The Psychology of Crime

Roy, Saberi. "The Psychology of Crime." Ezine Articles. N.p., 11 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

This article talked about the social-personal-moral dimensions of criminal behavior as well as what are criminals true motives to commit crimes.  The social aspect has to do with family and the environment the criminal interacts with.  For example, a child could choose to be involved in social things that are positive like art, sports and knowledge.  Or the child could become involved in the negative things like drugs, crime and alcohol.  Whichever path the child chooses is all due to how they have been treated at home and by their family.  The personal aspect deals with the person’s personality and dispositions.  Personality disorders are often a big factor in criminal behavior because the criminals try to escape reality through their criminal behaviors.  The last aspect, moral, talked about as the criminal is developing as a child they fail to develop the proper moral reasoning the average child develops.  Meaning they don't properly learn what is morally right and wrong and are constantly looking to break the law and challenge authority.  Some of the motives that drive people to engage in criminal activity include:   jealousy/envy, frustration, mental disorder, personal failures, family environment, influence of drugs/alcohol and social groups.  But the main thing is that the motives behind each criminal act are different for each criminal. 

I really enjoyed reading this article.  I found it very insightful and it makes a lot of sense.  Your childhood and childhood experiences really make up who you are.  An example of this is seen in the tv show Criminal Minds.  One of the agents, Morgan, was sexually abused as a child.  His life could have gone one of two ways.  He could become a criminal or a person that catches them.  He chose to help catch the criminals were as others don't take the same route he did.  I'm in AP Psychology now and when I read the paragraph on the moral reasoning of criminals, it makes sense.  Obviously something went wrong along the way and that made the person not develop their moral reasoning fully.  The first step of moral reasoning is avoiding punishment and obedience and if you can't fully develop how to avoid being punished and to do what you are told then you may become active in committing criminal acts.