Introduction to Forensic Psychology 2nd Edition Bartol

1
Introduction toForensic Psychology2nd
EditionBartol Bartol (2008)

• Chapter 7
• Criminal Psychology
• The Development of Habitual Criminal Behavior

2
Juvenile Offender

• Imprecise, social, clinical and legal label for a
  broad spectrum of low- and norm-violating
  behavior
• Delinquency is behavior against the criminal code
  committed by an individual who has not reached
  adulthood
• Status offenses are acts that are prohibited only
  for juveniles (e.g., running away, violating
  curfew laws, and truancy)
• Psychological or psychiatric definitions of
  delinquency include the symptom-based labels such
  as Conduct Disorder

3
Conduct Disorder

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
  Disorders classification. Children diagnosed with
  Conduct Disorder display antisocial behavioral
  symptoms such as
• Stealing
• Setting fires
• Running away from home
• Skipping school
• Destroying property
• Fighting
• Being cruel to animals and people
• Frequently telling lies

4
Firesetting Typologies

• Curious
• Pathological
• Expressive
• Delinquent

5
School Violence

• Columbine High School
• Threat Assessment
• Identifiable targets
• Does not rely on descriptive, demographic or
  psychological profiles
• Does not rely directly on verbal or written
  threats as a threshold for risk
• Making a threat v. posing a threat
• Direct
• Indirect
• Veiled
• Conditional

6
Developmental Perspective

• Serious persistent delinquency patterns and adult
  criminality begin in early childhood and follow a
  particular path or trajectory
• Emphasizes the neurological, biological, mental,
  emotional, and social changes in children and its
  influence on criminality
• Factors
• Hyperactive-impulsive-attention problems
• Conduct problems
• Deficient cognitive ability
• Poor interpersonal and social skills
• Poor language development

7
Biology
Biological Factors

• Plays an important role in criminal behavior
  however biological factors do not act in
  isolation and interact with environmental factors
  in the development of antisocial, delinquent, and
  criminal behavior.

• Brain Chemistry
• Dopamine
• Frontal lobes
• Serotonin
• Hormones
• Androgen testosterone
• cortisol
• Temperment
• Genetic Influence
• Twin and adoption studies

8
Moffitts Theory

• To understand delinquency, one must view it as
  progressing along at least two developmental
  paths
• Lifelong trajectory of delinquency
• Age 3
• Anti-social behavior
• LCP
• Neurological problems during childhood
• Violent and aggressive crimes
• Do not learn prosocial and interpersonal skills
• Poor environmental conditions

9
Moffitts Theory (Continued)

• Adolescent limited offender
• Peer and social factors
• Environmental factors
• Temporary offending
• AL
• Do not demonstrate early and persistent
  antisocial problems
• Crimes that symbolize adult privilege and
  demonstrate autonomy from parental control
• Vandalism
• Drugs
• alcohol

10
Coercion Developmental Model

• Gerald Patterson
• Focuses on the impact of parenting and
  characteristics of the child
• Early Starter
• Arrest before age of 14
• Adult crime
• Late Onset
• Arrest after the age of 14
• Desistance from adult crime

11
Control Theory

• Travis Hirschi (1969)
• Social control theory
• Hirschi Gottfredson (1991)
• Self control theory
• Catalano Hawkins (1996)
• Seattle Social Development Model

12
The Criminal Psychopath

• Selfish
• Inability to love
• Deceitfulness
• Lack of guilt
• Lack of empathy
• Antisocial Behavior

• Low anxiety proneness
• Poor judgment
• Superficial charm
• No life plan
• Unreliability
• High recidivism

Approximately 1 of the general population and
15-25 in the prison population are psychopaths
13
Assessment of Psychopathy

• Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
• Developed by Robert Hare, Professor Emeritus,
  University of British Columbia
• Designed to measure the construct of psychopathy
  for research purposes
• Used clinically to predict dangerousness as a
  result of empirical findings that show a link
  between high PCL-R scores and general and violent
  recidivism
• Variations of the Psychopathy Checklist
• Psychopathy Checklist Screening Version (PCL-SV)
• Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PCL-YV)
• P-Scan Research Version

14
Psychopathy and Gender

• Minimal research has been conducted on the extent
  to which psychopathy exists in females.
• It has been generally assumed and some research
  supports that males far outnumber their female
  counterparts.
• There is some preliminary evidence that female
  psychopaths may be
• Less aggressive and violent than male psychopaths
• Recidivate less often than male psychopaths

15
Psychopathy and Race/Ethnicity

• Research suggests that African American criminal
  psychopaths tend to be less impulsive than white
  criminal psychopaths. Other research shows no
  significant racial-ethnic differences.
• Criticism has been raised regarding
• Whether or not it is appropriate to use the PCL-R
  with African American inmates.
• Whether the stigmatizing diagnosis of psychopathy
  is likely to be used in a biased manner among
  minority or disadvantaged groups