The Criminal Mind Flashcards
What individual factors influence crime?
Personality
Upbringing
Emotional maturity
Age
Gender
Family background
Mental health
Personal morality/values
Intelligence
Cultural background
Employment status
Education
Race/ethnicity
Past trauma
Sense of personal responsibility
Marital status
Genetics
Emotional state
Substance use/abuse
Personal attitudes towards crime/violence
What constituted crime control pre-enlightenment?
Crime was constructed in religious and spiritual terms, with corporal punishment (torture) and capital punishment being used widespread
What scholars were involved with classical criminology?
Cesare Beccaria & Jeremy Bentham
What assumptions are made with classical criminology?
Humans are motivated by self-interest
Humans are rational and calculating of pleasure and pain
Individuals have responsibility for their own actions
What does classical criminology form?
The basis for most modern criminal justice systems
What is the logical expression for hedonistic calculus?
pleasure > pain = crime
What is Beccaria’s perspective on punishment?
Punishment should serve to protect the social order and deter criminality – focus on crime prevention
What are the key assumptions on rational choice theory?
Criminal behaviour is purposive
Criminal behaviour is rational
Criminal decision-making is crime-specific
What does rational choice theory provide?
A theoretical justification to increase likelihood and severity of criminal sanctions
Why is crime not simple?
People are clearly not always rational
Who were the key theorists involved with developing Homo Criminalis?
Cesare Lomborso & Enrico Ferri
What does Homo Criminalis suggest?
Criminality is either partially or completely pre-determined
What is Social Darwinism?
A discredited pseudo-science influenced by the work of Charles Darwin that believes behaviour & criminality are pre-determined
What does evolutionary psychology say about human behaviour?
Only those behaviours that are useful in a reproductive sense are those that survive and are passed on to subsequent generations
What is the standard narrative of evolutionary psychology?
Human males have an evolved predisposition towards aggressive “competing for mating rights”
What does male aggression result in?
Violent competition with other males
Sexual possessiveness (domestic violence)
Sexual aggressiveness (rape)
Indifference/aggression towards non-offspring
What are the flaws of evolutionary psychology?
Overly reductionist – complexities and contemporary environmental factors not adequately taken into account
Lacking in generalisability – does not explain why some people offend rather than others
What is the problem with the standard narrative of evolutionary psychology?
Ignores historical and contemporary hunter-gather, nomadic and other societies based on shared parentage
What behaviors are associated with inadequate nutrition?
Irritability
Impulsivity
Aggression
What does a Boston study say on the link between sugar and aggression?
5 cans or more of soft drink led to a 9-15% increase in violence and weapon carrying
What is hypoglycemia?
Blood sugar levels in the brain drop too low
What chemical contaminants are said to affect human behaviour?
Copper, mercury, manganese, and particularly, lead exposure have consistently been identified as aggravating environmental factors
What is neuropsychology?
Investigation of the interaction between physical properties of the brain and behaviour
What is the link between neurological impairment and crime?
Damage to the brain, whether through traumatic injury, genetic deficiency or exposure to environmental toxins can influence behavioural tendencies that are linked to crime
