Forensics - Psychodynamic explanations

Question 1

What did Blackburn suggest about why criminal behaviour arises?

Answer 1

Blackburn (1993) argued that criminal behaviour arises as the result of an underdeveloped superego.
Freud’s tripartite personality structure consists of the id (selfish, impulsive, pleasure principle), the ego (reality principle) and the superego (morality principle, punishes id for its impulses and rewards moral behaviour).
If the superego, formed at the phallic psychosexual stage, is inadequate, the id is given ‘free reign’ to carry out its selfish impulses, which manifests in criminal behaviour.

Question 2

Outline the three types of superego

Answer 2

Weak: same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, so child does not internalise a fully-formed superego (there is no parent to successfully identify with)

Deviant: a child may be raised by a criminal parent, meaning the superego internalises deviant behaviour

Over-harsh: the superego is excessively harsh and focused on punishment, leading to a heightened sense of guilt and an unconscious drive to commit crime in order to be punished

Question 3

Evaluate the psychodynamic explanation of crime - evidence

Answer 3

Very little evidence supporting the idea that children raised without same-sex parents are more prone to criminality or fail to develop a conscience – no basis in evidence, low validity

Question 4

Evaluate the psychodynamic explanation of crime - girls

Answer 4

Freud’s theory suggests girls would develop a weaker superego than boys due to not experiencing castration anxiety, they are under less pressure to identify with their mothers so superego must be less fully realised, therefore wrongly assuming that girls are more prone to criminal behaviour than boys.

Question 5

Evaluate the psychodynamic explanation of crime - alternative explanations

Answer 5

Children with criminal parents going on to be criminals could be due to genetic or environmental factors.