The death penalty with which he is threatened is meaningless because societal neglect and brutality had killed him years earlier -- indeed, well before he had ever known a real life (Bernstein, 1992, p. 174).

Charlie has never known a real life, and his lack of social understanding, and of society understanding his needs, has led to his life of crime and imprisonment.

Another theory of criminology includes the theory that poverty is also a cause of criminology in many people. Charlie's early life was certainly spent in economic and emotional crisis. His mother, when she did keep him, was a heavy drinker who made money from robberies and theft. When she abandoned him, as she often did, he had no way to take care of himself, and so he turned to crime for the money he needed. When he lived with relatives, he continued this early pattern. He was...
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