Positivism is one of the many theories that have been developed over time to explain crime and criminal behaviour. This essay will provide an insight and explanation to offending behaviour within current news stories and it can be explained through the positivist theory.
Positivism was an idea that was cited by Cesare Lombroso. He studied the cadavers of executed criminals in a hope to determine through science whether or not criminals were physically any different to those who aren’t criminals. Lombroso believed that criminals were born, not made and had significant features. To Lombroso, criminals were seen as a separate species that show a variety of different mental and physical characteristics that make them different to non-criminals. (Newburn, 2013) Within the theory of Positivism, human nature is seen as being prone to different types of behaviour. These being differences within the individual through social conditioning and biological differences. Positivism state that human beings have an animalistic nature that then gets socialised into the norms and values of their given society. This means that the difference between a criminal and a non-criminal is determined on the degree of socialisation that person has.
Within Positivism, there are 3 key different sub-theories. These being Biological, Psychological and Sociological Positivism. Each of these have an account as to why people commit crimes.
Biological Positivism in short explain that people commit crimes because of a biological/genetic defect. The study of crime and biology was initiated by Lombroso with the interest of physiognomy (the study of facial features) and phrenology (the study of the shape of the skull) in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. (Newburn, 2013) Biological Positivism came from Lombroso with his cadaver’s study whereby he examined individuals and came to the conclusion that certain trains in appearance showed they were criminals. This was the concept of “Atavistic Criminal”. Within Biological Positivism there are two sections; these being Genetic factors and Biochemical Factors. Genetics factors mainly look into the Eugenics movement and Twin Studies. Eugenics sought to explain human behaviour through genetics. They create a set of beliefs that aimed to improve the genetic quality of the human population. Twin Studies were taken to find out the impact of hereditary on human behaviour. They tested monozygotic(MZ)/Identical twins and Dizygotic/non-identical twins. (Newburn, 2013) Biochemical Factors included factors like Hormones Neurotransmitters. Hormones like testosterone have been proven significantly to have an effect on hostility and aggression. Neurotransmitters also have been proven to have an effect on aggression. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that reduces aggression and high levels of dopamine also plays a role in aggression. (Newburn, 2013)
Psychological Positivism started to emerge within the criminal justice institutions in England. It was based upon psychological theories that suggests that to understand criminal behaviour, you must first understand the processes of the mind. This meaning that people who had an underlying psychological or personality disorder were more inclined to commit crimes. Blackburn (1993) said that psychodynamic theories are based on a few claims. These being, that socialisation depends on the internalisation of society’s rules during early childhood, impaired parent-infant relationships are casually related to later criminal behaviour and unconscious conflicts arising from disturbed family relationships at different stages of development. Albert Bandura (1977) also done research into the idea of psychological positivism. He introduced the Social Learning Theory, which suggests we learn aggressive behaviour through observation and then imitation behaviour shown. Children will also be taught the consequences of aggressive behaviour by watching others either get reinforced or punished for said behaviour. This is called indirect or vicarious reinforcement. The famous study of the Bobo doll experiment in 1961 gave an explanation to the social learning theory which merged ideas of observational learning and direct conditioning. Bandura broke down the relationship between psychological positivism and sociological positivism.
Sociological Positivism studied the relationship between an individual and the environment. Emile Durkheim, a well-established functionalist sociologist suggested that offending behaviour occurs due to a lack of socialisation. Sociologists would believe that crime is socially constructed but that is a threat to society. With this, there is plenty of societal factors that help lead a person to committing crimes. Whether this be material deprivation or poverty, they all have an effect on someone. A theory within sociological positivism is The Chicago School that was developed in the 1920s by a group of sociologists. They wanted to investigate the relationship between a neighbourhood’s crime rate and the characterises of the neighbourhood. Burgess (1925) compared cities to “ecosystem” concentric zones. They believed a city evolves through a series of concentric circles which symbolise a different zone of social life. The middle zone classed as the “Zone in Transition” was the most important zone to researchers. Shaw and McKay believed that crime rates in the zone of transition were due to cultural transmissions of values and a lack of informal social control. Sociologists believed that neighbourhoods with the highest delinquency experienced social disorganisation. This is where the usual control over delinquents is absent. The delinquent behaviour is accepted by society and there are many opportunities for said behaviour.
The murder of Angela Wrightson occurred in Hartlepool in 2014. Angela Wrightson was a 39-year-old alcoholic who got murdered by two teenage girls in her own home. Within the time they were together, the two young girls inflicted more than 100 injuries onto the victim causing her death. The two girls were found guilty of her death after an eight-week trial and were given life sentences. (Parveen, 2016)
Positivist theorists would suggest that these two teenage girls were subconsciously led to committing crime due to many different factors; these being their genetics, an underlying psychological disorder or sociological factors.
In terms of Biological Positivism, the two teenage girls committed crimes due to genetic dispositions. The girls were explained in many news articles to be extremely violent and aggressive, this would suggest that they have an imbalance in hormones, specifically serotonin. Serotonin is meant to reduce aggression by inhibiting responses to emotional stimuli that would otherwise lead to an aggressive nature and low levels of it in the pre-frontal cortex has been linked with higher chances of impulsive behaviour. (Raleigh and McGuire, 1994) While it hasn’t been proven that these two girls have a serotonin deficiency, it gives an explanation as to why they were so violent to the victim for no apparent reason.
With Psychological Positivism, it gives an insight as to why the teenage girls committed murder. They believe that criminal behaviour is linking personality and the psychological make-up of the individual first. Blackburn (1993) claimed that impaired parent-infant relationships can be related to later criminal behaviour. Both girls were in care at the time of the crime which would suggest that they had impaired emotional bonding with a parent. This would’ve lead to emotional deprivation and a lack of empathy on any given situation. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory showed that children who are in direct contact to physical violence, are more likely to imitate it than children who are exposed to non-violent contact. In the Daily Mails article on the matter they explained that one of the girls was a “girl who survived a childhood devoid of stability or structure” and had watched boyfriends beat her mother. Linking this with Bandura’s theory, this child was in constant exposure to such violence and therefore would believe that such actions are normal and accepted within society.
Finally, Sociological Positivism also gives an explanation as to why the two teenage girls murdered Angela Wrightson. The area that they live in, being Hartlepool, has been shown in Police crime statistics to be an area of high delinquency at 91.40 police recorded crimes per 1,000 of the population. Areas with high delinquency have been linked with social disorganisation in The Chicago Schools theory and therefore means that there are many opportunities for delinquent behaviour to occur as opposed to somewhere with a lower crime rate. Sociological Positivists would explain that these two teenage girls committed said crime due to similar behaviour being accepted and approved within their social group so therefore not seeing anything wrong with what they’re doing.
To conclude, Positivism gives an in-depth explanation into offending behaviour which has then be applied to a recent crime. It has allowed for researchers to be able to explain offending behaviour of the two girls in the murder of Angela Wrightson in 2014 through the use of biological, psychological and sociological positivism. Whether the crime was committed due to a genetic disposition, an underlying psychiatric disorder or sociological factors, they all have their own explanation to why it was done.