This chapter summarizes how biological and psychological thinkers have influenced our understanding of criminal behavior. Once criminology was wrestled away from those criminologists — such as Lombroso — by sociologists in the early part of the twentieth century, sociologists came to dominate criminological thinking and research. While criminology has moved to include the thinking of other disciplines in the last two decades, to paraphrase Merton, criminology rests on the shoulders of great sociologists.
Do you think that this is a problem in that most theories take a more sociological explanation to the explanation of criminal behavior? In other words, how much do you think individual traits such as our biological and psychological makeup influence crime. Why? Explain. This chapter summarizes how biological and psychological thinkers have influenced our understanding of criminal behavior. Once criminology was wrestled away from those criminologists — such as Lombroso — by sociologists in the early part of the twentieth century, sociologists came to dominate criminological thinking and research. While criminology has moved to include the thinking of other disciplines in the last two decades, to paraphrase Merton, criminology rests on the shoulders of great sociologists.
Do you think that this is a problem in that most theories take a more sociological explanation to the explanation of criminal behavior? In other words, how much do you think individual traits such as our biological and psychological makeup influence crime. Why? Explain.
