CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY

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 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 Social Learning TheoryLearning 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 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.

• 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 OfficeASB – according to the Home OfficeAnti-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?