Criminal Behavior, Theories of

Social Factors

There is a vast criminological literature that identifies a wide range of environmental factors as causally linked to criminal behavior. These include developmental, social, and economic factors. For example, poverty is often cited as a socioeconomic condition linked to crime. The stress, strain, and frustration experienced by those lacking the financial resources to meet their needs and fulfill their desires through legitimate means renders them more inclined to commit crime than affluent individuals with ready access to legitimate means. Poor nutrition is an especially troubling aspect of poverty. Nutritional deficiencies can result in or exacerbate problems such as learning disabilities and poor impulse control. Such cognitive dysfunctions have been identified as precursors to delinquency and adult criminality. Thus, one's position in the social structure of society—as operationalized by variables such as level of income—can be a significant contributing factor in the criminal activities of some individuals by virtue of its impact on brain function.

Growing up in a household where parental displays of violence are commonplace can shape the behavior of children so as to make them more likely to respond to their own problems with violent means. While aggression and violence are not synonymous, that they are correlated is undeniable. Psychologist Albert Bandura demonstrated the importance of social learning in the development of aggressive behavior. Exposure to a violent role model may operate as a trigger of preexisting psychological and biological factors that predispose that individual to aggressive behavior. This may explain why only one of the two sons whose father assaults their mother grows up to beat his own wife—there were additional factors that rendered him more readily influenced by the violent model; or, conversely, the nonviolent son was resistant to the influence by virtue of individual “protective” factors, such as high IQ.

There is a substantial literature on a “cycle of violence” whereby victims of childhood abuse and neglect are predisposed to engage in violent behavior in adulthood, thus passing the violence from one generation to the next. Other research has examined the effects of being bullied during formative years, finding that the victims in turn become victimizers. In animal experiments, exposure to conditions of inescapable threat has been found to alter specific chemicals in the brain involved in aggression and the inhibition of aggression, with the result that formerly docile animals go on to display inappropriate and excessive aggression, attacking smaller, weaker animals whenever presented with them. In essence, they become the “playground bully.” Thus, a change in the environment—exposure to inescapable threat—leads to changes in biology, which lead to the changes in behavior. Empirical studies on the effects of child maltreatment reveal that in addition to psychological problems actual structural and functional damage to the developing brain may occur. These neurobiological effects may be an adaptive mechanism for living in that dangerous environment. Regardless, they also tend to predispose the individual to a range of psychiatric conditions, aggressive behaviors, and stress-related illnesses. Resilient children, so called because of their ability to thrive under high-risk conditions, appear to have cognitive capabilities (notably higher verbal intelligence) that enable them to adapt to their stressful environment. Understanding the mechanisms [Page 154]that underlie resilience may reveal deficits in those who succumb to the harmful effects of their disadvantaged or abusive childhood—often becoming delinquent and criminal as a result.

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