Dysfunctional family as a source of criminal behaviours on the example of Opolskie Voivodeship

Abstract

The problem addressed concerns the mechanism by which crime occurs. The article attempts to capture the turning point that causes people growing up in dysfunctional families to choose a life of crime. The main thesis is that the quality of family life is responsible for the substandard behaviour of people coming from dysfunctional families. The question can be asked: How does anti-social behaviour emerge among people from dysfunctional families? In order to fi nd a solution to this problem, the results of empirical research carried out in the course of this project were used. They were conducted among working police offi cers from all eleven poviats of the Opolskie Voivodeship: Brzeskie, Głubczycki, Kędzierzyńsko-Kozielski, Kluczborski, Krapkowicki, Namysłowski, Nyski, Oleski, Opolski, Prudnicki and Strzelecki. The study shows that in families where the quality of life is low, the inability or unwillingness to improve the material situation is replaced by parental alcohol dependence,