Chapter 9

Question 1

Psychological Theories of Crime

Answer 1

1. Assumption of offender deficit
   Something is psychologically wrong with the offender
2. Assumption of discriminating traits
   Offenders differ from non-offenders, esp. in impulsivity and aggression

Question 2

Critiques of the psychological approach

Answer 2

• Little emphasis on positive characteristics of offenders
• • Focus is overwhelmingly on offender deficits
• Ignores the importance of situational and environmental factors on individual behaviour
• • More recent research has addressed these two critiques
• Criminal vs. non-criminal binary is not reliable
• • Criminal behaviour is in fact pervasive

Question 3

Criminal vs. non-criminal binary

Answer 3

• Farrington: important to understand differences between offenders and non-offenders
• • Criminality is the outcome of different social and psychological risk factors
• • Motivation to commit delinquent acts arises from a desire for material goods or a need for excitement
• • Delinquent acts may also be influenced by psychological variables (e.g., individual’s learning history or beliefs re: criminal behaviour)

Question 4

Community psychology

Answer 4

Level of analysis” perspective:

1. Individual level—social problems defined as individual deficits
2. Small group level—social problems are created by group functioning deficits
3. Organizational level—organizations of society have not accomplished what they are supposed to
4. Institutional or community level—social problems are created by institutions

Question 5

Haney 2002

Answer 5

Makes a strong case for a situational approach to understanding criminal behaviour
Argues for less focus on defective properties of the individual
More emphasis should be placed on situational pathologies or environmental stressors that may alter an offender’s psychological state

Question 6

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 6

Associated with Freud, although he did not apply his theory to criminality
Others have tried to explain criminal behaviour with psychoanalytic concepts
Basic premise is that individuals go through different stages of development: (1) oral, (2) anal, (3) phallic, (4) latency (5) genital

Question 7

Ego and superego

Answer 7

Ego and superego (internal controls) develop through successful resolution of conflicts at each stage of development
Crime results when the ego and superego are unable to control the primitive, aggressive, antisocial instincts of the id
Criminality caused by a person’s failure to progress satisfactorily through the early stages of development
Superego is inadequately developed or deficient and the individual is susceptible to antisocial behaviour

Question 8

Warren and Hindelang (1979) identify other applications of psychoanalytic theory to criminality:

Answer 8

Criminal behaviour is a form of neurosis
Criminals suffer from compulsive need for punishment to alleviate guilt and anxiety from unconscious strivings
Criminal activity is a substitute gratification for desires not met in the family
Delinquent behaviour is the result of traumatic events whose memory has been repressed
Delinquency may be an expression of displaced hostility

Question 9

Problems and limitations

Answer 9

Theory is untestable
Because it relies on unobservable underlying constructs
It is tautological
Aggressive acts are seen as the result of impulses, but the evidence for impulses isaggressive acts
Not all criminals suffer from guilt or anxiety

Question 10

Jean Piaget

Answer 10

Studied children playing
Moral reasoning was learned in stages
Children go from egocentrism (because they lack empathy) to cooperation (by age 11 or 12)

Question 11

Theories of moral development

Answer 11

Criminal behaviour understood by focusing on how we develop (or fail to develop) a sense of morality and responsibility

Question 12

Theories of moral development: Kohlberg

Answer 12

Six stages of moral development
Everyone goes through them in order, but pace may vary and some get stuck
Preconventional: the roles and social expectations are external to the individual
Conventional: the person understands and accepts and upholds rules of society
Postconventional: the person critically examines customs from chosen principles; few attain this level

Question 13

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory

Answer 13

Biased in favour of men, as care-oriented women seldom reach postconventional level
Kohlberg: there should be an inverse relationship between moral development and delinquency
Studies suggest that delinquents’ moral development is less advanced than that of non-delinquents
Research also supports the link between a lack of moral development and adult criminality

Question 14

Eyeneck’s Theory of Crime and Personality

Answer 14

Explores how personality characteristics are related to criminal behaviour
Based on principles of classical conditioning
Deviant behaviour is inherently reinforcing so children will only refrain if punished
Need to pair deviance with pain or fear
This pain or fear will serve as a deterrent
Delinquents and criminals do not develop this conditioned response
Due to lack of effective conditioning or they are less susceptible to conditioning

Question 15

The dimensions of personality

Answer 15

extraversion vs. introversion
neuroticism vs. stability
psychoticism
Extraverted, neurotic, and psychotic persons are more likely to be delinquent or criminal
However, research shows mixed results in their association with crime

Question 16

Problems and limitations

Answer 16

There is some tendency towards tautological reasoning in this theory
Eysenck’s theory shows how psychological & social variables can be interrelated.
Individuals with a low propensity for criminality may become criminal if their environment is too permissive.

Question 17

Social learning theory

Answer 17

Central concept is cognitive functioning: the ability to think & make choices.
People learn new behaviours through modelling; vicarious learning by watching others.
Bandura: aggression learned from three sources:
1. Family (parents who are aggressive/abusive)
2. Subcultural influences (e.g., violence learned in tough neighbourhoods from role models or peers)
3. Symbolic modelling (e.g., watching television violence)

Question 18

Social learning theory: violent tv

Answer 18

Studies suggest a correlation between watching television violence and aggression
But the causal direction in this relationship is unknown
Research suggests that watching TV violence desensitizes one toward violence or makes one more tolerant toward it
Thomas et al. (1979): people showed less autonomic reactivity to real-life aggression if they had first watched a violent TV show

Question 19

Bandura

Answer 19

best deterrent to aggression and violence is more attractive pro-social alternatives.

Question 20

Fear of punishment may also be a deterrent:

Answer 20

1. legal sanctions
2. social sanctions
3. self-sanctions

Question 21

Operant conditioning

Answer 21

Based on work by B.F. Skinner
Rewards and punishments can increase the probability of a given response
Reward reinforces a behaviour
Punishment weakens a behaviour
This technique is used as the basis to change the antisocial behaviour of delinquents and criminals

Question 22

Operant conditioning

Answer 22

In Achievement Place, a facility for delinquent youth, a token economy system was set up
Individuals rewarded for appropriate behaviour and punished for inappropriate behaviour
Research suggests this approach has positive short-term benefits, but the long-term benefits are in question

Question 23

APD

Answer 23

Classic examples are serial killers Charles Manson and Clifford Olson
But not schizophrenics like Vincent Li, who was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder
DSM-V: APD is “a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood”

Question 24

APD pattern of behaviour

Answer 24

Begins in childhood with lying, stealing, fighting, etc., as signs.
In adolescence, early or aggressive sexual behaviour, drinking, drug use
This continues to adulthood, though more extreme indications diminish after age 30
15–20% of Canadian inmates fit this category

Question 25

Hare developed the Psychopathy Checklist

Answer 25

Includes 20 traits and behaviours associated with psychopathy
Provides reliable and valid assessments of psychopathy
Widely used for research and for making decisions in the mental health and criminal justice systems
They are strong predictors of violence and recidivism in offenders and psychiatric patients

Question 26

Antisocial personality

Answer 26

DSM-V estimates that 3% of men & less than 1% of women suffer from APD
Psychopaths seem to be extraverts who do not learn fear responses and hence do not learn from negative experiences
There is likely to be a neuroanatomical basis for this, such as abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex
Heilbrun: highly intelligent psychopaths are neither violent nor impulsive and attain a high education
Criminals may not be representative of population of psychopaths

Question 27

Babiak & Hare (2006):

Answer 27

Psychopaths fit well into the corporate world
Social manipulation makes them seem charismatic in the hiring process
Like all predators, they like the action and rewards
Workplace psychopaths most often cited in the media are investment bankers
Those responsible for 2008 financial crisis

Question 28

Antisocial personality

Answer 28

As a theory of crime, APD and psychopathy criticized for being tautological
Construct of psychopathy has been criticized for being too simple and for disregarding the dynamic nature of human behaviour
Yet some consider psychopathy to be “the single most important clinical construct in the criminal justice system” (Hare, 1998c, 99)
There is disagreement on whether this disorder can be effectively treated

Question 29

Crime and mental illness

Answer 29

Some used to assume that all crime was a symptom of mental illness
But most now reject this thinking
However, the prevalence of mental disorder among those in correctional facilities is greater than in the general population
Most inmates in Canadian prisons have substantial mental health needs (in particular substance use disorders)
Many of these individuals have co-occurring disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and substance abuse)

Question 30

Mentally disordered inmates are more likely to:

Answer 30

Be disruptive
Commit suicide or self-harm
Be victimized
Be institutionally maladjusted

Question 31

Crime and mental illness

Answer 31

In recent years there has been an increased involvement of those with mental illness in the CJS
Police are increasingly encountering mentally ill individuals
The deinstitutionalization of those with mental illness has contributed to this increase
Mentally ill persons are arrested more frequently than others, controlling for the type of crime
But are less likely to recidivate than offenders who do not have a history of mental illness
Police training to deal with the mentally ill varies across jurisdictions but is generally minimal

Question 32

Crime and mental illness

Answer 32

Does increased contact with the CJS indicate a significant relationship between crime and mental disorder?
Not necessarily; the increased rate of mental disorder in prisons has been the result of “the manner in which institutions of our society react to that individual behaviour” (Golding, 1985)

Question 33

Crime and mental illness: research findings

Answer 33

Teplin (1984) analysis of police data:
The presence of symptoms of mental illness affects the probability of arrest
Bonta, Law, and Hanson (1998):
Mentally disordered offenders on average showed lower recidivism rates than other offenders
Borum (1996):
Mental disorder is a risk factor for predicting violent recidivism