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Criminal Justice 101 Back to Exercise Menu

Crimes, Criminals and Crime Statistics: Introduction to Exercise 4 - Causes of Crime
What You Will Learn


In this exercise you will learn about the causes of crime.

There are two categories of theories that explain the causes of crime.

  1. Rational choice theories claim that offenders make rational decisions when committing crime.

  2. Positivist theories claim that offenders are not completely acting freely when committing crime because they are either under the control of physical, biological, or social factors.
Key Terms


biological theory of crime
conflict theory of crime
cultural deviance theory
developmental theory of crime
positivist theories of crime
rational choice theory of crime
social process theory of crime
social structure theory of crime
Click on a term for the definition and Spanish translation.
What You Will Do

There are numbered blanks in the following passages. When you click on the number, two choices appear next to the essay. Click on the correct choice to insert it in the essay. If you click on the wrong choice, the Answer box at the bottom of the choices will tell you why your answer is wrong.
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