Outline to an essay for a movie related to crime

What movie did you choose? Why? What factors influenced your decision? (1 mark)
Which character will you focus on? Explain your choice. (1 mark)
Which two theories will you use? State the key theorists and outline how they each explain criminal behaviour. (Point form) (2 marks)
What are the critiques of each theory? (Point form) (1 mark)
What is your thesis statement? Hint: it should be linked to your comparison of the theories. Which theory provides a better explanation? (2 marks)
List three main points that you will use to support your argument. (Point form) (3 marks)

Rational Choice

A perspective that holds that criminality is the result of conscious choice and that predicts that individuals choose to commit crime when the benefits outweigh the costs of disobeying the law.

Routine Activities

A theory that examines the interaction of motivated offenders, capable guardians, and suitable targets as an explanation for crime, and which suggests that an individual’s everyday activities contribute significantly to the likelihood of criminal victimization.

Situational Choice

A brand of rational choice theory that views criminal behavior “as a function of choices and decisions made within a context of situational constraints and opportunities.”

Genetic determinism

The belief that genes are the major determining factor in human behavior (e.g. hereditary criminality, crime gene)

Brain dysfunction

Factors that can negatively impact brain function (e.g. accidents, use of alcohol during pregnancy, brain diseases)

Body chemistry

Impacts of chemicals on behaviour (e.g. diet, toxins, hormones)

Personality disorder

Individual whose personality traits affect their behaviour (psychopaths, anti-personality disorder)

Psychoanalytic perspective

A psychiatric approach developed by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes the role of personality in human behavior and that sees deviant behavior as the result of dysfunctional personalities (psychotic offender (schizophrenia)

Social disorganization

A perspective on crime and deviance that sees society as a kind of organism and crime and deviance as a kind of disease or social pathology. When neighbourhoods are run-down it encourages delinquency because it gives the impression of hopelessness and a lack of community.

Strain theories

A sociological approach that posits a gap between socially and subculturally sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior; also known as anomie theory.

Social control

A perspective that predicts that when social constraints on antisocial behavior are weakened or absent, delinquent behavior emerges. Social control theory asks why people actually obey rules instead of breaking them (family, peers, morals)

Differential association

The sociological thesis that criminality, like any other form of behavior, is learned through a process of association with others who communicate criminal values (learn from the people that you spend the most time with)

Labelling

The label of “criminal” results in a self-fulfilling prophecy in part because the label limits opportunities.

Radical criminology

A perspective that holds that the causes of crime are rooted in social conditions that empower the wealthy and the politically well organized but disenfranchise (takes away rights) the less fortunate (e.g. corporate crime, white-collar crime, environmental crimes)

Feminist criminology

A corrective model intended to redirect the thinking of mainstream criminologists to include gender awareness. Conflict in society based on