Approaches to Understanding Criminal Behaviour PDF

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Understanding criminal behaviour...

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Approaches to Understanding Criminal Behaviour Skills and Learning Outcomes        

Apply a scientific framework to understand criminal behaviour Discuss and evaluate different explanations and theories of crime o Consider the merits and limitations of these explanations and theories Apply psychological theories of behaviour to forensic contexts Think critically about a range of controversial issues within forensic/investigative psychology Presentation skills Effective team working Development of writing Critical thinking

Assessment (Group Presentation)               

Group component of the coursework Monday 7th March Three presentation groups – I’ll confirm which group/room you’re in nearer the time Maximum 10 minutes 4-5 presenters per group Upload slides to Moodle, include an ID slide with your photos, student IDs and speaking order Available from 5pm, select a topic on Moodle by next Monday (24th) Limited number of spaces per topic so if your first choice is already full, please select another I’ll split all people with the same topic into groups and publish the groups on Moodle and in Teams You’ll be assigned a private Teams channel for your group Try to establish a working relationship with your group If you have any issues, e.g., the group is not working well, contact me If necessary, we will meet and try to sort this–if things don’t improve, we might have to separate the group Remember that teamwork is an important transferable skill so try to learn from the process Assessment Questions: o Does having criminal family members make someone a criminal? o Is offender profiling an effective tool for the police?

o Can the reliability of an eyewitness be assessed accurately? o Is the cognitive interview the best interviewing method? o Are non-verbal cues to deception reliable?

Assessment (Individual Abstract)     

Individual coursework component Due: Monday 7th March by midday (Week 18) 200-word limit Abstract of your presentation Like a conference abstract

Learning Objectives    

Understand the basic structure of law and policing in the UK Understand how crime is legally defined as well as the complexities of conceptualising An appreciation of the development of approaches to account for criminal behaviour Ability to think critically about the extent to which these approaches can explain criminal behaviour

Overview of UK Law and Policing 

Separate for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland o Criminal Justice System (CJS) - one of the major public services in the country, with over 400,000 staff across six agencies which work together to deliver criminal justice o The criminal justice system consists of the following:  Police  43 police forces in England and Wales  Investigations of crime, collection of evidence, arrest, or detention of suspected offenders  Caution, no further action, fixed penalty notice, or refer to the CPS  Crown prosecution service (CPS)  The CPS evaluates evidence and decide if they are going to prosecute  The courts  The National Offender Management Service (which covers prisons and probation)  The Youth Justice Board (which oversees youth offending teams)  Victim support

Defining Crime  

“An offence against criminal law” – black and white definition of crime (Zedner, 2004) But crime is socially constructed and might reflect different social attitudes and circumstances, economic conditions, and political priorities o Crime is socially designed – we create what is viewed as a crime and what isn’t

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o This changes over time and across different societies o Crime is not simple Examples of social movements bringing about change in the legal status of a behaviour: o Women’s right to vote o Civil rights movement o LGBT rights movement (Stonewall) o Abolitionist movement o Abortion – used to be illegal but is now a legal procedure

Overview of Approaches to Explain Criminal Behaviour 

A simplistic history of explaining criminal behaviour (from 1850-present) o Internal  Biological factors  Phrenology and physiognomy  Genetics  Psychodynamic factors o Context  Learning factors  Social factors  Developmental factors o Mental processes  Cognitive factors

Phrenology and Physiognomy 

Phrenology and physiognomy: o Skull and facial features o Cesare Lombroso’s 1876 book, Criminal Man: explains a person’s personality and behaviour based on his skull and facial features  Believed you could determine who is a criminal just by looking at them  Heavily influenced by Charles Darwin

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Criminal anthropology (based on the shape of the skull – phrenology) and facial features/characteristics (physiognomy) o Long list of features to identify a criminal (used as a diagnostic), but based on racist and other stereotypes o Example physical features corresponding to criminality (according to Lombroso):  Oblique eyelids  Small wandering eyes  Projection of the lower face and jaws (prognathism)  Thick and close eyebrows  Distorted or squashed noses  Sloping foreheads o Was widely criticised but was influential at the time o Widely criticised or even ridiculed today:  The idea of the born criminal was influential  The so called ‘father of criminology’ – was the first person to start an investigation of criminology in its own right – was the first to investigate why people behave criminally  He would work with the police force to help identify who was a criminal and who wasn’t  First person to make crime and criminals a specific area of study  Lead to a major shift in thinking  Break from the idea of free will placed more focus on removal than reform  Helped change the narrative  Largely debunked but the influence is still felt in modern criminal cases  E.g., Ted Bundy overlooked as a potential suspect he “didn’t look like a serial killer”  Influenced by Lombroso’s work – Ted Bundy wasn’t a ‘typical criminal suspect’ Facial recognition technology – machine learning algorithm using facial features to identify criminals/non-criminals o Identification of criminals based on facial features o Lombroso is still influencing modern criminal psychology o Problematic – used a sample of convicted criminals to train the algorithm compared to the population  How do you these people are applicable – they may be falsely imprisoned  How is this appliable to the general population?  What about criminals who were not caught?

Genetics 

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Twin and adoption studies used to assess genetic/environment contribution to criminal behaviour o Adoption studies or twin studies Lange, 1931 – crime as destiny o First criminal twin study to look at genetic influence in criminal behaviour Monozygotic (100% DNA shared) and dizygotic twins (50% DNA shared – no different than siblings) o If criminal behaviour is genetically predisposed – higher concordance of criminal behaviour in monozygotic twins should be found compared to dizygotic twins Christiansen, 1977 – 3586 twin pairs likelihood of both twins engaging in criminal activity higher in monozygotic than dizygotic o 55% of monozygotic pairs had criminal concordance compared to ~20% in dizygotic twins o Much higher in monozygotic twins – genetic predisposition to criminal behaviour may be argued o However, there may be other factors – environmental influence on behaviour  Twins may be raised in the same household  May be due to the way they were raised Mednick et al. (1984) adoption study: o Compared court convictions of 14,427 adoptees with biological and adoptive parents o Correlation between adoptee and biological parent for property crimes, not violent crimes o Correlation found even in adopted parents – there is some genetic influence going on Rhee et al. (2002) meta-analysis of genetic and environmental influence on antisocial behaviour o Strong influence of genes, even stronger influence of environment o The environment has a bigger impact and effect than genetics o Not as simple as just the genetic argument o You may have genetic predisposition but there is an interplay between these genetics, family, and social factors o Epigenetics can activate these genes (leading to gene expression) following an environmental event (such as social factors, issues within the family, etc) Nature via nurture – field of epigenetics How well do the biological approaches account for criminal behaviour, where are the strengths and weaknesses? o Strengths:  If biologically determined, you could help them before criminal behaviour starts  Prevention vs cure/reform o Weaknesses:

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Environment can have a more important influence on criminal behaviour It is very difficult to break these apart – you do not know the % of influence of genetics and environment in twin studies  Genetic influence cannot be isolated from environmental influence If someone is genetically predisposed to be a criminal the government won’t provide funding to prevent criminal activity and help for reform  There is a lot more which can be done to reform and help  We should be engaging in conversations allowing a genetically predisposed criminal to have the possibility to change (selffulfilled prophecy) Not a useful way to be categorising criminal’s vs non-criminals Research was racist and classist

Psychodynamic Explanations 

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Freud claimed the personality (psyche) structured into three parts: o Id – pleasure principle (pleasure seeking) o Ego – reality principle (keep the balance between Id and Superego) o Superego – incorporates values and morals from society (what is viewed as right and wrong in society – learned through parents) Issues during developmental stages result in an imbalance of three systems Criminal behaviour occurs following the failure of the superego

Criminal Behaviour as a Result of Failures of the Superego 

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Weak superego o Not fully formed, few if any of the usual inhibitions against antisocial behaviour o Can’t keep control of Ids and Superego o Drugs and alcohol further weaken superego and makes it harder to inhibit antisocial/criminal behaviour Deviant/defective superego o Immoral or deviant values (inherited from parent) o Superego not working – we don’t know what is right and wrong in society o Thinks criminal behaviour is okay Strong superego o Strong superego inherited from strict parent o Pre-existing guilt  desire for punishment  crime committed  relief o Allows the feeling of guilt to be attached to that behaviour o If you feel guilt all the time but can’t understand why – so you commit a crime to give you a reason to feel guilty How well does the psychodynamic approach account for criminal behaviour, where are the strengths and weaknesses? o Strengths:

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Looks at the influence of the environment as well as genetics External and internal factors (hybrid approach) Superego – looks at impulse control (may be linked – this may be measurable using neuroscience) o Weaknesses:  Not a very scientific – very hard to test and prove

Learning Based Explanations of Criminal Behaviour  

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Behaviour is learned (e.g., Watson, Skinner) o Traditional behaviourist theories Sutherland (1947) – differential association theory (specific for crime) o Individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behaviour through interactions with significant others o If individuals model learned individual pro-criminal behaviours, they will be more likely to express them o All exposed to pro- and anti-crime attitudes, three factors matter:  Frequency of pro-crime attitudes  Intensity of pro-crime attitudes  Duration of pro-crime attitudes o More likely to learn and copy these pro-crime behaviours Burgess and Akers (1966) – differential association reinforcement theory o Positive reinforcement – others being rewarded from crime  If they see someone being rewarded by crime (e.g., having more money from robbing a bank) makes someone more likely to go onto copy this criminal behaviour o Lack of negative reinforcement – others not being punished for crime  If you see someone hasn’t been caught you are more likely to copy the behaviour How well does the learning-based approach account for criminal behaviour, where are the strengths and weaknesses? o Weaknesses:  When you put someone in prison, they are more likely to learn more behaviours (positive reinforcement)  When you leave prison, you leave with more skills and tricks to commit crimes than when you entered  Doesn’t involve genetic argument – fully learnt behaviour  Doesn’t give any influence for the individual – just what they learn  Everybody will experience exposure – but not everyone will commit a crime – why is this? There is something missing in this argument.

Social Factors 

Muzafer Sherif (1956) – realistic conflict theory o In- vs. out-group conflict when limited resources  No need for criminal behaviour until limited resources occur  Conflict only occurs when there are limited resources o The Robbers cave

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Stanley Milgram (1963) o Classic studies on obedience to authority – electric shocks when someone fails to obey authority o Haslam and Reicher (2012) and Hollander (2016) who have since conducted analyses looking at the transcripts for the participants experiment – more reluctance to administer shocks to individuals than believed Haney, Banks & Zimbardo (1973) – a study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison o People who scored in typical ranges in pre-study psychometric tests o Wrote a book called the Lucifer Effect  Philip Zimbardo – de-individuation  People become monsters because of a process whereby normal constraints on behaviour are weakened as persons lose their sense of individuality o Anonymity o Shared responsibility o Sensory overload o Dehumanisation  Puts it down to the situation – not the individual  Argues that any one of us will act in evil ways when a certain situation occurs  Applies his theories to torture and abuse at the prison in Abu Ghraib – acted as an expert witness for one of the perpetrators  Criticism from LeTexier and failures to replicate (BBC prison experiment)  Argues for coercion for Stanford prison experiment  Wasn’t as natural as we were taught to believe  The BBC failed to replicate the original Stanford prison experiment How well can social factors account for criminal behaviour, where are the strengths and weaknesses? o Weaknesses:  Rich people still commit crimes despite not having any limited resources  Issues with torture situations – could allow for people getting away with crimes by arguing that they had no choice

Developmental and Lifespan Factors      

The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (Farrington, 2001) Longitudinal study, survey design – development of anti-social behaviour and offending in 411 British white males in South London born in 1953 Initially contacted in 1961 and over 100 publications using the data Attempts to show heterogeneity in pathways to criminal behaviour Argues for the first time there are different routes into criminality and different people may get there in different ways and for different reasons The most important predictors, at age 8-10, of later offending:

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o Antisocial child behavior, including troublesomeness, dishonesty and aggressiveness o Impulsivity and risk taking o Low intelligence and low school achievement o Family criminality – parents who have committed a crime o Family poverty – lack of resources, a lot of siblings, small house o Poor parental child-rearing techniques, such as harsh or erratic discipline, parental conflict Protective factors include: o Employment o Getting and staying married o Moving out of London Criminal behaviour is not stable, Moffitt (1993) proposed the age-crime curve and two types of offenders: o Type 1 – adolescence limited o Type 2 – life course persistent

Age Crime Curve o Those with convictions before age 21 but not after were as successful as those who had never had a conviction o Identifying the onset of criminal behaviour – mixing with adolescence in a peer group o All different factors o Work on gene x environment interaction o How well can developmental and lifespan factors account for criminal behaviour, where are the strengths and weaknesses? o Weaknesses:  Cambridge study – one very uniform group (white boys in south London)  Can you extrapolate and apply these factors to other groups and get the same result?

Cognitive Approaches to Crime   

Many subdisciplines of cognitive theory and some have been applied specifically to understanding criminal behaviour Defects in moral reasoning, thought processes, and mental development Cognitive-developmental approaches – moral reasoning: o Jean Piaget – reasoning develops in an ordered fashion from birth o Lawrence Kohlberg applied development of moral reasoning to criminal behaviour  Three phases of development:  Pre-conventional Morality (younger than 6) o Step 1 – punishment and obedience orientation, obey rules to avoid punishment o Step 2 – naïve hedonism, confirms to get rewards and have favours returned

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Conventional Morality (7-11-years-old) o Step 3 – good girl/boy morality, conform to avoid disapproval or dislike by others o Step 4 – confirms to avoid censure by authorities  Post-conventional Morality (11+) o Step 5 – conforms to maintain communities, emphasis on individual rights o Step 6 – individual principles of conscience o Kohlberg (1973) - violent youths were much lower in their moral development than non-violent youths o Palmer and Hollin (1998) – using moral dilemmas, convicted offenders showed less mature moral reasoning than non-offending individuals o Chen and Howitt (2007) - moral reasoning development stage significantly less mature in offenders than in controls despite the offenders’ mean age being higher o But what is the relationship between moral reasoning and intelligence? o And are the stages culturally sensitive? (e.g., Gibbs et al., 2007) Cognitive approaches – information processing o Cognitive theorists attempt to understand how criminal offenders perceive and mentally represent the world around them (Dodge, 1986).  Criminals have a different perspective and mental representation of the world around them o Perception and processing of information o Categories and concepts o Schemas – shortcuts for processing o Faulty thinking and cognitive distortions ranging in severity (these distortions can increase probability of committing criminal behaviour)  Meta-analysis found a medium to large effect size (d = .70) for the association between cognitive distortions and externalizing problem behavior (Helmond et al., 2015)  Fairly strong relationship between these  Also, much research in rape myths (e.g., Abel et al., 1984 hypothesised that sexual offenders think differently from non-sexual offenders)  Explaining and justifying their behaviour based on cognitive distortions about the world, specific to their offence (e.g., sexual behaviours) o Cognitive behavioural therapy has shown some success in targeting cognitive distortions to treat criminal behaviour.

Summary • • •

Theories of criminal behaviour have changed drastically over (a relatively short) time A complex topic and no one theory is sufficient on its own (we’ve only covered a subset here) Widely accepted that many factors interact to create criminal behaviour–and that these are likely different according to the type of crime

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Important implications for identification and treatment of factors that predispose people Individual factors alone not sufficient—we must also consider social forces, e.g., poverty, social inequali...