Crime Flashcards
All of the explanations of crime and exam question layouts/techniques
What is crime?
Any act (or lack of acting) that violates law and results in punishment by the state.
“Criminal behaviour is a social construct.”
Why is criminal behaviour considered a social construct?
-Behaviour is only a crime when a law is broken.
-Therefore, to judge whether a behaviour is criminal relies on the laws of the country/time period.
-So, although crime has a definition - it doesn’t consider factors that can influence criminal behaviour e.g. historical context, culture, etc.
What evidence is there to support the idea that criminal behaviour is a social construct?
The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an Act of Parliament in the UK that decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men. The Act applied only to England and Wales.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in Scotland 1980 and in Northern Ireland in 1982.
-There are still parts of the world where homosexuality is illegal (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Egypt)
-This shows how criminal behaviour is dictated by changes in social norms.
What is a career criminal?
A career criminal is someone who earns his or her income through income through criminal activities.
What are the six characteristics of career criminals defined by Chase (2006)?
Rationalisation, entitlement, impulsive, easily distracted and cognitive laziness.
Define rationalisation in terms of criminal behaviour.
People who live a life of crime tend to rationalise their own behaviour by diverting blame and questioning the motives of others. “If that lady didn’t want her purse stolen, she should have been smart and locked her car.” As part of the rationalisation process, the career criminal generally does not evaluate the consequences of his own behaviour
Define entitlement in terms of criminal behaviour.
Self-centred, and oblivious to the needs of others, a career criminal lives by the simple motto of “me, me, me”. Essentially, these people have the right to commit any acts they desire, because life is all about them - all the time.
Define impulsivity in terms of criminal behaviour.
An inability to control one’s behaviour, by acting on every impulse, is a dominating characteristic of a career criminal. Not only do these outliers fail to have control over their impulses, but they often lack control over their temperament, which often leads to disastrous results, especially when criminals loose their cool.
Define ‘easily distracted’ in terms of criminal behaviour.
Career criminals have serious distraction issues, and often lose focus of their legitimate goals. The inability to remain focused and on-target with their socially acceptable objectives, often leads criminals to fall back into their old patterns (even after the person has been released from prison, and believes they have been rehabilitated).
Define ‘cognitive laziness’ in terms of criminal behaviour.
Choosing the path of least resistance is a trademark of a career criminal. Their lack of ambition (in the traditional sense) coupled with being easily bored leads criminals to make poor, not well thought-out, decisions. In their youth, career criminals had a strong desire to live outside the rules, and test the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. As they age, criminals lend to live within, and fully accept, the antisocial boundaries that they established in their younger years.
What are the different types of criminals?
Sex offenders, murderers type 1, murderers type 2, acquisitive criminals, terrorists
What are sex offenders?
-Individuals who engage in sexual contact with young children or adolescents
-Those (using force) engage in sexual contact with others against their will or without their consent
-Individuals who like participating in or watching acts of physical aggression or violence
-Individuals who like exposing themselves in a public setting
What are murderers type 1?
A disorganised asocial offender.
-Generally an individual with a below average IQ
-Generally socially inadequate
-Doesn’t date and lives alone
-Likely to be unskilled workers/labourers
-Received harsh and/or inconsistent discipline in childhood
What are murderers type 2?
Organised non-social offender.
-Individuals generally have an above average or high IQ
-Socially adequate
-Tend to live with a partner and tend to be sexually competent
-Harshly disciplined in childhood
-They have an adept ability to control their mood or emotions and at times will be described as ‘charming’ as well as have a masculine image
-They are motivated by situational causes and are geographically or occupationally mobile
What are acquisitive criminals?
Those who commit fraud, burglary, extortion, robbery, etc.
-They generally seek access to criminal activity for pleasure, thrill and gain
-Occasionally these individuals will have a formal motivation or cause for their crimes
-These individuals will usually take an economical reason behind the commission of the crime
-Includes organised crime at the “high end”
What are terrorists?
-They tend to be non-combatant civilians who are acting from a place of a perceived injustice or wrong against a person or persons
-Sometimes they are motivated by the occasional politically or economically triggered issues of the day
-Factors the will generally evoke a rationalisation of a set of motives or causes that are then thereby pursued by acts of violence; these motives are generally an illogical perception of the truth of the involved events
-Potentially psychological defect that produces these errant behaviours or perceptions (such as paranoia or schizophrenia)
A typical exam question for the characteristics of criminal behaviour:
Q) Describe the characteristics of criminal behaviour. [10]
How would you answer this?
-Define crime
-Explain criminal behaviour as a social construct and give examples - what is considered criminal changes over time and place
-Describe some of the characteristics of career criminals (around 3-4)
-Explain three types of criminals, i.e. murderer type 1, murderer type 2 and sex offenders, etc)
What are the two biological explanations of criminal behaviour?
Genetics and amygdala dysfunction
What are the main ideas behind the genetic explanation of criminal behaviour?
Certain genetic combinations predispose individuals to criminal behaviour. This is explored through family studies, twin studies and adoption studies.
What is an example of supporting research for family studies?
Osborn and West (1982) compared the sons of criminals and non-criminal fathers. They found that 13% of the sons of non-criminal fathers had criminal convictions, while 40% of the sons of criminal fathers had convictions.
What is an example of supporting research for twins?
-Rosanoff et al (1934) studied 97 twin pairs, finding male concordance rates of 67% for MZ and 13% for DZ twins.
-Raine (1993) reviewed the literature comparing the delinquent behaviour of twins. Average concordance rate was higher for MZ twins (52%) than DZ twins (21%).
-Ishikawa and Raine (2002) Meta-analysis found a concordance rate for criminality of 44% for MZ twins and 21.6% for DZ twins.
What is an example of supporting research for adoption studies?
-Crowe (1972) found that adopted children who had a biological parent with a criminal record had a 38% greater risk of having a criminal record by the age of 18, whereas adopted children whose parent did not have a criminal record only had a 6% risk.
-Mednick et al (1987) carried out a study of 14,000 adoptees. He found that those with parents that had no criminal record had 13.5% risk of having a criminal record, those with biological parents with a criminal record had a 20% risk and those with adoptive parents with a criminal record had a 14.7% risk.
What are candidate genes?
Genes identified that could play a role in the development of a disease/disorder.
How can candidate genes explain criminal behaviour?
There is no ‘criminal gene’ - but we can look for genes that contribute to traits associated with criminal behaviour like impulsivity, aggressiveness, etc.
What are some examples of candidate genes?
MAOA and CDH13
What is MAOA? What evidence is there to support its link to criminality?
Nicknamed the ‘warrior gene’, it is a genetic variant of the MAOA gene that is linked to aggressive and antisocial behaviour.
Brunner et al (1993) analysed the DNA of 28 male members of a Dutch family with a history of impulsive and violent criminal behaviour (rape and attempted murder). The men shared mutation in the MAOA gene - leading to low levels of MAOA.
What is CDH13? What evidence is there to support its link to criminality?
Cadherin 13 (CDH13) is a gene involved in neural connectivity. It is unclear how the dysfunction f the CDH13 gene leads to violent behaviour - but it also has links to ADHD, depression, substance misuse an ASD.
Tiihonen et al (2015) studied 900 Finnish offenders. They found evidence of low MAOA activity and also low activity from the CDH13 gene. They estimated 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland is due to abnormalities in these two genes.
What is a more modern explanation of the genetic contribution to crime?
Diathesis Stress Model
Inherited predisposition to develop a disorder + Traumatic life event —> Psychological disorder
What evidence is there that the Diathesis Stress Model is a relevant explanation of criminality?
Caspi et al (2002) used data from 1000 people born in the 70’s. Anti-social behaviour was assessed at age 26 and found that 12% of men ho had MAOA gene mutation had experienced maltreatment in childhood AND were responsible for 44% of violent behaviours.
A typical exam question for the genetic explanation of crime is:
Q) Describe one biological explanation of criminal behaviour. [10]
How would you answer this?
-Brief intro: What is meant by inherited criminality?
-Outline evidence suggesting that criminal behaviour is inherited (twin/family/adoption)
-Outline candidate genes identified with associations to criminal behaviour (MAOA/CDH13)
-Outline modern understanding of genetic contribution (Diathesis Stress)
Another typical exam question for the genetic explanation of crime is:
Q) Evaluate one biological explanation of criminal behaviour. [10]
How would you answer this?
+ve Supporting evidence
P: One strength of the inherited criminality explanation is that there is evidence to support it.
E: Any of the family/twin/adoption studies - what it shows.
C: However… (criticism of the study - methodological issues, concordance not 100%, etc)
L: Therefore, even though there is supporting evidence, the explanation may not be entirely useful because…
-ve Biological reductionism
P: One weakness of the inherited criminality explanation of criminal behaviour is that the theory is reductionist.
E: Too simple o suggest all crime is caused just by genetics - what other factors are being ignored?
C: However, biological reductionism is beneficial, because it allows candidate genes such as MAOA to be studied in more depth, allowing a deeper understanding of how genetics DO play a role in criminality.
L: Therefore… (bring points together - why is reductionism both a strength and a weakness for explaining crime?)
-ve What about non-violent crime?
P: One weakness of the inherited criminality explanation of crime is that the focus is towards violent and aggressive crimes.
E: Example - MAOA gene, CDH13, Finnish study.
E: What does the research fail to explain? Example?
L: This is a weakness of the explanation as it fails to explain crime in a wider sense, giving an incomplete explanation of criminal behaviour.
Conclusion: Useful? Why/why not?
What are the main ideas behind the role of the amygdala in criminal behaviour?
The amygdala influences behaviours involved in emotion and motivation. It also plays a major role in how we perceive and respond to threats in environment. Criminals with amygdala dysfunction may respond to threats more emotionally or perceive certain stimuli as more threatening than they actually are, resulting in more aggressive behaviours.
What is psychopathy?
A personality disorder involving severe disruption in moral behaviour accompanied by pronounced deficits in emotion. Emotion is argued to be a critical component of moral behaviour.
What evidence is there to suggest that psychopaths are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour?
Glenn (2009) conducted an fMRI scans on 17 pps with varying degrees of psychopathy. They found that pps with higher psychopathy scores showed reduced activity, specifically in the amygdala during emotional moral decision-making. Findings demonstrate that amygdala functioning is disrupted during moral decision-making in psychopathy.
How does reduced amygdala activity in psychopaths explain why they are more likely to engage in criminal activity?
The amygdala is thought to respond to cues indicating distress in others. Reduced amygdala functioning in more psychopathic individuals suggests reduced responsiveity to the thought of causing harm to others when contemplating personal moral dilemmas. Without such amygdala activation, individuals may be undeterred from conning and manipulating others, predisposing to them to impulsive behaviour, irresponsible decisions and engaging in criminal behaviour without feeling guilt or remorse.
What did Raine find in terms of amygdala activity in NGRIs?
-Reduced in left and increased in right amygdala
-Less activity in prefrontal lobe
How do Raine’s findings explain characteristics of criminal behaviour?
-Asymmetric amygdala activity leads to unusual emotional responses, such as a lack of fear, empathy, remorse and guilt.
-Reduced prefrontal lobe activity leads to being able to suppress socially unacceptable behaviours, i.e. impulsive emotional outbursts. Also affects the ability to make appropriate decisions between good and bad.
-Dysfunction of amygdala + reduced PFC activation = highly intense negative emotions, but a reduced ability to control the emotions = criminal behaviour
A typical exam question for the amygdala dysfunction explanation of crime is:
Q) Briefly describe one biological explanation of criminal behaviour. [5]
How would you answer this?
-Brief intro: what is the amygdala responsible for? How is amygdala dysfunction linked to criminality?
-Explain psychopathy, using an example, e.g. Glenn’s research
-Explain Raine’s research and how this also links to psychopathy
Another typical exam question for the amygdala dysfunction explanation of crime is:
Q) Evaluate one of the biological explanations of criminal behaviour. [10]
How would you answer this?
+ve Supporting evidence
P: One strength of the role of the amygdala explanation is that there is evidence to support it.
E: Pardini (2014) did a longitudinal study of 503 males that had been a part of a previous study at 5/6 years old. 20 years later, Pardini identified 56 males who had shown aggressive behaviour since the first study. fMRI scans measured the amygdala volume of the pps and found that aggressive behaviour was linked with lower amygdala volumes.
E: This suggests that differences in amygdala volume could be used to predict future aggressive or criminal behaviour.
L: Therefore…
-ve Cause and affect
P: One weakness of the role of the amygdala explanation is that it cannot be said that the amygdala causes criminal behaviour.
E: The amygdala (as well as other areas of the brain) have been identified as neural correlates for violent/criminal behaviour.
E: Neural correlates do not suggest cause and effect. It could be that committing crimes causes changes in activity and no the other way around.
L: This is a weakness of the explanation as we know that the amygdala plays a role in criminal behaviour, but we cannot draw causal conclusions from the evidence at this time.
-ve What about non-violent crimes?
P: Another weakness of the role of the amygdala explanation is that it doesn’t provide a holistic explanation of all criminal behaviour.
E: Glenn found that psychopaths has reduced amygdala activity during emotional moral decision-making, which suggests that psychopaths will feel reduced or no level of guilt or remorse when it comes to engaging in criminal activity or harming others.
E: The findings of reduced activity in the amygdala can provide a sound explanation for violent crimes, such as murder or sexual offences, but fail to provide an explanation for non-violent crimes, such as robbery, etc.
L: Therefore…
Conclusion: Useful? Why/why not? How can this explanation be improved?
How can the amygdala dysfunction explanation be applied to methods of modifying?
Amygdala dysfunction = Electromagnetic Brain Stimulation (EBS)
If research suggests that amygdala dysfunction is a cause of criminal behaviour due to a lack of empathy and disrupted moral reasoning, then targeting the amygdala could help to reduce criminal behaviours.
What are the two individual differences explanations of criminal behaviour?
Cognitive factors and Eysenck’s criminal personality
What are the main ideas behind the cognitive factors explanation of criminal behaviour?
The cognitive factors explanation explores moral reasoning, and is heavily based off of Kohlberg’s developmental research.
What is moral reasoning?
Moral reasoning is the study of how people think about right and wrong and how they acquire and apply moral rules.
What are Kohlberg’s three levels of moral reasoning?
- Pre-conventional (Stage 1/2)
- Conventional (Stage 3/4)
- Post-conventional (Stage 4/5)
What is the pre-conventional level of moral reasoning?
Basic moral reasoning skills - will break the law if they believe the reward outweighs the cost, or if they think they can get away with it. Breaking the law is justified if punishment can be avoided or if the rewards outweigh the costs. E.g. burglary, theft, fraud, rape, etc.
What is the conventional level of moral reasoning?
Less likely to commit crimes - stronger moral compass, doesn’t fit typical criminal behaviour. Breaking the law is justified if it helps to maintain relationships or society. E.g. stealing for a family member, self-defence, assault, speeding to hospital, etc.
What is the post-conventional level of moral reasoning?
Breaking the law is justified if it helps maintain human rights or further social justice. E.g. crimes related to protesting, breaking into a lab to release animal test subjects, etc.
