Criminal Flashcards
Different types of crimes
Anti-social
Acquisitive
Sexual
Drug-related
Violent
What are anti social crimes
Anti-social - causing harassment or distress to those not in your family
What are acquisitive crimes
Acquisitive - taking something without consent or knowledge
What are sexual crimes
Sexual - making someone else submit to sexual acts without consent
What are drug related crimes
Drug related- trading or using illegal substances
What are violent crimes
Violent crimes - causing physical harm to someone else
What is crime
Any act against the law
Why do crimes depend on the society they are constructed by ?
Because laws depends on the society
Why is crime a social construct
Crimes are not real and only exist because of social interactions
How does society play a role in determining what a crime is ? And what is deviation of norms ?
Society decides which behaviours deviate form the norms of society
Deviation of norms is when behaviour goes against what is socially acceptable in a certain society
How does culture play a part in defining criminal behaviour?
People make a culture, so people decide on what deviates the norms.
What are the four ways to measure crime?
Official statistics
Self report
Victim surveys
Offender survey
What are official statistics about crime
They are where the Government House Office produces reports based in crimes reported by the police
How is self- reporting used to measure crimes?
It’s used surveys to help find which crimes are going undetected and therefore not reported
How are victim surveys used to measure crime?
They are questionnaires given to the general public to find what crimes have been committed against them
How are offender surveys used to measure crime?
They are questionnaires given to the general public or specific groups to find what crimes have been committed which may or may not been recorded
What is nature in psychology?
Nature is when we are born with certain characteristics or behaviours
What is nurture in psychology ?
Nurture is when we learn characteristics and beh Iouri from our experiences
What are the key stages to the social learning theory?
Identification
Imitation
Vicarious reinforcement
Direct reinforcement
Internalisation
What is identification, and describe what a role model is?
Identification is when we choose a role model we want to be like, a role model is someone who we look up to (good or bad)
What is imitation
When someone observers a behaviour and copies actions or behaviours
What is vicarious reinforcement?
When someone observes a behaviour or action being rewarded and they try to copy it to try to gain that reward.
What is direct reinforcement?
When someone is rewards for a behaviour or action
What is internalisation
When a behaviour becomes a part of someone’s life
What is the key criticism to the social learning theory
Is focuses on nurture rather than rather nature
State and describe two other criticisms of the social learning theory
- the theory doesn’t actually explain how crimes are started or where they come from
- the theory doesn’t explain how society’s attempts to stop crimes through punishments have failed
What was the aim of the Cooper and Mackie case study
To see whether video games had more effect on violence behaviour than Tv did on children
What was the hypothesis of the Cooper and Mackie case study
Playing video games would have created more violent behaviours compared to others
What is suggested in the social learning theory?
The social learning theory suggests that all behaviour is learnt through observation and that children are particularly influenced by what they see, this includes criminal behaviour.
What is the first step to the social learning theory?
(include two key words in your answer)
Children will identify with role models, particularly if they have similar characteristics to them.
In a case of criminal behaviour, why might a child commit a crime they have seen?
In the case of criminal/anti-social behaviour a child may observe a criminal act which creates a mental representation in their mind, because they have seen this particular behaviour they are more likely to **copy or imitate*b the act.
What increase the likelihood of criminal behaviour in children? Give an example of when this may happen.
The likelihood of the criminality being imitated is further increased by the process of vicarious reinforcement, these are any rewards that the observer might witness. For example, a role model could be rewarded for their criminality; financially or through an increased status.
How does criminal behaviour become a part of someone’s personality and behaviour? Give an example.
After observation has occurred the person may have internalised the criminal act, e.g. knowing how to pick- pocket. Once this has happened the observer may decide to carry out the act themselves.
How does direct reinforcement help to attract someone to continue their criminal activity?
If they are successful in the criminal act and are not caught, then they will receive direct reinforcement through the gaining of the item they have stolen.
State and describe on limitation to the Social Learning Theory
for ignoring the role of nature and focusing too much on nurture; not every person who observes criminal behaviour will be a criminal themselves.
Why might the social learning theory not apply to everyone?
It may be due to the biology that someone shares, such as their genes or brain dysfunctions.
What was predicted in the heaven case study?
measures of psychotics, extroversion and self-esteem (linked to neuroticism)world be significant predictors of self reported delinquency (crime)
What was the type of study in the heaven case study?
Longitudinal - over two years, he first measured the three traitsand then correlated these with self reported delinquency at the and of The study.
What was the sample in the heaven case study?
282, thirteen - fifteen year olds taken from two Catholic independent schools in Australia
What was used to measure the three traits and self-reported delinquency in the heaven case study?
Questionnaire -with closed questions
What percent were re surveyed after the two years using he some anonymous questionnaire in the heaven case study?
80%
What were the findings in the heaven case study?
There was appositive correlation between psychotism and delinquency
Extroversion and delinquency had a weak correlation
Males had a higher score of delinquency than females.
There was no significant correlation between self-esteem and delinquency
Psychobism was found to be the best predictor of delinquency
Limitations of the heaven case study
- The sample was culturally bias - the children were al from one religion and one country other countries and religions may have different influences on delinquent behaviour
- The participants may of given socially desirable responses especially as questions are around delinquency
- the use of closed questions leads to low construct validity as personality and delinquency are too complex to reduce to scores.
- Th 20% who dropped out of the study May not of been represented in the those left in the experiment, those with low levels of delinquency may not be interested in the study.
- it is not possible to determine a cause and effect with correlation studies, this leads to the question of whether delinquency affects children’s personality, if we assume it’s not fixed.
