Psychological Theories of Crime Flashcards
Psychological explanations of crime…
are concerned with background and formative experiences of criminals, especially in childhood and parental relationships. These theories suggest that early experiences limit brain development
A psychological theory of crime is…
John Bowlby’s attachment theory
John Bowlby’s attachment theory proposes that…
that early attachment with one person usually the mother is crucial to development and that the long-term consequences of maternal deprivation can lead to delinquency, aggression and psychopathy
Describe Bowlby’s study
- Bowlby interviewed 44 adolescents who were referred to a child protection program because of stealing
- Bowlby selected another group of 44 children to function as ‘controls’, individuals referred to a clinic because of emotional problems, but who had not committed any crimes
- He interviewed the parents from both groups to state whether their children had experienced separation during the critical period and for how long
- He found that more than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their mothers for longer than 6 months during their first 5 years. In the control group only 2 had had such a separation.
- He also found several of the young thieves (32%) showed’ affectionless psychopathy’. None of the control group were affectionless psychopaths.
- He concluded that children need emotional security for the first 7 years of their lives to not suffer the long-term consequences of a lack of attachment.
A criticism of Bowlby’s attachment theory
Childhood separation could cause other circumstances to appear which cause someone to commit crime such as poverty, abuse or addiction
Fact to support the attachment theory (International Comparison)
Sweden offers 480 days parental leave, showing its commitment to support children’s early attachment experiences and has 5x less total crime than the UK
