About

In regard to criminology, psychology presents four main areas of theories that try to suggest and understand the behaviour and mind of a criminal. Psychologists believe that crime can be a result of Failures of psychological development, learned behaviourism, inherent personality traits, and mental illness. These theories tend to relate to the upbringing of the individual and how they adapt and grow through there lives. I personally really like these four areas of study, but behaviourisms and mental illness really stand out to me in particular. Behaviourism interests me as it delves into nature vs nature and questions if a person acts depending on their upbringing or if their actions are inherently caused by there genetic makeup. Personally, this interests me as if these theories are true then the actions of the individual may not be caused by them. If a person acts due to their upbringing or their genetic makeup, or a combination of the two, can they be accountable for the behaviours they display? These sort of questions really interest me, as if behaviours are caused by nature or nurture, then in regards of law, is it fair to punish someone for their actions if they cannot control their behaviour? I personally like open-ended questions that may not have a definite answer, so psychology and psychology of criminology really entice me.

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Aside from behaviourism, mental illness also stands out to me in regard to criminology. There are so many known and unknown illnesses that plague people and can change how they act. In WW1 for instance, desertion was a military crime that could lead to a person to be court-martialed. This crime in many cases could have been caused by stress and PTSD, but PTSD was not a known mental illness at a time. Psychology is still a developing field, which really entices me. New psychological breakthroughs happen all the time, and existing mental illnesses are being looked at more seriously. For me, this interests me, as I now wonder how advances in psychological understanding could affect law and order. If we understood and recognised PTSD in WW1 at the time, would the same punishments have been given out? The same can be applied to today's criminology, if we understood mental health better, or if a person is plagued with a certain condition which influences there behaviour and how they act, how accountable are they for their actions? 

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Personally I am therefore interested in the responsibility of the individual. I'm interested in if a person can truly act freely, or if there upbringing or genes can predetermine how they act. This is especially important in law and order, as our system of government and courts label a person a criminal, but are they truly a criminal if their actions are not self-determined?