Gender as a cause of crime

Evolutionary psychology, a branch of biological psychology, attempts to explain our behaviour in terms of evolved survival instincts, often revolving around reproduction.

Daly and Wilson were the first to refer to evolution as an explanation for why some turn to crime. They found that most murders are of young males and committed by young males, and explained this in terms of it being the result of extreme competition for women and status between young, unmarried and unemployed men; they were competing for survival. They claimed this explained why this demographic formed a disproportionate amount of the prison population, especially for violent crimes – that males committed more crimes because their ancestors’ role of hunter and protector predisposes them to more risky behaviour than females. 

Study: Daly and Wilson conducted a study, based on their initial findings and theories, which aimed to investigate the link between homicide rates and life expectancy in different areas of Chicago. They conducted a cross-sectional correlation study using data from police records, government records, school records and local demographic records. Daly and Wilson found much variation between homicide rates in different areas of Chicago, with a strong negative correlation between life expectancy and homicide rates. Another key finding was that school absenteeism also negatively correlated with life expectancy, and thus Daly and Wilson concluded that young men from disadvantaged neighbourhoods were expected to live shorter lives, and thus became more likely to engage in risky behaviour such as crime.