Are Criminals Born or Made?
No one is born a criminal, but people turn to crime gradually over time. Children require tender love and care to grow into ordinary law abiding citizens. Many criminals have been shown to come from broken families where love was lacking. A Family shapes a child’s personality: it gives the kid the sense of who he or she is. In instills societal norms or simply socializes the kid to the outside world. The family also acts as a mirror to the child. If the child is abused he will think something is wrong with him, that he is fundamentally unlovable and possibly irreparably flawed. To cope with this, the child may grow up to be a criminal.
Criminal behavior may also be as a result of bad parenting. For instance, children or grow in divorced families, lacking father or mother may develop criminal behavior. In my opinion, a father in the home is an authority figure, besides boys require a mature male when growing up to be well balanced individuals. Mothers cannot play the father role in the home and that’s why kids of single mothers may turn to crime. Another reason is that mothers are more passive giving in too easily and often to even the most outrageous children demand. This will send the wrong message that one can get everything he/she wants in life and the child fails to learn self control. Such a kid may turn to crime to satisfy his/her unbridled appetite.
I do not think that anybody can doubt that there is a correlation between poverty and criminal tendency. Its true that not all criminals grew up in inner cities, but it’s also true that majority of convicted criminals grew up in deprived homes. Poverty is a vicious cycle. A child reared in a poor home may not access good education that would enable him get a decent job to live honestly. Peer influence may also draw one into criminal activities. This will in turn drive one to crime. I have argued, and believe that external factors drive people to crime but it’s also possible that some people are just born to be criminals. Otherwise, why would kids from rich families, showered with love and surrounded with untold privileges turn to crime?
