Biological criminal Behavior

A Case Study on Causes of Crimes

[Instructor’s Name]

[Course]

[Student’s Name]

[Date]

Introduction

Studies have tried to find out why people commit crimes. Several theories have been put in place to try and explain these causes of crimes and most have associated criminology with genetics, environment as well as personal choices. Some criminals have thus been found to be suffering from a certain disorder that triggers them to do the illegal things they do (Englander 2007). According to Cesare Lambroso, one of the founding fathers of biological theory of criminology, criminals are biologically different non-offenders.

The biological theory of crime explains that some people are born criminals. The study has focused on two things, genes and the study of human brain. Some people could be born with genes that cause criminal activities while others have some differences in the structural and chemical brain structure as compared to non criminals. Studies have shown differences in the DNA structure for criminals as compared to non criminals. Such individuals are normally taken to care centers to acquire physiotherapy instead of being sentenced.

Psychological criminology focuses on the people’s thoughts and feelings that make them engage in criminal activities. These can be associated to psychological development, whereby some people get into trouble because they did not grow normally as others do. Psychological crimes can also be as a result of learned behaviors of violence as well as inherent personality traits. Children who are from abusive families, abandoned children or those who grow up in harsh environments are more likely to engage in criminal activities as they grow up.

Rational choice theory sees human beings as decision makers, who can decide what One want to do. In this type of crime, the offender takes time to plan a criminal act knowing that there will be consequences. They think well over what they wish to do despite them knowing that it is ellegal. Their benefits from the crime outweigh the risks involved.

Case Study

In the year 2002, an international student from Monach University in Australia, shot and killed two students and injured five others, one of them being a lecturer. The shooter, Huan Yun Xiang, killed William Wu and Steven Chan. According to Huan Yun Xiang, he had wanted to kill Wu because he believed that he was an evil agent who destroyed his academics. He therefore felt that killing him would be a relief. Huan is reported to have joined an association of shooters in Australia, where he acquired a licensed gun.

During the day of his trial, Huan pleaded not guilty and the incident was associated with mental illness. One of the lecturers told the court that he had showed concerns about the mental state of Huan a week before the shooting. Since Huan had a strong belief that Wu would destroy him academically, the defense and the prosecution agreed that Huan was suffering from paranoid delusional disorder. The victim was acquitted with shooting related crimes as a result of mental impairment and was taken to psychiatric care.

Huan was known to the other students and the lecturers to be a loner. He always sat somewhere apart. This could be an indication that something was bothering him and that is why he ended up committing the crime. It is worth noting that mass shooting in the United States have been associated with loners, unstable and angry white men. After the shooting, Huan wrote a small note that he had finally ended Wu’s life. To him, it was a fulfillment that he had killed Wu. Research on people with severe Antisocial Personality Disorder shows that such individuals have no regards for what is right and what is wrong. They can commit crimes whenever they decide to their satisfaction.

The victim is also reported to have had difficulties in expressing himself in English. This also made him not to do very well in his academics. This inability to communicate and be understood may have contributed to his actions. Huan knew that he was going to fail his final year dissertation. It is difficult for international students to to get jobs with poor grades. The students with non permanent residents are deported. Even though Huan had secured a permanent residence together with his mother, it was still going to be difficult for him to secure employment if he failed. The pressure of failure may have caused him to carry out his act of crime.

After a couple of years, Huan is suspected of attacking a female doctor and stabbing her inside a high security psychiatric hospital. It is said that he had given the doctor a note during one of their sessions and when the doctor got distracted, he started to stab her. According to the report given, Huan believed that the doctor was conspiring against him. He thought that the doctor wanted to deny him privileges and even prevent him from making any contact with the family of William Wu, one of the students he had killed during the shooting at the University. He also believed that the doctor was conspiring with both the US and the Chinese government to spy on him.

The examination from the psychiatric hospital diagnosed him with chronic paranoid schizophrenia and was found to lack trust in others. He is believed to have been acting on delusional thoughts without thinking on the consequences of his actions. Huan would harbor delusional beliefs and not reveal them.

A survey involving more that 6000 respondents from fourteen countries revealed that approximately ten percent of adult population suffer from some form of mental illness, which ranges from depression to schizophrenia. The research also indicated that most of these are youth and this may put many young people to engage in violent behavior. It also suggests that depression which is common in many young people is related to aggression at both home and school. Simple forms of depressions results in minor crimes. However, additional researches have revealed that those suffering from schizophrenia are associated with more violent behavior than others, (Lescheid, 2007).

People suffering from paranoid delusions that others are out to cause them harm or have feelings that their minds are being controlled by external forces are more vulnerable to rage and acts of violence. The case of Huan depicts this very well. The fact that he did not trust anyone and had his own thoughts about what others was planning against him made him a murderer. The feeling of pressure to do well in his academics made him depressed as well.

Conclusion

Crimes have been committed by individuals whether knowingly or unknowingly. Many crimes have been associated to some behavioral anomaly and many researchers have tried to come up with facts that support this. Many criminals have gone unpunished because they are deemed to be mentally ill during the time of crime. The links between the biological, physiological and environmental conditions to acts of crime make a lot of sense. However, these are not entirely why people are criminals. It is, therefore, important to perform thorough examinations on the victims before concluding on what made them commit the crimes.

References

Englander E. (2007). Understanding Violence(3rded.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Leschied A. (2007). The Roots of Violence: Evidence from the Literature with Emphasis on Child and Youth Mental Disorder. Ottawa: The Centre of Excellence in Children’s Mental Health.