CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
KEY DEFINITIONS
Definition of Criminological
Psychology
Criminological Psychology looks at the
explanations and causes of crime, features of
crime and antisocial behaviour, and also
treatments for crime and antisocial behaviour.
Forensic psychologists are also concerned with
identifying criminals, the processes involved in
court procedures, and rehabilitation. A key issue
in criminological psychology is the Reliability of
Eyewitness Testimony.
CRIME
•
Societies define crime as the breach of one
or more rules or laws for which some
governing authority or force may ultimately
prescribe a punishment.
•
What constitutes a crime tends to alter
according to historical, cultural and power
dimensions – it is time and culture bound
• Can you think of anything that was once
seen as a crime but is no longer criminal?
• Can you think of any acts which are seen
as criminal in one culture but not in
another?
• Attempted suicide was regarded as a criminal
offence until 1961.
• Homosexual acts between consenting adults
was regarded as an offence until 1967.
• Incest was NOT regarded as a crime until
1908.
• More recently a smoking ban in England,
made it illegal to smoke in all enclosed work
places in England. It came into force on 1 July
2007 as a consequence
of the Health Act 2006
• The act of female circumcision is seen in some
cultures e.g. Egypt and Sudan, as acceptable,
whilst in Britain it has been prohibited under
existing child protection legislation. In
contrast, male circumcision has never been
against the law and still occurs today on
religious or health grounds. In both cases
however, genital mutilation occurs without
the consent of the individuals concerned.
• Criminal behaviour is also designated according to age and
intention – thus the same behaviour can be seen as criminal
in one case and not in another.
• The age of criminal responsibility varies from country to
country: in Scotland it is 8, in England and Wales it is 10, in
France it is 13 and in Sweden it is 15.
• Individuals are deemed to have committed a criminal act only
if they can be shown to have had the intention of doing so.
Those suffering from some forms of psychiatric illness are
considered incapable of this aspect of criminal behaviour.
CRIMINOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
• What is a criminological psychologist?
• What do they do?
• What type of clients do criminological
psychologists work with?
• TV programmes lead to a distorted view of the
criminological
psychologist as some
kind of modern day
Sherlock Holmes,
helping the police to
solve crimes and
mysteries. In reality this
is not exactly the case.......
• Criminal Psychologists are involved in
rehabilitating offenders, providing
expert advice in court cases,
assessing both offenders and victims,
preventing crime and much more.
• In the 1960’s criminological
psychology as a specific branch of
psychology emerged.
From the specification
• Describe and evaluate two explanations of
criminal/antisocial behaviour from different
approaches.
• One explanation must be that of Social
Learning Theory (the Learning Approach)
including the possible role of the media in
modelling antisocial behaviour
• In criminological psychology, research
findings and theories from the different
approaches in psychology are applied to
the questions raised by real life legal and
criminal problems.
• Like WHY do some people become
criminals and others don’t?
• Like how can the different psychological
approaches be applied to criminological
or forensic psychology?
We can consider things like ….
• Cognitive psychology – the theory of reconstructive memory
can help us understand how witnesses recall events.
• Social psychology – Asch’s conformity research could be
applied to how juries reach verdicts.
• Learning psychology –behavioural techniques could be used
to treating offenders as part of their rehabilitation.
• Biological psychology – Could provide a genetic explanation
for certain types of criminality.
• Psychodynamic psychology – Could shed light on whether
the choice of victim is influenced by an earlier episode in an
offender’s life
Key Terms include
Anti-Social Behaviour
Behaviour that is not necessarily against the law,
but causes upset and distress to other members
of the public. E.g. Talking loudly outside
someone’s house in the early hours of the
morning.
ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
• Anti-social behaviour is virtually any
intimidating or threatening activity that scares
people or damages their quality of life.
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Examples include:
rowdy, noisy behaviour
'yobbish' behaviour
vandalism, graffiti and fly-posting
dealing or buying drugs on the street
fly-tipping rubbish
aggressive begging
street drinking
setting off fireworks late at night
Anti-social behaviour doesn't just make life
unpleasant. It holds back the regeneration of
disadvantaged areas and creates an environment
where more serious crime can take hold.
ASB – according to the Home Office
Anti-Social behaviour has a wide legal definition – to paraphrase the Crime
and Disorder Act 1998,
“it is behaviour which causes or is likely to
cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or
more people who are not in the same
household as the perpetrator”
• Among the forms it can take are:
• graffiti – which can on its own make even the tidiest urban spaces look
squalid
• abusive and intimidating language, too often directed at minorities
• excessive noise, particularly late at night
• fouling the street with litter
• drunken behaviour in the streets, and the mess it creates
• dealing drugs, with all the problems to which it gives rise.
ASBO’s – Anti Social Behaviour Orders
• Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) are court orders
which forbid specific threatening or intimidating actions.
• An ASBO can ban a
person from:
• threatening, intimidating
or disruptive actions
• spending time with a
particular group of
friends
• visiting certain areas
• ASBOs are in effect for a minimum of two
years, and can be longer. They are designed to
protect specific victims, neighbours, or even
whole communities from behaviour that has
frightened or intimidated them, or damaged
their quality of life.
• These are civil orders - not criminal penalties –
so they won’t appear on a suspect's criminal
record. However, if that person breaches an
ASBO, they have committed a criminal
offence, which is punishable by a fine or up to
five years in prison.
Recidivism
• This is the term used to describe the act of
reoffending.
• This means that a person who has committed
a crime and been punished or treated for it,
then goes and does it again.
Define the term ‘recidivism’.
Answer (from the mark scheme)
• Recidivism is either the act (does not have to
be caught) of reoffending or the rate (figures).
• Recidivism is reoffending/eq;
• Redidivism is when an offender gets
prosecuted and caught again/eq;
• The statistical/criminal rate of reoffending/eq;
• When a criminal gets out of prison and starts
doing the crime again/eq;
What have you learned?
• What do we mean when we say that the
definition of crime is both time and culture
bound?
• Define Anti-Social Behaviour
• What is a recidivist?