I've been asked to talk about if a criminal is born or made. It's a very difficult question because scientists (including psychologists) don't agree on this controversial issue.
To start with, an understanding of criminal behaviour has been attempted by psychologists mainly through three different theories, from this point of view the right question should be: Are criminals born, made or both?
The first theory suggests that it is very likely that genetic factors play a significant role in criminality due to the fact that criminal behaviour tends to run in individuals with a chromosomal abnormality associated with aggressive, antisocial and criminal behaviour. If we accept this theory, it makes no sense try to help criminals to reintegrate to society.
The second theory suggests that individual's environment is the most important factor. Children with criminal parents or who have other surrounding negative models are very likely to be motivated to copy criminal behaviour. It means, for instance, if the children watch lots of violence on tv they may show violent behaviour in the future.
The third theory is a combination of the two previous. Some experts believe that criminality has a multifactorial causation. They think that environment acts like a switch, depending on circumstances in your life this switch turns on one chromosome or another.
I agree with the last theory. I am a teacher and I can see that a good environment acts as a deterrent of criminality. On the other hand there are children who are very lucky in their lives and they end in the wrong way.
In conclusion, beyond the genetic predisposition it's a parental responsibility to show their children what is right and what is wrong. Also parents must provide a good environment to their children.
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