Gudjonsson And Bownes: The Attribution Of Blame And Type Of Crime Committed

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To examine the relationship between type of offence and the attributions offenders make about their criminal act

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

Using gudjonsson and Singh 42 item ‘bai’ to measure type of offence and attribution of blame

Bai= blame attribution theory

Question 3

Participants

Answer 3

80 criminals serving time in northern island

20 violent crime (mean age 29)

40 sex offenders (mean age 41(paeodophile)28(rape)

20 property offences (mean age 29)

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

Sexual offenders showed most remorse(12.7) followed by those who had committed a violent acts (8.1)

Sexual offenders have highest mental element(5.7) and lowest were property offenders (4) however this showed least variation

With regard to external attribution highest scores were found for violent offenders(5.8) and lowest for sexual offenders (2.4)

Question 5

Conclusions

Answer 5

Offenders attribute blame for their crimes differently depending on the type of crime

G+b compare findings to earlier study carried out in England and found high level of consistency

However higher external attribution for violent crime in Northern Ireland which may be due to terrorism in Ireland in 1980s

Question 6

Background

Answer 6

Gisli gudjonsson created the blame attribution inventory (bai)

This is a psychometric test that measures your natural tendency to lay blame

External attribution (blaming others)

Mental element (blaming crime on mood/stress ‘out of character’)

It also measures amount of guilt offender expresses