Topic 1: What makes a criminal? Application Flashcards
Why could the use of reconstructive surgery help to reduce an individual’s criminality?
Reconstructive surgery corrects facial deficits which may have been stereotyped in the past to cause the self-fulfilling prophecy to take effect. The surgery can prevent negative responses from others and boost self-esteem so they don’t feel they have to be involved in crime.
Describe the design/procedure of the Lewinson (1965) research into facial reconstructions in prisons.
Lewinson conducted 450 facial reconstructions over 10 years and observed behaviour in prison and after release. When selecting the sample, Lewinson considered the age of prisoners, the number of offences, the type of offence and their reasons for seeking surgery.
What was the results of the Lewinson (1965) research?
- Prisoners cooperated with authority and participants in activities more than before surgery.
- Inmates were more likely to want to learn a trade.
- The reoffending rate was 42% for those who received surgery compared to the 75% of the general inmate reoffending rate.
- Rarely, but some prisoners shifted from conspicious crimes such as theft to subtle ones such as con artists.
According to research evidence of Lewinson and others, how does reconstructive surgery reuduce criminality?
- Reconstructive surgery boosted self-esteem - brought prisoners to people who cared about them and made them feel worthy of time and attention which boosted their self-esteem.
- Responses from others were much more positive which broke the cycle of the self-fulfilling prophecy and allows them not to be treated as a criminal nor act as such.
What did Stroomer et al (1998) find about reconstructive surgery?
Stroomer compared judgements on pre-operative vs post operative ones with deformities corrected. Only 12.5% were judged to have a more likeable appearance after surgery which shows that surgery only makes subtle changes and it shows that surgery allows individual’s to improve their self-perception and change the way they interact for the better despite what others may think.
