Psychodynamic theory of crime

Superego’s role in criminal behaviour

early negative relationships with parents at phallic stage prevent boys from resolving Oedipus complex

Superego job

part of personality acts with morals and conscience

Weak superego argument

boy doesn’t overcome Oedipus
unlikely to control instinctive id impulses
leads to criminal tendencies

Example of weak superego

may commit SA to fulfil ID sexual desire

Deviant superego argument

superego fully developed and boy identifies with dad
but dad displays criminal behaviours and so son copies

Maternal deprivation argument

develops negative internal working model about women during childhood
may cause men to act hostile towards women later in life
also reduces empathy in offender

Bowlby 44 Thieves study

interviewed 44 boys who were thieves and compared with non delinquent boys

44 Thieves results

39% of thieves experiences maternal deprivation
14 were identified as affectionless psychopaths
86% of these experienced maternal deprivation for 6 months+

AO3 - first to acknowledge negative childhood in links with crime

paved the way for modern trauma informed theories of crime
Moffit (1992) showed abusive childhoods linked with genes made criminals

AO3 - women have weaker superegos as they don’t fear castration in phallic stage

Freud’s theory would suggest that women are more likely to commit crime
crime rates contradict this

AO3 - there are simpler explanations for abusive childhoods are linked with crime

differential association argues kids observe and copy criminal behaviour
overly complex psychodynamic explanation of crime