Developmental Factors Flashcards
what % of crimes committed before 18 could be a criminal offence?
91
what is the purpose of dev. crim?
identify mediators
developmental trajectories
is crime stable over lifespan?
no it is transient
the most impact of influence depends on what?
current developmental stage
what is the goal of dev. crim?
alter trajectory starting at early stages
who are the majority of youthful offenders?
experimenters that outgrow by late adol
KEY: what are the 5 developmental RF that contribute to delinquency?
- cog deficits - low IQ
- scholastic factors - school refusal/withdrawal, failure
- familial factors - low attachment, limited supervision, inappropriate disciplinary practices
- low SES
- antisocial peer affiliation
what does cog development refer to?
attention
conc
memory
high exec functioning -> planning, problem solving, anticipation
what are the relevant measures for cognition?
- standardized IQ batteries
CAS
WISC-V and WAIS-V - predict academic success well
- neuropsychological measures
- individual
- highly reliable estimates
- tap broad range of abilities
what is social cog?
ability to comprehend behavior and motives of others
what is not well correlated with offending behavior in some subgroups?
moral reasoning
- lack of understanding vs concern
are criminals stupid?
only describes a small percentage (2-9.5)
- comes from prison
what are custody diversion cases?
cases diverted from criminal justice system
are most lower-functioning individuals criminals?
no
- many intellectuals are criminals
KEY: what are the 4 possible reasons as to why lower IQ is related to higher levels of criminality?
- apprehension artifact
- lower IQ = less concealing crime = greater rate of arrest - IQs are lower bc of deliquent lifestyles
- long study show lower IQ predicts subsequent criminality - IQ effects mediated by poor scholastic achievement and social adjustment
- true for minority but not majority
- explains why most with lower IQ NOT involved in crime
- dimmer switch
- press = moderation
- rotate = mediation - lower IQ score merely correlated of deeper, more pervasive deficits
- IQ differences underestimate true magnitude of more relevant deficits
- school failure is a correlate
mediators
attenuate relationship between IV and DC
moderators
enable or disable relationship between mediate and DV
what kind of relationship occurs between social adjustment and delinquency?
interaction effect
when one line is flat on the graph between social adjustment and delinquency what is concluded?
that social adjustment is not always relevant
what is the shadow?
criminality
- deficits are not considered yet so criminality and poor IQ is not causal
what was the goal of Porporino?
raise achievement by 2 grade levels in reading and math
what did increasing education levels do?
reduced the likelihood of reincarceration rates
what design was the Perry Preschool Project?
hybrid between LONG and cross-sectional component
- see the differences and the changes made over time
how was the experimental group different from the control group?
there were weekly home visits by the teacher
what were the results from Perry Preschool Project?
experimental group at age 19 had fewer arrests and more likely to be employed
what was the only thing that predicted delinquency?
Educational attainment - high correlation of r = 0.36
at age 27 what % of subjects had a diploma vs control?
71% for exp subject
54% for control
what type of school produces the fewest delinquents?
parochial schools
what type of school atmosphere produces the fewest delinquents?
warm but restrictive
what age does the brain reach about 90% adult size?
age 6
what age do girls brains reach full size?
11-12
what age do boys brains reach full size?
13
what does the brain fully develop?
25
proliferation
formation of new synaptic connections through learning
what period is for neural exuberance?
adolescence
what is neural exuberance?
where new connections are rapidly formed in response to environmental stimuli
what is pruning?
critical to brain maturation involving loss of unnecessary synaptic connection
how does pruning occur?
through myelination
what is myelination
growth of white matter that insulates neurons and makes brain more efficient
what is the reward center?
mesolimbic system
what releases dopamine into nucleus acumbens?
ventral tegmental area
- affects motivation to pursue reward stimuli
what houses higher exec fxn?
PFC
- dynamic filtering
what % of neurons are pruned when going from adol to adult and what does this lead to?
50
- greater capacity to defer gratification with lowered approach tendencies
what brain regions matures later than deeper brain structures?
PFC
what behaviors occur when PFC is developing?
- risk taking
- short term goal directed behavior
- neurons in mesolimbic pathway prune and gain control and reduce risk taking
what is maturing of PFC not about?
risk tolerance or inability to accurately calc risk
- before adol ends they are intact
moderate CP is associated with _____
increased child aggressiveness
what were the results from Strauss and Mouradian?
- the higher the score the more aggressive they are
+ association
where does the most damage occur?
when going from never using CP to not in 6M
when done impulsively punishment contingency may be improperly structured why?
- CP may be perceived as fxn of parental instability
- modeling effects
- disrupt bonding
- lowered self-esteem
what is CP associated with?
increased risk for mental health problems and diminished empathy later in life
what is suggested between responsible vs impulsive CP?
result in fewer neg effects
- pos relationship between freq of CP and childrens’ scores on antisocial behavior
-> stronger when used impulsively
where are disproportionately high number of criminals coming from?
broken homes
- highly confounded with other factors
what did Gove find?
children from intact but conflicted homes may be worse off
- raised by single parents but in non-conflicted homes are less likely to become delinquents
what is the Butterfly effect?
- metaphor in chaos theory
- apparent randomness - underlying patterns and causal forces at play
what is sensitive dependence on initial conditions?
small differences at one point can cause massive differences elsewhere
what is Moffit’s model?
- crime committed by youth increases sharply between puberty and roughly age 18
- then most youth return to relatively crime-free lives (AL)
- 5-6% go on to become career criminals into adulthood (LCP)
what is shown in LCP children?
higher incidence of ADHD and more liekly to come from homes with expsoure to RF
what are 3 RF in LCP children?
lower school performance
problems in socializing
parent-child interactions more likely to be strained - further abuse, brain damage, homes more likely to have low $ and low access to prof resources
what happens as LCP children develop?
- higher incidence of substance abuse
- trouble accepting restrictions and limits
- unplanned pregnancies
- substandard educational attainment
- lack of legal coping strategies
- criminal records that limit future employment
what is key in LCP children?
early age onset
what happens with AL kids?
by the time they get into trouble the core set of social and academic skills are in place so smarten up
why do AL get in trouble?
lack of rites of passage
- reaching adulthood is delated
- maturational gao
- try to close gap through illegal means
what happens as maturational gap closes naturally?
motivation to commit crime no longer exists
- most antisocial behavior by teens drops after 17-18
