Theories Of Offending Flashcards
Psychobiological theories
Lombroso
Lombroso
He examined the individual rather than working on the crime alone
- criminals are born and not made
- role of environment was minimal in shaping behaviour
Criticism
- lacks explanatory power, needs further consideration or social and environmental factors
What sets the potential for future behaviour?
Normal genetic variability
Family studies
Criminal behaviour runs in families
Rowe and osgood (1984)
Looked at the importance of genetic, environment and individual factors on self reported delinquency
Development of antisocial behaviour
Risk factors in childhood can predict antisocial behaviour in adults
- biological, behavioural and social indicators
Longitudinal studies
- data collected at different ages/points
- same individuals involved
- data collected from different sources
- use follow up period
- minimum 5 year follow up
Farmington and West (1990) - The Cambridge Study
- longitudinal study of 411 London males aged 8-48
- 20% had acquired convictions by age 17
- 33% by age 25
- 77% of those convicted as juveniles reconvicted between 17-24 and 45% at 25-34
Common characteristics: childhood
- troublesome
- dishonest
- came from poor larger families
- more likely to have criminal parents
- experienced family conflict
- experiences harsh/ erratic discipline off parents
Age 10
Identified as hyperactive
Impulsive
Unpopular rated low intelligence
age 14
Aggressive
Had delinquent friends
Age 18
Drank more
Smoked more
Gambled
Associated with gangs
Age 32
Poorer housing
Marital break up
Psychiatric disorder
Problem with own children
Key protective factors
- high iQ
- low impulsiveness
- good parenting
- greater school enjoyment
- pro-social peer group
- balanced parental discipline
- good employment
- good marriage
- parental interest in education
Risk factors for conduct disorder and delinquency - Murray and Farmington (2010)
- low intelligence
- poor parental supervision
- large family
- criminality in family
- child physical abuse
- antisocial peers/parents
- erratic parenting
- substance use
- low school attendance
- parental conflict
- low family income
- high crime neighbourhood
- high delinquency rate schools
Why is knowing risk and protective family’s relevant?
- leads to early identification at risk of young people
- gives direction on what can work
- suggests ways we can work to strengthen and protect young people
- helps us in the development of theories
Personality theories
Eysenck
Eysenck
Child socialisation occurs through the process of conditioning
- the association of anti-social behaviour with unpleasant punishment
What does an individuals conditionability depend on?
An individuals personality
Child develops a conscience..
In a way that prevents them from behaving in an anti social way
How does personality affect behaviour?
Through it’s effect on development of a conscience to control behaviour
Roberts and del Vecchio (2000)
Behaviour is consistent over time
How did Eysenck view offending?
As natural - humans sought pleasure and avoided pain
- not everyone offended as due to their conscience, which was viewed as a conditioned fear response
- conscience built up in childhood as caregivers would disapprove
What does this theory consider?
Those who commit offences have not built up strong consciences, because of poor conditionability
Extraversion
- people with high E are cortically under aroused
Who conditions more
Extraverts condition less effectively than introverts
Neuroticism
- unstable ANS so strong reactions to unpleasant environmental stimuli
Conditioning?
High N individuals condition less effectively then those with low N
Psychoticism
Preference for solitude Sensation seeking Callousness Aggression Lack of empathy
Likely offenders?
- high E/N - will be less likely to control anti social behaviour
- predicted they are over representated In offender populations
Strengths?
- attempts to integrate biological, psychological and environmental factors
Criticisms?
Theory is unlikely to apply to all offenders, lacks explanatory power
- lack of empirical evidence for conditonability and socialisation
Learning theories
Criminal behaviour is learnt
SLT
- learned behaviour or failure of socialisation process
Differential association theory
- emphasis on the type of peer group/environment in which crime frequently occurs
- learning is through association of others
- main part of learning takes place within close personal groups
- people learn: crime techniques, motives, attitudes
Strength?
Has provided foundation for successive theories
Weakness?
- only accounts for the acquisition of criminal tendencies and not their maintenance or performance
Bandura - modelling
Learning can occur through observing others
Models for behaviour?
Friends
Family
Subculture
Patterson (1982)/ Patterson et al. (1992)
- focused on ideas of coercion, based on systematic observations of interactions between parents and children
Parents of anti social children?
- failed to set expectations of behaviour
- failed to monitor their behaviour to ensure it was desirable
- failed to enforce rules promptly and consistently
- used more punishment
Coercive families
- if a parent behaves coercive towards a child and the child reacts by yelling and the parent stops being coercive then the child learns that to use hostile reactions to terminate hostile situations
- coercive families create coercive children
Attachment theory
Infants develop a set of expectations about future interactions, based on prior experiences of interactions with a particular figure
AT and offending?
Disruption of attachment bonds between mother and child is significant in later deviance
- they have problems forming relationships with partners, children and peers
- likely to be susceptible to influences outside the family
Absense of sharing and communication?
Parents fail to transmit normative values and problem solving skills to their own children
A defence against painful feelings of dependency and powerlessness…
Is hostility and a lack of anxiety
Cognitive revolution - Ross and Fabiano (1985)
Ds
Life course persistence
Bb
Moral reasoning theory
How an individual justifies their behaviour in respect of moral issues
- offenders are believed to possess specific types of values which are supportive of criminal conduct
- offending is associated with a delay in the development of moral reasoning
Kohlbergs theory (1981)
- offenders typically show immature reasoning reflective of stages 1 and 2
