Final answer:
Positivist biologist thinkers connected criminality to social and economic factors like poverty and unemployment, with theories like conflict theory and social disorganization theory shedding light on the link between social inequalities, weakened community ties, and higher crime rates.
Step-by-step explanation:
Positivist biologist thinkers linked criminality to various social and economic factors, including poverty, limited educational opportunities, unemployment, and social exclusion. These conditions are believed to lower the opportunity costs of crime, making deviant behaviors more appealing relative to other less profitable lawful activities. Conflict theory, drawing from the ideas of Karl Marx, highlights the influence of social and economic inequalities on crime rates, while social disorganization theory focuses on the contribution of weakened social ties and lack of social control in communities to the prevalence of crime.
Comprehensive research, including the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for crime data analysis, has provided insights into how neighborhood variables strongly predict crime rates. Additionally, the founding theorists of social disorganization have demonstrated that ethnicity itself is not a direct contributor to crime, but rather, the socio-economic conditions of the neighborhood can significantly affect the probability of engaging in criminal behavior.
These theories collectively contribute to a broader understanding of how certain environmental conditions foster criminality, and they inform public policies aimed at crime prevention and social reform.