Criminal behavior is a troubling issue that the world has been dealing with and will continuing to deal with for years to come. What causes criminal behavior, who is affected, and how can we prevent criminal activity? Those are some of the questions why people study criminal behavior. People believe that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in why people behave criminally.
There are personality disorders that are inheritable which can make it difficult for those individuals to function normally in a society. Some of the personality disorders that come to mind are hyperactivity, anti-social, bi-polar and schizophrenia. The effect that these personality disorders can have on a person can be so frustrating, stressful, and uncontrollable that one can only imagine not being able to free him or her self from these emotions. Sometimes the only way a person with a personality disorder can relieve him or her self is through acting out and sometimes it’s criminal; especially when environmental factors are involved as well.
For some individuals it is difficult to comprehend that some people are predisposed to criminality. They have difficulties believing that there are contributing factors to criminal behavior because we are all entitled to free will and know right from wrong. On the other hand its like that famous Native American quote “ Never judge a person until you have walked a mile in their moccasins”. Imagine living in a high poverty area with no family structure and attending probably one of the lowest funded and tested schools. Surrounded by drug dealers, prostitutes, gang members, and thieves what chance does our youth have escaping becoming a product of their environment? At a young age our youth are being stigmatized which results in generating a self fulfilling prophecy of criminal behavior.
It is understandable for people to see criminal behavior as being one’s choice, but it must be recognized that there are many factors that can also contribute to a person becoming a criminal. Youth are more susceptible to these contributing factors of criminal behavior due to individual, family, school, peer-related, and community and neighborhood factors as mentioned in Critical Issues in Crime and Justice Thought, Policy, and Practice by Mary Maguire and Dan Okada (p. 70). If these factors were studied by those who believe that people commit crime for pure self indulgence they will find that criminal behavior is sometimes a way of life or survival for others due to the criminal activity that constantly surrounds them . Decreasing the risk factors that lead to criminality amongst our youth is crucial in the effort to prevent criminal behavior. There needs to be more youth impacted programs that employ strong minded individuals that earnestly want to engage in the problem of today’s contributing factors of criminal behavior.
