UNIT 2 - AC3.2 - EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIMINALITY

Question 1

strengths of lombrosos theory:

Answer 1

-he was the first person to give criminology a scientific credibility
- BUTCHER AND TAYLOR (2007) less attractive individuals are more likely to be guilty

Question 2

weaknesses of lombrosos theory:

Answer 2

-lack of control group
- DELISI (2012) scientific racism specific to african descent

Question 3

strengths of sheldons theory:

Answer 3

-good sized sample
- GLUEK AND GLUEK (1956) mesomorphy in 60% delinquents, 31% non delinquents

Question 4

weaknesses of sheldons theory:

Answer 4

• somatotypes can change throughout a lifetime, it is not made clear whether personality changes too
• doesn’t explain why ecto and endomorphs can be criminal

Question 5

strengths of jacob et als theory

Answer 5

• ALDER ET AL (2007) aggressive behaviour is partly determined by genetics
• PRICE AND WHATMORE (1967) links between XYY chromosome and property crime

Question 6

weaknesses of jacob et als theory:

Answer 6

• THEIGAARD (1984) - characteristic of aggression was not associated with the XYY men
• reductionist

Question 7

strengths of twin studies:

Answer 7

• CHRISTIANSEN (1977) criminality has a genetic component
• prevention of vulnerable disorders

Question 8

weaknesses of twin studies:

Answer 8

-small sample size
- nurture debate

Question 9

strengths of adoption studies

Answer 9

-easy to separate genetic and environmental factors as the children are brought up in a different environment to their biological parents
-correlation between adopted children and biological parents

Question 10

weaknesses of adoption studies

Answer 10

• age of adoption can mean they may have already been influenced by their biological parents
• information about biological family isn’t always available

Question 11

strengths of the social learning theory

Answer 11

• WALMSEY 1/3 of uk prisoners have a family member in prison
• study has been replicated with small changes and similar results have been found

Question 12

weaknesses of social learning theory

Answer 12

• CUMBERBATCH (1977) children who has not played with bobo dolls before were 5x more likely to imitate
• low ecological validity; modelling typically takes place within the household

Question 13

strengths of freuds psychodynamic theory

Answer 13

• CURRIE AND TEKIN (2006) abuse and neglect doubles likelihood of committing crime
• contributed to research on criminal behaviour and childhood experiences

Question 14

weaknesses of freuds theory

Answer 14

• it is unscientific; it is impossible to test the unconscious mind
• gender bias; women develop weaker superegos naturally

Question 15

strengths of eysencks theory

Answer 15

• considers both the nature and nurture side of the debate
• DEYOUNG (2010) link between PEN scores and brain processes

Question 16

weaknesses of eysencks theory

Answer 16

• BARTOL AND HOLANCHOCK (1979) only studied convicted criminals, bias?
• FARRINGTON ET AL (1996) self report measures can uncover a bias and deliberately false answers

Question 17

strengths of the marxist theory

Answer 17

• accounts for how white collar crime is under policed
• demonstrates inequality between social classes

Question 18

weaknesses of marxist theory

Answer 18

• ignores factors such as gender
• not all capitalist societies have high crime rates

Question 19

strengths of interactionism theory

Answer 19

• highlights selective law enforcement
• emphasises media damage and moral panics

Question 20

weaknesses of interactionist theory

Answer 20

doesn’t guarantee self fulfilling prophecy
ignores victim and focuses on criminal (can potentially romantasice crime)

Question 21

strength of right realism

Answer 21

• FLOOD PAGE ET AL link between single parents and criminality
• contributory to government research (victim surveys)

Question 22

weaknesses of right realism

Answer 22

heavily focuses on young males and street crime, ignores white collar crime
ignores increasing gap between rich and poor

Question 23

strengths of left realism

Answer 23

explores the role of the victim more than any other criminological theory
highlights the importance of poverty and crime

Question 24

weaknesses of left realism

Answer 24

over predicts blue collar crime
can be argued it is made up from a mixture of other theories