How can early biological theories of crime be critiqued?

What will be an ideal response?


A central concern with all early biological theories relates to the fact that they tend to largely reject the role of free will in human behavior. If behavior is largely determined by inherent factors, then an individual may be condemned to a life of crime and efforts at reformation can be expected to have little positive effect on future behavior.

Other concerns stem from aligning the concept of crime with biological variables because crime is a social construction and its meaning varies over time and place. Because the legality of a specific behavior may change, it is difficult to link specific biological features with potential criminality. It also appears unlikely that any biological feature or combination of features could explain the wide variety of criminal offending today.

Criminal Justice

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