forensic

psychological explanations: eysenks theory

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theory of the criminal personality

• eysenk proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion-extraversion and neuroticism-stability

• the two dimensions combine to form a variety of personality traits

• later added a third- psychoticism sociability

biological basis

• according to eysenk our personalities are biological and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit

• extroverts- under active nervous system (seem excitement and are risk taking)

• neurotic- high level of reactivity in SNS, nervous, overreact

• psychotic- higher levels of testosterone, unemotional, aggressive

the criminal personality (PEN)

• psychotic- aggressive lack empathy (murder, torture)

• extroverts- engage in dangerous activities, seek arousal (burglary)

• neurotic- unstable so prone to overreact to situations of threat (unintentional outcomes/violence)

the role of socialisation

• in eysenks theory, personality is linked to offending behaviour via socialisation processes

• believed people with high extrovert and neurotic scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition

• as a result, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to anti social impulses and be more likely to act antisocially in situations

measuring the criminal personality

• epq (a form of psychological test which locates respondents along the P, E, N dimensions to determine their personality type

• the measurement of personality was important to his theory as it allowed him to conduct research relating personality variables to other behaviours like criminality

strengths

• research support for criminal personality, eysenk compared 2070 prisoners scores on epq with 2422 controls (prisoners recorded higher average scores then controls), this agrees with the predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher on the personality types he identified, real world support with actual convicted criminals, however- self report has validity issues

weaknesses

• too simplistic as it claims that offending behaviour can be explained by personality alone, MOFFITT drew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence and that which continues into adulthood, she argued that personality traits are a poor predictor of crime and how long it will go on for, presents a more complex picture than eysenk suggested (reductionist), however- could be considered as part of a holistic approach to offenders alongside other theories

• cultural factors are not taken into account, HOLANCHOCK studies Hispanic and African American offenders in high security prison in nyc (divided into 6 groups based on offending history and nature, all 6 groups= less extroverted than non offender control group), eysenk nk would expect them to be more extroverted and holanchock believes this is due to a culturally different sample, questions how far the criminal personality can be generalised, however- may be a starting point for further research to be developed within cultures

psychological explanations: cognitive

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level of moral reasoning

• refers to the way a person thinks about right and wrong

• kohlberg proposed that people’s decisions and judgements on issues of right and wrong can be summarised in a stage theory of moral reasoning- the higher the stage, the more sophisticated the reasoning

• found that a group of violent youths were at a significantly lower level of moral development than non violent youths even after controlling social background

link with criminality

• offenders more likely to be classified at the pre conventional level of kohlbergs model whereas non offenders have generally progressed to the conventional level and beyond

• pre conventional level= want to avoid punishment and gain reward, associated with less mature reasoning

• this adults that reason at this level may commit crime if they can avoid punishment and gain a reward like money

• chander supports this assumption- suggested that offenders are ego centric then non and individuals that reason at higher levels tend to sympathise more

cognitive distortions

• refers to the errors or biases in people’s info processing system characterised by faulty thinking

• two types: hostile distribution bias and minimisation

hostile distribution bias

• evidence suggests that a propensity for violence is often associated with a tendency to misinterpret the actions of others (think they’re being confrontational when they’re not)- hostile attribution bias

• Schonenberg and justye- 55 violent offenders, showed images of emotionally ambiguous facial expressions, compared to non aggressive control group, violent offenders more likely to perceive images as angry and hostile

• roots of this behaviour may be based on childhood. Dodge and frame showed children a clip of behaviour where the intention was neither clearly hostile nor clearly accidental, “aggressive” children more likely to interpret behaviour as hostile than those classed as “non aggressive”

minimisation

• refers to an attempt to deny or down play the seriousness of an offence

• e.g. burglar may describe themselves as supporting the family

• studies suggest that individuals that commit sexual offences are particularly prone to minimilisatioj

• barbee found among 26 incarcerated rapisys, 54% denied that they committed an offence and 40% minimised the harm they caused to the victim

strengths of levels of MR

• research support for the link between level of moral reasoning and crime, palmer+hollin compared MR in 332 non offenders and 126 convicted using the SRM-SF, offender group showed less mature MR then non offender, high validity as this is consistent with kohlbergs predictions, H-Kay be other extraneous variables that influence their answers beyond their cognitive deviance

weaknesses

• the level of moral reasoning may depend on the type of offence, thornton and reid found that people that commit crime for financial gain were more likely to show pre conventional MR than those convicted of impulsive crimes, pre conventional MRtends to be associated with crimes which offenders believe they have a good chance avoiding punishment, suggests that kohl bergs theory may not apply to all forms of crime, h- can understand and help some offenders

strengths of cognitive distortions

rwa to therapy, harkins suggested that reduced incidence of denial and minimisation in therapy is highly associated with a reduced risk of reoffending, suggests that the theory of cognitive distortions has practical value, has a positive impact on society and the economy with rehabilitation and acceptance of crime, h= nit all prisons have resources to ensure cbt is offered

weaknesses

• the level of CD depends of the type of offence, howwitt and sheldon- questionnaires from sec offenders l- found non contact sex offenders used higher CD than contact sec offenders, suggest that distortions are not used in the same way by all offenders, too simplistic as different offenders use them differently, h- therapy could be used with some (e.g those assessing sexual images on the internet)

psychological explanations: differential association theory

• proposes that individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motive for offending behaviour through association and interaction with different people

scientific basis

• sutherland developed a set of scientific principles that could explain all types of offending

• His theory was designed to discriminate between individuals who become offenders and those who did not, whatever their social class or ethnic background

offending as a learner behaviour

• offending may be acquired through the process of learning

• this theory often occurs through interactions with significant others who the child values most and spends the most time with

• offending arises from: learning attitudes (when a person is socialised into a group they will be exposed to attitudes towards the law) and learning techniques

socialisation in prison

• Sutherland theory can also account for why so many offenders reoffend

• its reasonable to assume that whilst inside prison inmates will learn techniques from experienced offenders