CRMJ 3001: Psychology of Criminal Behaviour - Exhaustive Study Notes

Course Matters and Assessment Structure

Student Advisement: Level $1$ students are strongly advised to complete all level $1$ credit requirements before undertaking the CRMJ $3001$ : Psychology of Criminal Behaviour course.
Course Materials: * There is one essential text for the course. * All required readings are accessible for free. * Lecture notes are posted on a weekly basis.
Tutorials: Tutorials are student-led and will commence in the $3^{rd}$ week of teaching.
Assessment Breakdown: The course assessment is divided into three primary components: * Coursework Paper: This is a group-based assignment. Specific details regarding this component will be posted on myElearning. It carries a weighting of $20\%$ . * Midterm Exam: Scheduled for March $19^{th}$ , $2026$ . This exam will be conducted in person and accounts for $20\%$ of the final grade. * Final Exam: The date is to be determined (TBD). This component carries the highest weighting of $60\%$ .

Definition and Scope of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct (PCC)

Scientific Definition: Psychology of criminal behaviour is defined as an approach to understanding the criminal behaviour of individuals through: * The ethical and humane application of systematic empirical methods of investigation. * The construction of rational explanatory systems.
Professional Definition: Professionally, PCC involves the ethical application of psychological knowledge and methods to practical tasks, including: * Predicting and influencing the likelihood of criminal behaviour. * Reducing human and social costs associated with crime and criminal justice processing.
Intellectual Context: PCC is considered an intellectual exercise that draws upon general principles including the psychology of learning, cognition, and human development.
Contribution to Psychology: PCC contributes back to the broader knowledge base of general psychology.
Distinction from Related Fields: PCC is not concerned with the broad, general interests of psychologists working within the criminal justice field; its specific focus is restricted to the criminal behaviour of individuals.

Core Values of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct

Respect for Human Diversity: * Recognizes that within traditional social or biological categories (age, race, ethnicity, gender, etc.), there are significant individual differences. * Differences exist across various domains, including personality, cognition, community context, and behavioural history.
Respect for the Complexity of Human Behaviour: * Acknowledges that behaviour is influenced by a complex interplay of multiple factors. * PCC adopts an interdisciplinary approach. * Notes that assessments based purely on social structures (gender, ethnicity, age) are challenging because these variables also possess personal and biological components. * Advocates for the assessment of both social and personal variables and their subsequent comparison to understand their association with criminal activity. * This value must be combined with respect for human diversity for a truly comprehensive understanding of crime.
Respect for Personal Autonomy: Cited as a key aspect of ethical practice within the field.
Unsparing Criticism of Theoretical Assertions and Research Findings: PCC relies on current understandings found in sociological criminology as well as mainstream clinical and forensic psychology, subjecting all claims to rigorous critique.

Objectives of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct

Primary Objective: To understand variation in the delinquent and criminal behaviour of individuals.
Types of Variation: * Inter-individual: Differences between individuals regarding the number, type, and variety of criminal acts committed. * Intra-individual: Variations found within the same individual over time and across different situations.
Types of Understanding Sought: * Empirical: Based on systematic observation. * Theoretical: Building rational frameworks of explanation. * Practical: Focusing on intervention and prevention.
Defining Criminal Behaviour: Acts that are injurious and prohibited under the law, rendering the actor subject to intervention by justice professionals.
Methods of Observation: * Informal observations of familiar persons. * Systematic observations using victim reports, self-report measures, and official records.
Established Facts about Criminal Behaviour: * Individual differences in criminal activity are observable across countries, genders, ages, and races. * Common demographic features are consistently observed regardless of the measure used. * Recidivism rates vary depending on the specific measure of official processing utilized. * A small subset of repeat offenders accounts for a disproportionately high amount of criminal activity.

Multidimensional Perspectives on Criminal Behaviour

Legal Perspective: Focuses on actions prohibited by the state and punishable under the law.
Moral Perspective: Focuses on actions violating religious or moral norms, believed to be punishable by supreme spiritual beings.
Social Perspective: Focuses on actions violating custom and tradition, punishable by the community.
Psychological Perspective: Focuses on actions that may be rewarding to the actor but inflict pain or loss on others; categorized as antisocial behaviour.
Synthetic Definition (Andrews and Bonta, 2010): Criminal behaviour refers to antisocial acts that place the actor at risk of becoming a focus of criminal justice professionals within juvenile or adult systems.
Limitations of Traditional Definitions: * Norm-based definitions often assume all rules are laws. * Legal, moral, and social definitions imply crime cannot exist without specific laws, religion, or social norms. * The psychological definition is preferred in PCC as it avoids over-dramatizing trivial deviance and maintains focus on offender characteristics and victim pain.
Self-Interest Perspective (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990:15): Defined as "Acts of force or fraud in pursuit of self-interest." * Example: Criminal acts provide immediate and easy gratification; therefore, weak self-control is identified as a personal source of variation in criminal activity.

Detailed Types of Understanding in PCC

Empirical Understanding

Follows observations of individual variation and associated variables (biological, personal, interpersonal, situational, and social).
Categories of Covariates: * Correlates: General associations. * Predictors: Variables that precede and forecast behaviour. * Causal Variables: Variables that produce the behaviour.
Measurement Quality: PCC is concerned with the reliability and validity of assessments and the potential associations established between covariates and conduct.

Theoretical Understanding

Explanations must meet four criteria: * General: Applicable to a broad range of observations. * Rational: Able to withstand logical analysis. * Simple: Requiring relatively few assumptions. * Emotionally Pleasing: Providing a sense of unity and personal sense.
Testing Adequacy: Theoretical adequacy is tested by: * Understanding how risk factors associate with each other. * Predicting variation in behaviour accurately. * Influencing activity through theory-focused interventions. * Meeting the standard of general understanding.

Practical Understanding

Guaranteed if empirical and theoretical bases are sound.
Knowledge of predictors and causes allows for influence over criminal behaviour in correctional and prevention contexts.

Empirical Understandings and Research Design

Covariate Classifications: * Risk: Characteristics of people/circumstances associated with increased chance of future criminal activity. Targeted for treatment/intervention. * Need: Criminogenic needs (dynamic factors affecting behavior) versus Non-criminogenic needs (dynamic factors not necessarily linked to behavior changes). * Strength: Characteristics that reduce the chances of criminal activity.
Quantitative Designs: * Cross-sectional: Used to identify correlates. Methods include Extreme Group (comparing offenders vs. non-offenders) and Survey (representative population samples). * Longitudinal: Examines the relation between a predictor variable and future activity. The predictor is assessed first, establishing temporal order to ensure criminal behaviour did not cause the covariate. * Multiwave: Requires observations on at least $3$ occasions. It reassesses factors to identify dynamic predictors, categorized as Stable or Less Stable (acute dynamic risk factors). * Experimental: Provides robust conclusions regarding functional variables and the effects of deliberate interventions by controlling for confounding variables. * Moderator Variables: Factors that interact with covariates; a variable is a moderator if it affects the strength or direction of the correlation between a variable and criminal behaviour.

PCC and General Human Psychology

Scientific Method: Psychology provides the scientific method framework for PCC.
Multifaceted Analysis: PCC demands understanding behavior through biology, personality, interpersonal interactions, and structural/cultural considerations.
Major Psychological Perspectives: * Biological: Focuses on soma-based predispositions, neuropsychology, and self-regulation. * Trait: Enduring behavioural, cognitive, and affective predispositions. * Psychodynamic: Personal psychological motivations and controls of overt behaviour. * Sociocultural: Effects of family, peers, and community; socialization theories. * Radical Behaviourism: Environmental contingencies governing behaviour acquisition and modification. * Humanistic and Existential: Free choice, personal responsibility, and perceptions of self. * Social Learning/Cognitive Behavioural: Learning via observation, the role of cognition, and the person-situation combination.
General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Perspective: Locates humans on personality dimensions with biological underpinnings, influenced by environmental human development and behavioral history.

Underlying Principles and Comparison to Criminology

Four Underlying Principles of PCC

Interest in individual thoughts, emotions, and behaviour.
Openness to the full range of covariates, moderators, and mediators.
Commitment to rational empirical knowledge construction.
Adherence to ethical and professional guidelines, subject to social context norms.

PCC vs. Criminology

Evolution: Criminology traditionally favored sociological perspectives and rejected psychology, but has since evolved.
Criminology Focus: Primarily concerned with the statistical distribution of crime in time/space and the process of becoming criminal.
Social Context: While criminology looks at aggregated crime rates, PCC views social arrangements as moderators of personal correlates. Some correlates are stable across contexts, while others are context-specific.