forensics exam questions Flashcards
1
Q
define differential association (2 marks )
A
- an explanation of offending behaviour in terms of learning theory, how interactions with others lead to the formulation of attitudes about crime, as well as acquiring specific knowledge about how to commit crimes
2
Q
outline the learning approach to explaining offender behaviour (6 marks )
A
- suggests that people vary in the frequency with which they associate with others who have more or less favourable attitudes towards crime and these attitudes influence their own behaviour
- children learn whether crimes are desirable or undesirable from intimate groups such as friends or family
- these people may not be criminals themselves but may still accept bad attitudes
- a child may be directly reinforced for deviant behaviours through praise, or may be punished by such behaviours by family
- role models also provide opportunities to model behaviours
3
Q
outline one study that has investigated the learning approach to offending behaviour ( 4 marks )
A
- Akes surveyed 2,500 males and female adolescents in the U.S
- found that the most important influence on drink and drug behaviour was peer reinforcement and imitation
- This accounted for 68% of the variance in marijuana use and 55% of alcohol us
- this shows the influence that other people have on an individual’s involvement in offending behaviour
4
Q
3 strengths of the learning approach to offending behaviour
A
- supporting evidence that criminality appears to run in families. Research found that, where there is a father with a criminal conviction, 40% of the sons had committed a crime by the age of 18 compared to 13% of sons of nan criminal fathers. This shows how the behaviour of others can influence an individual’s attitude and behaviour towards crime ( 4 mark on explain one strength )
- use Akers study on drug and alcohol use to support ( evaluation questions )
- This approach changed people’s views about the origins of criminal behaviour. It showed an important shift from blaming individual factors to pointing to social factors. Crime can be explained by social experiences. ( use for evaluation question )
5
Q
2 weaknesses to the learning approach to explaining offending behaviour
A
- The date collected is correlational, which doesn’t tell us what is cause and what is effect. Some critics argue that the theory isn’t testable because of the difficulty of separating learned and inherited influences. Also, it isn’t clear in what ratio of favourable to unfavourable influences needs to tip to balance so that a person becomes a criminal (4 marks in outline one strength )
- the theory can’t account for all types of crime. Social learning influences is confined to small crimes rather than impulsive violent crimes like modern thus differential association is only a partial account for offending behaviour. Counter with more small than big crimes ( use for evaluation question )
6
Q
define affectionsless psychopathy (2 marks)
A
- a behaviour disorder in which the individual has no ability to experience shame or guilt and lacks a social conscience.
- it means that they may find it easier to commit crimes
7
Q
define maternal deprivation (1 mark )
A
- the loss of emotional care that it normally provided by a primary caregiver
8
Q
outline the maternal deprivation theory and how it applies to delinquent behaviour
( 6 marks )
A
- Bowlby
- prolonged separations between mother and child would have long term emotional consequences if the separation happens before 2.5 years and no substitute mother
- potential long term consequence of separation is affectionless psychopathy - individual has no ability to experience shame or guilt so easier to commit crimes as feel no responsibility and feelings of others
- 44 juvenile thieves. Compared 44 thieves to 44 control patients. None of the control patents had early separations, 39% of thieves had. 86% of thieves with affectionless characteristics had separation compared 17% of other thieves.
9
Q
explain the role of the superego as a psychological explanation of offending behaviour (6 marks )
A
- superego determines which behaviours are permissible and causes guilt when rules are broken ( morality principles )
- weak superego = superego develops from Oedipus complex ( boy desire for mother so jealousy to father. Causes anxiety but resulted by identifying with father) . Child who doesn’t identify with same sex parent or this parent absent can develop weak superfoods. Leads to little control over anti social behaviour which leads to offending behaviour
- harsh superego = child strongly identifies with strict parent. Causes excessive feelings of guilt/ anger as if they acted on impulses they would feel bad. Commit crime with wish to be caught as punishment would reduce guilty feelings
- deviant superego = normal identification with same sex parent. Child takes on same moral attitudes as parents. Therefore child may develop attitudes from a criminal same sex parent and then commit crimes themselves
10
Q
two strengths of the psychodynamic explanation to offending behaviour ( 6 marks )
A
- considers emotion = includes role of emotion which is often overlooked in other explanations. E.g. cognitive approach which misses out how emotion affects behaviour. The psychodynamic approach includes how anxiety and guilt may affect behaviour
- real world application = Bowlby’s research has implicated treatment of emotional problems in young delinquents as he suggested trying to prevent the problem by avoiding early separation. In particular, emotional seperation as he found that children coped reasonably well with physical separations as long as they got alternative emotional care.
11
Q
outline the aims of custodial sentencing (5 marks)
A
- to protect the public from violent offenders who aren’t capable of controlling their behaviour
- to punish the offender (behaviourist approach) punishment should decrease the likelihood of repeated behaviour
- to deter others = prison should discourage general population for committing crimes ( social learning theory )
- to stone for wrong doing = offender should pay in some way for their crime
- to rehabilitate offenders = some believe only way to prevent further offending is through education or therapy. This is best done in prison as fewer distractions
12
Q
explain two weaknesses of custodial sentencing and recidivism (6 marks)
A
the effectiveness of punishment =
- according to behaviourist principles, punishment is most effective when it happens immediately but this isn’t the case with custodial sentencing. Offender might see sentence as punishment for being caught rather than committing crime so learns to avoid being caught
- for at least 50% of the population the punishment represent by incarceration ( being confined in prison) doesn’t work
individual differences =
- walker found that sentence length made little difference to habitual offenders. Just as likely to offend no matter what sentence was.
- recidivism ( re offending ) may vary with age and crime. Younger people are more likely to re offend. Those committing crimes such as theft are 2x more likely to re offend than sex offender ( home office 2005)
- therefore sentencing should be targeted in different ways with different groups of offenders
13
Q
explain a strength of custodial sentencing ( 4 marks )
A
- incapacitation removes small number of dangerous criminals from society and locked up
- retribution means offenders have the make amends to their victims and may also have to face their own conscience. Offers potential of changed attitudes to re offending
- rehabilitation allows offenders to go back to their normal life through ternary for after imprisonment
14
Q
evaluate custodial sentencing ( 8 marks )
A
- weakness = effectiveness of punishment
- weakness = individual differences
- strength = incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation
- weakness = differential association theory. Prison increase likelihood of re offending. Provides opportunities to learn about committing crime successfully. Researcher found that placing offenders at low risk of recidivism with high risk makes it more likely that the low risk individuals will re offend
15
Q
Outline the atvistic form as a biological explanation for offending behaviour
A
- suggests that criminals are essentially throwbacks to an earlier species and that the innate physiological make up of the person causes them to become a criminal
- some of the characteristics that make up the atavistic type are ; large ears, excessive length of arms, and excessive jaw/ cheekbones
- Lombroso suggested these characteristics from his postmortem
examinations of criminals
-later recognised that it was unlikely that only one factor would be the cause of criminality.
16
Q
explain one criticism of the historical approach (4 marks)
A
- gender based
- no doubt that Lambroso had some androcentric ideas about women and he didn’t actually study women directly.
- he believed that women were naturally jealous and low in intelligence which neutralised their negative traits and meant they were less likely to be criminals
- those women who were criminals just had masculine characteristics
