The dictionary describes determinism as the doctrine that everything is entirely determined by a sequence of causes; the doctrine that one's choice of action is not free, but is determined by a sequence of causes independent of his will.
Free will is described as the human will regarded as free from restraints, compulsions, or any antecedent conditions; freedom of decision or choice.
Cesare Beccaria, a criminologist in the eighteenth century, believed that people or human beings with free will should be held responsible for their actions. If they committed a crime, he felt that swift punishments should be administered to those who broke the law. He felt that the punishment should fit the crime, because some people willfully chose to commit crimes or willfully chose to break the law.
Cesare Lombroso's theory was that criminals had no choice in what they did to break the law due to their inborn atavistic tendencies. He felt that the cause of crime was due to a biological disorder. Genetics caused them to become criminal misfits or people with violent tendencies of which they had no control over. This is termed as biological determinism. .
Many determinists felt that if a person was born a criminal, then there was nothing that society could due to change their criminal behavior. We should just keep incarcerating these people who were considered to be dangerous, isolating them from the rest of society. .
A person's will or determination to survive often is the key factor in why people commit crimes. Perhaps hard times are upon them and they have no way to keep their utilities on; they often turn to crime in order to seek the means of survival. No, this is not right, but one does what one feels he or she has to do to survive. Their determination to survive combined with their free will, grants them the privilege to rob, steal, or even sometimes kill to attain whatever they feel they need to survive.
