Criminal Behaviour

Question 1

Define Crime

Answer 1

Crime is a criminal act that intentionally breaks the law

Question 2

What can affect the definition of crime?

Answer 2

Damage - if the crime causes damage or harm to a person or their property
Time - Some things may have not been seen as a crime in the past
Culture - Some acts are legal in certain countries but illegal in other countries

Question 3

How is crime measured?

Answer 3

Official crime levels are taken from the police

Question 4

Why could crime measurements using crime levels not be accurate?

Answer 4

1. Only the criminal acts are counted - not criminals themselves
2. People may not be aware that they were a victim and therefore may not report a crime

Question 5

why may people not want to report a crime to the police?

Answer 5

1. Scared of consequences
2. May seem petty
3. Think police wont do anything
4. Want to protect criminal
5. They too may be a criminal and don’t want to be investigated

Question 6

What survey could be used to measure crime?

Answer 6

The British Crime Survey asks people to declare crime. It shows that crime levels are much higher than in police records.

Question 7

Why may the surveys be inaccurate?

Answer 7

People may lie

Question 8

What is a criminal personality?

Answer 8

a personality that is atypical and is associated with crime related acts

Question 9

What are the characteristics associated with having a criminal personality

Answer 9

1. Impulsiveness
2. Lack of guilt
3. Pleasure seeking
4. Over optimism
5. high self importance

Question 10

What is the core theory?

Answer 10

Biological theory - criminals are born - not made and is inherited from parents

Heritability - the amount of behaviour that is due to genetics

Question 11

What theory do brain dysfunctions support?

Answer 11

They support the biological theory as genes may affect the way in which the brain works

Question 12

What does the pre-frontal cortex do?

Answer 12

Connects anti-social behaviour and fear. Criminals may not fear the consequences of actions

Question 13

What does the limbic system do?

Answer 13

Controls aggressive and sexual behaviour, and empathy. Over reaction in criminals who do not empathise with victims and cause criminals to be more aggressive

Question 14

What does the Corpus Callosum do?

Answer 14

Links rational and irrational parts of the brain. In murderers, communication between both hemispheres of the brain are weak

Question 15

What does the temporal lobe do?

Answer 15

Helps understand language and react to emotions. Less active in psychopaths

Question 16

How do facial features support the biological theory

Answer 16

genes may affect a persons facial features. These include:

• high cheekbones
• glinting/glassy eyes
• lots of hair

Question 17

What are criticisms of the biological theory?

Answer 17

• It ignores the role of upbringing. It could be learn and not inherited
• Not all criminals show brain dysfunctions
• cant be one gene that causes all the different types of crime
• Little evidence to support facial features theory

Question 18

What is the alternative theory?

Answer 18

The social learning theory (learnt)

Question 19

What does the alternative theory state?

Answer 19

We are more likely to observe and imitate those who are significant to use or are our role models (those who care for us, are in authority or are similar to us). If the behaviour is strengthened through some type of reward, we are more likely to repeat the behaviour

Question 20

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 20

Imitating someone to gain the same reward that they gain

Question 21

What is the core study?

Answer 21

Mednick et al (1984)

Question 22

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 22

Compare the rates of criminal activities in the biological and adoptive parents of adoptees

Question 23

Who were the participants of the study?

Answer 23

14000 adopted danish men

Question 24

What was the procedure of the study?

Answer 24

• the danish men were investigated between 1924 and 1947

- they looked at the convictions of the adoptees, biological parents, and adoptive parents

Question 25

What were the results of the study?

Answer 25

• If biological parents were criminals, adoptees were 2x more likely to be criminals than if biological parents werent criminals
• If biological were criminals, adoptees were more iikely to be criminals, than if adoptive parents were criminals
• If both biological and adoptive parents were criminals, the adoptee was most likely to become a criminal themself

Question 26

What was the conclusion of the study?

Answer 26

Genes play a large role in criminal behaviour, but environment has an effect too

Question 27

What were some limitations of the study?

Answer 27

• the criminal records may not be reliable e.g some crimes may not have been caught
• Time spent with biological parents may have influenced behaviour
• Gender bias and ethnocentric

Question 28

What are some applications of research into criminal behaviour?

Answer 28

Crime reduction:

• crime prevention (interventions through youth services, schools, and social services) They reinforce appropriate conduct
• Prisons are punishments and deterrents
• bans and restrictions limit what children can see and copy
• rehab (criminals are taught appropriate ‘pro-social’ behaviours)
• other programmes to teach basic skills like numeracy and literacy or specific courses for their needs