MODULE 1 Theories
MODULE 1 Theories
1st Prelim
Lesson’s Objective:
1. Define what crime is;
2. Discuss the approaches in the study of criminology;
3. Discuss what theory is;
1. an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is
punishable by law.
2. An anti-social act; an act that is injurious, detrimental or harmful to the norms of society,
they are the unacceptable acts in its social definition.
3. Psychologically, crime is an act, which is considered undesirable due to behavioral
maladjustment of the offender; acts that are caused by maladaptive or abnormal behaviors.
CRIME is also a generic name that refers to offense, felony and delinquency or misdemeanor.
- Is any system of ideas arranged in rational order that produce general principles which
increase our understanding and expplanations.
- The general principles in a theory are derived from, and representative, of particular facts,
but those principles are not dependent upon the particular thing to be explained.
- Theory is the foundation of criminology and of criminal justice, and we study theory to know
why we are doing what we do.
- Theory without reasearch is not sceience.
- The most important task of theory is an explanation called prediction.
There are many appraches in the explanantion of crimes in order to come to an answer to
questions. Among them are the following;
APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF CRIMINOLOGY
Subjective Approach – it deals mainly on the biological explanation of crimes, focused on the forms
of abnormalities that exist in the individual criminal before, during and after the crime (Tradio,
1999). Included under this approach are:
Objective Approach – deal with the study of groups, social processes and institutions as influences
to behavior. They are primarily derived from the social sciences. Under these approaches are:
Contemporary Approach – modern days put emphasis on scientific modes of explaining crime and
criminal behavior. This approach focuses on the psychoanalytical, psychiatric, sociological
explanations of crime in an integrated theory – an explanatory perspective that merges concepts
drawn from different sources.