:
a) ordinary criminals – the lowest form of criminal
career; they engage only in conventional crimes
which require limited skill
b) organized criminals – these criminals have a high
degree of organization that enables them to commit
crimes without being detected and committed to
specialized activities which can be operated in
large scale businesses
c) professional criminals – these are highly skilled
and able to obtain considerable amount of money
without being detected because of organization and
contact with other professional criminals
3) on the basis of activities:
a) professional criminals – those who earn their
living through criminal activities
b) accidental criminals – those who commit criminal
acts as a result of unanticipated circumstances
c) habitual criminals – those who continue to commit
criminal acts for such diverse reasons due to
deficiency of intelligence and lack of control
d) situational criminals – those who are actually not
criminals but get in trouble with legal
authorities because they commit crimes intermixed
with legitimate economic activities

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF CRIMINAL LAW

CRIMINAL LAW or PENAL LAW

- that branch of public law which defines crimes,
treats of their nature and provides for their
punishment

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REVISED PENAL CODE (ACT 3815)
- the book that contains the Philippine criminal law
- effectivity of the RPC is 1 January 1932

CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAL LAW

1) It is general in application/ GENERALITY:
The provisions of the criminal or penal law must be
applied equally to all persons within the territory
regardless of sex, race, nationality and other personal
circumstances, with the following exceptions:
a) heads of state or country
b) foreign diplomats and ambassadors
2) It is territorial in character/ TERRITORIALITY:
As part of the right of a state to self-preservation,
each independent country has the right to promulgate laws
enforceable within its territorial jurisdiction, subject
only to the limitations imposed by treaties of preferential
applications and by the operation of international law of
nations. The Revised Penal Code and the other special laws
are applicable only to the areas within the Philippine
territorial jurisdiction, such as:
a) Philippine archipelago – all the islands that comprise
the Philippines
b) atmosphere water – all bodies of water that connect all
the islands such as bays, rivers and streams
c) maritime zone – the three (3) mile limit beyond our
shore measured at low tide

EXCEPTIONS TO THE TERRITORIAL CHARACTER OF THE REVISED

PENAL CODE:

The Revised Penal Code shall be applicable to all cases

committed outside the Philippine territorial jurisdiction
under the following circumstances:
a) should commit an offense while on Philippine ship or
airship;
b) should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency
note of the Philippine Island or obligations and
securities issued by the government of the
Philippines;
c) while being a public officer or employee, should
commit an offense in the exercise of their functions
d) should commit any of the crimes against national
security and law of nations
3) It is prospective or irretrospective/PROSPECTIVITY:
No person may be punished for his act when at the time
he committed the act, it is still not yet punishable by law.

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However, penal laws may be given retroactive effect when it
is favorable to the accused.
4) It is specific and definite.
Criminal law must give a strict definition of a
specific act which constitutes an offense. Where there is
doubt as to whether a definition embodied in the Revised
Penal Code applies to the accused or not, the judge is
obligated to decide the case in favor of the accused.
Criminal law must be construed liberally in favor of the
accused and strictly against the state.
5) It is uniform in application.
An act described as a crime is a crime no matter who
committed it, wherever committed in the Philippines and
whenever committed. No exceptions must be made as to the
criminal liability. The definition of crimes together with
the corresponding punishment must be uniformly construed,
although there may be a difference in the enforcement of a
given specific provision of the penal law.
6) There must be a penal sanction or punishment.
Penal sanction is the most essential part of the
definition of the crime. If there is no penalty to a
prohibited act, its enforcement will almost be impossible.
The penalty is acting as a deterrence and as a measure of
self-defense of the state to protect society from the threat
and wrong inflicted by the criminal.

THE EVOLUTION OF CRIMINOLOGY

ORIGIN OF THE WORD “CRIMINOLOGY”

The term criminology was derived from the Italian term

“criminologia” coined by Raffaelle Garofalo, an Italian law
professor, in 1885.

In 1887, Paul Topinard, a French anthropologist, used

the term “criminologie”.

An American criminologist in the person of Edwin

Sutherland introduced his own definition of the term
“criminology”. According to him, criminology is the entire
body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.
It includes within its scope the process of making laws, of
breaking laws and of reacting towards the breaking of the
laws.

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EVOLUTION OF CRIMINAL LAWS

A) PREHISTORIC CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Primitive Tribes
- punishment may be in the form of ostracism and
expulsion
- adultery may be punished by the aggrieved husband who
may kill the adulterer and his own offending wife
- crime may be avenged by the victim himself or by the
victim’s family
B) THE EARLY CODES
1) CODE OF HAMMURABI
- Hammurabi, the king of Babylon during the eighteenth
century BC, is recognized as the first codifier of laws
- it provides the first comprehensive view of the laws in
the early days
- the Code was carved in stone
- the “law of talion”, or the principle of “tit for tat”,
(an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth) appears
throughout the Code
- under the principle of the law of talion, the
punishment should be the same as the harm inflicted on
the victim
Highlights of the Code of Hammurabi:
a) compensation to the victim of a robbery by the
authorities of the city in which the robbery occurred
if the thief was not caught
b) the killer is answerable not to the family of the
victim but to the king
c) death was the penalty for robbery, theft, false
witness, building a house that falls on its owner
(if the house should collapse and kill the owner’s son,
the son of the builder would be the one executed)
d) a son who struck his father would suffer the amputation
of a hand
e) if in an assault a victim’s bone was broken, the same
bone of the assailant would be broken
2) THE HITTITES
- the Hittites existed about two centuries after
Hammurabi and eventually conquered Babylon
Highlights of the laws of the Hittites:
- capital punishment was used for many offenses, except
for homicide or robbery
- rape, sexual intercourse with animals, defiance of the
authority and sorcery were all punishable by death

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- the law of homicide provided for the restitution to the
victim’s heirs
- law enforcement and judicial functions were placed in
the hands of commanders of military garrisons
3) CODE OF DRAKON
- knows as the “ultimate in severity”
- codified by Drakon, the Athenian lawgiver of the
seventh century BC
Highlights of the Code of Drakon:
- death was the punishment for almost every offense
- murderers might avoid execution by going into exile; if
they return to Athens, it was not a crime to kill them
- death penalty was administered with great brutality
4) LAWS OF SOLON
- Solon was appointed archon and was given legislative
powers
- Solon repealed all the laws of the Code of Drakon,
except the law on homicide
- Solon was one of the first to see that a lawgiver had
to make laws that applied equally to all citizens and
also saw that the law of punishment had to maintain
proportionality to the crimes committed
Highlights of the Laws of Solon:
- the thief was required to return stolen property and
pay the victim a sum equal to twice its value
- for the crime of temple robbery, the penalty was death
- for rape of a woman, the penalty was a fine of certain
amount
5) ROME’S TWELVE TABLES
- Roman law began with the Twelve Tables which were
written in the middle of the sixth century BC
- the Twelve Tables were the foundation of all laws in
Rome and written in tablets of bronze
- the Twelve Tables were drafted by the Decemvirs, a
body of men composed of patricians
Highlights of the Twelve Tables:
- if a man break another’s limb and does not
compensate the injury, he shall be liable to
retaliation
- a person who committed arson of a house or a stack
of corn shall be burned alive
- judges who accepted bribes as well as those who
bribed them were subject to execution
- any act of treason was punishable by crucifixion

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY

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CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

This school of thought is based on the assumption that

individuals choose to commit crimes after weighing the
consequences of their actions. According to classical
criminologists, individuals have free will. They can choose
legal or illegal means to get what they want, fear of
punishment can deter them from committing crime and society
can control behavior by making the pain of punishment
greater than the pleasure of the criminal gains.

This theory, however, does not give any distinction

between an adult and a minor or a mentally-handicapped in as
far as free will is concerned.

FOUNDERS OF THE CLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

1) CESARE BONESANA MARCHESE DI BECCARIA (1738-1794)

- published a book entitled “On Crimes and Punishment”
in 1764; this book presented a coherent and
comprehensive design for an enlightened criminal
justice system that was to serve the people
- his book contains almost all modern penal reforms
but its greatest contribution was the foundation it
laid for subsequent changes in criminal legislation
- his book was influential in the reforms of penal
code in France, Russia, Prussia and it influenced
the first ten amendments to the US Constitution

HIGHLIGHTS OF CESARE BECCARIA’S IDEAS REGARDING CRIMES AND

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

“In forming a human society, men and women sacrifice a

portion of their libery so as to enjoy peace and security.”
“Punishments that go beyond the need of preserving the
public safety are in their nature unjust.”
“Criminal laws must be clear and certain. Judges must
make uniform judgments in similar crimes.”
“The law must specify the degree of evidence that will
justify the detention of an accused offender prior to his
trial.”
“Accusations must be public. False accusations should
be severely punished.”
“To torture accused offenders to obtain a confession
is inadmissible.”

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 “The promptitude of punishment is one of the most
effective curbs on crime.”
“The aim of punishment can only be to prevent the
criminal from committing new crimes against his countrymen,
and to keep others from doing likewise. Punishments,
therefore, and the method of inflicting them, should be
chosen in due proportion to the crime, so as to make the
most lasting impression on the minds of men…”
“Capital punishment is inefficacious and its place
should be substituted life imprisonment.”
“It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them.
That is the chief purpose of all good legislation.”

JEREMY BENTHAM
- founded the concept of UTILITARIANISM – assumes that
all our actions are calculated in accordance with
their likelihood of bringing pleasure and pain
- devised the pseudo-mathematical formula called
“felicific calculus” which states that individuals
are human calculators who put all the factors into
an equation in order to decide whether a particular
crime is worth committing or not
- he reasoned that in order to deter individuals from
committing crimes, the punishment, or pain, must be
greater than the satisfaction, or pleasure, he would
gain from committing the crime

NEOCLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY

This theory modified the doctrine of free will by

stating that free will of men may be affected by other
factors and crime is committed due to some compelling
reasons that prevail. These causes are pathology,
incompetence, insanity or any condition that will make it
impossible for the individual to exercise free will
entirely. In the study of legal provisions, this is termed
as either mitigating or exempting circumstances.

POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY

ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPT OF POSITIVISM

During the nineteenth century, the first social

scientists began to apply the scientific method to the study
of society. August Comte described how as society
progressed, people embraced a rational, scientific view of
the world. He called this final stage the positive stage of

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human social development, and those who followed his
writings became known as positivists. Those who embraced
positivism relied on the strict use of empirical methods –
factual, firsthand observations, and measurement of
conditions and events – to test hypotheses.
Positive theorists were the first to claim the
importance of looking at individual difference among
criminals. These theorists who concentrated on the
individual structures of a person, stated that people are
passive and controlled, whose behaviors are imposed upon
them by biological and environmental factors.

(UN)HOLY THREE OF CRIMINOLOGY

CESARE LOMBROSO, ENRICO FERRI and RAFAELLE GAROFALO

AUGUST COMPTE
- considered the FATHER OF POSITIVIST SCHOOL OF
CRIMINOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
- applied scientific methods in the study of society
from where he adopted the word “sociology”
- his work prompted scientific studies of human social
behavior

CESARE LOMBROSO
- considered the FATHER OF MODERN CRIMINOLOGY due to
his application of modern scientific methods to
trace criminal behavior, however, most of his ideas
are now discredited
- he claimed that criminals are distinguishable from
non-criminals due to the presence of atavistic
stigmata – the physical features of creatures at an
earlier stage of development
- he asserted that crimes are committed by those who
are born with certain recognizable hereditary traits
- according to his theory, criminals are usually in
possession of huge jaws and strong canine teeth, the
arm span of criminals is often greater than their
height, just like that of apes who use their
forearms to push themselves along the ground
- other physical stigmata include deviation in head
size and shape, asymmetry of the face, excessive
dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones, eye defects
and peculiarities, ears of unusual size, nose
twisted, upturned or flattened in thieves, or
aqualine or beaklike in murderers, fleshy lips,

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 swollen and protruding, and pouches in the cheek
like those of animal’s toes
- Lombroso’s work supported the idea that the criminal
was a biologically and physically inferior person
- according to him, there are three (3) classes of
criminals:
1) born criminals – individuals with at least five
(5) atavistic stigmata
2) insane criminals – those who are not criminals by
birth; they become criminals as a result of some
changes in their brains which interfere with their
ability to distinguish between right and wrong
3) criminaloids - those with make up of an ambiguous
group that includes habitual criminals, criminals
by passion and other diverse types

DIFFERENT APPROACHES UNDER THE POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY

A) BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

This explanation for the existence of criminal traits

associates an individual’s evil disposition to physical
disfigurement or impairment.

1) GIAMBATTISTA DELA PORTA (1535-1615)

- Italian physician who founded the school of human
physiognomy, the study of facial features and
their relation to human behavior; the study of
judging a person’s character from facial features
to determine whether the shape of the ears, nose
and eyes and the distances between them were
associated with anti-social behavior

2) JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER (1741-1801)

- Swiss theologian who believed that people’s true
characters and inclinations could be read from
their facial features

3) FRANZ JOSEPH GALL (1758-1828)

- born in Germany, a renowned neuroanatomist and
physiologist and a pioneer in the study of the
localization of mental functions in the brain
- developed cranioscopy, a method to study the
personality and development of mental and moral
faculties based on the external shape of the skull

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 - cranioscopy was later renamed as phrenology, the
study that deals with the relationship between the
skull and human behavior

4) CHARLES GORING
- also studied phrenology or craniology which deals
with the study of the external formation of the
skull indicating the conformation of the brain and
the development of its various parts which is
directly related to the behavior of the criminal
- he believed that criminal characteristics were
inherited and recommended that people with such
characteristics should not be allowed to reproduce
- according to him, people with epilepsy, insanity
and feeblemindedness were among those who should
not be allowed to have children

5) JOHANN KASPAR SPURZHEIM (1776-1832)

- German phrenologist who was the assistant of Gall
- he was the man most responsible for popularizing
and spreading phrenology to a wide audience

PHYSIOLOGY OR SOMATOTYPE
- this refers to the study of the body build of a
person in relation to his temperament and
personality and the type of offense he is most prone
to commit.
- this study which searches the relationship of body
build to behavior became popular during the first
half of the twentieth century.

The following are the proponents of the somatotype

school of criminology:

1) ERNST KRETCHMER
- he correlated body build and constitution with
characters or temperamental reactions and mentality
- he distinguished three (3) principal types of
physiques:
a) asthenic – lean, slightly built, narrow shoulders;
their crimes are petty thievery and fraud
b) athletic – medium to tall, strong, muscular,
coarse bones; they are usually connected with
crimes of violence
c) pyknic – medium height, rounded figures, massive
neck, broad face; they tend to commit deception,
fraud and violence

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2) WILLIAM SHELDON
- formulated his own group of somatotype:

TYPE OF PHYSIQUE TEMPERAMENT

a) endomorphic - relatively large viscerotonic – generally

digestive viscera; round body; relax and comfortable
short, tapering limbs; small person, loves luxury and
bones; smooth, velvety skin essentially extrovert

b) mesomorphic – with relative romotonic – active,

predominance of muscles, bones dynamic; walks, talks
and motor organs of the body and gestures assertively
with large wrist and hands and behaves aggressively

c) ectomorphic – relative pre- cerebrotonic – introvert

dominance of skin and its
appendages which includes
the nervous system; it has
fragile and delicate bones;
with droopy shoulders, small
face and sharp nose, fine hair
and with relatively small body
prone to allergies, skin
troubles, chronic
fatigue, insomnia, sen-
sitive skin and sensi-
tive to noise

HEREDITY AS A FACTOR IN CRIMINALITY

1) RICHARD DUGDALE
- he studied the lives of the members of the JUKES FAMILY
and referred to ADA JUKES as the MOTHER OF CRIMINALS
- he discovered that from among the descendants of Ada
Jukes, there were 280 paupers, 60 thieves, 7 murderers,
40 other criminals, 40 persons with venereal diseases
and 50 prostitutes
- he claimed that since families produce generations of
criminals, they must have been transmitting degenerate
traits down the line

2) HENRY GODDARD
- he studied the lives of the KALLIKAK FAMILY and found
that among the descendants from MARTIN KALLIKAK’s
relationship with a feeble-minded lady, there were 143
feeble-minded and only 46 normal, 36 were illegitimate,
3 epileptics, 3 criminals, 8 kept brothels and 82 died
of infancy; his marriage with a woman from a good
family produced almost all normal descendants, only 2
were alcoholics, 1 was convicted of religious offense,
15 died at infancy and no one became criminal or
epileptic

INTELLIGENCE AS A FACTOR IN CRIMINALITY

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 The classic studies of the Juke and Kallikak families
were among the first to show that feeblemindedness or low-
intelligence can be inherited and transferred from one
generation to the next. Numerous test were also conducted
that lead to the development of the use of IQ tests as a
testing procedure for offenders. The very first results
seemed to confirm that offenders had low mental abilities
and they were found to be mentally impaired.

B. PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

This explains the psychological determinants which

define behavior of a person. This idea has long been
hatched by thinkers who were consumed by the belief that it
is the psychological equivalents that prod the person to act
the way he does.

There are many ways to classify psychological theories

of crime causation. But the common assumption of these
theories is that there is something wrong with the mind of
the offender which caused him to commit crimes.

From among the many theories regarding the relationship

of psychology and crime, the psychoanalytic theory by
Sigmund Freud is the most notable:

1) SIGMUND FREUD
- he is recognized as the FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
- he founded the PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF CRIMINALITY in
which he attributed delinquent and criminal behavior to
a conscience that is overbearing which arouses feelings
of guilt or a conscience that is so weak that it cannot
control the individual’s impulses and the need for
immediate gratification
- in his theory, PERSONALITY IS COMPRISED OF THREE
COMPONENTS:

a) ID – this stands for instinctual drives; it

represents our unconscious biological needs for
food, water, sleep, sex and other life sustaining
necessities including aggression as well as
primitive needs that are present at birth; this
pleasure seeking part of human personality is
concerned about gratification of one’s wishes; it
is governed by the “pleasure principle”; the id
impulses are not social and must be repressed or

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 adapted so that they may become socially
acceptable

b) EGO – this is considered to be the sensible and

responsible part of an individual’s personality
and is governed by the “reality principle”; it is
developed early in life and compensates for the
demands of the id by helping the individual guide
his actions to remain within the boundaries of
accepted social behavior; it is the objective,
rational part of the personality

c) SUPEREGO – serves as the moral conscience of an

individual; it is that part of an individual’s
personality that allows the person to feel pride,
shame and guilt; it is structured by what values
were taught by the parents, the school and the
community, as well as belief in God; it is
largely responsible for making a person follow the
moral codes of society

- this position holds that criminals are driven by

unconscious thought patterns, developed in early
childhood, that control behaviors over the life course
- some people encounter problems during their early
development that cause an imbalance in their
personality
- crime is a manifestation of feelings of oppression and
people’s inability to develop the proper psychological
defenses to keep these feelings under control

2) RAFAELLE GAROFALO
- proposed that people commit crime due to some psychic
or MORAL ANOMALY, a deficiency in moral sensibilities
- he believed that certain people are morally less
developed than others due to environmental,
circumstantial and organic reasons

TYPE OF MENTAL DISORDERS

1) NEUROSIS

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- a common type of mental disorder used to explain
criminal behavior
- also referred to as hysteria or neurasthenia

2) PSYCHOSIS
- a more serious type of mental disorder, which can be
organic or functional
- psychotic people lose contact with reality and have
difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy
- the most common type of psychosis are the following:

a) SCHIZOPRENIA – also called dementia praecox;

characterized by distortions or withdrawal from
reality, disturbances of thoughts and language and
withdrawal from social contact; a condition marked
by incoherent thought process and lack of insight

b) PARANOIA - gradual impairment of the intellect,

characterized by delusions or hallucination

DELUSION – false belief

HALLUCINATION – false perception

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR – a false belief that you

are greater than everybody else

DELUSIONS OF PERSECUTION – a false belief that

other people are conspiring to kill, harm or
embarrass you

DELUSIONS OF REFERENCE – a false belief that

everybody is always talking about you

CRIMINAL PERSONALITY
- studies show that aggressive youth have unstable
personality structures often marked by hyperactivity,
impulsiveness and instability

PSYCHOPATHICPERSONALITY OR
ANTISOCIAL /SOCIOPATHIC PERSONALITY
- believed to be dangerous, aggressive, antisocial
individuals who act in callous manner, who neither
learn from their mistakes nor are deterred by
punishment
- they lack emotional depth, are incapable of caring for
others, and maintain an abnormally low level of anxiety

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 - they lack moral conscience, and therefore they have no
concept of what is right and wrong and legal and
illegal

C) SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

Sociological factors refer to things, places and people

with whom we come in contact with and which play a part in
determining our actions and conduct. These causes may bring
about the development of criminal behavior.

1) EMILE DURKHEIM
- one of the founding scholars of sociology
- published a book, “The Division of Labor in Society”,
which became a landmark work on the organization of
societies
- according to him:
a) crime is as normal a part of society as birth and
death
b) crime is part of human nature because it has
existed during periods of both poverty and
prosperity
c) as long as human differences exists, which is one
of the fundamental conditions of society, it is
but natural and expected that it will result to
criminality
- one of his profound contributions to contemporary
criminology is the concept of anomie, the breakdown of
social order as a result of loss of standards and
values
- according to him, the explanation of human conduct and
human misconduct lies not in the individual himself but
in the group and social organization
- his ideas had become what is known as the ANOMIE THEORY

2) GABRIEL TARDE
- introduced the Theory of Imitation, which governs the
process by which people become criminals
- according to him, individuals emulate behavior patterns
in much the same way that they copy styles of dress
- the Theory of Imitation is explained by the following
patterns:
a) Pattern 1: individuals imitate others in
proportion to the intensity and frequency of their
contact
b) Pattern 2: inferiors imitate superiors

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 c) Pattern 3: when two behavior patterns clash, one
may take the place of the other

3) ADOLPHE QUETELET and ANDRE MICHAEL GUERRY

- he repudiated the free will doctrine of the classicists
- he founded what is known as the CARTHOGRAPHIC SCHOOL OF
CRIMINOLOGY, together with ANDRE MICHAEL GUERRY
- this study used social statistical data and provided
important demographic information on the population,
including density, gender, religious affiliations and
social economic status
- he gathered data to investigate the influence of social
factors on the commission of crimes
- he found a strong influence of age, sex, climate
condition, population composition and economic status
in criminality

4) ENRICO FERRI
- a member of the Italian parliament
- he believed that criminals could not be held morally
responsible because they did not choose to commit
crimes but was driven to commit them by conditions of
their lives
- a follower of Lombroso, who was actually the one who
coined the term “born criminal” which was extensively
used by Lombroso
- he proposed that the commission of a crime was caused
by a number of factors including physical (race,
geographics, temperature and climate), anthropological
(age, sex, organic and psychological) and social
(customs, religion, economics and population density

MODERN EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMES AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

A) SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

- the view that a person’s position in the social
structure controls behaviour
- those in the lowest socioeconomic level are more likely
to succumb to crime-causing elements in their
environment
- whereas those in the highest level enjoy social and
economic advantages that protects them from crime-
producing forces

1) SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

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- focuses on the conditions within the urban environment
that affect crime rates
- links crime rate to neighborhood ecological
characteristics
- views crime-ridden neighborhoods as those in which
residents are uninterested in community matters,
therefore, the common sources of control – family,
school, church, barangay authorities – are weak and
disorganized
- also called differential social organization

2) STRAIN THEORY
- holds that crime is a function of the conflict between
the goals people have and the means they can use to
legally obtain them
- argues that the ability to obtain these goals is class
dependent: members of the lower class are unable to
achieve these goals which come easily to those
belonging to the upper class
- consequently, they feel anger, frustration and
resentment, referred to as STRAIN
- the commission of crimes with the aim of achieving
these goals result from this conflict

3) CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY

- combines the elements of both strain and
disorganization theories
- theorizes that in order to cope with social isolation
and economic deprivation, members of the lower class
create an independent subculture with its own set of
rules and values
- criminal behavior is an expression of conformity to
lower-class subcultural values

B) SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES

- maintains that people commit crimes as a result of the
experiences they have while they are being socialized
by the various organizations, institutions and
processes of society
- points to the link between criminal behaviour and
family problems, such as inconsistent discipline, poor
supervision and lack of warm, loving, supportive
parent-child relationship, as one essential factor in
criminality
- cites that educational experiences and socialization
have significant impact on criminality

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a) DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
- formulated by Edwin Sutherland
- believes that criminality is a function of a
learning process that could affect any individual
in any culture
- his theory is outlined as follows:
i. criminal behavior is learned;
ii. criminal behavior is learned in interaction
with other persons in a process of
communication;
iii. the principal part of learning of criminal
behavior occurs within an intimate personal
group;
iv. when criminal behavior is learned, the
learning includes techniques in committing
the crimes which are sometimes very simple,
the specific direction of motives, drives,
rationalization and attitudes;
v. the process of learning criminal behavior by
association with criminal and anti-criminal
patterns involves all of the mechanisms that
are involved in any other learning

b) DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT THEORY

- according to this theory, people strike a balance
between being “all-deviant” and “all-conforming”
- behavior persists depending on the degree to which
it was rewarded or punished

C) SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY

- maintains that all people have the potential to violate
the law and that modern society presents many
opportunities for illegal activities
- argues that people obey the law because behavior and
passions are being controlled by internal and external
forces
- everyone has the potential to become a criminal but
most people are controlled by their bond to society,
and crime occurs when the forces that bind people to
society are weakened or broken
- assumes people are born “bad” and must be controlled to
be “good”
D) SOCIAL REACTION THEORY
- also called LABELING THEORY
- holds that people enter into law-violating careers when
they are labeled for their acts and organize their
personalities around the labels

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- negative labels have dramatic influence on the self-
image of offenders
- says people become criminals when significant members
of society label them as such and they accept those
labels as a personal identity
- assumes that whether “good” or “bad”, people are
controlled by the reactions of others

VICTIMOLOGY
- the study of victimization, including the relationships
between victims and offenders, the interactions between
victims and the criminal justice system -- that is, the
police and courts, and corrections officials -- and the
connections between victims and other societal groups
and institutions, such as the media, businesses, and
social movements
- the study of the victims of crime, and especially of
the reasons why some people are more prone to be
victims

VICTIM/VICTIM OF CRIME/CRIME VICTIM

- the identifiable person who has been harmed
individually and directly by the perpetrator

VICTIM PATTERNS
- gender, age, marital status, income, victim-offender
relationships and ecology are some factors that affect
victimization risks

GENDER
- males are more likely to become victims of robbery and
assault
- females are more likely to be victims of sexual assault
- when men are victims of violent crimes, the perpetrator
is usually described as a stranger
- females are more likely to be victimized by people they
know, like relatives, husbands or boyfriends

AGE
- young people face a much greater victimization risk
than older persons
- adolescents often stay out late at night, go to public
places and hang out in places where crime is most
likely to occur
- teens face a high victimization risk because they spend
a great deal of time in the presence of their

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 adolescent peers, the group most likely to commit
crimes

INCOME
- the poor are the most likely to become victims of
crimes because they live in areas that are crime prone

MARITAL STATUS
- unmarried or never married people are victimized more
often than married people
- unmarried people tend to be younger, and young people
have the highest victim risk
- married people and widows have much lower victimization
rates because they interact with older people and are
more likely to stay home at night and avoid public
places

VICTIM-OFFENDER RELATIONSHIPS
- women seem much more likely than men to be victimized
by acquaintances; a majority of female assault victims
know their assailants

ECOLOGY
- most victimizations occur in large, urban areas
- rural and suburban victim rates are lower
- most incidents occur during the evening hours
- the most likely site for victimization is an open,
public area such as street, park, parking area and the
like

COMPILED FROM DIFFERENT REFERENCE MATERIALS BY:

JAMILLA GAY L ASALAN

Full-time Faculty, Philippine College of Criminology
Cum Laude, BS Criminology, 2003
Emilio Aguinaldo College-Manila, 2003
1st Placer, PRC Criminologist Licensure Examination
March 2004
Master of Science in Criminology
Major in Police Administration (thesis stage),
Emilio Aguinaldo College Graduate School