Psychological Explanations Of Criminal Behaviour

Question 0

How would we explain apparent crime waves?

Answer 0

Genetic make up or personalities, environmental influences, situational factors
Human behaviour is the result of a complex interaction
Each person has a unique collection of attributes- makes them who and what they are
Situations rarely have one dimension

Question 1

Why do some people commit crime?

Answer 1

Every offender behaves in a idiosyncratic way
Interaction of a large number of complex factors
Not one simple answer to why people commit crime
So single causative factor, naive to think in this manner about offenders
Cannot put individuals into pre-existing typologies
Complex interaction between internal and external factors

Question 2

Lombroso (1876)
criminals in Italy, criminals different genetic types, physical make-up differences: atavistic, abnormal physiological features

Answer 2

First pioneering attempt on trying to understand why offenders offend, first attempt at typology, differentiate criminals/ non-criminals
Specific, no scientific evidence, only observation, no robust findings, simplistic
Biological theory of deviance says that an individual deviates from social norms largely because of their biological make-up, ferri argued that anyone convicted of a crime should be locked up as long as possible, garofalo said those who violate human universal laws are themselves unnatural

Question 3

Males as XYY Price (1966) & Jarvik et al (1973)

Answer 3

1960/ 70s - genetic abnormalities
Males as XXY- twice as much maleness- supermale syndrome
XYY males- extreme violence
Lack of scientific rigour, hard to establish XXY but one of the first real attempts to try and look at specific typologies

Question 4

Osborn & West (1979)

40% of sons born to fathers with a criminal record also gained records themselves

Answer 4

Learnt behaviour, environment and social influence not just genetic
60% sons did not become criminals, could be down to troubled families or the stigma they receive

Question 5

Twin studies: identical and non-identical

Answer 5

Identical twins are an interest to psychologist because they are genetically identical, genetic transmission of attributes and traits, number of cases where ones twin criminal lifestyle is mirrored by their twin, CR is important.
Starting to see not just bloodline but personality traits

Question 6

Lange (1931) CR for IT was 77 and non IT was 12

Christiansen (1977) CR for IT was 60 and non IT was 30

Answer 6

Large difference not always found
They are similarly dressed, brought up external, socially influenced to be together, intense relationship, encouraged to be similar, same parenting technique

Question 7

Walter (1992) identical twins raised separately

Answer 7

Adopted children become similar to their natural or adoptive parents?
Meta-analysis of 13 studies, very few separated, more than a biological drive, not compulsive a genetic link exists, no one person is bought up in a social or environmental vacuum, Behaviour is a complex interaction between internal, individual and environmental factors

Question 8

Family influences- psychologists have investigated how the family may have influenced an individuals tendency to commit/ not commit a crime

Answer 8

Freud- first 5 years important for personality formation, psychosexual development and traumatic events

Personality formation is built in the first 5 years and difficult to change when not a child, can modify but not change it, if child does not have a good psychosexual development that is why they commit

Question 9

Bowlby (1953)

Answer 9

Notion of maternal deprivation, inability to form secure/ trusting attachments leads to tendency towards juvenile delinquency

Focuses on mother, who is significant parent ?
Children now have multiple attachments

Question 10

Farrington (91-97)
Longitudinal study of 411 working class boys in London 1953, studies their progression their lifetime, compared boys with a criminal record with those who did not

Answer 10

Showed symptoms of anti-social behaviour i.e aggression.
First attempt to understand offenders, gain insight, give understanding, development of delinquency
How to decrease offending: early intervention programmes for families which show anti-social behaviour, help individuals develop better by getting early intervention for families seen as dysfunctional- parenting classes to re educate parents

Question 11

Eysenck (1977)
Psychometric measures for individuals, high on both E and N more likely to become criminal, genetic factors were also important, cortical and ANS

Answer 11

High E & N people constantly sought stimulation
If they are a certain personality type they will offend, psychoticism- as long as they are satisfied they are happy, demonstrate extreme behaviours where they work, but successful because can also be this type but they regulate so they don’t commit
Some questions his work that it only applies to intelligent people

Question 12

Social learning theories, Sutherland (1939) & bandura (1977)

Answer 12

Behaviour stems from individual social learning experiences
Sutherland (1939) accept way of gang, differential associations, what is external to the individual
Bandura (1977) powerful nature of social learning

Question 13

What are the advantages of Eysenck bio social and XYY?

Answer 13

Eysenck theory was remarkably in its scope. Like some other theories, it was an account of general criminality although he believed that some patterns of personality might be more common in different sort of offenders. His evidence on this was fairly limited but the theory brings together several different levels of theorising.

Question 14

What are the disadvantages of Eysenck bio social and XYY?

Answer 14

While other theories lack complete support from research findings, Eysenck theory has tended to be seen by many psychologists as based on flawed data. Although the theory is impressive in that it operates at both the biological and social levels, in fact the social input is little more than a matter of rewards & punishment. Sociological approaches for example have little place in the scheme of things.

Question 15

What are the advantages of intelligence?

Answer 15

If we tease out the biological issue from the ability issue, knowledge that crime is associated to some extent with low ability, low educational achievement & low measured intelligence is useful to psychologists. This suggests that action to alleviate such factors may have a positive contribution to make. This is generally recognised as penal systems frequently offer educational and vocational courses to help remedy such as deficits. Any assessment of offenders needs to include ability & intelligence testing as this suggests appropriate courses of action. We know that crime & criminality are not equally distributed through different levels of social structure. As such it is attractive to see simple explanations that justify the status quo, this quickly turns into a disadvantage when it is realised that the case against the theory is strong.

Question 16

What are the disadvantages of intelligence?

Answer 16

The biological approach to social policy generally receives little support from psychologists whenever it appears, through such notions have been disseminated through books and other media to the general public. The idea is that social problems are basically intractable offers little for professionals dedicated to reducing criminality. Indeed, it is a good reason for not developing psychological services aimed at offenders as such. Even if the theory is regarded as true, it is of little practical value when working with offenders.

Question 17

What are the advantages of Bowlby ?

Answer 17

Some of the ideas, especially those of Bowlby have been highly influential in directing the attention of researchers from many disciplines towards the impact of early life experiences, especially parenting, on later delinquency and criminality.

Question 18

What are the disadvantages of Bowlby ?

Answer 18

Few modern psychologist make direct use of Freudian concepts because it is generally considered that when subject to research,the concept fails to gain the support of researchers. The evidence is that in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, psycho-analytical therapies are not only extremely time consuming but apparently ineffective.

Question 19

What are the advantages of neuropsychology?

Answer 19

Knowledge of a biologically based cause of criminality would contribute to better targeted treatments. Medical treatments rather than psychological therapy might be considered for appropriate cases. Unfortunately it is very difficult to establish such relationships for individual cases except where changes have followed accidents. The evidence to date suggests that biological factors have some influence on criminality although they are probably restricted to a small portion of cases. This possible applies to the notion of genetic transmission of criminality, though evidence on this is also almost always interpretable in terms of environmental influences.

Question 20

What are the disadvantages of neuropsychology?

Answer 20

We seem to be a long way from fully understanding any biological basis to criminality, let alone the mechanisms by which this possible influence might operate. For most forensic and criminal psychologists, whatever the biological basis of crime, biological approaches at the moment do not deal with the immediate task of helping others through therapy or which the problems of making assessment about individuals about their future behaviours