| Avoid Presentism......... .......uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts Biological theories of criminal behaviour 1876 Cesare Lombroso Criminal man 1979 Francis Galton Facial Composites
1800 - James Hadfield found not guilty by reason of insanity ---> 1843 - Daniel McNaughton found not guilty by reason for insanity R v. Hadfield (1800) James Hadfield – head injury in battle Attempted to murder King George III Tried for high treason Was acquitted on grounds of insanity
(He was unwell, went to war and experienced a head injury, he thought he was King George and thought if he was killed it would bring the second coming of Christ. - medical experts assessed him) R v. McNaughten (1843) Lead to the McNaughten Rule (legal test of responsibility)– not criminally responsible if: At the time of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason from a disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing; or if he did know it, he did not know he was doing wrong. “The Tories in my native city have compelled me to do this. They followed me to France, into Scotland and all over to England. In fact, they follow me wherever I go… They have accused me of crimes of which I am not guilty; they do everything in their power to harass and persecute me. In fact they wish to murder me.” McNaughton, as cited in Asoken (2007)
Biological theories of criminal behaviour Lombroso (1876) - biological positivism Criminality is inherited, someone ‘born criminal’ can be anatomically identified by such items as a sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, asymmetry of the face, prognathism, excessive length of arms, asymmetry of the cranium and other ‘physical stigmata’ (criminality is innate - logical positivism, things that can be measured and observed, disregarding things which cannot be seen - said criminals are not human and criminals are less evolved)
Biological theories Underlying theoretical supposition that criminality is innate and that it is expressed in (or related to) physical characteristics. Painstaking measurements “The appearance of a single great is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities” (Lombroso) - Social Darwinism, application of ideas to support stereotypes, e.g. racial biases, eugenics movements Theories lack credibility, though should be remembered for developments in research methods Predominant view in both early clinical and criminal psychology through phrenology studies, work of Caesare Lombroso and Francis Galton
Wilhelm Wundt - 1890 Lab in Leipzig ---> 1986 First recorded example of a psychologist acting as an expert witness ---> 1906 Freud's speech to Austrian Judges ---> Controversial figure Hugo Munsterberg On the Witness Stand 1908 Psychologist Hugo Munsterberg’s On the witness stand is published. ‘The courts will have to learn sooner or later, that the individual differences of men can be tested today by the methods of experimental psychology, far beyond anything which common sense and social experience suggest.’ (pg. 63) Munsterberg said psychology alone should be used for judgement, get rid of the jury, women are too weak… He spent hour doing psychological tests on the defendant (a hit man) - the hit man confessed to the crime, after the jury voted news came out that Munsterberg knew he was guilty
Legal Psychology ceased in the USA until 1970s 1913 Charles Goring - The English Convict ---> 1921 Enst Kretschmer - Physique & Character (applied to clinical populations) inspired work of… ---> Sheldon 1942 (people with certain body types are more likely to have Schizophrenia) The constitutional approach (Sheldon 1942) - these were associated with 3 types of personality characteristics Endomorph - Viscerotonia (pleasure loving, dependent) Mesomorph - Somatotonia (exercise loving, aggressive) Ectomorph - Cerebrotonia (withdrawing, unsociable)
It was argued that (mesomorph) would be most likely to have traits related to delinquency; such as aggression, impulsivity and risk taking Problems - any limitations of this research? Generalising people - putting labels on people which isn't warranted or justified Social factors - exercise, manual work, poverty, deprivation Ethnical factors - should you judge people by the way they look Methods used - no females examined, not very scientific
Social influences start to creep in- 1946 - Bowlby - poor upbringing ---> 1956 - Glueck & Gleuck ---> 1950s - psychologists in the prison service ---> 1972 - Cortes & Gatti ---> 1976 - the Devlin Enquiry ---> 1976 - Libby & Lerner ---> 1977 - Eysenck Constitutional approach continued and critiqued Sheldon (1956) 500 persistent delinquents and 500 non-delinquents matched for age, intelligence, place of residence and ethnic background 60% of delinquents (but only 30% of non-delinquents) were classified as mesomorph The other types did not show this preponderance of mesomorphs
Follow up studies supported the finding (Glueck & Glueck, 1956; Cortes & Gatti, 1972), though another failed to replicate this finding (McCandless et al., 1972) So, seems to lend some support for the theory? BUT the relationship between mesomorphy and crime may not be related to biology in the constitutional way as Sheldon proposed Certain types of body build may be instrumental in attracting police attention and thus over-selected The muscular individual might be more likely to be successful in crime (Feldman, 1977)
Chromosomal Theory - The XYY Syndrome About one in 1,000 males carries 47 chromosomes, the extra chromosome is a Y chromosome, so such individuals are categorised as XYY In Carstairs maximum security hospital 7 out of 197 men convicted of violent offences were XYY (i.e., 36 times greater than the norm for non-offenders - Lerner and Libby, 1976)
Support for this theory has been mixed Rutter and Giller (1983) argue that ‘An extra Y chromosome …probably carries a slightly increased risk of behavioural problems’ However, they note that some XYY men are well adjusted, and the vast majority of criminals have no chromosomal abnormality
Also, we do not actually know the relationship between XYY and other variables that might influence delinquency, such as intelligence and social class There seems to some weak evidence for some predisposing biological factors in criminal behaviour, but a more comprehensive theory would need to include psychological factors
Criminal Personality (Eysenck, 1977) Says heredity and the environment interact to cause criminal conduct Twin studies indicate that identical twins (same genes) are more concordant in terms of criminal behaviour than fraternal twins, even if they grow up in the same environment Nine studies indicate an average concordance rate of 55% for identicals and 13% for fraternals
However, identical twins are treated more similarly than fraternals Eysenck also reports data from adoption studies Other research indicates that criminality is highest when both fathers (adoptive and biological) are criminals, indicating an extra environmental component (Mednick et al., 1983) may be important The main problem with these studies is that most children were adopted at birth - According to Bowlby, for example, separation from the mother in the first 5 years can lead to criminality; so could be due to parental separation
(Criminals were more likely to be extraverts and extraverts find it harder to learn from their actions/consequences) Summary of 'History of Forensic Psychology' Early to mid1800s Late 1800s, early 1900s Early to mid 1900s 1950s to 1970s
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| Forensic Psychology across the globe Czech Republic- Demographics - Polisenska 2007 Centre of Europe Slightly smaller than the UK, around a sixth of the population Landlocked 2004, member state of Europe Union 2005, 3,44060 criminal acts (police) (2005, England and Wales = 5,63511) Property crimes around 66.6% of all crimes; violent crimes around 6.3%
Forensic Psychology in Czech Republic Since 1990s, increase in: Research and academic literature Roles for FPs in government and Czech police Courses forensic psychology at universities Psychologists being judiciary experts
Tool for police officers (recruitment and dealing with trauma) or studies on crime prevention (societal level).
Political, Financial, Emotional (public & police) India- Karandikar 2017- In the top ten countries with the highest crime rate; 7th largest in the world, 2nd most populated Need more FPs involved in criminal investigations and the criminal justice system Some help in high profile cases but discredited by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Researchers are collecting data about offenders and types of criminals but not a joined up approach with government institutions which would help Prisons – ‘fall behind’ other countries in terms of using psychologists (forensic and clinical) in rehabilitation and assessment Not many FP courses Need to make FP more attractive as a profession
(Trends and crime patterns in India (societal level) (Ansari, Verma & Dadkhah, 2015) Murder, robbery, theft, and rioting rates declining, Rape increasing Policing Stop and Search in India (Belur, 2011, p420) ‘do not ostensibly raise allegations of racial discrimination and controversy as in the West.’ Profiling – ‘India’s first serial killer’ (Dogra et al., 2012) Are there certain crimes that occur in India that you think are quite distinctive to India in comparison to other areas in the World?
One student said there's more rape, human trafficking, domestic violence etc In India there may be less people to do something about a crime as there is bystander….
What training paths exist for forensic psychologists in India?
Summary Theories and research have moved on from singular causal theories since the 1800s Forensic Psychology’s history is steeped in famous cases that have paved the way for law, further research and more evidence-based practice. Forensic Psychology as we know it is very ‘Western-centric.’ Is an increase in FP in other countries/continents, but not necessarily a good thing to ‘copy’ the West.
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