Research Paper: “Criminal Behaviour” – 10 Facts to Include

If you are writing a research paper on criminal behavior, there are many things you should consider. Review the facts below to help give you some direction into what information is out there:

1. There are many competing theories for why people commit crimes just as there are many types of crimes to commit. The Rational Choice Theory stated that criminal behavior can be divided into the victimized, the rational, and the predestined. But the Trait Theory states that there is a biological reason behind criminality, something which relates to a physical or biological trait inside of the person who commits the crime.
2. In criminology, the examinations why individuals commit certain crimes is an ongoing process from which multiple theories have in merge. The reason it is important to study criminal behavior is to find the best solutions to reduce crime, specifically to reduce certain types of crime. The social disorganization theory states that the physical and social environment of an individual is responsible for the behavioral choices they make. Individual to live in neighborhoods where there is high crime, for school, and high unemployment might be more prone to committing specific crimes. This theory is applicable to petty crimes relating to drug use, left, and even illegal immigration.
3. Strain theory states that almost all people have similar aspirations but not everybody has the same ability or opportunity. When certain people are unable to achieve the things they want through hard work simply because they don’t have the same opportunities or abilities of someone else they might try to achieve that same level of success through crime. This is something also applicable to things such as the sale of drugs or illegal immigration.
4. The social learning theory is a theory which purports that people will become motivated to commit certain crimes based on those with whom they associate. This is one particularly important when studying recidivism rates because it lends itself to the idea that those who might fall under the string theory or social disorganization theory could eventually succumb to social learning theory especially if they are put into prison for an extended period of time.  A young child who grows up in a poor neighborhood and cannot find employment opportunities might succumb to social disorganization theory and commit a small robbery in order to feed his family.  This small robbery can land the individual in jail where he associates with other criminals who have different skill sets and eventually it comes to social learning theory which leads him to commit more serious and violent crimes upon his release, contributing to high recidivism rates.
5. There are many technologies used today to enhance our understanding of crimes and criminal behavior. The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System within the United States is maintained by the FBI and is used to house a criminal history system. Members of the criminal justice system can use this to automatically search for fingerprints, by placing a suspected person’s finger onto the pad of a wireless technological device. It can also be used for electronic image storing or exchanging fingerprints and responses.
6. The AFIS maintained by the FBI is the second largest biometric databases throughout the world, containing records of over sixty six million subjects. With a fingerprint there is an associated criminal history for each subject alongside over twenty five million civil fingerprints. This technology has helped prevent criminal behavior by subjecting anyone interested in employment with a house for vulnerable minors to a fingerprint and background check to verify any criminal record. Any criminal history is catalogued alongside non-criminal source information such as employment background checks. During an investigation, criminal justice agencies can request a search through IAFIS while they are undergoing a criminal investigation. Scanning fingerprints into AFIS live uses Livescan. Instead of making an impression onto a piece of paper with ink, the fingerprint is placed onto the glass which is above a camera unit and pressed flat and rolled to give an impression. Once this is done, fingerprint technicians scan the print and use computer algorithms to mark the deltas, cores, and minutia points on the finger which runs the results through a search and processes which matches are of the highest quality.
7. Facial recognition is a computer application which can automatically identify an individual through a video source. It uses either a digital image or a video frame to compare certain facial features to the database of facial features. This can be used in conjunction with fingerprint systems to provide additional assurance of the identity.
8. The technology behind facial recognition extracts the shape, size, and position of the jaw, the cheekbones, the nose, and the eyes while also noting any landmark features. The algorithms which are a part of the application normalize the images, compress the data, and retain only useful data while comparing the image with other face data. The technology uses geometric algorithms and photometric algorithms. The first uses any distinguishing features while the second compares values of the image through statistics to eliminate any variances.
9. New developments in the field use 3 dimensional recognition to capture all of the aspects of a face and its shape, identifying surface features such as the chin, the nose, and the contour of both eye sockets. This advanced technology is not affected by any changes in the light and can recognize an individual from the profile view. This technology offers many advances in terms of precise recognition, using sensors to project censored light to capture different spectrums along the face. The application can now capture skin texture including lines, spots, and patterns.
10. Social control theory states that people will naturally commit a crime if there are no control in society which stop them. These controls take the form of schools, churches, families, and places of business. This relates to other theories insofar as it states that an individual who has a support structure socially speaking such as a job, a family, or even a school will be less inclined to commit crimes wear at somebody who doesn’t have these things will succumb to the environment in which they live and the lack of social control thereby committing crimes.

These facts should get you up the speed with the subject of criminal behavior. If you need more professional research paper help we also have a guide on criminal behavior for a research paper that you may check as well as our 20 topics and 1 sample essay.

References:
Bartol, Curt R. Criminal Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Print.
Browers, Michaelle. “Minorities In Islam/Muslims As Minorities”. Contemporary Islam 8.3 (2014): 211-215. Web.
Cassel, Elaine and Douglas A Bernstein. Criminal Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.
Chambliss, William J. Crime And Criminal Behavior. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011. Print.
Clinard, Marshall B and Richard Quinney. Criminal Behavior Systems. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. Print.
“Criminal Evidence”. Journal of Criminal Justice 15.1 (1987): 101. Web.
Yaffe, Gideon. “In Defense Of Criminal Possession”. Criminal Law and Philosophy (2014): n. pag. Web.