Dr Ann Henry
Lecture 1: Tuesday 29th October 2013
Forensic & Applied Cognitive Psychology
 Lecture
1 (29/10): Critical Approaches to
Theories of Crime
 Lecture 2 (5/11): Sexual Offending (Rape)
 Lecture 3 (12/11): Sexual Offending
(Paedophilia & Child Molesters)
 Lecture 4 (19/11): Critical Approaches to
Mental Illness, Personality & Crime (part 1)
 Lecture 5 (26/11): Critical Approaches to
Mental Illness, Personality & Crime (part 2)
 Lecture 6 (3/12): Critical Approaches to
Offender Profiling (FBI & Statistical)

By the end of the lecture you should be able to:
Briefly define Forensic & Criminal Psychology.
 Describe & explain different types of theories of
crime e.g. Macro-level or Societal; Community or
locality; Group & socialisation influence;
Individual/ Psychological: Social
Constructionism.
 Consider the strengths & limitations of each of
these theories.

 Forensic
psychology is concerned with the
psychological aspects of legal processes in
courts. The term is also often used to refer
to investigative and criminological
psychology: applying psychological theory to
criminal investigation, understanding
psychological problems associated with
criminal behaviour and the treatment of
those who have committed offences.
 http://careers.bps.org.uk/area/forensic
(2013)
 The
largest single employer of forensic
psychologists in the UK is the HM Prison
Service.
 Forensic psychologists are also be employed
rehabilitation units, secure hospitals, the
social services and in university departments.
Some practitioners also go into private
consultancy.
 The
daily key tasks for forensic psychologists
may include:
 piloting and implementing treatment
programmes, modifying offender behaviour,
responding to the changing needs of staff
and prisoners as well as reducing stress for
staff and prisoners.
 Forensic
psychologists also provide:
 hard research evidence to support practice,
including undertaking statistical analysis for
prisoner profiling, giving evidence in court
plus advising parole boards and mental
health tribunals.
Social context of crime; Fear of crime
 Victims of crime.
 Theories of crime; Violent offenders;
 Sexual offending.
 Police psychology; Terrorism; Eyewitness
Testimony.
 Offender profiling; lie detecting; false
confessions.
 Mental Disorders & Crime; Juries & Decision
making.
 Psychological treatments for prisoners;
 Risk assessment, dangerousness & recidivism.

 Howitt
(2006) outlines a broad range of
theories.
 Macro-level
or Societal
 Community or locality
 Group & socialisation influence
 Individual/ Psychological
 Marxist
Conflict theory
 Merton’s
Strain Theory
 Feminist
Theory
 Marxist
 Society
conflict theory
has evolved in a state of conflict
between competing groups in society over
material resources & institutionalised power.
 Dominant class uses laws to control other
groups & maintain its command or hegemony
(political leadership)
 Merton’s
Strain Theory
 Recognises
that society’s goals (prosperity,
achievement etc.) are only available to a
limited few. The rest can only achieve goals
through deviant means.
 Others adapt to the strain by retreating into
alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide,
vagrancy.
 Feminist
 Holds
Theory
that criminality is associated with
males. Males seek to maintain power in the
gendered social system through the
deployment of violence against women &
children.
 Male control is through their access to power
over social institutions such as the law.
 Powerless men are inclined to the cruder
expressions of power which lead to their
imprisonment.
 Differential
Opportunity theory
 Explains
the patterns of crime likely to be exhibited
by individuals in terms of the range of crime
opportunities close to home.
 Different
individuals display different modes of
adjustment or adaptation to their particular social
strains.
 Subcultural
Delinquency Theories
 Differential Association Theory
 Lifestyle & Routine Activities Theory
 Social Learning Theory
 Criminogenic factors in childhood
 Subcultural
Delinquency Theories
 Youngsters
with problems especially to do
with the home & school tend to associate
with gangs & other groupings in which they
can achieve some status.
 Through
criminal activity, delinquent groups
may provide an opportunity to achieve a
sense of self-esteem.
 Differential
Association Theory
 Circumstances
of upbringing determines their
exposure to crime & pressure to commit
crime.
 Hence, learning to be a criminal applies to
different strata of society e.g. middle class
might be exposed to fraud, tax evasion etc.
 Lifestyle
 Argues
& Routine Activities Theory
that most crime is trivial & impulsive
– thus elements of opportunism (Cohen &
Felson, 1979)
 Social
Learning Theory
 Bandura
(1973, 1983) Vicarious learning
through observing other people.
 However,
doesn’t explain under what
circumstances criminal behaviour will or will
not be learnt, so has limited explanatory
power.
 Criminogenic






factors in childhood
Glueck & Glueck, 1962, 1968) claim that the following are
antecedents of antisocial & criminal behaviour:
Punitive child-rearing practices & attitudes (strict
discipline, corporal punishment, authoritarian attitudes)
Lack of love or rejection
Laxness (poor monitoring, lack of supervision)
Family disruption (separation, divorce, instability, marital
conflict)
Deviant parental characteristics (criminality, mental health
problems, substance abuse)
 Criminogenic
factors in childhood (cont)
 Yoshikawa (1995) argued that delinquency is
product of interaction of multiplicity of factors:
 Neurological & biological factors
 Low cognitive ability
 Childhood history of antisocial behaviour
 Parental substance abuse
 Violent or socially disorganised neighbourhoods
 Media violence

Criminogenic factors in childhood (cont)
Farrington (1996) claims that childhood conduct
disorder and adult Antisocial Personality Disorder
have the same aetiological precursors:
 Low family income
 Poor housing
 Large family size
 Convicted parents
 Harsh or erratic parental discipline
 Low intelligence
 Early school leaving

 Protective
factors from delinquency

Farrington (1998)

Personal Resources – resilient youngsters had
better technical/spatial intelligence, flexible
temperaments, approach-orientated, more
positive self-esteem & active coping styles
 Social Resources – resilient youngsters were
more satisfied with social support &
experienced openness, autonomy & low
conflict in their residential institution.
 Personality
Theories
 Biological Theories
 Attachment Theory
 Isomorphism hypothesis
 Personality
 Eysenck’s
Theories
biosocial theory emphasises link
between biological factors, personality &
crime.
 High extraversion, high psychoticism & high
neuroticism
 Biological
Theories
 Genetics
e.g. genetic make-up, brain
activity, hormonal imbalances
 Evolutionary theory – inherited genes
 Body shape type: mesomorph, endomorph &
ectomorph
 Evidence
is contradictory and controversial
 Attachment
theory
 Based on John Bowlby’s work in 1950s
 Bonding & attachment in infancy & early
childhood
 Internal Working Model
 Different types of attachment: Secure and
 Insecure
 Ainsworth (1970s)- classified insecure into
 Anxious-Avoidant, Anxious-Ambivalent &
Disorganised

Isomorphism hypothesis

Close relationship between the characteristics of abuse
and its effect on the victim.

Widom (1989) explored links between childhood abuse and
adult criminality.
Victims of physical abuse have highest rates of violent
offences (16% of sample)
Victims of neglect had similar levels of violence (13%)
Controls (not abused as children) had 7% risk of violent
offending in adulthood
Hence, evidence is inconclusive & other factors need to be
taken into consideration (see previous list re criminogenic
factors)




 Howitt
(2006) summarises that there is little
reliable evidence of the link between
intelligence level and crime.
 Controversial
topic as also linked to the
debate about race and intelligence.
 Constructions
 Social
 Cultural
 Historical
of crime
 Briefly
defined Forensic & Criminal
Psychology & the work involved.
 Outlined & described different theories of
crime:
Macro-level or Societal
 Community or locality
 Group & socialisation influence
 Individual/ Psychological

Howitt, D. (2012). Introduction to Forensic and
Criminal Psychology, 4th ed, Harlow, Pearson
Education Ltd.
 McGuire, M., Morgan, R & Reiner, R. (2007). The
Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford, Oxford
University Press.
 Towl, G.J., Farrington., D.P., Crighton, D.A. &
Hughes, G. (2008). Dictionary of Forensic
Psychology, Devon, Willan Publishing.
 Ward. T. & Stewart, C. (2003). The relationship
between human needs and criminogenic needs,
Psychology, Crime & Law, Vol. 9(3), pp. 219 -224
