Criminal Behaviours

Question 1

What are the 7 types of crime?

Answer 1

1 - Property predatory crime
2 - Property fraudulent crime
3 - Interpersonal violence general
4 - Interpersonal violence sexual
5 - Transactional vice
6 - Order distruption
7 - Folk/mundane crime

Question 2

Who suggested the 7 types of crime?

Answer 2

Kathryn Farr and Don Gibbons (1990)

Question 3

What is property predatory crime?

Answer 3

Persons are involved in attempting/taking personal property of others without permission.

Question 4

What is property fraudulent crime?

Answer 4

Persons are involved in deceit or manipulation with the purpose of converting property of others into their own.

Question 5

What is interpersonal violence general?

Answer 5

Persons are involved in actions that threaten or cause harm to another.

Question 6

What is interpersonal violence sexual?

Answer 6

Persons are involved in actions that threaten or cause harm to another with a sexual element.

Question 7

What is transactional vice?

Answer 7

Persons involved in ‘victimless’ crimes where there is an offer or exchange of services or goods.

Question 8

What is order disruption?

Answer 8

Persons involved in actions where there is no direct victim but there is concern about potential victims.

Question 9

What is folk/mundane crime?

Answer 9

Persons involved in actions that can range from minor rule violations to more serious violations. These crimes are generally regarded as a nuisance rather than a crime.

Question 10

What are the 2 biological explanations for criminal behaviour?

Answer 10

Inherited criminality & Role of the amygdala

Question 11

What are the individual differences explanations for criminal behaviour?

Answer 11

Eysenck’s criminal personality
Cognitive factors

Question 12

What are the social psychological explanations for criminal behaviour?

Answer 12

Differential association theory
Gender socialisation

Question 13

What are the methods of modifying behaviour for criminal behaviour?

Answer 13

Anger management
Restorative justice

Question 14

What are the genetic factors in inherited criminality?

Answer 14

One or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour.

Question 15

Who did research into the genetic factors of inherited criminality?

Answer 15

Adrian Raine (1993)

Question 16

What was Adrian Raine’s study?

Answer 16

Reviewed research on delinquent behaviour of twins. Found 52% similarity for identical twins compared with 21% for non-identical twins.

Question 17

Which 2 genes have especially been linked to behaviour?

Answer 17

Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA)
Cadherin 13 (CDH13)

Question 18

Who did research into the link between MAOA gene and criminality?

Answer 18

Han Brunner et al (1993)

Question 19

What was Han Brunner et al’s study?

Answer 19

Analysed DNA of 28 male members of a Dutch family with history of violent behaviour.
They found that the men shared a gene that led to low levels of MAOA.

Question 20

Who did research into the link between CDH13 gene and criminality?

Answer 20

Jari Tiihonen et al (2015)

Question 21

What was Jari Tiihonen et al’s study?

Answer 21

900 offenders with evidence of low MAOA activity also had low activity from the CDH13 gene.
Estimated that 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland is due to abnormalities in these two genes.

Question 22

How does inherited criminality link to diathesis-stress?

Answer 22

Genes linked to criminal behaviour ‘switched’ on/off by environmental factors.

Question 23

Who did research into the relationship between criminal behaviour and diathesis-stress?

Answer 23

Caspi et al (2002)

Question 24

Who did research into the relationship between criminal behaviour and differences in the brain?

Answer 24

Adrain Raine (2004) and Seo et al (2008)

Question 25

What was Caspi et al’s research?

Answer 25

Assessed antisocial behaviour at age 26.
Found that 12% of men with low MAOA had experienced some sort of maltreatment but were responsible for 44% of violent convictions.

Question 26

How does inherited criminality link to differences in the brain?

Answer 26

‘Criminal’ genes may cause differences in areas of the brain or in key neurotransmitters.
Both high and low levels of noradrenaline have been linked with aggression and violence as it helps people to perceive threats and so abnormal levels reduce this ability.

Question 27

What was Adrian Raine’s research into inherited criminality and differences in the brain?

Answer 27

Cited 71 brain imaging studies showing that murders, psychopaths and generally violence individuals have reduced functioning in the prefrontal cortex.

Question 28

What was Seo et al’s research into inherited criminality and differences into the brain?

Answer 28

Suggest low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin may predispose them the impulsive and aggressive criminal behaviours.

Question 29

What are the strengths of the inherited criminality explanation?

Answer 29

Research support (Adoption studies)

Question 30

What are the weaknesses of the inherited criminality explanation?

Answer 30

Doesn’t explain non-violent crimes
Deterministic
Cause or effect?

Question 31

Explain strength of inherited criminality - research support.

Answer 31

Raymond Crowe (1972) - Adopted children with biological parent with criminal record had a 38% greater risk of having criminal record by 18. Adopted children with biological parent without criminal record only 6% risk of having criminal record by 18.

Question 32

Explain weaknesses of inherited criminality - Doesn’t explain non-violent crimes.

Answer 32

Most research looks into association between violent behaviour and genes. Biological explanations may just account for certain types of crime, e.g, violence and psychopathy.
Criminal behaviour also includes non-violent crimes such as fraud, drug use etc.
Lynn Findlay (2011) - crime isn’t a ‘natural’ category. People created this category and includes many different types of crime making it difficult to argue such behaviour can be explained in terms of genetics.

Question 33

Explain weaknesses of inherited criminality - Problems with deterministic explanations.

Answer 33

Genetic explanations are presented as if genes determine later behaviour. Evidence shows that criminality cannot be explained 100% by genetics. E.g. Tiihonen et al (2015).
However, law asks if the cause of behaviour is outside persons control. Or at least it is harder for some to resist criminal behaviour. This could be due to genetics and environment.

Question 34

Explain weaknesses of inherited criminality - Brain differences : Cause or effect?

Answer 34

For genes to be linked to criminal behaviour, they must be linked to physical or psychological effect. However many observations suggest that criminals report having had some kind of head injury, therefore brain differences could be caused by nurture rather than nature.