Criminological Theories

Paper Summary:

This paper examines four critical theories that have been developed in order to study criminal behavior in human societies. Each of the theories discussed in this paper have been chosen from a wide list of options and are part of a separate classification group. The four theories that this paper identifies are differential association theory, strain theory, routine activity theory, and a feminist theory.

From the Paper:

"Criminology is a wide field devoted to the theoretical study of crime, of its causes, of its relationship to the law, and of its relationship to human communities. In a way, crime affects all human societies at very fundamental levels. That such a powerful force should spawn a critical discipline devoted to its study is not surprising. Once it became an academic discipline it is even less surprising that critics and theorists have been unable to agree upon a theoretical framework that encompasses all aspects of criminology. Instead, criminology has been divided, over the years, into a number of critical theories that sometimes complement one another and other times are at odds with each other."

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