CrimeExplained
Crime Theories
This category is organized into sections. You can browse each section directly and see which articles belong under it.
Category
Individual-Focused Theories
4 articles
4 min
Individual-Focused Theories of Crime
How biological vulnerability, neuropsychology, and impulse control are used to understand risk of crime at the individual level.
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4 min
Genetics and Crime
What research on genes, aggression, and repeated violence actually says, and what it cannot predict.
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7 min
The Criminal Brain: ADHD, Brain Injuries, Empathy, and Risk
How brain function, executive difficulties, ADHD, and brain injuries can affect risk without on their own explaining criminality.
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5 min
Morality and Criminal Behavior: Kohlberg, SAT, and Moral Choices
How moral development and situational assessment influence whether crime is seen as unthinkable, possible, or justified.
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Social Theories
8 articles
6 min
Socially Focused Theories of Crime
An overview of how social groups, norms, power, and living conditions are used to understand why crime emerges.
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7 min
Economic and Social Conditions Linked to Crime
How family, school, belief in the future, segregation, and neighborhood living conditions are linked to the risk of crime.
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2 min
Power and Conflict as Causes of Crime
How conflicts, cultural norms, and power differences are used to explain crime.
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2 min
Strain Theory
How strain, blocked opportunities, and negative experiences can increase the risk of crime.
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5 min
Control Theories
Why social bonds, official and unofficial control, and self-control are used to explain why people do or do not commit crime.
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2 min
Labeling Theory and Social Learning
An overview of how labeling, self-image, expectations, and social learning are used to understand crime.
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4 min
Labeling Theory and Self-Fulfilling Expectations
How society's reactions, labeling, and negative expectations can reinforce a criminal self-image.
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4 min
Social Learning
How criminal behavior can be learned through relationships, rewards, peer pressure, and neutralization.
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Articles in this category
These articles are placed directly in this category rather than in one of its subsections.
