Psychology

Booklet A – Turning to CrimeUpbringingCognitionBiology

Psychology

Upbringing Disrupted families

(Farrington et al. (2006) Learning from others

(Sutherland (1934) Poverty and disadvantaged

neighbourhoods (Wikström & Tafel (2000)

Psychology

Disrupted familiesKey Study: Farrington et al. (2006)

Aims• To document the start, duration and end of

offending behaviour from childhood to adulthood.

• To investigate the influence of life events: • The risk and protective factors predicting

offending and anti-social behaviour.• The intergenerational transmission of

offending and anti-social behaviour.• The influence of family background.

Psychology

Design

• In the latest report on the group, data were gathered from interviews at age 48 and searches of criminal records.

Participants• The study was based on 411 boys, 8- and 9-

years-old, from the registers of six state schools in East London who were born in 1953/4.

• The boys were predominantly white working class.

Psychology

Selected results

• At age 48, of 404 individuals searched in the criminal records, 161 had convictions.

• The number of offences and offenders peaked at age 17, closely followed by age 18.

• Those who started criminal careers at age 10–13 were nearly all reconvicted at least once.

• Self-reported crime not covered by official statistics indicated that 93 per cent admitted committing one type of offence at some stage in their lives.

Psychology

Selected results (cont.)

• A small proportion of the study males (7%) were defined as ‘chronic offenders’.

• Most of these chronic offenders shared common childhood characteristics; they were more likely to have a convicted parent, be high daring, a delinquent sibling, a young mother, low popularity, a disrupted family and a large family size.

• The proportion of men leading successful lives increased from 78 per cent at age 32 to 88 per cent at age 48.

Psychology

Learning from others Key study: Sutherland (1934)

• Sutherland’s theory is based on two core assumptions:• Deviance occurs when people define a

certain human situation as an appropriate occasion for violating social norms or criminal laws.

• Definitions of the situation are acquired through an individual’s history of past experience.

Psychology

1. Criminal behaviour is learned.

• Sutherland believed that criminal behaviour was not inherited or a result of any other biological condition.

• 2. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.

• Sutherland believed such communication usually involved verbal interaction.

Psychology

3. The principle part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal groups.

• Sutherland felt that intimate personal groups provided the largest influence on the learning of criminal behaviour.

• 4. When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes the techniques of committing the crime.

• A criminal has to learn the techniques of the trade from someone. They also learn the attitudes taken and excuses made for behaving in a criminal fashion.

Psychology

5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable.

• Groups of people may see certain laws as pointless or discriminatory and therefore feel they can flaunt them or that it is right to break them, for example under-age drinking laws.

• 6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions unfavourable to violation of law.

• This is the principle of differential association. Individuals become criminal due to repeated contacts with criminal activity and a lack of contact with non-criminal activity.

Psychology

7. Number of contacts with criminals over non-criminals may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.

• According to Sutherland, a precise description of the criminal behaviour of a person would be possible in quantitative form by analysing the number of contacts with criminals.

• 8. The process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.

• In this point, Sutherland claims that criminal behaviour is learned just like every other behaviour.

Psychology

9. While criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values.

• A thief generally steals in order to obtain money. However, such an action is no different from the work of an honest labourer so this need in itself cannot explain theft.

Psychology

Poverty and disadvantaged neighbourhoods Key study: Wikström and Tafel (2000)

Design • A cross-sectional study.

Sample • Nearly 2000 Year 10 (14– to 15–year-old)

pupils.

Methodology • Interview and data collection.

Psychology

Selected findings

• 44.8 per cent of the males and 30.6 per cent of the females had committed at least one crime.

• 9.8 per cent of the males and 3.8 per cent of the females had committed a serious crime of theft.

• One in eight offenders were reported to or caught by the police for their last committed crime.

• Offenders were more often victimised than non-offenders.

• Offenders were more often drunk and more often used drugs than other youths.

Psychology

Explanatory factors

• The study covers a wide range of factors that may predispose to criminal activity: • family social position • individual characteristics• social situation • lifestyle and routine activities• community context.

Psychology

Explanatory factors (cont.)

• Youths with many individual risk factors offend frequently, while youths with many individual protective factors rarely offend.

• Of these, the most important were the youths’ individual characteristics and the way they lived their lives, which strongly affected their involvement in crime.

Psychology

Conclusions

• The findings suggest the presence of three groups of adolescent offenders.

1. Propensity-induced• These youths have an enduring propensity to

offend.2. Lifestyle-dependent

• Offending by this group appears to be highly dependent on their lifestyle.

3. Situationally-limited• These are individually well-adjusted youths

who may occasionally offend if their lifestyle exposes them to high levels of situational risk.

Psychology

Upbringing – overall conclusions

• Crime appears to run in families although the mechanism by which this happens is unclear; genes, SLT, Differential Associations

• There are risk factors in the family that predispose individuals to crime including convicted parent, delinquent sibling, large family, family social position and community in which you are raised

• There are also individual factors that contribute to offending

Psychology

Upbringing – possible section a questions

• Describe research into the influence of the family in turning to crime.

• Describe how upbringing contributes to criminal behaviour

• Outline the relationship between poverty & neighbourhood & turning to crime

Psychology

Upbringing possible section b questions

• Discuss the difficulties of conducting research into the effect of upbringing on turning to crime

• Discuss the usefulness of research into the effect of upbringing on turning to crime

• Compare individual and situational factors in upbringing explanations of turning to crime

Psychology

Cognition

• Criminal thinking patterns (Yochelson & Samenow (1976)

• Moral development and crime (Palmer & Hollin (1981)

• Social cognition (Gudjonsson, G. H. and Bownes, I. (2002)

Psychology

Criminal thinking patterns Key study: Yochelson and Samenow (1996)

Aims• To understand the makeup of the criminal

personality.• To establish techniques that could be used

to alter the personality disorders that produce crime.

• To encourage an understanding of legal responsibility.

• To establish techniques that can be effective in preventing criminal behaviour.

Psychology

Participants• The study was based on 255 male participants

from various backgrounds: blacks, whites, those from the inner city, those from the suburbs, wealthy, poor, etc. were all evaluated.

• The population of studied offenders was composed of those confined to the hospital who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity, as well as a roughly equal number of convicted criminals who were not confined to the institution.

Methodology • A series of interviews was conducted with the

participants over a period of several years.

Psychology

Selected findings

• Criminals …• are very restless, dissatisfied and irritable.• consider requests from their teachers and

parents as impositions.• continually set themselves apart from others.• want to live a life of excitement, at whatever

expense.• are habitually angry.• are lacking empathy.• feel under no obligation to anyone or anything

except their own interests.• are poor at responsible decision-making,

having pre-judged situations.

Psychology

Selected findings (cont.)

• Thirty completed the programme of interviews, but only nine genuinely changed as a result.

• Yochelson and Samenow acknowledge that the patients lied and gave the answers they thought would help their situations improve when the doctors began the study.

• Many of the thinking errors they found would be part of a modern-day diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder, which is generally considered to be exceptionally difficult to treat.

Psychology

Conclusion

• In all, 52 thinking patterns were distinguishable in the criminal personality.

• These were considered to be ‘errors’ in thinking. Although not unique to criminals, they were displayed more by criminals.

• ‘Though criminals may differ in the types of crime that they commit, and their modus operandi, they exhibit identifiable and classifiable paralleled errors in thinking’

Psychology

Moral development and crime Key study: Palmer & Hollin

AimTo see whether the development of moral

reasoning among male delinquents is delayed compared to non delinquents

ParticipantsMidlands97 convicted male offenders age 13-2177 non offenders, male & female, age 12-24

Psychology

Methodology

• Correlation – moral reasoning & self reported delinquency

• Quasi as comparing 2 naturally occurring groups

• Moral reasoning• Socio moral reflection measure short form• 11 hypothetical dilemmas• Self reported delinquency• 46 item checklist of offences

Psychology

Results

• SRMSF• Male offenders had least mature moral reasoning

– Kohlberg preconventional• Female non offenders showed more mature

moral reasoning than male non offenders• The majority of non offenders were using

conventional level reasoning• CONCLUSIONS• Delinquents seem to have deficits in their moral

reasoning and interventions aimed at raising levels of moral reasoning in areas related to delinquent behaviour could lead to a decrease in offending behaviour.

Psychology

Social cognitionKey study: Gudjonsson and Bownes (2002)

Aim• To examine the relationship between type

of offence and the attributions offenders make about their criminal act.

• Method• Using the Gudjonsson and Singh 42 item

‘Blame Attribution Inventory’ (GBAI) to measure the offender’s type of offence and attribution of blame.

Psychology

Participants

• 80 criminals who were serving sentences in Northern Ireland. • 20 subjects had committed violent offences

including homicide and grievous bodily harm (GBH). Their mean age was 29.

• 40 sex offenders included rapists and paedophiles and those committing a sexual assault. Their mean ages varied from 41 for the paedophiles down to 28 for the other offenders.

• 20 had committed property offences including theft and burglary and their mean age was 29.

Psychology

Results

• Those who had committed sexual offences showed the most remorse about their behaviour; this was followed by those who have committed violent acts against the person.

• Those who have committed violent offences have the highest mental element scores on the GBAI, followed by the sex offenders.

• With regard to external attribution (blaming others/situation), highest scores were found for violent offenders and lowest for sex offenders.

Psychology

Conclusion

• Offenders attribute blame for their crimes differently according to their type of crime.

Psychology

Cognition Overall Conclusions

• Criminals have differences in their thinking patters which may explain why they turn to crime. These include

• Lower level of moral thinking• Thinking errors• Differences in remorse and external

attribution depending on the type of criminal

• However, many of these thinking patterns are shown by non criminals too

Psychology

Cognition – section a possible questions

• Describe thinking patters shown by criminals

• Describe research which demonstrates a link between morality and crime

• Outline the attributions of blame used by criminals

Psychology

Cognition – possible section b questions

• Evaluate the validity of research into cognitive explanations of turning to crime.

• Evaluate the generalisability of research into cognitive explanations of turning to crime

• Discuss to what extent cognitions provide an explanation of turning to crime

Psychology

Biology

• Brain dysfunction (Raine, A. ( ) • Genes and serotonin (Brunner et al. (1993) • Gender (Daly & Wilson (2001)

Psychology

Brain dysfunctionKey study: Raine (1997)

Aim • Previous research has suggested that brain dysfunction may

predispose individuals to violent behaviour but no-one has tried to confirm which particular areas may be involved. So the aim is to directly assess brain functioning in violent individuals

• Hypotheses • Seriously violent individuals will have;• Brain dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex, amygdale,

hippocampus, thalamus and corpus callosum (all previously linked with violence)

• No brain dysfunction in other areas of the brain which have been related to psychiatric disorder but not violence (e.g. cerebellum)

Psychology

Procedure

• Quasi experiment• 41 NGRI 39 Male, 2 female mean age 34.3• Murder / manslaughter• Referred for assessment due to schiz,

head injury, affective disorder, epilepsy, learning or personality disorder

• Medication free 2 weeks – checked urine test

• Control group, matched age sex and schiz

Psychology

Procedure cont’d

• Injection of radioactive tracer• CPT• PET scan

Psychology

Results

• The murderers had• Reduced brain activity in prefrontal cortex

& corpus callosum• Increased brain activity in areas not

previously linked with violence e.g. cerebellum

• Abnormal asymmetries i.e. reduced activity on their left and increased activity on the right in some of the areas linked to violence e.g. amygdale, thalamus & hippocampus

Psychology

Conclusion

• There are some differences in the brain metabolism of murderers pleading NGRI

• The differences are in areas that are typically associated with aggressive behaviour

Psychology

Genes and serotonin Key Study: Brunner et al. (1993)

Aim• To explain the behaviour of a large family

in the Netherlands where the males are affected by a syndrome of borderline mental retardation and abnormal violent behaviour.

Psychology

Participants• The study was based on five affected

males from the family.

Method• Data were collected from analysis of urine

samples over a 24-hour period.

Psychology

Results

• The tests showed a deficit of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA).

• A mutation was identified in the X chromosome of the gene responsible for production of MAOA.

Psychology

Conclusion

• MAOA is involved in serotonin metabolism. • The defect in the gene leading to impaired

serotonin metabolism is likely to be responsible for the mental retardation in the family and this in turn may account for the violent behaviour.

• Brunner concluded that the MAOA deficiency accounted for their inability to regulate their aggression.

Psychology

GenderKey study: Daly and Wilson (2001)

Aim • To find out if homicide rates would vary as

a function of local life expectancy in Chicago.

Method • A correlational study using survey data

from police records, school records and local demographic records.

Psychology

Procedure

• The study examined local communities in Chicago which had lower than average male life expectancies.

Psychology

Results

• Life expectancy proved to be the best predictor of neighbourhood-specific homicide rates – it was possible that young men in these neighborhoods actually discounted the future and expected to live shorter lives, thereby escalating the likelihood that they would increase their risk taking for short-term rewards.

• Another key finding was that the neighbourhood-specific rate of absenteeism from school was also negatively correlated with life expectancy – these young men see little point in investing effort in school performance.

Psychology

Conclusion

• One possible explanation they suggest is that parents are unwilling to invest in their child’s education by enforcing attendance because they are also operating on a short time horizon.

• Inequity or the unequal distribution of wealth and resources in society mean the poorest feel they have little to lose by engaging in reckless behaviour.

Psychology

Biology overall conclusions

• Variety of explanations that show links between brain activity, genes and gender and criminal behaviour

Psychology

Biology – possible section a questions

• Describe physiological explanations for turning to crime.

• Outline the link between gender and criminal behaviour.

• Describe methods used to investigate biological explanations for turning to crime

Psychology

Possible section b questions

• Discuss the extent to which biological explanations of turning to crime are reductionist

• Evaluate the usefulness of research into biological explanations of turning to crime

• Evaluate the methods used by psychologists to investigate biological explanations of turning to crime

Psychology

Other possible section b questions

• Discuss the nature nurture debate in relation to explanations of turning to crime.

• Discuss to what extent explanations of turning to crime are reductionist

• Evaluate methods used to investigate explanations of turning to crime

• Discuss the usefulness of explanations of turning to crime