Sociology

Criminology encompasses different areas of study that looks into why people commit crime and ways how this can be mitigated.  Theories of crime tend to look into factors that drive people to commit crime including the biological, psychological, and sociological factors.

Biological and Psychological explanations of Crime
Crime can be explained through biological and psychological explanations.  Under biological explanations studies by Lambrosso and others have shown that people commit crime without individual knowledge.  This means that engagement in crime is an action that is driven by forces beyond individual control. This has been explained by defective genes, skull structures, and other factors like hormonal values which are usually inherited from generation to generation (Mednick et al., 1987). Under psychological explanations, it has been shown that engagement crime develops from childhood to adulthood owing to psychological factors (Siegel, 2008). For example, engagement in crime can be caused by personality disorders which lead to development antisocial behavior. Psychological causes of crime is usually explained by different theories like motivational theories, learning process, inhibition, and many others.  Biological and psychological explanations of crimes forms the bases of wider understanding of why people engage in crime as there are a number of theories which are developed under the two broad perspectives.

Social, Cultural and Economic Sources of Crime
There are social, cultural, and economic reasons why people engage in crime.   Social factors show that some individuals living in particular areas, like low income areas, are at a higher risk of engaging in crime compared to others (Siegel, 2008). Research findings shows that the immediate family surroundings like family, friends, school, and others have a lot of influence on whether an individual engage in crime or not. Social causes of crime are supported by social theories like social control theories, social learning theory, strain theory, and many others.

Apart from social factors, there are cultural factors which may influence individual to engage in crime. Cultural factors are based on the sub-cultural participation in crime. There are subcultures like youths who may be prone to crime than others (Siegel, 2008). For example it has been shown that lower class youths who are exposed to values like toughness, fatalism, and many others a have a higher likelihood of engaging in crime.

The most prevalent factor that has been singled out as a major source of crime is economical factors. According to crime statistics, it has been shown that crimes are more prevalent in low income areas as most people tend to engage in crime as an economic activity (Siegel, 2008).  In low economic areas, high rate of poverty and unemployment drives most people to engage in crime.

Learning to Commit Crime
Despite the ranging debate on whether individuals are inherently criminals or whether they engage in crime due to social influence, it is evident that at one time, all criminals learn to engage in crime (Siegel, 2008).  Under the social learning process, it has been explained that people tend to learn to engage in crime in a similar way they learn conforming behaviors. Learning takes place through association and exposure to people who have criminal record including intimate friends and family members.  Individuals may learn through observing others engage in crime and after the learning process, reinforced criminal activities tend to be repeated.

Conclusion
Criminology encompasses different areas of study. As a subject, both in theory and practical application, criminology looks into factors that drive people to commit crime. People commit crime due to innate biological factors like inherited genes and due to social factors like social influence, economic conditions, and other factors.  People tend to learn how to commit crime through observation, association, or exposure.