Theories of Crime
Criminology is the systematic study of crime, criminals, criminal behaviour and society's response. Theories of crime attempt to explain why people commit offences and how society reacts. The broad doctrinal families are classical (free will and deterrence), positivist (biological, psychological and sociological causation), interactionist (social construction and labelling), and modern integrated and life-course theories.
Edwin Sutherland (1947): 'Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of laws.' These three branches correspond to law, etiology and penology.
Classical school
The classical school emerged in the Enlightenment, reacting against arbitrary punishment.
- Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794), On Crimes and Punishments (1764) — argued for proportionality between crime and punishment, certainty and swiftness of punishment, abolition of torture and the death penalty.
- Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) — utilitarianism and the felicific calculus; punishment justified only if its pain exceeds the pleasure of the crime.
- Core assumption: people are rational actors with free will; crime is a calculated choice.
Neoclassicalism in the 19th century modified the pure free-will assumption by recognising mitigating factors (age, insanity, duress).
Positivist school
The positivist school emerged in late-19th-century Italy, applying scientific method to crime:
- Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909), L'uomo delinquente (1876) — born criminals identifiable by atavistic features; later discredited.
- Enrico Ferri — social and economic factors.
- Raffaele Garofalo — natural crime concept.
Positivism replaced free will with determinism: crime is caused by biological, psychological or social factors beyond the individual's full control.
- Classical: free will, hedonism, deterrence — punishment fits the crime.
- Positivist: determinism, scientific causation — treatment fits the offender.
- Modern criminology: integrative approaches; theories complement rather than compete.
- The Chicago School in 1920s–1930s bridged positivism to sociology.
Biological and psychological theories
| Theorist / Theory | Key claim |
|---|---|
| Lombroso (1876) | Atavistic stigmata — physical traits of "born criminals" |
| Sheldon (1949) | Somatotypes — mesomorph more prone to delinquency |
| Eysenck (1964) | Extraversion-neuroticism-psychoticism (PEN) personality model |
| Wilson & Herrnstein (1985) | Constitutional factors interact with social learning |
| Twin/adoption studies | Modest genetic contribution to antisocial behaviour |
| Bowlby (1944) | Maternal deprivation and delinquency |
Sociological theories
Social disorganisation (Chicago School)
Shaw and McKay (1942), studying Chicago, argued that transitional zones with high turnover, poverty and ethnic mix break down informal social controls — generating crime. Concentric Zone Model of Burgess underpinned their analysis.
Strain theories
- Émile Durkheim (The Division of Labor, 1893; Suicide, 1897) — anomie = normlessness.
- Robert K. Merton (1938, Social Structure and Anomie) — strain between culturally prescribed goals (e.g. wealth) and structurally available means produces five modes of adaptation: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion.
- Albert Cohen (1955, Delinquent Boys) — working-class boys form delinquent subcultures via "reaction formation".
- Robert Agnew (1992) — General Strain Theory: negative emotions (anger, frustration) lead to crime.
Subcultural theories
- Cloward and Ohlin (1960) — differential opportunity structures; criminal, conflict and retreatist subcultures.
- Walter Miller (1958) — lower-class focal concerns (trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy).
Social learning
- Edwin Sutherland (1939) — Differential Association Theory: criminal behaviour is learned in intimate personal groups, like any other behaviour.
- Ronald Akers (1973) — extended Sutherland with operant conditioning.
Control theories
- Travis Hirschi (1969, Causes of Delinquency) — Social Bond Theory: four elements of bond — attachment, commitment, involvement, belief — restrain delinquency.
- Gottfredson & Hirschi (1990) — Self-Control Theory (General Theory of Crime): low self-control acquired by age 8 predicts lifelong delinquency.
Labelling theory
- Howard Becker (1963, Outsiders) — deviance is a label applied by society, not an intrinsic property of the act.
- Edwin Lemert — primary (initial) and secondary deviance (reaction-induced).
Conflict and critical theories
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels — crime is a product of class struggle; capitalism criminalises survival.
- Willem Bonger (1916) — economic conditions and altruism vs. egoism.
- Critical criminology (Quinney, Taylor, Walton, Young) — focus on power, race, gender.
- Feminist criminology — Carol Smart (1977), Pat Carlen — patriarchal structures shape female criminality.
Routine activities theory
Cohen and Felson (1979) — crime occurs when three elements converge: motivated offender, suitable target, absence of capable guardian. This is the basis of much modern situational crime prevention.
For CSS, structure a theories-of-crime answer chronologically: (1) Classical (Beccaria 1764, Bentham); (2) Positivist (Lombroso 1876, Ferri); (3) Sociological — Chicago, Strain (Merton 1938), Subcultural (Cohen 1955), Differential Association (Sutherland 1939), Control (Hirschi 1969), Labelling (Becker 1963), Conflict; (4) Modern (Cohen & Felson 1979, Sampson & Laub 1993). Cite at least one work and date per theorist.
Integrated and life-course theories
- Sampson and Laub (1993, Crime in the Making) — age-graded informal social control: turning points (marriage, employment, military) can redirect delinquent trajectories.
- Moffitt (1993) — dual taxonomy: life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited offenders.
- Catalano and Hawkins — Social Development Model.
- Tittle — Control Balance Theory.
- Farrington (Cambridge Study) — longitudinal evidence on developmental risk factors.
Theory application in Pakistan
Pakistani criminology has only recently emerged as a distinct discipline. Major research themes:
- Honour-related crimes: subcultural and patriarchal-control explanations.
- Terrorism and radicalisation: social disorganisation in tribal regions; strain in urban contexts.
- Drug trafficking: routine activities and rational choice.
- Cybercrime: differential association and online subcultures.
The National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (NICFS) and university departments at the University of Karachi, Punjab and NIPS contribute applied research, while the National Police Bureau and provincial police think-tanks generate intelligence-led policing data.
Critique and synthesis
Modern criminology eschews single-cause explanations. Integrated theories combine biological, psychological and sociological insights. Developmental criminology maps risk and protective factors across the life course. Evidence-based policy — programmes evaluated by randomised trials and meta-analysis — has displaced ideological debates. Pakistan's CSS curriculum increasingly reflects this pluralist consensus.