Causes of Crime: What Does the Research Say?

What causes crime? This question has challenged society for some time and continues to be a subject of investigation across many disciplines. Are there different causes for different types of crime? There are those who express violent and unimaginable criminal behaviors, and others who are more likely to participate in low-level, passive types of crime. In attempting to account for the motivations for these crimes, many explanations have relied more on speculation than on scientific evidence. As a student of evidence-based approaches to the crime problem, however, understanding causes of crime is the first step toward finding and implementing solutions to crime that have been proven effective. Therefore, in this Discussion you will examine the research for evidence on both sides of the nature vs. nurture causes of crime debate.