Psychology of the Criminal
Professor Michelle Jones
Course Overview
• Identify the origins of criminal behavior
• Assess characteristics of offenders
• Differentiate various types of mental disorders and
relationship to crime
• Look at profiling, gender-age-race differences regarding
specific types crimes
• Be able to complete an application of an offender and
dissect his/her behavior in relation to a particular
disorder
Why do we watch these shows?
Crime Intrigues People….
• I would not teach this subject if crime did not
intrigue me
• You would probably not take this class if crime did
not intrigue you
• Crime intrigues most people – take the populairity of
famous criminal cases as an example – why else is it
FAMOUS?
• We want to know the details of these acts
• And then there are those of us who really want to
know the WHY!
Criminal Behavior – A Complex Phenomenon
• Since crime is complex – explanations are
complicated
• Society does not like complex explanations
• Society likes easy and quick answers to most
questions
• Perhaps this is why we still have problems with
preventing crime
Looking at crime from a psychological approach
• Forensic Psychology: production and
application of psychological knowledge to the
civil and criminal justice systems
• To look at crime through this approach we must
first look at the philosophical questions that
underlie the study of human nature
Human Nature
Conformity
Perspective:
•Humans are
basically good
•Influenced by the
values and
attitudes of
society
Human Nature
Nonconformist
Perspective:
• Humans are
undisciplined
• Individual ties
to social order
are weak
• Innate
tendencies
must be
controlled by
society
Human Nature
Learning
Perspective
• Humans are
born neutral
• Behavior is
learned
through social
interactions
with other
people
Major Perspectives in Criminology
• Sociological Criminology- Examines relationships of
demographic and group variables to crime; focuses on groups
and society as a whole
• Psychological Criminology – Focuses on individual criminal
behavior; the science of the behavior and mental processes of
the criminal
• Psychiatric Criminology – Examines the interplay between
the psychological determinants of behavior and the social
environment; traditional perspective looks for the
unconscious and biological determinants of behavior
How Is Crime....
Counted?
Counting Crime, Criminals, and Victims Using
Official Data
I II III IV
Uniform Crime Reports
Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)
• Official offenses known to police
• Collected from 95% of police agencies
• Compiled by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation
UCR Index Crimes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Murder and non-negligent manslaughter
Aggravated assault
Forcible rape
Robbery
Burglary (commercial and household)
Larceny-theft (commercial and household)
Motor vehicle theft
Arson
Mnemonic Device for
Remembering Index Crimes
MR & MRS LAAB
(used to be Mr. & Mrs. Lamb)
MR & MRS LAAB
M = Murder and non-negligent manslaughter
R = Robbery
&
M = Motor Vehicle Theft
R = Rape &
S = Sodomy (Forcible)
L = Larceny-Theft
A = Arson
A = Aggravated Assault
B= Burglary
Two Major UCR Index Crime Groups
•
•
•
•
Violent Crime
Murder & non
negligent
manslaughter
Aggravated assault
Forcible rape
Robbery
Property Crime
•Burglary
•Larceny/Theft
•Motor-Vehicle Theft
•Arson
How the UCR Crime Rates are Determined…
Any Crime
Population
X 100,000 = Crime Rate per 100,000*
*(Can be represented per 1000 or other number)
Example:
9110 murder and non
negligent manslaughters X 100,000 = 5.1 per 100,000 people
179,323,175**
**(1960 US Population)
Problems with UCR Reporting…….
• Over reporting of crimes
• Under reporting of crimes
• Multiple offense event only counts most serious
crime
• Data entry problems
National Incident-Based Reporting System
(NIBRS)
• Definitions of crimes will be revised
• Contains more than 50 different pieces of
information about a crime
• More crimes will be included in each category
• Other changes to make the data more accurate
National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
• Data is gathered by the Bureau of Census and compiled by
the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
• Sample includes 100,000 people in 50,000 households.
• Respondents are over the age of 12.
• Respondents queried every six months about household and
personal victimizations.
Offenses Measured by NCVS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rape
Robbery (personal)
Assault (aggravated and simple)
Household Burglary
Motor Vehicle Theft
Theft
Problems with NCVS Data…….
•
•
•
•
Questions are vague
Citizens are unsure of the terminology used in
the CJ System
Citizens forget that they were a “victim” =
under reporting
Citizens may exaggerate or make up crimes =
over reporting
Self Report Surveys
• Asks respondents to tell about their criminal
activities.
• Measures the “dark figure of crime”.
• Reveals that crime is a very common activity.
• Demonstrates youth crime is spread throughout
the social classes.
• Is probably a reliable measure of trends over a
period of time.
Problems with Self-Report Data…….
• Definitions of crime varies
• Over-reporting
• Under-Reporting
Crime Trends and Patterns
• Reports from both UCR and NCVS
• Used to compare information
• Used to estimate victimization rates
Crime Trends & Patterns
Place & Crime
Class & Crime
Race & Crime
Age & Crime
•Urban areas have
higher crime rates
•States in South and
West have higher
crime rates
•Highest crime rates
are consistently
recorded in lowincome, urban
neighborhoods
•African-Americans
are over represented
in arrest statistics
•Criminal activity
has been, and
continues to be, most
prevalent among
younger citizens
Guns & Crime
Drugs/Alcohol &
Crime
Women & Crime
Career Criminals
•Number of women in
prison is raising at a
faster rate than the
male population
•Birth Cohort Studies
show that a chronic
6% of offenders
account for over 50%
of the criminal
activity
•67.8% of all
homicides reported
by the UCR were
committed with a
firearm
•Some reports
indicate that 80% of
prisoners were under
the influence when
committing their
crime
Are Crime Statistics Accurate?
Data Reliability
– If the data are
counted over
and over, will
the same
results be
obtained?
Data Validity
– Do the data
really measure
what they
intend to
measure?
Our Focus:
We will
concentrate our
discussion in this
course by looking
at the persistent,
repeat offender
Convicted Serial Killer:
Aileen Wuornos