Are criminals born or made?

Introduction

What makes a criminal? This is a question that I hope to unveil a plausible answer for. Criminals are persons
who are guilty of heinous violent crimes which violates the laws of a country. The act of committing a crime is
called criminality. Criminality has been in existence from the beginning of time, where Cain murdered his
brother able. The big question is, are criminals born? Absolutely not, committing crime is definitely not
something one is born with, but gradually overtime it takes place because of certain situations or circumstances
that life throws at a person, some of which are, family related issues, the environment in which one grows up
and social causes. So are criminals born? It appears not.

PARAGRAPH ONE

Topic sentence:

Within the family lie certain situations and circumstances that can cause a person to become a criminal.

Supporting Detail 1:

Children who have been abused are more likely to grow up to be criminals because they grow up with a
large amount of hate that they do not know how to deal with. One way
to cope with the way they feel is to be violent towards everybody else.

Evidence:

The link between child maltreatment and crime is a staple of the news media. For example, the media
(CNN, February 10, 2004) noted that John Muhammad, the Washington D.C. sniper, was “regularly and
severely beaten as a child by several relatives, including an uncle who beat another child to death…”

Supporting Detail 2:

Lacking financial means is another family related situation that can cause innocent individuals to
become a criminal.

Evidence:

Gina Lombroso-Ferrero (2009) asserted that poverty is often a direct incentive to theft, when the
miserable victims of economic conditions find themselves and their families face to face with starvation,
and it acts further indirectly through certain diseases: pellagra, alcoholism, scrofula, and scurvy, which
are the outcome of misery and produce criminal degeneration; its influence has nevertheless often been
exaggerated.

Supporting Detail 3:
 Are criminals born or made?

Children require attention, if child negligence is being practiced in the family, this could result in
criminal formation.

Evidence:

Child neglect is also often implicated. Neighbors of a nine-year old

Who stabbed her best friend to death were reported to have “angrily blamed the young
attacker’s absent, alcoholic mother yesterday for the Memorial Day tragedy” (as cited in The New York
Post, June 1, 2005).
Clincher:

Without a doubt family is a major contributor to the formation of criminals.

PARAGRAPH TWO

Topic Sentence:

The Environment in which a person grows up is also influential in criminal formation.

Supporting Detail 1:

Many times, growing up in certain community bad influences are prevalent and without much
knowledge a youngster will gravitate to them.

Evidence:

Supporting Detail 2:

Coming from a certain community, you are branded and due to that one is faced with unjustified
treatment and is perceived as the worst. Being so treated one will retaliate to crime.

Evidence:

According to the published piece, Public Safety Canada (2008), “The ways in which the gang threat is
portrayed and constructed in the media and by agents of social control affects gangs, their members and
members of the public. Using ‘scripts’ created by the media filled with myths and stereotypes about a group of
people or area is convenient for society. Many people rely on these scripts-convenient shortcuts that are created
by media and propaganda”.

Supporting Detail 3:
 Are criminals born or made?

Growing up In a certain community one is less likely religiously affiliated, hence disregarding Christ in
there wrong doing.

Evidence:

Clincher:

Bad perception of a community affects individuals within that community significantly, resulting in all
manors of criminal activities.

PARAGRAPH 3:

Topic Sentence:

Social causes play a very crucial role in the development of a criminal.

Supporting Detail 1:

Imitations, the media people publicize most criminality incidents very detail. When other criminal
minded people acknowledge the bases of the crime similar ideas develop.

Evidence:

As Gina Lombroso-Ferrero (2009) stated, at Marseilles in 1868 and 1872, the newspaper reports of a
case of child desertion provoked a perfect epidemic of such cases, amounting in one instance to eight in
one day.

Before Corridori murdered the Head-master of his boarding-school, he is said to have declared: "There
will be a repetition of what happened to the Head-master at Catanzaro" (who had been murdered in the
same way). (pg .78)

Supporting Detail 2:

Interacting with delinquent peer groups, to gain recognition and attention that is lacked at home is very
prevalent in youngsters

Evidence:

A new study, "Delinquent Peer Group Formation: Evidence of a Gene X Environment Correlation," by
Florida State University researchers published in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Genetic
Psychology, finds that a gene variant of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene puts some males at risk
of delinquency.

As stated” we now have genuine empirical evidence that the social and family environment in an
adolescent's life can either exacerbate or blunt genetic effects."
 Are criminals born or made?

Supporting Detail 3:

A very contagious plague in criminal formation is peer pressure.

Evidence:

Leslie Kaplan. (1999) interviewed fifteen year old Cheri, who stated that” we started shoplifting about
four months ago. I never really wanted to. I’m one of those people who always get caught when I try to
get away with something, and I’m really paranoid, which makes it even to enjoy. But Jen and Tamara
have turned it into this bonding thing, like we are ‘The Shoplifting Club’ or something. Now I can’t
seem to get out of it, and I’m really worried about getting arrested. But its not my fault, it was Jen’s and
Tamara’s idea”.

Clincher:

Social causes do contribute significantly to criminal formation

PARAGRAPH FOUR (Paragraph of Refutation)

The term” like father like son” as used by many people to suggest that if a man is a criminal and his
children by chance become a criminal too it is genetically related is total absurdity. What really cause a
child to develop criminal traits are not genes past down by a criminal family member, but situations and
circumstances in an individual’s life.

PARAGRAPH FIVE (conclusion)

All researches conducted, that have been unveiled in this passage further strengthens the thesis that
criminals are actually made instead of born. The family is a key contributing factor. If certain family roles are
not practiced we can see where criminals are likely to form. There are also environmental factors that are proven
over and over to link to criminal formation. Researchers have gone close to a thesis that criminal formation is
genetically related, but further studies proved that, in order for this innate personality to be portrayed
circumstances and situations have to exacerbate the genetic effects. We’ve also seen where social causes come
into play. Many criminals now were members of delinquent peer groups. Being in such groups there are
interactions from all different backgrounds, some who are very persuasive and will pressure a family neglected
and vulnerable individual to get involve in wrong doing. This is where peer pressure comes into play. These are
some factors that brake down communities, countries and kill individuals.
 Are criminals born or made?

APA Referencing
1. (CNN, February 10, 2004). Retrieved from

http:// ask.com

2. Gina Lombroso-Ferrero. (2009). Criminal Man. New York. Retrieved from

http:// ask.com

3. The New York Post, (June 1, 2005). Retrieved from

http://ask.com

4. Public Safety Canada. (2008). Retrieved from

http:// ask.com

5. Florida State University Researchers. (Sept.2008).

“Journal Of Genetic Psychology”. Retrieved from
http:// ask.com

6. Leslie Kaplan (1999). Coping With Peer Pressure: Peer Pressure is real. The Rosen Publishing
Group, Inc/New York.