One mayor theory learned through the Life Course Theory is that aggressive or antisocial behavior among children is not “just a phase” to be outgrown. Antisocial behavior in early childhood is the most accurate predictor of delinquency in adolescence, in children it can be accurately identified as early as three or four years of age.
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An individual may have purpose of criminal behavior if it addresses certain felt needs. Normality is generally defined by social consensus, that is, what is considered as “typical,” “normal,” or “acceptable” by the majority of individuals in a certain social group.
This selective review discusses three biological factors that have been examined in relation to antisocial and criminal behavior: psychophysiology, brain, and genetics. Psychophysiology Psychophysiology, or the levels of arousal within individuals, has become an important biological explanation for antisocial and criminal behavior.
Within criminology, the life course perspective is an effort to offer a comprehensive outlook to the study of criminal activity because it considers the multitude of factors that affect offending across different time periods and contexts (Thornberry, 1997).
Biological Approaches Biological theories purport, that criminal behavior is caused by some flaw in individual’s biological makeup. According to Raine Study, the causes may be Heredity, Neurotransmitter dysfunction and brain abnormalities, which could be caused either by the first two or trauma.
Developmental and life course criminology does so by focusing on three main issues: the development of offending and antisocial behavior, risk factors at different ages, and the effects oflife events on the course of development.
Developmental and life-course theories of crime are collectively characterized by their goal of explaining the onset, persistence, and desistance of offending behavior over the life-course.
DLC theories, in general, predict that certain developmental, social, environmental, psychological, and biological factors increase the risk of offending, but may not apply equally to all individuals (Farrington, 2003; Loeber & LeBlanc, 1990).
Life course theory thus has a developmental perspective that focuses on an individual's response to different circumstances in life and explains factors that are responsible for inducing criminal behavior.
Life course theory has five distinct principles: (a) time and place; (b) life-span development; (c) timing; (d) agency; and (e) linked lives. We used these principles to examine and explain high-risk pregnancy, its premature conclusion, and subsequent mothering of medically fragile preterm infants.
The life course perspective or life course theory (LCT) is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory.
The social learning theory of crime argues that some people learn to commit crimes through the same process through which others learn to conform. The theory assumes that people, at birth, have neither a motivation to commit crime nor to conform.
Developmental theory focuses on minor offenders and their life circumstances. This theory posits that the continuity of circumstances and its change over time contribute greatly to risk of offending or resistance to offending.
Glen ElderGlen Elder theorized the life course as based on five key principles: life-span development, human agency, historical time and geographic place, timing of decisions, and linked lives.
The life course perspective looks at how chronological age, relationships, life transitions, and social change shapes the life from birth to death.
Consequently, their children grow up having little self-control and committing crime too. Another group of criminologists holds that the tendency to commit crime changes during the life course. Explanations within this tradition are referred to as dynamic theories.
How is life course perspective different from traditional criminological theories (i.e., how is it significant)? -Life course/development criminology is dynamic because it studies whether an individual remains stable or changes over time.