Understanding Crime & Victimization Theories Review

Assumes that a potential offender thinks about the costs and benefits of their actions before committing a crime.

• Rational Choice Theory

• Behavioral Theory

• Psychodynamic Theory

• Situational Crime

people make decisions based on how they perceive the environment they live in. This is going to be different for everyone depending on their psychological differences.

• Personality Theory

• Behavioral Theory

• Cognitive Theory

• Psychodynamic Theory

States that a strong, healthy bond will produce a healthy person who should not feel the need to engage in criminal activity. An unhealthy relationship or broken bond with a person's parents can result in the individual engaging in criminal or dangerous and violent behaviors.

• Cognitive Theory

• Nature vs. Nurture

• Personality Theory

• Behavioral Theory

This theory is comprised of three factors:

• psychophysiology - signals from body to brain, such as heart rate

• brain mechanisms - the brain's structural ability to function in a healthy way

• genetics - the specific genes a person has that will impact their ability to make decisions

• Cognitive Theory

• Nature vs. Nurture

• Behavioral Theory

• Psychodynamic Theory

This theory is based on the belief that all choices result from unconscious forces operating within a person's mind. These unconscious forces are created when the child goes through certain stages in childhood.

• Cognitive Theory

• Behavioral Theory

• Nature vs. Nurture

• Psychodynamic Theory

This theory is based on the idea that a person either has a criminal personality or does not.

• Cognitive Theory

• Behavioral Theory

• Psychodynamic Theory

• Personality Theory

According to this theory, the probability a person will engage in criminal or deviant behavior will increase when they interact with other people who are already engaged in these criminal or deviant behaviors.

• Situation Theory

• Social Learning Theory

• Social Reaction Theory "Labeling Theory"

• Behavioral Theory

When a person engages in criminal behavior, they will be labeled as a "criminal." Once a person is labeled as a criminal by the society and community they live in, they accept this label and act the part. People are more likely to continue the criminal behavior as they now have a part to play in their community.

• Social Reaction Theory "Labeling Theory"

• Social Learning Theory

• Situational Crime

• Cognitive Theory

This is the result of an interaction between opportunity and situation. Offenders choose to commit crime based on their perceptions of available opportunities. This means that people are more likely to engage in criminal behaviors, if the opportunity presents itself to them.

• Behavioral Theory

• Social Learning Theory

• Situational Crime

• Rational Choice Theory