Explanations of Criminal Behaviour, chapter one

psychology A2, chapter one

discoverys

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Explanations of criminal behaviour, discovery one.

DISCOVERY ONE: EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: CHAPTER ONE.

BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

P: Criminals are predetermined to commit crime due to their genetics.

E: Jacobs: Men with the XYY chromosome are more likely to engage in criminal activity than those with XY. XYY men are over represented in prisions: 15/1000 in prision are XYY compared to general population. Men with XYY have a lower intelligence than men with XY, could be linked to criminal behaviour.

Witkins: screened 4591 men and found only 12 with the XYY chromosome. Although these indivuduals were more likley to be involved in crime, it was not violent crime.

Conclusion: The over representation of XYY men in prisions may be due to their characteristics such as them being very tall and of low intelligence, rather than simply genetics.

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Explanations of criminal behaviour, discovery two.

DISCOVERY TWO: EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: CHAPTER ONE.

PERSONALITY FACTORS.

P: Only certain personalitys will involve themselves in criminal behaviour. (Biological)

E: Hare: explored the ideas of psychopaths, who are: arrogant, manipulative, dominant, impulsive, irresponsible, and tend to violate social conventions. He claims psychopaths make up only 1% of the general population, but 25% of the prision population. The personality traits of psychopaths make them likely to use intimidation and violence as tools to control others. Yet there is little evidence that psychopaths respond to treatment.

C: screening for psychopaths and treating and imprisioning them before they offend.

=reductionstic as blames criminal behaviour on one thing. = unethical = harm to p = labelling and also they may not grow up to commit crime.

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Explanations of criminal behaviour, discovery thre

DISCOVERY THREE: EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: CHAPTER ONE.

SOCIAL FACTORS.

P: Certain upbrining factors can affect the likelihood of juvenille crime.

E: Balby: 'maternal deprivation theory' where a lack of attatchment (close enduring bond) is sufficient to cause lack of guilt, remorse and empathy. Thus causing a cold, callous person to emerge who will be more likely to be associated with crime.

Farrington and West: identified common factors with persistant offenders (teenage delinquents):-being poor, - having a large family, - being neglected.

C: it is a persons enviroment in early childhood that causes them to engage in criminal behaviours rather than genetics or personality.

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Explanations of criminal behaviour, discovery four

EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR: DISCOVERY FOUR: CHAPTER ONE.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS.

P: Individual factors effect why people commit crime.(eg gender and race) /Gender is the biggest inequality in crime.

E: Home offics Statistics (HOS): show the rate of arrest of black people is four times the rate of arrest of white people.

/HOS show 80% of all crime is commited by males, 30% of which is male on male. Macaby describes this inequality due to gender socialisation, because men are reared to become more dominant, and independant and women to be neurtiring and co-opperative.

C: - reductionistic = higher rates of arrest in black people is more likey to be due to social disadvantage and violent cub-culture as well as inequality in the justice system. /change values of men, by raising them to seek co-operative means of achieving shared goals.

= government must adress the issues of institutionalised racism.

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