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Forensic psychology
Advanced Information Workbook

Paper 3 I have I have I am

made completed confident
notes PPQs on this
topic

3.3.9 Forensic Psychology

1. Problems in defining crime: Ways of measuring crime, official statistics,

victim surveys and offender surveys
2. Offender profiling: top-down, bottom-up, investigative psychology
and geographical profiling
3. Biological explanations: atavistic form, genetics and neural
explanations
4. Psychological explanations: Eysenck's theory of the criminal
personality, cognitive explanations (moral reasoning, attribution),
differential association and psychodynamic explanations
5. Dealing with offender behaviour: Aims of custodial sentencing and its
effects. Recidivism. Behaviour modification, anger management and
restorative justice programmes

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1) Offender Profiling

‘The process of predicting the characteristics of an offender based on the

information available.’

Top-down Approach
Briefly outline the Top-Down approach of offender profiling (2 marks)

FBI Approach – Top Down

In the 1970’s the FBIs Behavioural Science Unit gathered data from 36
sexually motivated serial killers, including Charles Manson & Ted Bundy to
develop this approach to Offender Profiling.

Using this data and police knowledge of previous similar crimes a profile is
drawn up. There are four main stages in constructing a profile.
Fill in the blanks

1)
2) Crime scene classification – organised or disorganised
3)
4) Profile generation – hypotheses related to ‘likely’ characteristics of the
offender.

For each of the characteristics below, indicate whether you feel it would
be associated with an organised type offender or disorganised type.

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Characteristics of Murder/Characteristics of Offender

Crime is planned:
Leaves few clues:
Little attempt to hide the evidence:
Minimum use of constraint:
Above average IQ:
Experiencing anger/depression at the time of the offence:
Follows media coverage:
Lives alone/near the crime scene:
Unskilled occupation or unemployed:
Victim is a targeted stranger:

In 1980 Hazelwood and Douglas published their account of the ‘lust

murderer’, they advanced a theory that lust murderers are mainly categorised
by two types: - Organised and disorganised. This is an example of a top-
down typology.

An organised offender leads an ordered life and kills after some sort of
critical life event. Their actions are premeditated and planned; they are likely
to bring weapons and restraints to the scene. They are likely to be of average
to high intelligence and employed.

If the above definition is an organised offender, what is disorganised?

Fill in the blank.

A disorganised offender:

Task: -
What are the issues with building offender profiles?

Do they help or hinder the police in their search for perpetrators of crime?

Evaluation

 Top Down typology can only be applied to sexually motivated serial

killers; because of the limitations of the originally sample that they
interviewed: - sexually motivated serial killers!)

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 Alison et al (2002) argues that this approach is based on out-dated

theories of personality being stable. External, situational factors can be
a major influence on offending and they are constantly changing.
 Reductionist – The classification system is too simple. Offenders are
not either disorganised or organised. It may be that there are both
organised and disorganised features to all their crimes. An offender
may start off being disorganised and become more organised as they
develop their modus operandi.

Q. Briefly explain the top-down approach to criminal profiling (2 marks)

Q. One method of offender profiling involves categorising offenders as

either organised or disorganised offenders. Briefly explain one limitation
of this method of offender profiling. (2 marks)

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Bottom up approach
Canter (1990) is the UK’s foremost profiling expert; his bottom-up approach
looks for consistencies in offenders’ behaviour during the crime. No initial
assumptions are made about the offender and the approach relies heavily on
computer databases. It can be the little details that are often overlooked that
can be crucial to the success of a case.

In the space below, summarise details of Canter’s most famous case,

John Duffy:

Investigative Psychology
Using computer databases and a programme called Smallest Space
Analysis, patterns are identified and it is possible to see if a series of
offences are linked. Central to this approach is the concept of interpersonal
coherence this means the behaviour of the offender at the time of the crime
will be comparable to what they’re like in everyday life.
Degrees of violence used in serious crimes, especially rape, may reflect how
the criminal treats other women in his non-criminal life.

Smallest Space
Analysis

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Jack the Ripper - Geographical Profile

Geographical Profiling

This is used to make inferences about where an offender is likely to live. Also
known as crime mapping.

Canter’s Circle theory (1993) proposed two models of offender behaviour.

Fill in the gaps below.

Spatial Consistency – Circle theory

Marauders:

Commuters:

It is called circle theory as most offenders (marauders) do operate in an area

they are familiar with and their crimes form a circle around their usual
residence. It is more difficult to geographically profile commuters, although
when investigators were looking at the disappearance and murder of 4 young
girls from different and seemingly unrelated areas of Britain in the 1980s, the
dumping of the bodies in laybys next to major A roads (including Twycross,
just up the road) led to a break through. It was realised that his likely
occupation was delivery driver, giving him access to a van/lorry for easy
transportation and led to him ‘commuting’ all over the country, travelling along
A roads.

Evaluation

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 Evidence supports investigative psychology. Canter & Heritage

(1990) analysed 66 sexual assault cases using Smallest Space
Analysis and identified clear common patterns of behaviour.
 Evidence supports geographical profiling Lundrigan & Canter (2001)
collated evidence from 120 murder cases and found that the offender’s
home base was invariably located in the centre of the crime scene
pattern.
 The use of computer databases and Smallest Space Analysis makes
this approach much more scientific than top down typologies.
 Bottom up has wider applications; it can be applied to other crimes, not
just sexually motivated serial killers like top-down.
 Despite Copson (1995) finding that 83% of police forces found the
profile to be ‘useful’, in only 3% of cases did it lead to an accurate
identification of the offender. In fact, as the case of Rachel Nickell,
showed sometimes Offender profiles can be misleading and
dangerous. However, they are only ever used as a last resort when
police forces have nothing else to go on.

Exam Questions: -
 Discuss the top-down approach to offender profiling. Refer to
evidence in your answer (16 marks)

 Discuss the bottom-up approach to offender profiling. Refer to

evidence in your answer (16 marks)

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 Discuss investigative psychology and/or geographical offender

profiling. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

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2) Biological explanations of Crime

Is there any evidence that criminal behaviour has a biological
cause?

Cesare Lombroso's (1835-1909)

theory of anthropological criminology
essentially stated that criminality was
inherited, and that someone "born
criminal"' could be identified by
physical defects, which confirmed
them as a criminal. The pictures show
the characteristics that Lombroso
suggested criminals had.

Atavistic form: - This is a biological

explanation of criminality. Lombroso
used this to explain that offenders are
genetic throwbacks or a primitive sub-
species not suited to conforming to the
rules of modern society. They are
distinguishable by particular features.
In a study of 383 dead Italian criminals
and 3839 living ones he found 40% of
them had atavistic characteristics.

These features include: - large jaw,

forward projection of jaw,
low sloping foreheads, high
cheekbones, flattened or upturned nose, handle-shaped ears, large
chins, very prominent in appearance, hawk-like noses or fleshy lips,
hard shifty eyes, scanty beard or baldness, insensitivity to pain, long
arms and tattoos!

Although, this theory now seems ridiculous and outdated, it fitted in

with the theories of the time. Remember, at around this time the
concepts of Eugenics were gaining in popularity. Hitler’s ideas of
breeding a master race would have included eliminating those with
‘weak criminal’ genes!

Most modern theories of crime place far more emphasis on

environmental factors.

How could environmental factors explain some of the

physical characteristics identified by Lombroso

Sheldon’s Body Types (1942)

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Which body type do you think is predicted to be more likely

to be a criminal? Why?

Sheldon (1949) found male delinquents were much more likely to

be mesomorphs than male students of a similar age.

Evaluation

+ These early theories seem ridiculous to us now, but they did

represent the beginning of offender profiling and modern forensic
science.
+ Lombroso did also champion the use of the scientific method by
using an evidence based approach to research, doing hundreds of
observations and measurements.
- Lombroso did not have a control group of non-criminals, so it
could just have been that those characteristics are common in
the general population.
- Lombroso has been accused of scientific racism; some of the
characteristics he identified are more prevalent in certain
racial groups. However, this is still an issue today Eberhardt
found that stereotypically ‘black’ looking men were much
more likely to get the death penalty in the USA than those
who were less stereotypically black looking, even if they had
committed very similar offences!

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- The physical differences Lombroso discovered were much

more likely to be the result of other factors such as poverty,
poor diet, illness and disease.
- Goring (1913) did find evidence that criminals tended to
have lower than average intelligence. But, this may mean
crime is due to lack of education rather than any biological
factors.
- Lombroso’s theory lacks temporal validity. It is a child of
its time, when eugenic theories were very popular.

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Neural Explanations of Offending Behaviour

Adrian Raine of the University of Southern California has

conducted research using PET scanning and found abnormalities in
some parts of the brain in violent criminals.

Most of the criminals in these studies have been diagnosed with

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). Raine has discovered
that these individuals have reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex
of the brain, the part of the brain that regulates emotional
behaviour. Put simply they find it difficult to control their impulses
and do not suffer from guilt or remorse. In 2000 Raine also found
that individuals with APD had an 11% reduction in the volume of
grey matter in their prefrontal cortex compared to normal controls.

Keysers (2011) found that mirror neurons did not function in

individuals with APD in the same way as they do in normal controls.
Mirror neurons enable us to feel empathy. Individuals with APD
were not completely without empathy, but had to be told to feel
empathy when seeing a film showing an individual experiencing
pain. It seems that these individuals can switch on or off their
mirror neurons.

Evaluation: - Not every criminal has APD or an abnormal brain

structure. These theories can only explain a small minority of
extreme cases. Everybody has free will we choose whether or not
to break the law.

Genetic Explanations of Offending Behaviour

Price (1966) suggested that males with an extra Y chromosome

XYY ‘supermale’ were predisposed towards violent crime.

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Individuals with XYY are above average height and below average
intelligence. It might be the latter characteristic (Low intelligence)
that accounts for their over representation in prison populations.

Christiansen (1977) looked at 3586 twin pairs in Denmark a 52%

concordance rate for criminality was found for monozygotic
(identical) twins, compared to just 22% for dizygotic (non-identical)
twins. However, we must remember the effects of shared
upbringing and if crime really was genetic we would expect a 100%
concordance rate for monozygotic twins as they share 100% of their
genes.

Brunner studied a genetic abnormality commonly known as the

‘warrior gene’ as it is associated with excessively violent and
aggressive behaviour, which may lead to crime.

Brunner et al (1993) – A study of violence in a family with

genetic abnormality

Aim: - A case study on a family from the Netherlands where males

were affected by a syndrome of borderline mental retardation and
abnormal violent behaviour. These included impulsive aggression,
arson, attempted rape and exhibitionism.

Procedure: - 5 affected males were studied. Data was collected

from the analysis of urine samples over a 24 hour period. Medical,
school and criminal records were also analysed.

Findings: - A mutation was identified in the X chromosome of the

gene responsible for the production of MAOA. This has become
known as the ‘warrior gene’. This mutation leads to increased
levels of MAOA. As MAOA removes the neurotransmitters serotonin,
dopamine and noradrenaline, this leads to lower levels of these
neurotransmitters, which can then lead to behavioural problems.
Serotonin is linked to sleep and mood, dopamine is linked to
emotional arousal and noradrenaline arousal.

Conclusion: - MAOA is involved in serotonin, dopamine and

noradrenaline metabolism. The reduced levels of serotonin explain
the sleep problems these males had and reduced levels of
dopamine and noradrenaline explain the problems they had with
inappropriate violent and sexual behaviour. Impaired metabolism of
serotonin is also likely to be responsible for mental retardation and
this could be linked to aggressive behaviour.

Evaluation: -

 + There is support for the diathesis-stress model of crime.

Someone may have biological tendencies towards crime, but

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they will need some sort of environmental trigger in order to

actually become a criminal. (Nature and Nurture)
 + Use of scientific method and scientific equipment e.g PET
scans
 There are problems with twin studies as it is difficult to
untangle nature and nurture. Sample sizes are usually very
small so we can’t generalize from them. This criticism also
applies to Brunner’s case study of the family from the
Netherlands.
 We must avoid biological determinism; genes are not
destiny. Criminals have free will.
 Explaining crime simply through brain structure and genes is
very reductionist. Crime is complex and the reasons for
people turning to crime are many and varied.
 A good example of these criticisms is the case of Jim Fallon: -
Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine.
Jim Fallon has the brain of a serial killer – Low activity
prefrontal cortex and the defective version of the MAOA gene.
BUT he is not a serial killer! Something he attributes to his
fabulous childhood and supportive family. A case of nurture
triumphing over nature.
 As crime is a social construct (laws are formulated by
societies) the concept of a biological explanation seems
illogical. How can you have a biological predisposition to
break arbitrary laws which society has invented? Biological
exlanations can only really explain violent or sexual crimes.

Exam Questions: -
 Discuss atavistic form as an explanation for criminal
behaviour. Refer to evidence in your answer (16
marks)
 Discuss genetic and/or neural explanations of
offending. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

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3) Psychological explanations of crime

Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire

Please answer the following questions yes or no, don’t spend too
long thinking about it, they are designed to measure how you
usually act, think or feel.
Yes No Scor
e
1. Are you a talkative person?
2. Does your mood often go up and down?
3. Are you rather lively?
4. Do you ever feel miserable for no reason?
5. Do you enjoy meeting new people?
6. Are you an irritable person?
7. Can you usually let yourself go and enjoy
yourself at a lively party?
8. Are your feelings easily hurt?
9. Do you usually take the initiative in making
new friends?
[Link] you often feel fed up?
[Link] you easily get some life into a rather
dull party?
[Link] you call yourself a nervous person?
[Link] you tend to keep in the background on
social occasions?
[Link] you a worrier?
[Link] you like mixing with people?
[Link] you call yourself tense or highly
strung?
[Link] you like plenty of action and excitement
around you?
[Link] you worry too long after an
embarrassing experience?
[Link] you mostly quiet when you are with
other people?
[Link] you suffer from nerves?
[Link] other people think of you as lively?
[Link] you often feel lonely?
[Link] you get a party going?
[Link] you often troubled about feelings of
guilt?

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This test is an abridged version of

Eysenck’s famous personality test.
For each answer which agrees with
the table below score 1 point.

1 Yes 13 Yes
2 Yes 14 Yes
3 No 15 No
4 Yes 16 No
5 No 17 No
6 Yes 18 Yes
7 No 19 No
8 Yes 20 No
9 Yes 21 Yes
10 No 22 No
11 Yes 23 Yes
12 Yes 24 Yes

Extraversion score- add scores for questions 1, 9, 11, 14, 18, 21

Neuroticism score – add scores for questions 2,4,13,15,20,23
Psychoticism score – add scores for questions 3, 6, 8, 12, 16, 22
Lie score – add scores for questions 5, 7, 10, 17, 19, 24 (Data from
participants with a high lie score is usually discarded as it lacks
validity!)

Do you agree with this, is it how you would think of

yourself?

What issues can you see with this method of measuring

personality? Is it reliable or valid?

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Eysenck’s theory of personality applied to Offender

Behaviour

According to Eysenck our personality is innate and has a biological

basis. There is a personality type known as the criminal
personality. Individuals with a criminal personality will score
highly on measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
These people are seen as difficult to condition (train) and cold and
unfeeling and it is these traits which may explain their criminality.

Evaluation

Evidence to support this theory comes from Eysenck’s study of

2070 male prisoners and 2422 male controls. The prisoners scored
higher on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism than the non-
criminal controls.

However, Farrington reviewed several studies and only found

evidence of prisoners scoring higher on measures of psychoticism.

The idea of one personality type explaining all offending behaviour

is not very plausible; there are many different types of both crimes
and offenders. All criminals are not the same.

This research can be seen as culturally biased. Holanchock

studied Black and Hispanic criminals in America and found them to
be less extroverted than non-criminal control groups.

The validity of measuring personality through a psychometric test is

also questionable, as is the notion that personality is a stable entity.
Most people would argue that personality changes over the years
and as a person matures.

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Eysenck’s theory is similar to other biological explanations of

offending such as Anti-social personality disorder (APD). However,
whilst Raine explains this through neural differences, Eysenck
attributes it to the functioning of the nervous system. Therefore,
although Eysenck’s theory is seen as a psychological theory as it
focuses on personality, it could also be accused of biological
determinism as it sees personality as innate and unchanging.

Cognitive Distortions

Do criminals think differently from other people ?

They must be able to rationalise their own behaviour and decide the
risks involved are worth the possible gains.

The basic assumption here is that criminals must think in a

fundamentally different way to law-abiding citizens. The big
problem here is how do we ever really know how and what another
person is thinking?

Cognitive distortions
are faulty, biased or
irrational ways of thinking.

The concept here is that

offenders commit crime
because they think in the
‘wrong’ way. So crime is
the result of faulty
thought patterns.

Hostile Attribution Bias

This occurs when an
offender misreads the
actions or intentions of another person. They might assume
someone is being confrontational when they actually are not. ‘What
are you looking at?’

Schonenberg & Justye presented 55 violent offenders with

images of emotionally ambiguous faces, when compared with a non-
aggressive matched control group they were much more likely to
perceive the faces as angry or hostile.

Hostile attribution bias is probably learnt in childhood. Dodge &

Frame showed children a video clip of ‘ambiguous provocation’,

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children who had been identified as rejected or aggressive were

much more likely to classify the situation as hostile.

Minimalisation

This is an attempt to downplay or deny the seriousness of an

offence. E.g. ‘Nobody got hurt, I stole it because I have to
feed my family’.

This is much more common in sex offenders. Barbaree found

amongst 26 convicted rapists 54% denied they had committed any
offence and 40% minimized the harm caused to the victim.

Internal and External Attribution

We all justify and explain our behaviours using either internal or

external attributions. An internal attribution is when a person
accepts full responsibility for their own behaviour and sees the
cause as being within him or herself. An external attribution is
when a person sees the cause of their behaviour as being an
external factor, e.g. ‘I was provoked, it’s his fault I hit him’, ‘I had a
bad childhood’, ‘I’ve got no money, job etc.’
A criminal is considered rehabilitated when they can fully accept
responsibility for their crime, in other words, have an internal
attribution, they accept their guilt.

Fundamental Attribution Error

We tend to attribute more significance to situational factors when

considering the causes of our own behaviour but attribute more
significance to personality characteristics when considering causes
of the behaviour of others. E.g. If you receive a good grade in your
Psychology A level you will attribute it to your own hard work, if you
receive a bad grade you will blame the teachers!

Evaluation

If offending behaviour can be explained by cognitive distortions then

this has practical applications for rehabilitation. Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT) could be used to change the way
offenders think and therefore change the way they behave.

However, there are considerable individual differences between

criminals and crimes. Cognitive distortions cannot explain all crime.
Obviously, we can never really know what another person is
thinking, we can only ask them or infer thoughts from behaviour.
Both of these methods lack reliability and validity.

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Moral Development

Morals are a set of norms and values, usually learnt from our
parents about what is right and wrong.

In the UK the age of criminal responsibility is 10; children over 10

are deemed to clearly know the difference between right and wrong.
Other countries have different age limits; German 18, Scotland 8.

Kohlberg (1963) was heavily influenced by the work of Piaget and

believed that children’s cognition developed through stages. His
research involved presenting groups of boys with moral dilemmas
and then asking them questions about them. His most famous
moral dilemma is below: -

Discuss the questions in small groups.

Heinz Dilemma
Heinz’s wife was suffering from terminal cancer. In an effort to save her he
Social
went toCognition
a chemist who had developed a cure which might help her.
Unfortunately, the chemist wanted much more money for his cure than
Attribution is all and
Heinz could afford about blame.
refused Who
to sell it fororless.
what do we
Even whenblame
Heinzwhen we
do something wrong. If we realise that we are
borrowed enough money for half the cost of the drug, the chemistto blame, that
stillis
known
refusedastointernal attribution,
sell it to him. if wemeans
Having no other blameofothers, or outside
getting the drug, Heinz
factors, it is known as external attribution.
broke into the chemist’s laboratory and stole it. An offender is
considered on the round to rehabilitation when they can take full
responsibility
 Should for theirbroken
he have actions,
intointhe
other words Why?
laboratory? come to an internal
attribution.
 Should the chemist insist on the inflated price for his invention?
Does he have the right?
Gudjohnsson
 What should & Bownes
happen to– Heinz?
The attribution of blame and type
of crime committed.
 What if Heinz did not love his wife – does that change anything?
Kohlberg
 What- ifMoral Development
the dying in Children
person was a stranger? (1963)
Should Heinz have stolen
the drug anyway?
Aim: - To find evidence in support of a progression through stages
of moral development.

Procedure: - 58 working and middle class boys from Chicago aged

7, 10, 13, 16 were given a two hour interview with 10 dilemmas (like
the Heinz) to solve. Some of these boys were followed up at 3
yearly intervals and the study was repeated in 1969 in the UK,
Mexico, Taiwan and the USA.

Findings: - Younger boys tended to perform at stages 1 and 2, with

older boys at stages 3 and 4. This pattern was consistent across
different cultures.

Level 1 Stage 1 Punishment & Obedience

Pre-morality Orientation – Doing what is right because
(up to 9) of fear of punishment
Stage 2 Hedonistic Orientation – Doing

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what is right for personal gain, perhaps a

reward
Level 2 Stage 3 Interpersonal Concordance
Conventional Morality Orientation – Doing what is right
(9- adolescence) according to the majority
Stage 4 Law & Order Orientation –
Doing what is right because it is your duty
and helps society. Laws must be obeyed
for the common good.
Level 3 Stage 5 Social Contract or Legalistic
Post-conventional Orientation – Doing what is morally right
morality even if it is against the law because the
(adolescence +) law is too restrictive.
Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principles
Orientation – Doing what is right because
of our inner conscience which has
absorbed the principles of justice, equality
and sacredness of human life.

Conclusions: - The evidence does support the idea of a stage

theory. More recent research by Thornton & Reid (1982) with
criminal samples suggests that criminals committing crime for
financial gain show more immature reasoning than those
committing violent crimes.

Chandler (1973) found that individuals who function at higher

levels of moral reasoning tend to sympathise more with the right of
others and exhibit more conventional behaviours such as honesty,
generosity and non-violence.

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Evaluation: -
What are the problems with Kohlberg’s sample?

Are dilemmas an appropriate way of measuring morality?

What are the strengths of Kohlberg’s research?

Does anyone ever reach stage 6?

How does this explain adult criminality?

Where do moral values come from?

Might it be the case that criminals actually have a very highly developed
sense of morality?

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Sutherland (1939) – Differential Association Hypothesis

This explanation for offending suggests that through interaction with

others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and
motivation for criminal behaviour. We often hear the phrase “Got in
with a bad crowd”; our friendship groups can profoundly affect
criminality especially during adolescence.

Offending behaviour might be learnt through Classical

Conditioning, Operant Conditioning or Social Learning.

Classical Conditioning – What associations might be made?

Operant Conditioning – What would reinforce offending

behaviour?

Social Learning Theory – What behaviour might be imitated?

Sutherland presented his theory in the form of nine principles. Make

notes under each one: -

1. Criminal behaviour is learnt.

2. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons

in a process of communication.

3. The principle part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs

within intimate personal groups.

4. When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes the

techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very
complicated, sometimes very simple and the specific direction of
motives, drives, rationalisations and attitudes.

5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from

definitions of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable.

6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of

definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions
unfavourable to violation of law.

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7. Differential associations (number of contacts with criminals

over non-criminals) may vary in frequency, duration, priority and
intensity.

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. (Behaviourism)

9. While criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs

and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values,
since non-criminal behaviour is an expression of the same needs
and values.

Summary: -Sutherland’s theory is based on two core assumptions: -

1. Deviance occurs when people define a certain human
situation as an appropriate occasion for violating social norms or
criminal laws.
2. Definitions of the situation are acquired through an
individual’s history of past experience.

Evaluation

+ This theory shifted the emphasis away from biology and eugenics
arguments for criminality.
+ It can also account for white-collar crime and indeed it was
Sutherland who coined the term. Differential association can
explain crime for all race, gender and social groups.
-This theory is impossible to test. How do you count up someone’s
associations and influences accurately?
- Farrington found that the family is a large influence on offending.
Crime can be seen as inter-generational.
- Does not account for individual differences. Some people are
much more susceptible (easily led) to the influence of others.

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Psychodynamic Explanations

Freud viewed the adult personality as having three

basic components – Id, Ego and Superego.

When explaining offending behaviour it is the

Superego on which we focus.

Superego – This is formed around the age of 5-6

years in the phallic stage of psycho-sexual
development and contains our moral values,
therefore it operates on the morality principle. The superego is
our internalised same-sex parent, so for females morality comes
from the mother and for males, the father. The superego ensures
that the ego does not use unacceptable means to satisfy the
demands of the Id. It is around the age of 5-6 years that parents
start to demand that the child acts in more socially acceptable
ways. The superego gradually takes over this parental role and
tells us inside our own head how we should behave. It consists of
two parts, the conscience and ego ideal. The conscience tells
us what we should not do, right and wrong, whilst the ego ideal
tells us what we should do. The conscience makes us feel guilty;
the ego ideal makes us feel proud.

Blackburn (1993) argues that if the superego (the moral part of

the personality) is deficient then criminality is inevitable as the Id
(pleasure principle) is not properly controlled and we are going to
give into our urges and impulses.

1) Weak Superego may develop if the same-sex parent is

absent during the phallic stage of psycho-sexual
development. This would mean that we would fall to
internalize the moral values of the same sex parent.
2) Deviant Superego may develop if the child internalizes the
morals of a criminal or deviant same-sex parent.
3) Over-harsh Superego may develop is the same-sex parent
is overly harsh. This may mean an individual is crippled by
guilt and anxiety and commits crime in order to satisfy the
superego’s need for punishment.

Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis predicts that if an

infant is deprived of a mother or mother figure during the critical
period of attachment in the first few years then there will be serious
and permanent consequences. These consequences included
mental abnormalities, delinquency, depression, affectionless
psychopathology and even dwarfism!

You will remember his famous study on 44 Juvenile Thieves from

Component 1.

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Evaluation

- Freud’s theory is seen as sexist as he focuses on the Oedipus

Complex and added the Electra complex as an after
thought. In fact Freud argued that females were less moral
than males. This is because males fear castration by their
father for moral transgressions, whereas females only fear
losing their mother’s love!
- There is little evidence to back up this theory, many children
grow up without a same-sex parent and the vast majority do
not turn to crime.
- The idea of the over-harsh superego and wanted to be
punished does not stand up to scrutiny; most criminals go to
great lengths not to be caught and punished!
- The Freudian concepts of unconscious motivations are not
testable and unfalsifiable, therefore they are pseudoscientific.
- You should already know the issues with Bowlby’s research!
He failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation and
his sample was biased.
- There may be a correlation between maternal deprivation and
criminality, but correlation does not equal causation.

Exam Questions:-
 Discuss Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality.
Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)
 Describe and discuss cognitive explanations of
offending. Refer to at least one other explanation of
offending in your answer (16 marks)
 Discuss the differential association theory of offending.
Refer to at least one other explanation of offending in
your answer (16 marks)
 Discuss two or more psychodynamic explanations of
offending. Refer to evidence in your answer (16 marks)

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4) Dealing with offender behaviour

In 2016 the UK prison population is 86,000, despite having an

official capacity of only 78,000, leading to serious overcrowding.
(Howard League)

What are the implications of this?

In order for prison to work, prisoners must be educated and made

more employable, to ensure they are more likely to remain out of
prison and instead contribute to society. Otherwise, prisons become
simply ‘Universities of crime’.

Research has shown (Prison Reform Trust 2007) that many prisoners
have not reached the levels of literacy and numeracy expected of
average 11 year old; 50% in writing, 66% in numeracy and 80% in
reading. 50% do not have the skills required by 96% of all jobs and
50% have been excluded from school. These statistics make
prisoners, along with their criminal records, virtually unemployable
without successful educational intervention within the prison
system.

Many people are critical of the parole system (the fact that prisoners
are often released early and rarely serve their full sentence);
however, this is an important incentive, crucial to the smooth
operation of the prison system. Applications for parole are allowed
after a minimum term (set by the judge) has been served. Success
will depend on the nature of the offence, the judge’s comments on
sentencing and crucially the inmate’s behaviour in prison. This
gives the prisoner an incentive to behave and comply with prison
rules, without this incentive many inmates would be unmanageable.

Aims of Custodial Sentencing

1) Deterrence – Prison
should be an unpleasant
experience. So someone
who serves a prison
sentence should never
wish to serve another.
The thought of prison
should act as a deterrent
to others and prevent
them from committing
crime.

2) Incapacitation – Taking a criminal out of circulation means

they are unable to commit further crime, keeping society safe.

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3) Retribution – Society is taking revenge on the criminal. They

are paying for their crimes by having their freedom taken from
them.
4) Rehabilitation – Prison can be used to reform criminal
through training, education and therapy, so they leave prison
a changed person.

Psychological Effects of Custodial Sentencing

1) Stress and Depression – Suicide rates are higher in prison

than in the general population, as are cases of self-harm. If a
prisoner suffers with mental health issues before their
sentence, this is likely to worsen in prison.
2) Institutionalisation – Having adapted to the norms and
values of prison life, some prisoners find it impossible to cope
in the real world on their release. Some even commit crimes
with the intention of being arrested and returned back to the
comfort of what they know – prison.
3) Prisonisation – Similar to institutionalisation, some
behaviours that are unacceptable in the outside world are
encouraged and rewarded inside the walls of a prison.
Prisoners learn to accept the prisoner code in order to survive,
for example the unofficial hierarchy of prisoners.

Zimbardo – Stanford Prison Experiment

The study you learnt about last year is useful

here. Zimbardo’s main conclusions were
that situational factors were more useful
for explaining the behaviour of prisoners and
guards than individual ones. Zimbardo’s
participants conformed to their ideas of how
prisoners and guards should behave.

Recidivism

The aim of prison is to punish and rehabilitate offenders in the hope

that they will not re-offend. Re-offending is known as recidivism.
Prison has a poor record for reducing reoffending – 57% of
offenders will reoffend within a year of release (2013). Over
two-thirds (67%) of under 18 year olds are reconvicted within a year
of release offending by all recent ex-prisoners in 2007-08 cost the
economy between £9.5 and £13 billion.

Evaluation

Prison doesn’t work!!!!

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 Curt Bartol (1995) has suggested that prison is ‘brutal,

demeaning and generally devastating’. Suicide rates are
generally 15 times higher than in society in general. Most at
risk are young, single men in the first 24 hours of
incarceration. Around 25% of female and 15% of male
prisoners have symptoms of psychosis (severe mental illness)
 Individual differences – Not all prisoners react in the same
way to incarceration. Some the punishment should fit the
individual, not necessarily the crime!
 Rehabilitation – Cuts to prison budgets mean that education,
training and therapy are not always available or effectively
delivered. So opportunities for rehabilitation are limited.
 University of Crime – Putting young, inexperienced criminals
into a prison environment with older more experienced
criminals may mean that the type of education these
youngsters get is not necessarily the type we would want!
 Alternatives to imprisonment – Given that we know prison
doesn’t work we need alternatives. Some alternatives include
probation and restorative justice. However, the government is
reluctant to invest in prisoners, due to economic restraints
and public opinion. But, this is a short-sighted approach, in
order to cut crime and recidivism rates investment is needed
(Economic implication).

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Behaviour Modification – Operant Conditioning

In terms of operant conditioning, behaviours are learned and

maintained as a result of reinforcement. This applies to ‘normal’
and ‘abnormal’ behaviours. E.g. the temper tantrums of a child or
the bizarre behaviour of someone with schizophrenia may be
reinforced by the attention they receive.

Therapies based on the principles of operant conditioning aim to

bring about specific changes in behaviour. This is known as
behaviour modification. It involves rewarding ‘appropriate’
behaviour and withholding rewards for ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.
This approach usually works best with children or in institutions such
as mental hospitals, schools and prisons. For example, when
prisoners display desirable behaviours they receive a token from
guards which can be exchanged for privileges. As a result, their
behaviour can be consistently and systematically reinforced.

Token Economy

Token economies illustrate the application of

operant conditioning principles to adults in
institutional settings. They were introduced
into mental hospitals in the USA in the 1960s.
Tokens, such as plastic discs are given as
rewards for ‘desirable’ behaviour. The tokens
can then be exchanged for privileges. In theory, tokens reinforce,
‘appropriate’ behaviour. House credits are used in the same way in
schools.

Hobbs and Holt (1976) introduced a token economy programme

with young delinquents in three behavioural units, a fourth acted as
a control. They observed a significant improvement in positive
behaviour as a result of the introduction of the token economy.
Allyon (1979) found similar effects in an adult prison.

Evaluation

 Token economies are easy to implement and do not require

specialist training or expense, like other therapies such as
Anger Management. But, all staff must implement them
consistently if they are to work.
 The effects they appear to produce may not be primarily due
to the token economy. Prisoners may be responding to
increased attention, planned system of activities and
improved monitoring, rather than a desire to get tokens.
 Token economies may not really change behaviour – people
may simply mimic or fake ‘desirable’ behaviour in order to get

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tokens. On release prisoners revert back to previous criminal

behaviours.
 Token economies raise ethical issues. Is it ethical to withhold
‘privileges’ such as watching TV because a severely
disordered prisoner does not do what a guard thinks is
desirable? Are people’s human rights threatened when staff
can control their access to food and their freedom of
movement?
 Clinton Field (2004) found that for maximum affect the
rewards and frequency of them, needed to be individually
tailored to the inmate. Think about house credits, whilst they
work well with Year 7 students, a school mug or pen is hardly
going to motivate a Year 11 student!
 What would motivate a prisoner?

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Restorative Justice

Restorative justice brings those harmed by crime or conflict and

those responsible for the harm into communication, enabling
everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing
the harm and finding a positive way forward.

Historically, the offender is seen as having committed a crime

against the state e.g. Smith Vs Regina (Lawsuits are given the name
of the defendant and the Queen). However, crimes have victims
and victims often feel that their experiences and expectations are
not taken into account by the justice system. Restorative justice
aims to redress this balance, crime is seen as being against a
person or organisation and victims are allowed to be part of what
happens.

Restorative justice has to be voluntary for all parties and seeks a

positive outcome. It is respectful and not degrading for either
offender or victim.

Restorative justice aims to provide victims with: -

 An opportunity to explain the impact of the crime (impact
statements)
 An acknowledgement of the harm caused
 A chance to ask questions

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 Some control and choice

 Peace of mind about the future.

Restorative justice has a long history, although in the past it was

often more about revenge and compensation. Sharia law (Muslim
law) which is based on the Koran is dispensed by elders who
decided on the amount of compensation a victim or victim’s family
is entitled to. They suggest that this system works better than the
UK system as, “Here you have the fullest prisons in the world
because you feed the criminals and they become fatter and do the
crimes again.” "Our experience may be something we can offer to
this country's penal system."
Restorative justice is tough both for victims and offenders. For
offenders they have to face up to the consequences of their actions,
but for victims they may be forced to relive frightening and
upsetting experiences.

Aims of Restorative Justice

 Rehabilitation of Offenders – Being punished is a passive

process, restorative justice requires the offender to be an
active participant in the process. It is tough for the offender
they have to listen to the impact of their crimes on the victim

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and take full responsibility for their actions. The experience

should reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.

 Atonement for Wrongdoing – Offenders may offer concrete

compensation (money or unpaid work) or atone by showing
genuine feelings of guilt and remorse.

 Victim’s Perspective – Restorative justice restores power to

the victim. Their voice is heard in the legal process and they
feel that their feelings have been taken into account. Many
who have been through the process report that it has reduced
their feeling of being a ‘victim’ and helped them to feel safe
again.

John Braithwaite (2004) ‘crime hurts, justice should heal’.

Restorative justice usually involves a supervised mediation

meeting between the victim and the offender with a trained
mediator. The victim is given the opportunity to confront the
offender and explain the impact the crime has had on their life. The
offender has to face up to the consequences of their actions and this
starts the rehabilitation process.

Key features of Restorative Justice

 Focus on acceptance of responsibility for actions

 Not restricted to courtrooms
 Active (not passive) involvement of all parties
 Focus on positive outcomes

Evaluation

 The UK Restorative Justice Council (2015) reported 85%

satisfaction from victims who had taken part in face-to-face
restorative justice meetings.
 Sherman & Strang (2007) reviewed 20 studies, involving
142 men convicted of violence and property offences, who
had taken part in restorative justice, only 11% reoffended,
compared to 37% of a matched control group. So it does
work!
 Cost – Shapland (2007) concluded that every £1 spent on
restorative justice would save the government £8 through
reduced reoffending. However, there are costs involved in
training mediators and high dropout rates from offenders
unable to face their victims, so it may not always be cost
effective.
 Remorse – Offenders must feel genuine remorse. Therefore,
restorative justice is not suitable for all criminals or indeed all
crimes. It only works where there is an obvious victim.

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 Soft Option – Public opinion may be against restorative

justice, as it may be seen as ‘getting off lightly’.
 Feminist critique – Women’s Aid have called for a ban on
the use of restorative justice in cases of domestic abuse, as
they believe it is inappropriate.
 First time offenders – Restorative justice is most effective
with young, first time offenders. It provides a short, sharp
shock and forces them to face up to the consequences of their
actions.

Task: Give examples of where restorative justice would

not work or be inappropriate.

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Anger Management

Anger is a very strong emotion with obvious consequences. Anger

may have physical effects-correlates with increased heart rate,
blood pressure, and levels of adrenaline (glandular) and
noradrenaline (produced by the brain’s neurotransmitters). Many
prisoners have problems controlling their anger, which leads to
violent behaviour. Anger needs to be controlled within a prison
environment for the safety of staff and inmates. One way of
achieving this aim is through anger management programmes.
Anger Management programmes are a form of Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT), they aim to change the way a
prisoner thinks and therefore the way they act.

There are three stages in Anger Management: -

1) Cognitive Preparation: - The offender is encourages to

reflect on their past behaviours and what makes them angry.
The therapist works with them to show them that their
response is irrational and helps them to redefine the situations
as non-threatening. They are taught to recognise their own
triggers for anger.

2) Skill Acquisition: - The offenders are taught a range of

techniques and skills to enable them to avoid triggers and
deal with anger-provoking situations more rationally. They
might require training in assertiveness and effective
communication. They are taught how to control their own
emotions, rather then being ruled by them.

3) Application practice: - Offenders practice their new skills

through role-play. The therapist will deliberately provoke
them to see how they react. The therapist will positively
reinforce successful strategies.

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Task: - Case Study

John is in his late forties serving 4 years for attempted arson. He

was arrested with a can of petrol on his way back to a pub he had
threatened to burn down.

He had outbursts of anger- was rather grandiose. Managing his

aggression was key to his recovery and to gaining parole.

Role-play the case of John in pairs.

One of you is the counsellor, the other is John, work through the 3
stages of Anger Management.

Then evaluate the effectiveness of such cognitive approaches.

Ireland (2000) Investigation of whether anger management

courses work.

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Aims: - To assess whether anger management programmes work

with young male offenders.

Procedure: - A natural experiment compared a group of 50 prisoners

who had completed CALM and a group of 37 who were assessed as
suitable, but had not actually taken the course. The prisoners were
given a cognitive behavioural interview. Prison officers completed a
Wing Behavioural Checklist (WBC) rating 29 angry behaviour with
scores of 0, 1 or 2 for the week before the interview. Prisoners also
completed a self-report questionnaire on anger management with
53 questions.

Results: - Prisoners who had completed CALM rated themselves

lower on the anger questionnaire and were rated lower by the prison
officers, than the control group. 92% showed improvements on at
least one measure of aggression and anger.

Conclusions: - In the short-term the treatment seemed effective, but

there is no re-offending data.

Evaluation

 Anger management is an eclectic approach it uses a cognitive

approach in stage 1, behavioural in stage 2 and social in stage
3. This recognises that offending behaviour is the complex
interaction between social and psychological factors.
 Anger management is more likely to lead to a permanent
change in behaviour than behaviour modification programmes
(token economies) as it focuses on changing the way an
offender both thinks and behaves.
 Although, Anger Management works in the short-term, the
lack of re-offending data means we don’t know if the effects
last. It is very different role-playing controlling anger to
controlling anger once outside of prison.
 Anger management is limited in its application as not all crime
is motivated by anger. Crimes for financial gain for example,
would not benefit from any form of CBT, as they are logical!
 Anger Management is very expensive and time consuming as
it required highly skilled therapists. Also, the prisoner must be
motivated and want to change. (How many Psychiatrists does
it take to change a light bulb? One – but the light bulb must
really want to change!)

Exam Questions: -
 Discuss the psychological effects of custodial
sentencing. Refer to evidence in your answer (16
marks)

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 Discuss behaviour modification in custody. Refer to

evidence in your answer (16 marks)
 Discuss the use of anger management as a treatment
for offenders. Refer to evidence in your answer (16
marks)
 Discuss restorative justice as a way of dealing with
offenders (16 marks)

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 Exam Questions

Read the item and then answer the questions that follow.

In the UK, it is against the law to have more than one wife or
husband at the same time. Smacking children was not illegal before
2004 in the UK, but now can be a criminal offence.

1) Referring to the statements above, explain two problems in

defining crime. (4)

2) Outline one cognitive distortion shown by offenders who attempt

to justify their crime. (2)

3) One method of offender profiling involves categorising offenders

as either organised or disorganised offenders. Briefly explain one
limitation of this method of offender profiling. (2)

4) Discuss the psychological effects of custodial sentencing. (16)

24 marks

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