criminal psychology Flashcards
name the 5 types of criminal offences
- violent
- drug related
- acquisitive
- sexual
- anti- social
what are violent offences?
Aggressive crimes resulting in physical harm or death to the victim
what are drug related offences?
Crimes involving trading in or using illegal substances
what are acquisitive offences?
taking money / belongings without the consent / knowledge of the owner
what are sexual offences?
Crimes where a victim is forced to commit or submit to a sexual act against their will
what are anti-social offences?
Criminal acts that cause harassment or distress to people who do not share a home with the perpetrator
Why is crime hard to define?
- definition changes according to time and culture
- criminal behaviour is subjective
- criminal behaviour is a social construct
- crime is a deviation from norms
How is crime measured
- official statistics
- self report survey
what are official statistics?
- police reported crimes
- however not all crime are reported
-however can still show us which crimes are increasing / decreasing & what the most common ones are
What are self-report surveys? & what are the 2 types
- confidential survey asking about crimes that are not reported / detected
- victim survey - questionnaires given to general
public to find out what crimes have been committed against them , whether the crimes have been officially recorded or not - offender survey - questionnaires given to general public / more specific group of known offenders
example of violent crime
assault
example of drug related crime
drug dealing
example of an acquisitive crime
theft
example of a sexual crime
rape
example of an anti social crime
graffiti
what does the social learning theory propose?
criminal & anti social behaviour are learned behaviors. People are not born criminals but become criminals depending on their experiences.
stages of social learning theory
Role model - identification - observation - imitation - direct reinforcement/vicarious reinforcement - internalisation - consequences
What is a role model?
people we look up to + admire
What is identification?
The process where a person aligns themselves with another
What is observation?
The process where people pay attention to behaviours and retain them in memory
What is imitation?
A process where people recall behaviours and reproduce them in their own actions
what is direct reinforcement?
When a behaviour is strengthened and likely to be repeated due to positive outcomes for the individual
what is vicarious reinforcement?
When a behaviour is strengthened by an individual observing this same behaviour being rewarded in another
What is internalisation?
The process whereby a behaviour becomes an integral part of an individual’s personality due to continuous reinforcement
criticisms of slt- ignores role of nature
focuses too much on nurture & ignores role of nature - for example there may be a criminal gene that is inherited & this could explain why criminal behaviour appears to run in families
another criticisms of SLT
- doesn’t explain how criminal behaviour started in the first place
what was the hypothesis of cooper & mackie
- predicted playing an aggressive video game would lead to increased aggression in children
what was the aim of cooper & Mackie
- to investigate whether violent computer games affect children’s aggression levels
what was the method of cooper & mackie
- lab experiment
- IMD
- IV = type of game played / observed
- DV = measure of aggression
what was condition 1 of cooper and mackie
- pair of ppts played / observed w high aggression , low aggression or a control video game (paper + pen maze game)
what was condition 2 of cooper & mackie (how were aggression levels measured after the game)
- 1 ppt went to a toy room & chose either an aggressive toy , active toy , skill based toy or quiet toy
- other ppt measured by interpersonal aggression - children showed how much they would punish an imaginary child who had naughty - measure by how long they pressed a buzzer for.
how did cooper & mackie control extraneous variables
- after 8 mins , observers & players swapped
what were the results of cooper & mackie
- girls who played the aggressive game were more likely to them chose an aggressive toy to play with but boys were not affected by which game they played
- interpersonal aggression was not affected by playing / observing games
- didn’t make a difference to aggression levels whether children played / observed
what were the conclusions of cooper + mackie
-watching violent video games has the same impact as playing one
what was the sample for cooper + mackie
- 84 children 9-11 year olds in New Jersey
criticism of cooper & mackie - ecological validity
- carried out in artificial environment -> video games normally played at home / in arcades rather than in labs under strict conditions
other criticisms of cooper + mackie
- not representative of other ages + cultures -> only carried out in American children who may have been more / less affected by video games as they were very common in their country & a narrow age group.
what is Eysenck’s theory
believed criminal behaviour had a biological basis & was due to high levels of 3 personality traits
what were the 3 personality traits
- extroversion, neuroticism & psychoticism
wha is extroversion
- a trait measuring how outgoing / sociable an individual is
- more likely to anti socially
what is neuroticism
a trait measuring how anxious , guilty and angry an individual is
what is psychoticism
a trait measuring how impulsive + aggressive an individual is
according to esyenck’s theory what causes psychoticism
- psychoticism is a result of an excess of dopaminergic neurons
- leads to higher levels of dopamine production + lower inhibition of impulses during synaptic transmission
- more impulsive , aggressive behaviour
what is synaptic transmission
- neurotransmitters are released by the pre-synaptic neuron & bind to the receptors of the post synaptic neuron
according to esyenck’s theory , what causes extraversión
- reticular activation system (RAS) = part of brain stem that links the brain & spinal cord , regulating info sent to the cerebral cortex
- low levels of arousal in cerebral cortex (as stimuli are restricted by RAS) - extroverts seek stimuli from the environment
- extroverts also have a stronger dopamine system so will respond positively to rewards e.g money
according to esyenck’s theory what causes neuroticism?
- related to autonomic nervous system (ANS) - (regulates activity of the brains limbic system & is activated during emotion - inducing situations
- ANS becomes over-aroused in neurotics leading to extreme emotions
why are high extroverts likely to commit crime
- as they need a lot of stimulation & are thrill seekers , the thrill of committing a crime might draw them to offending behaviour
why might high neurotics be likely to commit crimes
- more likely to get upset & over react to situations - can lead to some impulsive behaviour
why might a high psychotic be more likely to commit crimes
- more aggressive , impulsive & lack conscience
- also have traits associated with criminal behaviour
criticisms of esyenck’s theory
-ignores individual differences -> sees criminals as being broadly the same as they share the same personality type
- deterministic -> says criminal behavior is largely genetic but this suggests there is little that can be done to control it -> however evidence says criminals can be rehabilitated
what was the aim of heaven
- to see if psychotic , extraversion & self esteem were significant predictors of self reported delinquency
what was the sample of heaven
- 282 teens (13-15) from 2 catholic schools in Australia
what research methods were used in heavens stud
Questionnaire + longitudinal study
what was the procedure of heavens study
- participants completed questionnaires at time 1 & 2 years later
- questionnaire =
1) questions taken from Eysencks personality questionnaire to measure extroversion + psychoticsm
2) 10 item questionnaire to measure self esteem
3) self report to measure delinquency (looked at violence , vandalism & theft)
what were the findings of heaven
- positive correlation between psychoticism & delinquency at the beginning & end of the study
- no significant correlation between self esteem & delinquency
- psychoticism = best predictor of delinquency
limitations of heavens study
- culturally biased -> children all from 1 religion & 1 country -> other religions & countries may have a different influence on delinquent behaviour
- social desirability -> participants may have given social desirable responses -> even tho the questionnaire was anonymous , some children may not have wanted to admit to all the delinquent things they have done
- low construct validity -> closed questions -> personality + delinquency are too complex to be reduced to scores
types of punishment
- prison
- fines
- community sentences
what is punishment
- when negative consequences result from a certain behaviour & reduce the chance of that behaviour happening again
name 2 uses of rehabilitation to promote pro social behaviour
- restorative justice
- positive role models
explain restorative justice
- victim of crime will meet the criminal
- offender has to take responsibility for their crime & face the consequences of their actions
- offenders will make amends in some way e.g repairing damage
- brings them back to community
how do role models promote pro-social behaviours
- drawn from principles of social learning theory
- offenders have opportunity to observe others - best = ex offenders - behaving in a pro social way & achieving success
explain the use of punishment to reduce anti social behaviour
- prisons - taking away freedom rights & privileges
- fines - money can be an incentive to committing crimes like theft so loss of money should have the opposite effect
- community sentences - offenders pay back to society by giving up their time
what is the effect of a deterrent
- many people do not commit crimes in the first place & this is because they want to avoid the negative consequences they have seen others suffer
