NCJ Number
123752
Journal
Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 73-86
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article examines theories that crime can be genetically transmitted as well as environmental theories of the role played by families in the transmission of criminal tendencies. The article also explores the issue of victimization within families and the theory that familial and societal organization contribute to the generation of crime.
Abstract
Contemporary biological theories of crime often use approaches focusing on siblings separated by adoption or the level of intelligence in criminals. The author argues that these theories have three characteristic problems: definitions, lack of evidence, and implications for eugenic solutions. Environmental theories of crime concentrate on cases of inadequate parenting or other family environment factors including harsh discipline, abuse, inconsistent affection, and unreasonable expectations. However, patterns of victimization within the family and in society result from different degrees of power depending largely on sex and class. Gender differences affect patterns of crime within the family as well as societal perceptions of crimes committed within the domestic context. Poverty also increases the level of violence among families because of unemployment, financial anxieties, and social isolation. By eradicating gender and social inequities, as well as instituting proactive criminal justice policies that help the victims of domestic violence, victimization rates and the causational factors that link crime and the family may be reduced. 21 notes. (Author abstract modified).