3.4 forensic psychology

Question 1

offender profiling

Answer 1

offender profiling is a tool employed by the police to narrow down the list of likely suspects.

it suggests that the characteristics of the offender can be deduced from details of the offence and crime scene.

profiling methods vary, but usually involve careful scrutiny of the crime scene and analysis of evidence (including witness reports). this is in order to generate a hypothesis about the probable characteristics of the offender (age, background, occupation etc.)

Question 2

top-down approach

Answer 2

profilers have pre-existing labels of ‘organised offender’ and ‘disorganised offender’ in their minds.

evidence from the crime scene and other details of the crime/victim/context are then used to fit the offender into either category (as one type or the other).

Question 3

organised offenders

Answer 3

P - shows evidence of PLANNING the crime in advance

T - killer/rapist TARGETS their victim deliberately and often has a preference

C - maintains a high level of CONTROL during their crime and operates with an almost detached surgical precision

I - above average INTELLIGENCE, in a skilled/professional occupation. little evidence is left at the crime scene

S - socially and SEXUALLY competent. usually married and have children

Question 4

disorganised offender

Answer 4

P - shows little evidence of PLANNING the crime in advance, spontaneous

T - the crime scene often reflects the impulsive nature of the attack, mostly UNTARGETED.

C - body often left at the scene, appears to have been very little CONTROL on the offenders part

I - lower than average INTELLIGENCE usually, in unskilled work/unemployed

S - history of SEXUAL dysfunction or failed relationships. tend to live alone and relatively close to where the offence took place

Question 5

four weaknesses of the top-down approach

Answer 5

• top-down profiling only applies to certain crimes (eg. rape, arson, cult killings, murders that involve macabre practices). common offences like burglary do not lend themselves to top-down profiling because the crime scene reveals little about the offender.
• the organised/disorganised distinction was developed based on interviews with 36 sexually motivated serial killers in the US, including ted bundy and charles manson. this is too small a sample size and too unrepresentative to base a typology system on. canter (2004) also argued that it’s not valid to rely on self report data from convicted serial killers when constructing a classification system.
• canter (2004) analysed data from 100 murders in the USA with reference to the characteristics thought to be typical of organised and disorganised killers. the findings did suggest evidence of a distinct organised type but not disorganised, which undermines the entire classification system.
• organised/disorganised is too simplistic. holmes (1989) suggested that there’s 4 types of serial killer: visionary SK (kill because god/the devil is directing them to), mission SK (kill to eradicate a group of people they consider undesirable), hedonistic SK (kill for the thrill) and power SK (kill to have complete control of their victims)

Question 6

bottom-up approach

Answer 6

the approach was developed in the UK. unlike the top down approach, the bottom up does not begin with fixed typologies.

the aim is to generate a picture of the offender, including their likely characteristics, routine behaviour and social background.

the profile is data-driven and the profiler systematically analyses the features of the crime in heavy detail. it’s more grounded in psychological theory than the top-down.

Question 7

investigative psychology

Answer 7

investigative psychology aims to establish behaviours that are likely to occur at certain crime scenes. this is done to create a statistical database which then acts as a baseline for comparison.

specific details of an offence can then be matched against this database to reveal statistically probable details about the offender (their personal history, family background etc.).

this can also help determine whether multiple offences are linked and likely to have been committed by the same individual.

Question 8

interpersonal coherence

Answer 8

central to investigative psychology is the concept of interpersonal coherence.

how an offender behaves at the crime scene,including how they interact with the victim, may reflect their behaviour in everyday situations. eg. whilst some rapists want to control and humiliate their victim, others can be apologetic. this might tell the police how the offender relates to women more generally.

Question 9

forensic awareness

Answer 9

forensic awareness describes individuals who have made an attempt to ‘cover their tracks’ (i.e. hide the body/murder weapon or clean the crime scene).

their behaviour may indicate that they have been the subject of police interrogation in the past, or even that the police already have their DNA or fingerprints on file.

Question 10

geographical profiling

Answer 10

the significance of time and place of the crime is also a key variable and may indicate where the offender lives.

geographical profiling focuses on the location of the crime as a clue to where the offender lives, works and socialises (could be by using relevant data from the geographical spread of similar crimes, transport links and local crime stats)

the assumption is that a serious offender will restrict their criminal activities to an area that they are familiar with, and the offender’s base will therefore be in the middle of the spatial pattern of their crime scenes. earlier crimes are likely to be closer to the offender’s base than later, and as the offender gains confidence they will travel further from their comfort zone.

Question 11

canter and larkin (1993)

Answer 11

canter and larkin (1993) propose two models of offender behaviour: the marauder (who operates close to their home) and the commuter (who is likely to have travelled a distance away from their home).

the spatial pattern of a crime will still form a circle around the offenders base either way - this becomes more apparent as more offences are committed.

it can also tell the police whether the crime was planned or opportunistic, as well as other important facts about the offender such as their mode of transport, employment status, approximate age, etc

Question 12

two strengths of the bottom up approach

Answer 12

+ canter argues that bottom-up profiling is more scientific than top-down profiling because it is more grounded in evidence and psychological theory and less driven by speculation and hunches than top-down profiling.
+ bottom-up profiling, unlike top-down profiling, can be applied to a wide variety of offences, such as burglary and theft, as well as murder and rape. this is because the top down approach focuses on the crime scene rather than characteristics of the offender, like the bottom up approach does.

Question 13

two weakness of the bottom-up approach

Answer 13

- copson (1995) surveyed 48 police forces and found that the advice provided by a profiler was judged to be useful in 83% of cases, but only led to the accurate identification of the offender 3% of the time. this shows the approach may not be as useful practically as theorised.

- kocsis et al. (2002) found that chemistry students produced a more accurate offender profile than experienced senior detectives. this implies that the bottom-up approach is essentially common sense and guess work, undermining its validity.

Question 14

historical explanations to offending

Answer 14

cesare lombroso (1876) suggested criminals were a primitive subspecies who were biologically different to non-criminals. this laid the foundation for offender profiling.

criminals were seen as lacking evolutionary development meaning they would find it impossible to adjust to society so turn to crime

Question 15

atavistic form

Answer 15

lombroso argued that the criminals could be identified through a set of physiological characteristics that were linked to particular crime.

these were mainly features on the face and head and were biologically determined atavistic characteristics. this showed that criminals were physically different from the rest of us.

examples include: narrow, sloping brow, a strong prominent jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry; dark skin, extra toes/nipples/fingers

Question 16

atavistic characteristics were specialised

Answer 16

murderers: bloodshot eyes, curly hair and long ears

sexual deviants: glinting eyes, swollen/fleshy lips and projecting ears

fraudsters: lips that are thin and ‘reedy’

Question 17

other traits beside physical

Answer 17

lombroso suggested that other characteristics of those born criminal were: insensitivity to pain, use of criminal slang, tattoos and unemployment

Question 18

two strengths of the atavistic form

Answer 18

+ the atavistic form had an important role in the shift away from theories based on feeble-mindedness, wickedness, and demonic possession. it was the forerunner to more biological explanations (evolutionary influences and genetics).

+ lombroso meticulously examined the facial and cranial features of italian convicts, both living and dead. he proposed that the atavistic form was associated with a number of physical anomalies which were key indicators of criminality. in total, lombroso examined the skulls of 383 dead criminals and 3839 living ones, and concluded that 40% of criminal acts could be accounted for by the criminal subculture.

Question 19

three weaknesses of the atavistic form

Answer 19

• several critics have drawn attention to the distinct racist undertones in lombroso’s work. many of the features he described as atavistic (e.g. dark skin and curly hair) are most likely to be found in people of african descent. his claim that atavistic characteristics were uncivilized, savage and primitive supported the eugenic philosophy.
• lombroso did not compare his criminal sample to a non-criminal control group. if he had done then the differences he reported may have disappeared. goring (1913) compared 3,000 criminals with 3,000 non-criminals to establish any physical/mental abnormalities between them. he found no evidence that offenders had particular facial and cranial characteristics. however, he did suggest that criminals are more likely to have a below-average intelligence.
• even if criminals have atavistic characteristics this not necessarily mean that these characteristics cause their criminal behaviour. facial and cranial features can be influenced by poverty and poor diet, which can also lead people to crime.

Question 20

genetic explanations to offending

Answer 20

genetic explanations for crime suggest that would-be offenders inherit a gene/combination of genes, that predisposes them to commit crime.

Question 21

lange (1930)

Answer 21

lange (1930) investigated 13 monozygotic (identical) twins and 17 dizygotic (non-identical) twins. at least one of the twins in each pair had served time in prison.

10/13 MZ twins had both spent time in prison, compared to only 2/17 DZ twins.

as concordance rates for both going to prison were higher in MZ twins, this shows that genetics may have had an impact on criminal behaviour. the twins with 100% of the same genes were more likely to both commit crimes than those with 50% of the same DNA.

Question 22

tilhonen (2014)

Answer 22

criminal behaviour could be polygenic, meaning one gene specifically is not responsible for offending, but many candidate genes might be.

tilhonen et al (2014) conducted a genetic analysis of over 900 finnish offenders which revealed abnormalities in two genes that may be associated with violent crime.

1. the MAOA gene - controls dopamine and serotonin in the brain and has been linked to aggressive behaviour.
2. the CDH13 gene - linked to substance abuse and attention deficit disorder.

the finnish sample individuals with this high-risk combination of genes were 13 times more likely to have a history of violent behaviour compared to a control group.

Question 23

diathesis-stress model

Answer 23

the diathesis-stress model holds that genetics influence criminal behaviour but this is moderated by the effects of the environment.

a tendency towards criminal behaviour may come through a combination of genetic predisposition and biological or psychological triggers, such as being raised in a dysfunctional environment.

Question 24

neural explanations

Answer 24

evidence suggests that there may be neural differences in the brains of criminals compared with non-criminals.

most evidence in this area uses individuals diagnosed with APD, (reduced emotional responses, lack of empathy). this condition that characterises many convicted criminals.

many brain imaging studies have shown that individuals with APD have reduced activity in the pre-frontal cortex, which is the area that regulates emotional behaviour.

Question 25

keysers (2011)

Answer 25

recent research has suggested that criminals with APD can experience empathy, but more sporadically than others.

keysers et al. (2011) found that only when criminals were asked to empathise with a person on a film experiencing pain, did their empathy reaction activate. this is controlled by mirror neurons in the brain.

this suggests that APD individuals can’t not experience empathy, but may need a neural switch on to do so. healthy brains have the ‘empathy switch’ permanently on.

Question 26

two strengths of genetic/neural explanations

Answer 26

+ raine et al. (2000) found an 11% reduction in the volume of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex (regulates emotional behaviour) of people with APD compared to a control group. this supports the idea that APD individuals are neurally different to others. however, these brain scanning studies show pathology in brains of criminal psychopaths, but cannot conclude whether this is genetic or signs of early abuse.

Question 27

four weakness of genetic/neural explanations

Answer 27

• concordance rates in MZ twins are never 100%, meaning genetics cannot be the only explanation for criminal behaviour. behaviour may be due to other external factors such as shared learning experiences (environment) alongside/instead of genetics.
• the term ‘offending behaviour’ is too vague. some specific forms of crime may be more biological than others e.g. physical aggression and the MAOA gene.
• the genetic and neural explanation of criminal behaviour is also an example of biological determinism. this presents us with a dilemma for our legal system. if someone has a criminal gene they cannot have personal and moral responsibility for their crime. if this is the case it would be unethical to punish someone who does not have free will.
• it is biologically reductionist. criminality is complex, so explanations that reduce offending behaviour to an inherited gene or imbalanced neurotransmitter may be inappropriate and overly simplistic. criminal behaviour does seem to run in families, but so does emotional instability, mental illness, social deprivation and poverty which may all be factors that contribute to offending in the future.

Question 28

eysenck’s criminal personality (1947)

Answer 28

eysenck (1947) proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion/extraversion and neuroticism/stability, which combine to form a variety of personality traits. eysenck later added a third dimension - psychoticism.

he suggested our personality traits have an innate biological origin, based on the type of nervous system we inherit from our parents.

this includes the criminal personality type, which includes all characteristics and behaviour from the neurotic-extravert categories. eysenck suggested a typical offender will also score highly on psychoticism - cold, unemotional and prone to aggression.

Question 29

extraverts and neuroticists

Answer 29

extraverts have an underactive nervous system so they are constantly seeking excitement, and stimulation, and may engage in risk-taking behaviour. they are difficult to condition and so do not learn from their mistakes.

neurotic individuals tend to be nervous, jumpy and over-anxious, and their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict.

Question 30

personality and socialisation

Answer 30

in eysenck’s theory, personality is linked to criminal behaviour via socialisation. he saw criminal behaviour as developmentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification.

during socialisation, children are taught to delay gratification and be socially orientated. eysenck believed that people with high extraversion and neuroticism scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition.

as a result they will not learn easily to respond to their anti-social impulses with anxiety and are more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presents itself.

Question 31

strength of eysenck’s criminal personality

Answer 31

+ eysenck developed the ‘eysenck personality inventory’, a psychological test which locates respondents along the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions to determine their personality type. a later scale was introduced that is used to measure psychoticism. therefore the personality theory is measurable and scientific.

Question 32

four weakness of eysenck’s criminal personality

Answer 32

• eysenck’s theory is out of step with modern personality theory. digman’s (1990) five factor model of personality suggests that openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness are important personality dimensions, in addition to extraversion and neuroticism. using this model multiple combinations are available.
• the idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by a single personality type has been heavily criticised as being simplistic. crime is too varied and complex a behaviour to be due to one single personality type (eg. one who commits murder is likely very different to fraud). also personality itself cannot be reduced to a score on a psychological test like eysenck suggests. critics believe there is no such thing as ‘stable personality’ as this changes daily depending on the situation/context.
• farrington et al. (1982) reviewed several studies and reported that offenders tended to score higher on psychoticism, but NOT on extraversion and neuroticism, than non-offenders. this undermines the entire personality theory
• bartol and holanchock (1979) looked into cultural differences. they studied hispanic and african-american offenders in a maximum security prison in new york. they were divided 6 groups based on their criminal history and the nature of their offences. all 6 were less extraverted than non-criminal control groups. this means eysenck’s theory could be culturally biased.

Question 33

cognitive explanations of offending

Answer 33

moral reasoning and cognitive distortions

Question 34

moral reasoning

Answer 34

moral reasoning refers to the process by which an individual draws upon their own value system to determine whether an action is right or wrong.

Question 35

kohlberg’s stage theory (1973)

Answer 35

kohlberg (1973) proposed that the quality of people’s judgments of right and wrong can be summarised by a stage theory of moral development. he based his stages on people’s responses to moral dilemmas.

1. pre-conventional - individual shows concern for self interest and external rewards and punishments
2. conventional - individual does what is expected of them by others
3. post-conventional - individual develops more autonomous decision making based on principles of right and justice

Question 36

offender’s moral reasoning

Answer 36

offenders are more likely be classified at the ‘pre-conventional’ level of moral reasoning.

this means that a person is punishment and reward-orientated (reasoning based on what can be gained/lost). this is immature reasoning which typically lasts from ages 3-7.

teenagers and adults who still reason in this way may commit crime if they can get away with it and/or gain rewards (money, respect etc.).

Question 37

evaluate moral reasoning

Answer 37

+ palmer and hollin (1998) compared moral reasoning between 210 female non-offenders, 122 male non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders. they used 11 moral dilemmas, such as not taking things that belong to others. the offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offenders.

• the level of moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence. hornton and reid (1982) found that individuals who committed crimes for financial gain, such as robbery, were more likely to show pre-conventional reasoning than those convicted of impulsive crimes (such as assault), where no reasoning was evident.

Question 38

cognitive distortions

Answer 38

cognitive distortions are faulty and irrational ways of thinking that make people perceive themselves, other people and the world inaccurately, and often negatively. they can include hostile attribution bias and minimalisation.

Question 39

hostile attribution bias

Answer 39

hostile attribution bias is the tendency to judge ambiguous situations, or the actions of others, as aggressive and/or threatening when in reality they are not.

offenders may misread non-aggressive cues and this may trigger a disproportionate, often violent, response. hostile attribution bias can lead to the offender blaming the victim for having ‘started it’.

Question 40

minimalisation

Answer 40

minimalisation is when a criminal believes that their crime was trivial and downplays the impact of their crime on their victims. this is a common strategy that people use when attempting to avoid feeling guilt.

offenders often use euphemisms for their offences, e.g. a burglar may say they have been ‘doing a job’. sex offenders are in particular prone to minimalisation.

Question 41

evaluate cognitive distortions

Answer 41

+ understanding the nature of cognitive distortions has proven beneficial in the treatment of criminal behaviour. the dominant approach in the rehabilitation of sex offenders is CBT, which encourages offenders to face what they have done and establish a less distorted view of their actions. a reduced incidence of cognitive distortions in therapy is highly correlated with a reduced risk of offending.

• whilst cognitive distortions explain thinking, it can not account for the source of these thoughts (nature or nurture?). therefore, it may be difficult to get to the root of the issue and avoid having such thoughts which reduces the practicality of the idea. the explanation cannot change behaviour entirely and just alter it on the surface level.
• cognitive distortions cannot be observed or measured. it is an abstract concept, therefore there is no way to test this theory. the cognitive explanation of criminal behaviour is not scientific and lacks validity.

Question 42

differential association theory

Answer 42

when a person is socialised into a social group they will be exposed to the group’s norms and values towards the law. some groups will be pro-crime, some will be anti-crime.

differential association theory proposes that offending can be explained by looking at the norms/values of the offender’s social group. offending is more likely to occur where the social group values deviant behaviour.

Question 43

sutherland (1924)

Answer 43

sutherland (1924) argues that if the number of pro-criminal attitudes that a person comes into contact with out-weighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes then they will become an offender.

the learning process is the same whether the person is learning criminality or conformity to the law. learning can occur through imitation, vicarious reinforcement, direct reinforcement or direct tuition from criminal peers.

sutherland suggests we can mathematically predict the likelihood of if someone will commit crime based on the frequency, intensity and duration of which they have been exposed to criminal and non-criminal norms and values.

Question 44

reoffending

Answer 44

in addition to being exposed to pro-criminal attitudes, the potential offender may also learn particular techniques for committing crime eg. how to pick locks, hot wire a car etc.

this theory explains how crime can spread among specific social groups and communities.

it also accounts for why so many convicts released from prison go on to re-offend. it is reasonable to assume that whilst in prison inmates will learn specific offending from more experienced criminals that they then put into practice upon their release.

Question 45

three strengths of differential association theory

Answer 45

+ the theory is able to account for crime within all sectors of society. sutherland (1924) recognised that some types of crime, such as burglary, may be clustered within inner-city, working class communities. though, some crimes are most prevalent among affluent groups. white-collar (sometimes referred to as corporate crime) is a feature of middle-class social groups.

+ sutherland was successful in moving the emphasis away from early biological explanations of crime (i.e. lombroso) and explanations which saw offending as being the product of individual weakness or immorality. differential association theory draws attention to the role of dysfunctional social circumstances and environments in criminality.

+ it offers a more desirable and realistic solution to offending behaviour than the biological solution (eugenics) or the morality solution (punishment)

Question 46

two weaknesses of differential association theory

Answer 46

• differential association theory is difficult to test scientifically, most of the evidence to support it is correlational, which does not demonstrate cause and effect. pro-crime attitudes a person has been exposed to is hard to measure. similarly, the theory is built on the assumption that offending behaviour will occur when pro-criminal values outnumber anti-criminal ones. but, without being able to measure these values, it is difficult to know at what point the urge to offend will trigger a criminal career.
• not everyone who is exposed to criminal influences goes on to commit crime. there is a danger that this theory could stereotype individuals who come from impoverished, crime-ridden backgrounds as unavoidably criminal.
• the theory is environmentally determinist as it ignores the fact that people have free will to choose not to offend despite criminal influences. offenders may seek out people with criminal values rather than being passively influenced by them.
• on the other hand it could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the individual believes that just because they grew up surrounded by criminals they SHOULD listen to those around them because of the theory.

Question 47

psychodynamic explanations of offending

Answer 47

inadequate superego

Question 48

tripartite personality (gen)

Answer 48

id: pleasure principle. it wants immediate gratification regardless of morality.

ego: reality principle. it must compromise between the impulsive demands of the id and the moralistic demands of the superego.

superego: morality principle. contains our conscience (the internalisation of societal rules). it determines which behaviours are morally acceptable and causes feelings of guilt when rules are broken, or pride when we exhibit moral behaviour.

Question 49

internalised superego

Answer 49

the superego is the last aspect of personality to develop (end of the phallic stage of psychosexual development at 3-6 years old).

the major conflict of this stage is the oedipus complex in which the male child unconsciously wishes to possess their mother and get rid of their father.

as a result of this desire, boys experience castration anxiety - they fear their father will remove their penis to punish them for their desire of their mother. in an attempt to resolve this anxiety the child identifies with their father and will eventually internalise their father’s superego, creating their own.

similarly girls go through the electra complex, but because they do not have castration anxiety, they do not internalise their mother’s superego to the same extent, and so their own superego is less well developed than a male superego.

Question 50

inadequate superego

Answer 50

blackburn (1993) argued that if the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then criminal behaviour is inevitable because the id is not properly controlled.

3 types of inadequate superego have been proposed: weak, deviant and over-harsh superego.

Question 51

weak superego

Answer 51

if the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, the child cannot internalise a fully formed superego because there is no opportunity for identification. this would make offending behaviour likely.

Question 52

deviant superego

Answer 52

if the superego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values this can lead to offending behaviour.

Question 53

overharsh superego

Answer 53

a healthy superego has rules, but is also forgiving of transgressions. an excessively punitive superego means an individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety. this may unconsciously drive the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego’s need for punishment.

Question 54

five weakness of inadequate superego

Answer 54

• an assumption of the psychodynamic approach is the idea that girls develop a weaker superego than boys. the implication is that females should be more prone to criminal behaviour, but this is not supported by crime statistics. freud’s theory is also flawed in that it is unscientific (it cannot be measured/falsified), which makes it difficult to root a valid theory based upon it.
• hoffman (1975) tested children’s ability to resist temptation. he found hardly any gender difference, although girls were slightly more moral than boys.
• there’s little evidence that children raised without a same-sex parent are less law-abiding as adults (or have less of a conscience). this theory does not have sufficient empirical evidence to support it.
• if children raised by deviant parents go on to commit crimes themselves this could be due to genetics or learning rather than a deviant superego. therefore the biological approach may be more suited to explain offending behaviour.
• the idea that some criminals have an unconscious desire for punishment is implausible, most offenders go to great lengths to conceal their crime and so avoid punishment

Question 55

aims of custodial sentencing

Answer 55

custodial sentencing involves a convicted offender spending time in prison or another closed institution, such as a young offenders institute or psychiatric hospital.

there are 4 aims: deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation

Question 56

deterrence

Answer 56

the unpleasant prison experience is designed to deter an individual from engaging in offending behaviour in the future. deterrence works on two levels:

general deterrence aims to send a broad message to members of a society that crime will not be tolerated.

individual deterrence should prevent the individual from repeating the same crime.

Question 57

incapacitation

Answer 57

the offender is taken out of society to prevent them from reoffending as a means of protecting the public.

the need for incapacitation depends upon the severity of the offence and the nature of the offender.

Question 58

retribution

Answer 58

society is enacting revenge for the crime by making the offender suffer. the level of suffering should be proportionate to the crime.

Question 59

rehabilitation

Answer 59

upon release, prisoners should be better adjusted and ready to take their place in society.

prison should provide opportunities to develop skills, receive training, or access treatment programs for addiction. also receiving counselling and an opportunity to reflect on their crime.

Question 60

4 psychological affects of custodial sentencing

Answer 60

psychological disorders, institutionalisation, brutalisation, labelling

Question 61

psychological disorders

Answer 61

prisons have higher incidences of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide, and low self-esteem.

a study by the Prison Reform Trust (2014) found that 25% of women and 15% of men in prison reported symptoms of psychosis.

the oppressive prison regime can trigger psychological disorders.

Question 62

institutionalisation

Answer 62

spending time in prison leads to a lack of autonomy, conformity to the role of prisoner, and a dependency on prison culture.

Question 63

brutalisation

Answer 63

prison acts as a school for crime and reinforces criminal lifestyle and criminal norms. this leads to high recidivism - 70% of young offenders re-offend within two years.

Question 64

labelling

Answer 64

prisoners often lose touch with previous social contacts and find it difficult to gain employment because they are labelled as a criminal.

Question 65

one strength of custodial sentencing

Answer 65

+ custodial sentencing shows that justice has been done and limits the danger to the public.

many prisoners access education and training whilst in prison, increasing the chance they will find employment upon release.

treatment programmes, such as anger management therapy and social skills training may help offenders modify their behaviour and so avoid reoffending.

Question 66

four weaknesses of custodial sentencing

Answer 66

• suicide rates are 15% higher in the prison population than they are in the general population. however, it is difficult to demonstrate that psychological disorders are caused by imprisonment. prisoners with psychiatric conditions may very well have had problems before they were institutionalised.
• preventing the crime in the first place is more effective than custodial sentencing. it avoids labelling a person as a criminal, which may negatively affect their futures in work. also it avoids the negative consequences of prison itself (the psychological effects etc). alternative sentences like community service are more effective for low-risk offenders because they can keep their social contacts and their job.
• courts need to be selective about who they send to prison, 8-10% of criminals commit 50% of all crimes (peterson 1981). custodial sentencing is best reserved for these repeat offenders.
• david and raymond (2000) completed a review of custodial sentencing and concluded that government ministers often exaggerate the benefits of prison in order to appear tough on crime. they suggested that, in reality, prison does little to deter or rehabilitate offenders. it is done to appease the public or as an act of retribution.

Question 67

behaviourist approach

Answer 67

the behaviourist approach argues that all human behaviour is learned, meaning behaviour can be unlearned, using the same principles that were used to learn the behaviour in the first place.

Question 68

behaviour modification

Answer 68

behaviour modification is a behavioural therapy based on principles of operant conditioning. it involves the systematic use of positive and negative reinforcement for desired behaviours. prisons use token economy for behaviour modification.

Question 69

token economy

Answer 69

token economy is when desirable behaviour is reinforced with a token (secondary reinforcers), which can be exchanged for some form of reward (primary reinforcers).

desirable behaviour might include: avoiding conflict, following prison rules, keeping your cell orderly etc.

rewards might include: a phone call to a loved one, time in the gym, access to a computer, extra cigarettes, or extra food.

the desirable behaviour and available rewards are made clear to the prisoners before they start the programme. it is also emphasised that non-compliance or disobedience will result in the tokens being withheld (negative punishment).

Question 70

processes within behaviour modification

Answer 70

the desirable behaviour is identified (e.g. avoiding conflict) and then broken down into smaller steps, called increments.

all those who come into contact with the offender must follow the same regime of selective reinforcement (a particular prisoner is rewarded for particular actions).

the whole programme is overseen by a prison official who is able to monitor the programme’s effectiveness on the management of the prison as a whole, as well as on the behaviour of individual offenders.

Question 71

one strength of behaviour modification

Answer 71

+ token economy is easy to administer. it does not require expert professionals or specialised equipment. rather, it can be implemented by virtually anyone in the prison. it is also cost-effective and easy to follow once the method of reinforcement has been established.

Question 72

four weakness of behaviour modification

Answer 72

• token economy doesn’t work if staff are not consistent. sometimes lack of appropriate training or high staff turnover makes consistency problematic. this can mean that behaviour is not being reinforced repeatedly, and can impair behaviour modification.
• behaviour modification can only be used in a controlled environment. any positive behavioural change that occurs while the prisoner is lost once the prisoner realises law-abiding behaviour is not always reinforced on the outside. rewards that result from breaking the law may be powerful.

it could also be because offenders are merely ‘playing along’ with the scheme to get the rewards, and not really learning to change their behaviour.

• token economy has been critiqued as unethical (some prisons make the scheme obligatory). ultimately the offender can decide whether or not to obey the rules or break them, but the withdrawal of privileges such as exercise and contact with loved ones can be physically and psychologically harmful.
• behaviour modification only deals with surface behaviour. other treatments go deeper and require offenders to reflect on the cause of their offending and take responsibility for their rehabilitation.

Question 73

anger management

Answer 73

novaco (1975) suggests that cognitive factors trigger emotional arousal which usually precedes aggressive acts.

he argues that, in some people, anger is too quick to surface, especially in situations that they perceive to be threatening but actually are not (hostile attribution bias).

anger management is a form of CBT. the individual is taught how to recognise when they are losing control, and encouraged to develop techniques that bring about conflict resolution without resorting to violence.

the three stages are cognitive preparation, skill acquisition, application practice

Question 74

cognitive preparation

Answer 74

the offender learns to identify the triggers for their anger. they reflect on events in the past when they became angry, and consider if the way that they interpreted those events was rational.

the therapist’s role is to help the offender redefine the situation as non-threatening. eg. an offender might interpret someone looking at them as threatening, but in actual fact the person ‘looking’ at them was just lost in thought.

Question 75

skill acquisition

Answer 75

the offender is introduced to a range of techniques and skills to help them handle anger-provoking situations more rationally.

techniques could be cognitive (positive self-talk to encourage calmness); behavioural (assertiveness training to communicate more effectively); or physiological (methods of relaxation and meditation).

Question 76

application practice

Answer 76

the offender is given the opportunity to practise the skills they learned in the skill acquisition stage in a carefully monitored environment.

role plays are often used to re-enact scenarios that in the past led to the offender committing an act of violence. the offender must take this seriously and see the scenario as real, and the therapist has to be brave and ‘wind up’ the offender.

successful negotiation of the role play will be met with positive reinforcement from the therapist.

Question 77

two strengths of anger management

Answer 77

+ anger management is a multidisciplinary approach (cognitive, behavioural and social elements are included) which acknowledges that offending is a complex social and psychological behaviour, and any attempt to address it must include these different elements.

+ unlike behaviour modification, anger management tries to get to the root cause of offending behaviour (the thought processes that lead to anger/violence), rather than focusing on superficial surface behaviour.

Question 78

three weaknesses of anger management

Answer 78

• the assumption that anger causes offending may be false. many crimes, such as financial crime, are not motivated by anger. even murder is not always motivated by anger. eg. harold shipman murdered over 215 of his patients during his time working as a GP, but his motivation was to alleviate their suffering rather than anger/hate towards the victims.
• anger management programmes are expensive to run as they require a highly trained specialist who is used to dealing with violent offenders. many prisons do not have the resources to run such programmes. in this case behaviour modification may be more appropriate.
• the success of anger management is based on the commitment of those who participate, and this is a problem if prisoners are uncooperative or apathetic.

Question 79

restorative justice

Answer 79

restorative justice programmes are each unique in their processes, but are all based on the same principles.

RJ attempts to switch the emphasis from the needs of the state (to enforce the law and punish criminals) to the needs of the victim (to come to terms with crime and move on with their lives).

RJ is not restricted to courtroom settings. survivors and offenders often meet face-to-face. a trained mediator facilitates a meeting between the offender and the victim, aiming for collaboration, healing and empowerment.

Question 80

the victim

Answer 80

victims are encouraged to take an active role in the punishment of the offender. they are given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the crime affected them.

Question 81

the offender

Answer 81

offenders are required to take responsibility for their actions and face up to what they have done to their victim. RJ encourages positive change, rather than punishment.

they are confronted with the consequences of their actions, including the emotional distress they have caused the victim.

Question 82

outcomes of rj

Answer 82

in some variations of restorative justice offenders make financial restitution for the physical and emotional damage they have done. offenders sometimes even repair damaged property themselves.

restorative justice can function as an alternative to custodial sentences, especially if the offender is young, as an additional to community service, or as an incentive to reduce an existing custodial sentence.

Question 83

one strength of restorative justice

Answer 83

+ shapland et al. (2007) conducted a government funded research project and found that every £1 spent on restorative justice would save the criminal justice system £8 by reducing recidivism.

however, because restorative justice requires specialist and highly trained professionals it is very expensive and finding funding has proved challenging

Question 84

three weaknesses of restorative justice

Answer 84

• the success of restorative justice relies on the offender and victim motivations.

the offender must show remorse for their actions for RJ to be effective. some offenders might sign up for the scheme to avoid prison or reduce their sentence, rather than from a genuine willingness to change. this could explain the high dropout rates in restorative justice, which shows that offender’s were not committed to changing in the first place.

victims also may have an ulterior motive for agreeing to take part in restorative justice, like revenge.

• the organisation ‘women’s aid’ has called for an end to the use of restorative justice in domestic abuse cases because the offender can exploit this opportunity to convince the victim to take them back. abusers often have a lot of power over their victims and so a meeting between them could be dangerous.
• restorative justice is unpopular with the general public because it is regarded as a ‘soft option’. this means that politicians are unwilling to support it because they want to please the electorate by seeming ‘tough on crime’. enforcement is then less likely.