ABSTRACT
Ideology and the Causes of Crime Given the role of ideological visions in criminologists’ theory choices, it is not surprising
that ideology is also significantly related to the causes of criminal behavior they consider
important. Cooper, Walsh, and Ellis (2010) presented means (scores ranged from 0 ¼ “not important at all” to 10 ¼ “highly important”) for each of the 24 alleged causes of crime, broken down by ideological category. Predictably, conservatives and moderates
favored individual-level explanations (“Stop whining and pull up your socks, man!”)
most strongly, and liberals and radicals favored external social explanations (“Stop
blaming the victim, racist!”) most strongly. The top three factors for conservatives were
(in order): “Lack of empathy and concern for others,” “Impulsiveness and risk-taking
tendencies,” and “Unstable family life.” The top three favored by moderates were:
“Lack of empathy and concern for others,” “Poor discipline practices,” and “Unstable
family life.” Liberals favored: “Unfair economic system,” “Lack of educational oppor-
tunities,” and “Peer influences” most strongly, and radicals favored: “Unfair economic
system,” “Bias in law enforcement,” and “Lack of educational opportunities.” The only
alleged cause considered “important” (a mean score of 5 or higher) across all four
ideological categories was “Lack of empathy and concern for others,” although
conservatives and moderates scored it significantly higher than liberals and radicals.
Four “causes” considered important for which there was no significant difference in
mean scores across ideological categories were: “Peer influences,” “Unstable family life,”
“Alcohol abuse,” and “Hard drugs.”
