Chapter Summary

• There are five theoretical traditions within Psychology that have been applied to criminal behaviour: (1) Psychobiological, (2) Psychodynamic, (3) Behavioural, (4) Personality and (5) Cognitive.
• Psychobiological theories of criminal behaviour, once deeply unpopular, are now widely accepted under the rubric of behavioural genetics.
• There is strong evidence that crime runs in families. The explanation for this is likely to be a mixture of hereditary, parenting and social and economic factors.
• Learning theory and personality theory, in particular Eysenck’s theory of personality, have both been applied to produce cogent theories of criminal behaviour.
• Social learning theory, incorporating cognition and emotion, is the predominant contemporary psychological theory applied to understand criminal behaviour.

Reading List

There are several texts relevant to the application of psychology to the study of crime, the ones below are a personal choice.

Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2010). The psychology of criminal conduct (5th ed.). New Province, MJ: Matthew Bender & Co.

Bartol, C. R. & Bartol, A. M. (2011). Criminal behavior: A psychological approach (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bartol, C. R. & Bartol, A. M. (2011). Introduction to forensic psychology: Research and application (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Blackburn, R. (1993). The psychology of criminal conduct:

Theory, research and practice. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Davies, G., & Beech, A. (Eds.). (2012). Forensic psychology: Crime, justice, law, interventions (2nd ed.). Chichester, Sussex: BPS Blackwell.

Hollin, C. R. (2012). Criminological psychology. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology, (5th ed.) (pp. 81–112). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Howitt, D. (2011). Introduction to forensic and criminal psychology (4th ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson.

McGuire, J. (2004). Understanding psychology and crime. Maidenhead, Berks: Open University Press.

Raine, A. (1993). The psychopathology of crime: Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder. New York: Academic Press.

Wood, J. L., & Gannon, T. A. (Eds.). (2013). Crime and crime reduction: The importance of group processes. Hove, East Sussex: Routledge.

Weblinks

Attachment theory: http://thebowlbycentre.org.uk/

Biological factors: http://www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html

Eysenck and Personality theory: http://freespace.virgin.net/darrin.evans/hjehome.htm

Historical overview: http://forensicpsychology.umwblogs.org/

Learning theories: http://www.drtomoconnor.com/1060/1060lect06a.htm

Psychological theories generally: http://sociology.about.com/od/Deviance/a/Psychological-Explanations-Of-Deviant-Behavior.htm

Study Questions

Open Questions

If there is a genetic predisposition to criminal behaviour, through what pathway does it work?

What's the difference between impersonal and interpersonal cognition?

What is the philosophical basis of control theories of crime?

What is the principal psychological theory currently used to explain crime?