Southern New Hampshire University Alexis Elliott PSY 310 6-2 Journal: Criminal Prosecution
Limitations The term theory "may refer to personal experiences, observations, traditional beliefs, a set of opinions, or a collection of abstract thoughts," according to Bartol and Bartol (2020). There are several psychological theories to assist in criminal prosecution, such as "just-worlders. A "just-worlder" believe that "things do not happen to people without a reason that is closely related to their own actions" (Bartol & Bartol, 2020). and other theories of an individual's perception of why crime happens. However, these theories also have their limitations. According to Bartol and Bartol (2020), psychological theories of crime identify and assess the different causes and motivations of criminal behavior. An important limitation of these theories is that they don't always consider social and cultural variables. They also contain unconscious biases such as racial biases, and poverty biases. Example, one might assume children who grew up in poverty will always become criminals, which isn't true. These theories can assist us in understanding criminals; however, we shouldn't try to fit criminals in any one theory; no one theory should be relied on. There are elements from multiple theories that can apply to any one criminal. If the biases are addressed during the prosecution process, they can be rectified, and the profile can be adjusted accordingly. Motivational Factors Age can impact motivation greatly. People have so many different experiences throughout the different stages of life. These changes affect our values and morals. Environmental and neurological factors greatly effect these changes within an individual's psyche. A minor may have motivations that influence their behavior that would not typically influence an adult to act out the same way. For a minor, motivation can come from things that an adult might not find stimulating, such as simply disregarding rules or rejecting authority figures,
while factors that motivate an adult may not seem stimulating for a minor. The dual system model of risk-taking shows that the age of an individual impacts their decision-making because of brain development (Bartol & Bartol, 2020). Kids in the adolescence stage are more prone to risky behavior and are easily influenced and more vulnerable than those in more mature stages of life. According to research from Bartol and Bartol (2020), the developmental stage at age sixteen is more easily influenced to act with little to no motivation compared to the same individual at age 25 (ie, an adolescent might break a window because his friends think it's cool, while an adult would need more motivation than that to commit a crime. Therefore, we see that age can greatly impact motivational factors. Whereas an adult might abstain from these impulses and act with more thought-out actions and consider all possible outcomes. As well as change in risk-taking, age has an impact on determining what crime has been committed. Status offenses are crimes committed only by minors, and these offenses would not be considered a crime for an adult. For example, a common crime committed by