Tool · criminal DNA

The criminological diagnosis

Describe a criminal, a motive or a scene and the diagnosis tells you which criminological theory best explains it, with example villains. A shortcut to understanding the why of crime.

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The diagnosis theories

  1. Rational choice — Crime as a decision: it weighs costs and benefits before acting.Keyser Söze, Handsome Jack, Marshall D. Teach
  2. Psychopathy — Lack of empathy and remorse behind superficial charm.Cell, Lalo Salamanca, Jadis
  3. Strain / frustration — The gap between what you crave and what you can achieve spills into crime.Dante Reyes, Quan Chi, Clitemnestra
  4. Institutional anomie — When society only rewards winning, fraud becomes normal.Pablo Escobar, Frank Fontaine, El Juez Doom
  5. Social learning — Behavior is learned by observing and imitating a model.Feyd-Rautha, Reze, Deathstroke
  6. Subculture of violence — In some groups violence is the norm and grants status.Calvin Candie, Boyd Crowder, Luca Changretta
  7. Stigma — The social mark pushes to the margins whoever society singles out.Milady de Winter, Freddy Krueger, Tía Lydia
  8. Social control — We offend when the bonds tying us to the norm break.Shōgo Makishima, Dexter Morgan, Alex DeLarge
  9. Containment — Inner and outer brakes that hold back —or not— the push to crime.Juez Wargrave, Azula, Bruno Antony
  10. Routine activities — Crime = attractive target + absent guardian + motivated offender.Pennywise, William Afton, Joe Goldberg
  11. Situational prevention — Crime can be designed… and prevented by changing the opportunity.Hans Gruber, Selina Kyle, El Profesor
  12. Utilitarianism — The end —the greater good— justifies any horror.Ultron, Makima, Darkseid
  13. Relative deprivation — It’s not poverty: it’s feeling below others.Jill Roberts, Elle Driver, Kokushibo
  14. Class conflict — Power decides what counts as crime and who ends up paying.Legravalima, Lucius Zogratis, Gellert Grindelwald
  15. Feminist criminology — Gender structures both crime and victimization.Medea, Cersei Lannister, Nate Jacobs
  16. Patriarchy — Male dominance as the root of control and violence.Señor del Fuego Ozai, Regulus Corneas, La Dama de la Saya Verde
  17. Green criminology — Harm to nature and the plunder of resources as crime.General Ardmore, Leviticus Cornwall, Presidente Shinra
  18. Behavioral genetics — Biological factors that interact with environment (never a destiny).Esther, Brian Moser, Damien Thorn
  19. Deterrence — Fear of punishment (dis)incentivizes the step into crime.Fantômas, Skynet, Ghostface