Forensic Flashcards
Describe attachment theory (Bowlby)
Maternal deprivation is likely to have irreversible effects in later life, such as delinquency
What research (McCord) suggests about the importance of both parents being present
Shows separation increases delinquency but also highlights that parental love is just as important - those with affectionless parents were likely delinquents
Describe life-course theories of offending
Separation is a stressful experience contributing to delinquency, along with others such as parental conflict (supported by McCord)
Describe selection theories of offending
Families have preexisting differences (genetic and environmental) that are risk factors for producing delinquent children
Is 1) loss of mother or father, 2) broken home or high conflict more significant in predicting delinquency
1) loss of mother predicts delinquency more
2) intact high conflict homes predict delinquency just as well as broken homes
Eyesneck personality theory
Offending is natural, those that are not criminals have a conditioned conscience to oppose hedonistic tendencies. Criminals have poor conditionability, or were poorly conditioned by parents
Eyesnecks dimensions of personality (3) and what they mean for criminality
Extraversion (high related to self reported offending)
Neuroticism (high related to official offending)
Psychoticism (high related to both, as it describes antisocial traits)
Best traits for predicting criminality
Impulsivity the best trait, daringness being its strongest sub-predictor… study showed boys (8-10) picked by teachers and parents for impulsivity predicted offending well
Patterson’s social learning theory in criminality
Observed that antisocial children had parents deficient in child rearing… children in coercive families are more likely to learn coercive behaviours
Most important child rearing factors to avoid criminality (3)
Supervision (most important from research)
Warmth of relationship
Discipline being consistent and not too harsh
Research showing effect of harsh physical punishment on creating offenders
40% of offenders hit as children compared to 14% of controls
Study showing effect of consistent parenting on antisocial behaviour
Patterson’s parenting interventions (focusing on consistency and clarity) reduced steeling and AB
However, only a small sample
ICAP theory stands for and explain
Intergrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential
Combining many theories, it focuses on antisocial potential (risk factors) that leads to AB
1) Long term and 2) short term antisocial potential (AP)
1) traits such as impulsiveness, semi perminant environmental factors (homelessness), past history (crimes).. etc
2) motivating and situational factors (opportunities)
APs consistency and changability overtime
Highly consistent relative ordering overtime, though does change with age - peaking in late teens
Why differing AP models may be needed for different age brackets
Different factors more important to people at different life stages… e.g. The importance of peers increases during teenage years
Example of LT AP interaction that predicts offending
Desire for status / materials increases AP if they go about it through antisocial means… therefore this interacting with low income (reducing the means to go about it socially) is a likely combination for offenders
How ICAP explains the commission of crimes
The interaction between high LT AP and high ST AP ( good criminal opportunities )
How ICAP theory has a cyclical element
Offending will effect LT AP depending if the crimes consequence are reinforcing (increase) or punishing (decrease)
Though punishing can increase LT AP if the offender later feels stigmatised by society
Effect of parental criminality and low family income
Found them to predict convictions much more than AP, suggesting they effect opportunity more so than antisocial attitude
Types of attachment status (4) from strange situation task
Secure
Avoidant (distant or intolerant parent)
Ambivalent (inconsistent or controlling parent )
Disorganised (insensitive adult, relationship a source of fear)
Attachment status in 1) sexual offenders and 2) low empathy criminals
1) anxious (insecure) individuals feeling a need to belong, usually ambivalent or disorganised
2) avoidant individuals often lack empathy
Limitation of social learning theory for AB
Does not account for predispositions and not always applicable to each child, only has a degree of influence
Criticism of ICAP theory
Research based on male lower class offenders in Newcastle, so not necessarily applicable everywhere
How psychopathy is measured
PCL-R splits into two factors: prototypical (e.g. Superficial charm) and acquired (poor behavioural controls)
Research showing link between psychopathy and violent criminality
Found the correlation to be 4 times larger for psychopaths than for controls
1) Cognitive empathy
2) affective empathy
1) Taking another’s perspective on their thoughts (logical)
2) Feeling what another feels
Key distinction between psychopathy and autism
Psychopaths lack affective empathy, those with autism lack cognitive empathy
Types of aggression (2)
Proactive / instrumental - premeditated and linked to callousness
Reactive - acting without reflection after interpreting hostile actions
Difference in how psychopaths murder
93% were proactive by psychopaths whereas 48% were by others
Effectiveness of treating psychopaths
Those that behaved better in treatment were more likely to reoffend (manipulative), though untrue if it was a sexual offence
Brain difference in those with antisocial personality disorder (3)
Reduction in grey matter of the OPFC, DLPFC and MFPFC
Alongside smaller temporal lobes
Smaller posterior hippocampus predicted higher antisocial score
Brain difference in incarcerated psychopaths
Reduced temporal lobe volume, but normal PFCs
Conduct disorder
Repeated childhood behaviour that flouts basic rights of others
Brain differences in children with conduct disorder / callous traits (3)
Reduced activity in left amygdala
Asymmetry in frontal lobes, suggested to impair reasoning and emotion regulation
Smaller P300 amplitudes, which has been associated with criminality
Link between executive dysfunction and AB
Research indicates that those with AB are more executively disfunctioned, perhaps due to an inability to act rationally and control impulses
Genetic research on psychopathy (3)
Found genetic variance (A) to contribute .63, with non shared environment (E) taking the rest of the variance between DZ and MZ
(Supported by adoption studies, with biological parents criminality having greatest effect)
MAO-A gene interacting with childhood abuse found to increase AB risk
Developmental risk factors associated with violent behaviour (3)
Maternal smoking
Unhealthy maternal living
Low family IQ
Minor Physical Anomalies (MPAs) and their relevance
Arise from abnormal foetal development (infection / anoxia)
Consistently associated with higher risk of aggressive behaviour and offending
Also found to interact with family adversity to predict AB further
Difference between Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
FAS is the full blown version where patients have almost all symptoms, FASD is the umbrella term describing a spectrum of abnormalities
How FAS / FASD are caused
Alcohol is more concentrated in foetus as mother drinks, preventing nutrition and oxygen from getting to its organs… most harmful in first 3 months
FAS/FASD 1) damaged brain areas and 2) psychological problems
1) hippocampus, basal ganglia, corpus callosum
2) low ER, poor EF, intellectually disabled
FASD link to AB
60% found to be in trouble with the law
50% display unusual sexual behaviour
30% have alcohol and drug problems
How maternal smoking effects the foetus, and its relevance to forensic
Chemicals cross the placental barrier , reducing uterine blood flow thus depriving of oxygen and nutrition… later abnormal synaptic activity
Research suggests that it predisposes children to AB
Prenatal maturation effect on AB
Offspring of women in a food blockade has 2.5 times more antisocial personality disorder than controls
Obstetrical complications, and their link to AB
Examples include premature birth or anoxia. Found that newborns that suffered this have greater externalizing behaviors by 11… also interacting with maternal rejection to predict violent crime
ACE scores for children, and what they predict (2)
A way of measuring adverse experiences in childhood, with 10 types of experience each child has a rating from 0-10 on how many experienced
They predict suicide, risky sexual behavior
What ACE scores predict in the brain (2)
high ACE scores are associated with reduced corpus callosum, and increased’ electrical irritability’ in the limbic system
Examples of ACEs (unobvious) (3)
Household mental illness or substance use, parental separation
Attachment’s 1) genetic and 2) neurobiological links in research
1) DRD2 dopamine receptor gene strongly associated with insecure attachment
2) Attachment seems largely dependent on nature of neuropeptide release (e.g. oxytocin - love hormone)
Traumatic brain injury’s link to AB and why
27% of delinquents found to have TBI history
It usually effect EF as the OPFC is at front of brain so usually damaged 1st / most
Genetic influence on antisocial behaviour
Ace model studies and adoption studies found an over 50% genetic influence on variance, with C consistently being insignificant
Brunner syndrome
Patients have borderline ‘retardation’ and behaviors such as aggression, rape, arson quite common
A mutation in the MAOA gene in all patients tested, likely to cause abnormal serotonin which creates aggression
Features of FAS (6)
Small head, smooth area from nose to lips, thin upper lip, small eye openings, short, central nervous system dysfunction
Potential consequences of childhood maltreatment (3)
Disruption of emotion regulation
Amygdala abnormalities (fear response)
Reduced grey matter in orbitofrontal cortex
1) sympathetic and 2) parasympathetic automatic nervous system reactions
1) arousing reactions such as pupils dilating
2) calming reactions such as pupils contracting
Fearlessness theory of antisocial behavior (and evidence)
Those with low fear response (low resting HR) are harder to condition so are more likely to commit antisocial acts
Criminals have reduced fear conditioning compared to controls
Sensation seeking theory of antisocial behavior
Those with low HR are more likely antisocial because they seek stimuli to increase their HR, which is often antisocial
How encoding of event effects eye witness testimony
Depends on nature of attention of bystander alongside sensory inhibitors such as dim lights or time
How the storage stage effects eye witness testimony
Depends on interference by subsequent information and how this fits with ones schema
How the retrieval stage effects eye witness testimony
Depends on ability to surface minor details of events through articulation, depending on how good the interviewer is at ‘setting the scene’
Limitation of eye witness testimony research
Crime simulations (usually a video) shown to participants differs greatly to real crime
1) Estimator variables
2) system variables
1) Cannot be controlled by legal justice system
2) Within the control of the legal justice system (mainly retrieval stage)
Yerkes-Dodson’s law and limitation
Shows relationship between stress and recall to be an inverted U… recall is optimal with moderate stress levels
This is hard to prove in a lab environment, inducing real stress is unethical
The weapon effect
An unexpected weapon at a crime significantly detracts attention from the rest of the scene
Research concludes it true (though hard to test), but the effect diminishes the longer the weapon is present
Hypothesizes of the weapon effect (2) and what research says
1) Cue utilization - attention narrowed to threatening object for protective reasons
2) Unusual item hypothesis - it is unexpected in the context so draws more attention
As the effect does not increase alongside level of threat, (1) is not the soul reason. (2) is evidenced as the same effect occurs with a non weapon
Change blindness, and explaination
When attention fails to note supposedly salient changes to a scene
Most likely when assumptions about continuity are made alongside a lack of established representation of the scene (can be overwritten)
When stereotyping in eye witness testimony is more likely
When dealing with a high cognitive load
Older adults stereotype more
Why intoxication worsens crime scene encoding
Narrows focus to certain details at the expense of the periphery… shown in research
How age effects eyewitness reliability
Young adults most reliable, with older ones showing age related decline in memory etc
Children also less reliable, maybe because they lack schemas to make sense of events
Why misinformation / leading questions effect storage of eye witness memory (4)
Updateable memory hypothesis - memories can be overwritten by new information if they fit the persons schema
Strategic effects - demands of recall and context effects how it is remembered at the time
Blocked memory access - memory traces from original still coexist with misinformation and compete for activation
Source monitoring account - difficult to distinguish source of information
When taking on misinformation into ones own account is more likely (3)
When the original event does not have to be recalled
If they believe the misinformer has better memory of the event than them
If the cost of disagreeing is large
How common are false memories
Meta analysis concludes creating false memories from traumatic events is common, maybe sparked by therapy… showing the potential inaccuracy of eye witness testimony
Explanation for false memories
Arise from source monitoring errors, when imagined events are similar to real ones they allow a composition of both to form in a memory
Why delay from witnessing to recall reduces accuracy
Memory trace fades (forgetting curve), so best to interview straight after
Are flashbulb memories (often emotional) remembered with greater detail?
Some evidence suggests yes, a greater period of time with greater detail
However other studies show they feel just as vivid but details fade and change similar to normal memories (9/11 study)
Factors that effect retrieval
Question format (not leading, elaborative) Use cognitive interview techniques Give self-administered interview to avoid delay Initial confidence of witness predicts accuracy
Why the multistore memory model discredits eye witness testimony
Highlights several areas of possibility where memories become inaccurate or fade
Unconscious transference
Eyewitness misidentifies a familiar innocent person (often a bystander) as a result of source confusion error
Features of cognitive interview
Questions in event context (set the scene)
Focused retrieval (be specific with questions)
Extensive retrieval (be thorough)
Allow free recall (no interruption)
Review and confirm their recall at the end
Verbal overshadowing effect for line ups
Providing verbal description of someone inhibits their identification as memory is more in language than image
Why crime linkage is cost and time effective
The majority of crimes are committed by a minority of criminals… helps solve multiple cases at once by pooling evidence together (increases credibility)
Offender consistency hypothesis
Logic that grounds crime linkage: offenders behave relatively similarly in each of their crimes
How crimes are able to be linked (2)
Noticing similarities in the crimes
Noticing that the similarity is distinctive from other crimes of the same nature (identifying rituals)
1) reactive and 2) proactive crime linkage
1) Search databases for a certain crimes linkage to past crimes, or use a predefined group of crimes
2) Search for linkages in a larger database using algorithms
Summary of research on crime linkage
Is limited, but seems promising for interpersonal crimes more so than acquisitive crimes (e.g. burglary)… though geographical and temporal proximity are good linkages for both types of crime
Limitations of crime linkage (2)
Research relies on samples of solved crimes, perhaps overestimating its effectiveness (more now are using ones solved by DNA linkage)
Research focuses on linking within crime types, ignoring that most criminals commit a variety of crimes
Daubert criteria for crime linkage in court (3)
Successfully tested hypothesis
Scientific acceptance of process used
Known error rate and operational standards
Indicator for if crimes are linked
As situation interacts with personality, the more similar the situation then the more similar the behavior should be (e.g. same crime type etc)
Levels of impact of cyber crime (3)
Sustaining existing criminal activity
Provide new opportunities for existing criminal activity
New criminal activities on the internet
Cyber trespassing
Unauthorized crossing of boundaries where rights of ownership have been established
Types of cyber trespassers (3)
Utopians - breaking down barriers to reveal secrets
Cyberpunks - anti-establishment, intentionally causing harm
Cyber terrorist / spy - expert crackers infiltrating top security sights to use their secrets / harm their database
Research summary on cyber crime (3)
Most website defacement found to be pranks, leaving taunts of their motives. Hacking for political purposes is generally more aggressive. VERY limited research
Cyber deception / theft and examples (4)
Acquisitional harm in cyberspace, most often fraud or online banking theft.. also data theft and e-commerce (music) downloading
How e-commerce downloading changed laws
Theft was defined as ‘permanently depriving owner of use’, but e-commerce theft did not fit. So counterfeiting and intellectual property rights laws created
Routine activity theory for identity theft
Used to explain ones risk to identity theft based on general web use, e.g. online shopping increases risk
Legal complications of cyber porn / obscenity and implications
Legalities of what constitutes illegal porn is vague and differs across countries
As a result, only 49% of child porn offenders were aware they were acting illegally
Typical characteristics of child porn offenders (3)
Young, single and living alone
Reasons for child porn offenders (4)
Periodically purient - impulsive and curious
Fantasy only - interested in children but no contact with real children
Direct victimization - Use online to create opportunities for real sexual offenses
Commercial exploitation - produce and trade images for money
Integrated theory of sexual offending
Maladaptive biological and social learning (developmental) factors create the necessary cognitive conditions (e.g. EF and ER) to produce the emotional / social difficulties and a lack of inhibition to commit sexual offenses.
The more they get away with minor offenses, the more extreme they become for gratification.
Cyber violence and examples (2)
Physical or psychological impact of cyber activity on another
E.g. stalking, bullying etc
Reduced social cues theory for cyber violence
Increased anonymity and lack of social cues deregulates ones online behavior… a reduced ability to take the others perspective
(Then power felt from act reinforces it)
Factors influencing cyber violence
Anonymity (rare these days)
Reduced social cues
Power reinforcement (though cannot see reaction)
Infinite audience (anyone can see content)
Limitation of cyber crime research
Tends to focus on local school age group, so little known on adults and group bullying
Bi-dimensional model of emotions
the motivational system (extent of arousal) and aversive / valance system (how pleasurable) interact to form each emotion
Emotional regulation strategies (5)
Situation selection - choose those that emotionally benefit
Situation modification - alter environmental cues to change the impact of experienced situation
Attentional deployment - alter focus to benefit emotion (e.g. distraction, rumination)
Cognitive change - dealing with situations through classic defense mechanisms (e.g. intellectualisation, denial)
Response modulation - controlled changes to physiological or behavioral responding (e.g. reflection)
Successful emotion regulation depends on… (3)
Available cognitive resources
Flexible alteration between ER strategies
Difficulty of context
Unsuccessful emotion regulators (offenders) often have… (5)
Over suppression / over regulation Depletion of resources to compromise decision making Increased negative affect Increased physiological arousal Shallow emotional processing
Emotion regulation in the brain
Largely done by prefrontal lobes inhibitory effect on the limbic system (e.g. PFC’s glutamate inhibits amygdala activity)
Function of amygdala areas: 1) central nuclei, 2) medial nuclei, 3) lateral nuclei, 4) basal nuclei
1) Processes fear responses
2) outputs fear response to the hypothalamus and brain stem
3) inputs from thalamus and sensory areas are received
4) Receives inputs from PFC and ACC (usually inhibitory)
Amygdala’s link to violence
The smaller the volume of the amygdala the more predictive of violence, especially the left side
Intermittent explosive disorder
Patients with exaggerated amygdala reactivity and diminished OFC, they show episodes of reactive and impulsive aggression
Callous-unemotional traits link to amygdala
Decreased fear response of amygdala to facial expressions etc when one has CU
EF inhibition (impaired in offenders) is measured how, and where in the brain (2)
Inhibition of socially inappropriate behavior measured by porteus mazes in the OFC
Inhibition of task irrelevant information measured by the stroop task in the ACC and inferior frontal gyrus
EF link with offending / AB
Found to be worse at EF tasks than controls, especially on impulsivity, visual working memory and attention shifting tasks
EF of psychopaths?
Generally unimpaired, even above average EF for factor 1 psychopathy
Diagnosis of schizophrenia (most common in forensic mental health)
Significant perceptual disturbance and changes in emotions and thinking (e.g. aggression)
Symptoms must be present for one month
1) Positive and 2) negative symptoms of schizophrenia
1) Adding to experience, e.g. hallucinations and changing beliefs
2) detracting from experience, e.g. flattened affect, avolition
Paranoid schizophrenia
Most common, characterized by grandiose delusions either directly from delusions or indirectly by interfering with their thinking
How major affective disorders (e.g. bipolar) are distinguished from schizophrenia
Psychotic experiences are mood congruent, manic episodes causing manic delusions
How personality disorders are generally caused
Often genetically predisposed, but generally go through adverse life events (usually childhood) that create coping strategies that fail to mature (become maladaptive) and thus cause distress
Why personality disorders are difficult to diagnose (3)
Personality develops in young adulthood, so good practice not to diagnose before 25
self-report is cannot be taken on the surface as those with PD often are manipulative
Only 15% of PD patients have one diagnosis, most are comorbid
Why psychopaths have disproportionate stays in hostpitals
Seen as untreatable and very dangerous, even those that just make the threshold
Most community services refuse to take psychopaths
Why those with intellectual disabilities (e.g. ASD) 1) often commit crimes and 2) are under-reported in forensics
They have poor impulse control and a lack of cognitive empathy
Often are let off for minor offenses due to their disability
Why those with acquired brain injuries 1) often commit crimes and 2) are under-estimated in forensics
1) ABI leads to greater impulsivity and AB as prefrontal lobes (OFC) most commonly damaged (EF, ER etc)
2) Unknown how many offenders have had an ABI, often unnoticed - awareness needs to be spread to help the less obvious ABI victims
Substance misuse in forensics
Not often the primary disorder for detention but 30-50% with severe mental health have this as a comorbid diagnosis
A very significant risk factor for relapse into crime
Most common risk factor for transfers into forensic mental health
Poorly controlled anger. Violence management is seen as a top priority by the public / media
A common route cause of personality disorders
Poor attachment and early development
Factors influencing if power of detention (from Mental Health act 1983/2007) is used (3)
Nature/degree of mental illness
Risk to oneself and others
Treatment available
Do you have to serve your criminal sentence after being treated in hostpital
Usually the time of treatment is included, however for some types of sectioning it is not (implying responsibility)
Liaison and diversion services
Mental health nurses at hand in custody suites and court rooms
Why we should look past the DSM-V / ICD-10 (4)
No precise scientific underpinning to mental health
Much comorbidity and overlapping / grey areas
They focus on behavior, not function
Poor reliability and continuity
Approaches to studying terrorism (4)
The individual (characteristics)
Relationship (between individual and society)
Consequences (how the individual is affected by terrorism)
Methodology (how to study terrorism)
Research on the motives for terrorism says…
Political / ideological motivation is less significant than previously thought, with status seeking and gaining group acceptance significant (in-group yearning fulfilled)
Describe the recent evolution of terrorism
Used to be organised, trained groups with a clear ideology but now many more lone-wolfs and DIY terrorism, aided by the internet
Historical compared to modern explanations for terrorist individuals
Used to be thought they were psychopaths, but now focused on social learning theory, with observation and situation key.
Research on terrorists backgrounds / histories
Found no uniformity in economic status or discrimination experienced etc
How terrorists usually explain their actions
They blame or dehumanize their victims through intellectualisation
Post’s research on terrorist structure
Outlined two types of groups:
Nationalist-seperatists - followers feel as if the terrorist act is a right-of-passage to an identity (most have supporting families and even teachers etc)
Anarchic-ideologues - alienate followers from other communities / family
Offenses outline by Terrorist Act (2000/2006) (5)
Preparation of act Possession of materials for act Encouragement of terrorism Membership or support of terrorism Completion / attempt of act
Model for radicalisation
A psychological injustice of ones material position , followed by moral engagement in new beliefs to fight injustice (us v them mindset)… often aggressive
Terrorist personality theory
Routed in narcissistic traits, often due to childhood maltreatment. The ego then turns its aggression onto society (this theory only conveys part of the picture)
Why terrorists are just as likely psychopaths as normals
Psychopaths would not make good terrorists as they lack discipline and conformity to groups for terrorist survival
Risk assessments for terrorism (2)
Extreme risk guidance - captures factors focusing on how they become involved and the mindset needed, though has not been used to predict offending
Violent Extreme risk assessment - similar, but provides a rating and includes protective factors
Vulnerability assessment framework - measuring engagement, intent and capability
Evolution of the definition of childhood maltreatment
Intimate partner violence only being included in last 50 years, and genital mutilation and forced marriage more recently
Define 1) incidence and 2) prevalence of childhood maltreatment
1) number of cases reported within a year
2) number of individuals retrospectively reporting maltreatment between 0-18
Highest incidence age-group of childhood maltreatment
Those under 1 years old
Most common forms of childhood maltreatment (2) and why
Neglect and emotional abuse, because most tie into other forms of abuse as well
Factors predicting fatalities of childhood maltreatment (3)
Those under 5, especially those under 1 from head injuries or severe neglect
Living with both parents
Financial difficulty
Gender differences in response to childhood maltreatment
Boys more likely to externalize (aggression) and girls internalize (depression)
General responses to childhood maltreatment
Substance use Mental health (psychosis, depression etc) Impaired social functioning Subsequent maltreatment in adulthood Maltreating your children
Factors that effect ones response to maltreatment (4)
Research shows social impairments are less if there is a greater distribution between incidents, giving time for resilience
Having a supportive caregiver reduces negative effects, though most maltreatment is from caregivers
Effect on emotional processing is mediated by ones IQ / cognitive functioning
Familial trauma victims have worse EF performance than non familial trauma victims
Most common adulthood effects of childhood maltreatment (3)
Substance use, PTSD and interpersonal problems
Intergenerational cycle of maltreatment (ICM) prevalence and interactions
Study shows victims of childhood maltreatment were twice as likely for their own kids to be referred because of them 30 years on
Also shown to interact with other factors such as depression and being a young parent
Risk factors (out of 10) predicting maltreating children
Only 3% did so with 0 risk factors and 45% did so with 9 risk factors
Tech grooming
Building a trusting relationship with a child online in order to later exploit them
Warning signs for childhood maltreatment (3)
Temporary disappearances
Unusual and out of character behaviors
Injuries or unexplained gifts found
Model for child abuse
Illustrates importance of surrounding family system, then wider family friends / welfare system then wide culture as a whole… highlighting interconnection between each layer
Neurological impact of child abuse
Especially hard in the first year of life
Due to prolonged cortisol (released when stressed), a number of neurons can be pruned excessively (apoptosis too far)
Attachment status of abused children
54% showed disorganized, only 18% secure
Methods to help traumatised children
High structure and nurture
Promote their safety to them
Therapeutic parenting
Research on child neglect
Though under researched, is shown to strongly associate with depression
Toxic trio of ACE risk factors
Domestic abuse, mental health and substance misuses is the most likely comination to lead to abusing others / criminality
Daly’s pathways to female criminality (4)
Normal functioning drug / property pathway - few childhood issues but snared into criminality through drug use and parental stresses
Battered women / victim pathway - severe childhood or adult victimization alongside drug problems.. tend to have above average mental health problems
Poor / marginalized - vocational deficits and poor background link them to crime
Antisocial / aggressive - Victimization as children, often fostered, leading to hostile personality
Feminist explanation for female criminality
Female’s socialization process (the patriarchy) leads women to react to their victimization or economic dependence through crime
(does not usually include individual factors)
Developmental explanation for female criminality (2)
Outlines different pathways from childhood:
Life-course persistent (early onset) - multiple risk factors from childhood, continue crime into adulthood
Adolescent limited - seek social status from peers, tending to grow out of AB into adulthood (unless snares such as criminal record or addiction hold them back)
Developmental pathway that the data shows often leads to female criminality
Adolescent delayed onset - Multiple risk factors from childhood yet AB only shows in adolescents (likely delayed due to female socialization repressing externalization). Most often continues into adulthood
Why are there generally less female criminals (2)
Socialization process influencing female decisions by promoting femininity
Gender-bias in the patriarchal criminal organisations
Most common female offenses
Theft, driving under the influence and drug abuse
How male criminal motivations differ to females
Males do so to gain respect / broadcast their lifestyle, whereas women generally do so out of desperation
Why female crime appears to be on the rise (2)
Increased lack of tolerance for female offenders and the rise of feminism is sparking gender equality to work both ways
Women liberation theory - feminism is giving them more confidence they can do what men can, increasing the rate of female delinquents
Historical perceptions of female offenders (2)
1885 - primitive, masculine females (hairy and tall)
1993 - driven by penis envy, unable to come to terms with femininity
Social control theory for criminality
Criminals have a smaller pro-social bond with society (many factors) so are unable to control their natural criminal urges
Gender differences in relationship’s influence on criminality
Married women more likely to admit to criminal behavior, not true for married men
Criminal partners a higher influence on women than men
General strain theory for criminality, and link with females
Life stress / strain causes negative emotions which create desire for retaliation, lowering inhibitions
Women may have higher tolerance for negative events (or greater internalization) which means less crime… evidenced by family strain having more effect on males (self-report)
Female offenders mental health (2)
Five times more likely to have problems than women population, self harm is much more prevalent than in male prisons
Gender differences in intimate partner violence
US studies show females to be more frequently physically aggressive towards their husband than vise-versa
Though men were more aggressive in every other sense (emotionally etc)
Why female intimate partner violence is often under-reported
As men are generally stronger, female violence will have a less serious effect on average
Men may feel stigmatized if they come forward so are more likely to not admit it
Why the feminist claim that female intimate partner violence is fueled by male dominance appears wrong
Study shows female dominance to predict female violence much more so
What male heart rate during a marital interaction can tell us
If it decelerates, more likely to batter wife and be antisocial
If accelerates, more likely to get divorced
Types of child sexual offenders (3)
Pedophiles - for prepubescent children
Hebephiles - for pubescent children
Attracted to adults but do so for power
Types of rapists (5)
Opportunistic - impulsive, controlled by situational circumstances though have fitting preconceived beliefs
Nonsadistic and sexual - high levels of fantasy precedes act
Sadistic and sexual - high levels of sexual and aggressive fantasy precedes act
Vindictive - women the focus of their anger, intending to degrade them
Pervasively angry - undifferentiated anger towards life, rape being just one expression of it
Change in the way sexual murders are treated
Up until 15 years ago, sexual murders were the same as murders, but now they go through similar rehabilitation as a sexual offender
Effectiveness of sexual offender therapy
Study shows 12% recidivism for treated and 17% for untreated, with CBT and aversive conditioning much more effective than older styles
Though different studies found physical treatment to be more effective and CBT to be inconclusive (more research needed!)
Unobvious types of sexual offenses (3)
Exhibitionism, frottage (public rubbing), voyeurism (secret watching)
Motivation-facilitation model for sexual offenders
Illustrates that for those with paraphilias (high sex drive), how trait, state and situational factors interact to lead to sexual offenses
Most likely types of sexual offenders (by victim) to reoffend
Those that commit crimes on young boys and extrafamilially… also on adults
Static risk factors for sexual offenders, examples (2) and how it is usually measured
Unchangeable aspects of person, e.g. prior offenses, preferred victim etc
Measured by the Static 99
Dynamic risk factors for sexual offenders, types (2) and how it is usually measured
Amenable to change / fluctuation, has two types:
Stable - enduring but LT changable, e.g. beliefs
Acute - rapidly changable, e.g. substance use
Measured by the Stable 2007 and Acute 2007
Domains of dynamic risk for sexual offenders (4)
Sexual deviance - type of interest etc
Distorted cognition - attitude that supports offense
Socio-affective issues - lack of intimacy opportunities etc
Self-management issues - e.g. impulsive
Paraphilia disorder
If ones sexual needs impairs functioning or causes distress
How to measure sexual arousal (2) and disadvantage of two (see notes)
Subjectively through self report (multiphasic sex inventory), though socially desirable responding
Phallometrically (PPG), assumes erection = arousal but can inhibit
Indirect measures that use reaction time (IAT test)
Using technology: eye tracking, pupil dilation etc
Types of indirect measures for sexual arousal
VT task - records time image (of child) viewed
IAT task - strength of association between child and sexy categories (though can only find relative associations)
Go / no-go task - RTs for go / no-go options for child vs adult in game
(all found to moderately reliably identify child sexual offenders, less prone to faking than direct measures)
Factors that determine treatment of sexual offenders (RNR principles)
Risk to public and oneself
Need for treatment, nature of mental health
Responsivity - ensure maximum benefit
What is current treatment of sexual offenders based on
Behavioral strategies from social learning such as CBT and skills building
Goals of treatment of sexual offenders
Address dynamic risk factors
Understand the factors leading to offense
Develop a self-regulation plan: establish coping strategies and support network
Rationale of the Good lives model (GLM) for treatment of sexual offenders
Assumes humans to be goal-directed for intrinsically beneficial things (health, spirituality, mastery etc). Sexual offenses occur when people lack resources to achieve these using prosocial means; dynamic risk factors being internal obstacles
How the Good Lives Model (GLM) for treatment of sexual offenders is carried out
Focus is on improving sexual offenders as people, rather than reducing risk factors
The triarchic model of psychopaths includes… (3)
Disinhibition, boldness and meanness
