Causes of Crime

Begin this assignment by selecting one type of criminal behavior that you have learned about in this course.

Thoroughly analyze the possible psychological causes of the crime. Include at least four sources of literature, including at least one peer-reviewed journal article as well as lecture notes and text to support your position. Research the Argosy University online library resources to identify peer-reviewed journal articles for this assignment.

Write a paper that includes the following:

Introduce the chosen crime:

Identify the statistics for incidence and rate of your selected crime in the U.S. Evaluate any issues you find with the statistics and state if these statistics are accurate. Why or why not?

Analyze the crime in terms of the differences in offenders and victims based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religion, etc.

Apply three psychological theories that address the selected crime and explain the behavior of the criminal. Thoroughly discuss and analyze the chosen crime within the context of each of these theories. Take into account all of the statistics that you selected and ensure that the psychological theories chosen address these statistics and if they do not, explain why.

Synthesize the information and choose one theory that best describes and accounts for the criminal behavior that you have chosen.

Explain how this theory can assist in predicting and even preventing crime. What are the concerns about applying this theory?