CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ACTION
Tenth Edition
Larry K. Gaines and Roger LeRoy Miller, Criminal Justice in Action, 10th Edition. © 2019 Cengage. All Rights
Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or
in part.
Chapter 2
Causes of Crime
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 1
• Discuss the difference between a hypothesis and a
theory in the context of criminology.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Role of Theory (1 of 2)
• Theory
• An explanation of a happening or circumstance that is
based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning
• Hypothesis
• A possible explanation for an observed occurrence that can
be tested by further investigation
• Tested using the scientific method
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Role of Theory (2 of 2)
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 2
• Summarize rational choice theory.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (1 of 6)
• Choice theory
• Offenders make a rational choice to commit crime.
• Defendant may not be punished as harshly if it can be
proven that she or he lacked the ability to make a rational
choice.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (2 of 6)
• Classical criminology
• Before committing a crime, a person weighs the benefits of
the crime against the costs of being apprehended.
• Cesare Beccaria: Essays on Crime and Punishments
• Decisions are a result of rational choices.
• Fear of punishment has a deterrent effect.
• Swift and certain punishment is the most powerful deterrent to
criminal offending.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (3 of 6)
• Positivism
• Criminal behavior is determined by biological, psychological,
and social forces beyond the control of the individual.
• Cesare Lombroso is the “Father of Criminology.”
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (4 of 6)
• Rational choice theory
• Before committing a crime, a person acts as if he or she is
weighing the benefits against the costs.
• If the perceived benefits are greater than the potential costs,
the person is more likely to commit the crime.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 3
• Explain how brain-scanning technology is able to help
scientists determine if an individual is at risk for
criminal offending.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (5 of 6)
• Genetics: a branch of biology that deals with traits that are passed
through generations.
• When the warrior gene is combined with history of abuse as child,
there is an increased risk for violence.
• Criminal activity in males is linked to elevated levels of testosterone.
• Neurocriminology is the study of how genetics and brain activity
influence criminal behavior.
• While there may be a correlation between mental illness and
violence, such illnesses cannot be said to cause violent behavior.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
The Brain and The Body (6 of 6)
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
• The id, ego, and superego
• Social psychology
• How humans relate to and influence one another
• Trait theory
• Biological and psychological views of criminality that suggest
antisocial behavior should be identified and treated before it
manifests itself
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 4
• List and describe the three theories of social structure
that help explain crime.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Bad Neighborhoods and Other Economic
Disadvantages (1 of 3)
• Sociological theories
• The Chicago School
• Social disorganization theory
• Strain theory
• Cultural deviance theory
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Bad Neighborhoods and Other Economic
Disadvantages (2 of 3)
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 5
• Describe the social conflict theory known as the social
reality of crime.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Bad Neighborhoods and Other Economic
Disadvantages (3 of 3)
• Social conflict theories
• Marxism versus capitalism
• Marx believed that capitalist economic systems necessarily produce income inequality
and lead to exploitation.
• Patterns of social justice
• Issues of race and ethnicity
• Racial threat theory: based on the hypothesis that, as the size of a minority group
increases in population and expands geographically, members of the majority group use
the criminal justice system to oppress those minority groups.
• Implications for public policy
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 6
• List and briefly explain the three branches of social
process theory.
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accessible website, in whole or in part.
Life Lessons and Criminal Behavior (1 of 2)
• Social process theories
• Learning theory
• Control theory
• Labeling theory
• Social process theory and public policy
• Crime prevention focuses on juvenile offenders and steering
them away from offending and the system.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 7
• Describe the importance of early childhood behavior
for those who subscribe to self-control theory.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Life Lessons and Criminal Behavior (2 of 2)
• Life course theories
• Self-control theory
• Possibility of change
• Life-course-persistent offenders
• Adolescent-limited offenders
• Turning points
• Life course theories relate to public policy
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 8
• Contrast the medical model of addiction with the
criminal model of addiction.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Link between Drugs and Crime (1 of 5)
• Social disorganization theory
• Control theory
• Learning process
• Techniques of drug use
• Perception of effects of drug use
• Enjoy the social experience of drug use
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Link between Drugs and Crime (2 of 5)
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Link between Drugs and Crime (3 of 5)
• Drug addiction and dependency
• Drug abuse is the use of drugs that results in physical or
psychological harm to the abuser or third parties.
• The brain’s dopaminergic system is the key to
understanding many drugs of abuse.
• The drug-crime relationship
• Drug-defined offenses—violation of drug laws
• Drug-related offenses—crimes motivated by drug abuse
• Drug-using lifestyle—rely on crime for means of survival
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Link between Drugs and Crime (4 of 5)
• Models of addiction
• The medical model of addiction
• Addicts are not criminals, but mentally or physically ill individuals
who are forced into acts of petty crime to “feed their habit.”
• Under the enslavement theory, addicts should be treated for their
addiction as a disease and not be punished as criminals.
• The criminal model of addiction
• Illegal drug abusers and addicts endanger society with their
behavior and should be punished the same as persons who commit
non drug-related crimes.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Link between Drugs and Crime (5 of 5)
• Marijuana law trends
• Legalization
• Decriminalization
• Issues
• Edibles
• Diversion
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Objective 9
• Explain the theory of the chronic offender and its
importance for the criminal justice system.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
Criminology from Theory to Practice
• Chronic offender
• Career criminal
• A small group of offenders (6%) are responsible for a
disproportionate amount of crime.
• Habitual offenders laws provide harsher sentences for
repeat offenders.
© 2019 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly
accessible website, in whole or in part.
