Explaining Offending

Question 1

Historical approach to offending

Answer 1

1876 - Lombroso suggested that criminals are ill suited to modern society
Genetic throwbacks, primitive sub species who are biologically different
Lack of evolutionary development means they are savage nature and cannot adjust to demands of civilised society and turn to crime
So criminal behaviour is a natural tendency rooted in genealogy

Question 2

Atavistic form

Answer 2

Criminal subspecies identifiable by particular physiological characteristics which link to particular types of crime
Biologically determined atavistic (reversion to something ancestral) characteristics, usually face/head which indicate physical difference
Lombroso examined facial/cranial features of 3839 living and 383 dead italian convicts, and found that 40% of criminal acts could be linked to atavistic traits

Question 3

Atavistic features

Answer 3

Narrow sloping brow, prominent jaw, high cheekbones, facial asymmetry, dark skin and extra toes/nipples/fingers
Murderers have bloodshot eyes, curly hair, long ears
Sexual deviants have glinting eyes, swollen/fleshy lips, projecting ears
Fraudsters have thin and reedy lips
Other non physical traits such as insensitivity to pain, criminal slang, tattoos and unemployment

Question 4

Atavistic form eval

Answer 4

+ important role in shifting away from theories of feeblemindedness, wickedness, demonic possession and forerunner of more biological explanations (evolutionary/genetic)
- racism e.g dark skin and curly hair found in Africans, references to savagery/ primitiveness can be seen as eugenic
- Goring compared 3000 criminals vs non criminals and found no clear difference in facial/cranial characteristic but some difference in iq
- Lombroso lacked a control group in his analysis so missed that the 40% proportion is likely found in normal population as well
- Atavistic features may not cause criminal behaviour. Likely that poverty/malnutrition lead to both physical defects and turning to crime

Question 5

Genetic explanations

Answer 5

inherit genes to predispose you to commit crime. 13 MZ and 17 DZ twins studied where at least 1 twin in a pair served time in prison, 10/13 MZ both spent time in prison compared to 2/17
Seen as polygenic - 2 main candidate genes.
MAOA - controls dopamine and serotonin and linked to aggressive behaviour
CDH13 - linked to substance abuse and ADD (if both ADD and CDH13 then ADHD)
Finnish sample with both genes found to be 13x more likely to have violent behaviour history compared to a control group

Question 6

Neural explanations

Answer 6

Neural differences in brains of criminals, especially linked to antisocial personality disorder (APD aka psychopathy) associated with reduced emotional response and lack of empathy like with many convicts
Those with APD have less activity in prefrontal cortex which regulates emotional behaviour. 11% reduction in grey matter volume in APD prefrontal cortex compared to control group
Recent research suggests APD experience empathy more sporadically, only when asked to can criminals activate empathy reaction (controlled by mirror neurons) so perhaps APD not without empathy but need to turn on neural switch to empathise, whereas for normal brains empathy switch always on

Question 7

Biological explanations eval

Answer 7

+ Can be combined with other approaches e.g diathesis stress model for more valid explanation i.e combination of genetic and environmental factors influence behaviour
- MZ concordance rates not perfect so genetics cannot be the only cause, concordance could also be due to shared learning experiences
- Brain scanning studies show pathology in psychopath criminal brains but cannot conclude whether abnormalities due to genes or early abuse
- Could be only measuring offending behaviour in terms of physical aggression which could be more biological, maybe less so for e,g fraud etc
- Biological reductionism, reducing complex criminality to genes or neurotransmitters maybe overly simplistic, ignores other features that run in families like poverty and instability
- Biological determinism and gives us legal dilemmas as if someone has criminal genes they may lack moral responsibility for their crimes

Question 8

Eysencks criminal personality

Answer 8

Personality traits biological in origin due to nervous system inherited from parents - based on 4 humours/ elements so 4 types with stable/neurotic and extraversion/introversion then psychoticism measured separately.

Question 9

Criminal personality types

Answer 9

High extraversion score - impulsive and seeks sensation so drawn to thrill of criminal behaviour
High neuroticism score - unstable and unpredictable, difficult to condition so don’t learn from mistakes
High psychoticism score - cold, lack empathy and prone to aggression

Question 10

Eysenck criminal personality eval

Answer 10

• Several studies show offenders score higher on psychoticism but not extraversion or neuroticism compared to non-offenders
• Oversimplistic to reduce to a personality type as different crimes likely link to different personality e.g someone who murders vs someone who does fraud
• Outdated vs Modern personality theory - five factor model suggests openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness are important dimensions too
• Could be culturally biased - hispanic and african american offenders in New York prison divided into 6 groups based on type of crime, but all 6 groups found to be less extraverted than control groups
• Criticisms about using personality tests as subjective and hard to reduce to a score. Perhaps no such thing as stable personality as this depends on situations and people day by day

Question 11

Moral Reasoning

Answer 11

Stage theory of moral development i,e judgement of right and wrong
Pre conventional - self interest and external reward/punishment
Conventional - doing what is expected
Post conventional - autonomous decisions based on principles of right/justice
Offenders likely fall into pre-conventional level and focus on the reward they gain on doing crime vs the risk of punishment
This type of reasoning usually ages 3-7 but teens/adults who maintain this commit crime if they believe they can get away with it or profit from it (money, respect etc)

Question 12

Moral Reasoning eval

Answer 12

+ Moral reasoning compared between 210 female and 122 male non offenders vs 126 convicted offenders with 11 moral dilemmas, such as not taking things belonging to others. Offenders found to have less mature moral reasoning
- Level of moral reasoning may depend on type of offence, those who committed crimes for financial gain like robbery more likely to have pre conventional reasoning compared to e.g impulsive crimes (like assault) where no reasoning was evident

Question 13

Cognitive distortions

Answer 13

dysfunctional thinking about offences help legitimise behaviour and maintain +ive self image
Hostile attribution bias - misinterpret social cues and judge others actions as more threatening to justify action e.g ‘they were mocking me’ or ‘he was trying to hurt me’
Minimisation - playing down the significance to reduce feeling guilt esp with sex offenders e.g ‘I only scratched him’ or ‘I was only doing a job’

Question 14

Cognitive distortions eval

Answer 14

+ helps with treatment usually CBT to face up to their actions and have a less distorted view which is correlated with reduced risk of offending
- hostile attribution bias explains reactive aggressive behaviour rather than preplanned aggression
- minimalisation explains rationalisation of actions but not the initial cause of offending
- explains thinking but not the source of these thoughts, are people born with cognitive distortions or are they due to trauma/ environment (nature vs nurture)
- cognitive distortions subjective and internal so cannot be observed or measured, have to rely on self report or inferences so unscientific and invalid

Question 15

Differential association theory

Answer 15

Offending through socialisation - learn norms and values (even deviant ones) from others, everyone’s associations are different hence differential association
Offending behaviour can be passed on between generations or between peers, as well as technique to do/ get away with crime. If a social group values/ normalises deviant behaviour then it reinforces said behaviour via acceptance/approval, and reinforcement also occurs when perceived gain > perceived risk of offending

Question 16

Differential Association eval

Answer 16

+ Accounts for all types of crime and sectors of society, e.g burglary clustered in working class communities whereas white collar crime in middle class social groups
+ Successfully moved away from early bio explanations or ideas of individual weakness/immorality, but rather dysfunctional environmental factors
+ More desirable and realistic solution (expose to better environment/ rehab) than biological solution (eugenics) or morality solution (punishment)
- Unscientific as most evidence is correlational not cause and effect, and cannot operationalise expected benefits and risks or the procrime attitudes someone is exposed to
- Difficult to differentiate between 1 off crimes and when this may turn into a career
- Deterministic - some people exposed to criminal attitudes may choose to ignore it and live good lives, risk of stereotypes of being ‘unavoidably criminal’, but many criminals actively seek out those with similar values rather than passive influence

Question 17

Superego formation

Answer 17

Last aspect of personality at end of phallic stage (3-6yrs old) - operates on morality principle.
For boys oedipus complex as unconscious desire to possess mother and rid father, but then experience castration anxiety (thinking girls are castrated by dad) so identify with father and internalise fathers superego to create their own
For girls electra complex but no castration anxiety rather desire for baby so may not internalise mothers superego just as much, so perhaps less well developed

Question 18

Psychodynamic explanations

Answer 18

Problems of development of superego leads to inadequately moderated id (pleasure principle)
Weak superego - failure to fully identify with same sex parent (either as a female or single opposite sex parent), so weak morality so more criminality
Deviant superego - identification with deviant same sex parent (so adopt similar deviant views/ behaviour)
Over-harsh superego - excessively punitive so high guilt and anxiety, crimes committed to fulfil unconscious desire for punishment

Question 19

Inadequate superego eval

Answer 19

+ Combines innate drive (id) with early experience (nurture/psychosexual stages)
- lack of falsifiability as unconscious id/ superego
- neglects complex social conditions e.g deprivation, education, poverty
- suggests males are inherently more moral yet evidence supports males offend more than females
- no evidence that children raised without same sex parent offend more than children with
- psychic determinism as suggests problems rooted in childhood behaviour and cannot change, so also means offenders cannot be held responsible
- children with deviant parents who do crime could be due to genetics or learning not superego internalisation
- doesn’t make sense that criminals have an unconscious desire for punishment as vast majority go to great lengths to cover up their crimes or avoid being caught