Crime and criminals

The notion of crime is inevitably connected with people who commit the – criminals.

Theorists of criminal law have always been interested in the question of causes of crime. Throughout several centuries in given occasion there was an active discussion and that is why I would like to state the basis of theories, giving the answer to this question. They are theological and ethical, biological, psychological and psychiatric, climatic, social environment, multiple causation theories.

The oldest theory, based on theology and ethics, is that criminals are perverse persons who deliberately commit crimes or who do so at the investigation of the devil. Although this idea has been discarded by modern criminologists, it persists among uninformed people and provides the rationale for the harsh punishment still meted out to criminals in many parts of the world.

The next theory put out by the German physician and anatomist Franz Joseph Gall, who tried to establish relationships between skull structure and criminal proclivities.

A more sophisticated theory- a biological one- was developed late in the 19th century by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso, who asserted that crimes were committed by persons who are born with certain recognizable hereditary physical traits.

Another approach to an explanation of crime was initiated by the French political philosopher Montesoqueu, who attempted to relate criminal behavior to national, or physical environment.

Many prominent criminologists of the 19th century, particularly those associated with the Socialist movement attributed crime mainly to the influence of poverty. Some theorists relate the incidence of crime to the general state of a culture, especially the impact of economic crises, wars, and revolutions and the generated sense of insecurity and uprootedness to which these forces give rise.

The final major group of theories is psychological and psychiatric. Studies by such 20th century investigators indicated that about one-forth of a typical convict population is psychotic, neurotic, emotionally unstable and another one-forth is mentally deficient.

Since the mid 20th century, the notion that crime can be explained by any single theory has fallen into disfavor among investigators. Instead, experts incline to so-called multiple factor, or multiple causation theories.

The theory created in the 20th is the most persuasive. It is a conglomerate of all previous concepts.

The concept of crime can’t be considered without criminals- people who commit crimes. I’d like to say that each criminal reflects its time, its epoch.

For example, Colonia Agrippina A.D. 1659. As Roman empress, married to the emperor Claudius, she is remembered mostly for leaving poisoned hem in A.D. 54 in order for her son, Nero to take into throne. The sister of Caligula and a cruel ambitions woman, she is said to have murdered her previous husband as well.

Another notorious criminal was Jack the ripper. He was a mysterious killer who terrorized the East End of London in the autumn of 1888. His victims, all women, were killed by having their throats cut, and in many cases the bodies were savagely mutilated as well.

Moreover, I’d like to add about Alessandro Cagliostro, after getting some knowledge of the supernatural, he appeared in Malta as the great Count Cagliostro, specialists in medicine, magic and all Kinds of strange arts. Count Cagliostro became famous as a charlatan of confidence trickster, as we would call him today.

Absolutely, crimes are the reasons of public instability. Each state struggles with crimes by all possible means, but it is useless to fight against the phenomenon which reasons are unknown.