Criminal Behavior Theories, Typologies, and Criminal Justice J.B. Helfgott Seattle University

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Criminal Behavior Theories, Typologies, and
Criminal Justice J.B. HelfgottSeattle University

• CHAPTER 11
• Applied Criminology

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Applied Criminology

• criminology is almost wholly assignable as an
  applied science to the given objectives of
  criminal policy
  
  
• -- Keiser (1992, p. 41)

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Defining Applied Criminology

• APPLIED CRIMINOLOGY
  The application of criminological theory to
  criminal justice practice

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Linking Theory to Practice in the Criminal
Justice System

• Linking theory to practice is central to the
  discipline of criminal justice and crucial at all
  stages of the criminal justice process.
• The nature of criminal justice science v.
  criminal justice practice differ considerably
  which poses limits on the degree to which
  empirical research and theory can be practically
  applied to criminal justice practice.
• Theories and research from all areas of
  criminology have been applied to criminal justice
  practice with greater frequency with the
  accumulation of methodologically sound and
  theoretically rich research and closer nexus
  between academics and practitioners.

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The Use of Typologies in the Criminal Justice
System
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How Have Theories and Research been Applied to
Criminal Justice Practice?

• Police/Public Safety
• Courts
• Corrections

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Police and Public Safety

• Criminal Profiling
• Crime Prevention, Public Safety, and Victim
  Services

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Criminal Profiling

• Criminal Profiling is the inference of offender
  traits from physical and/or behavioral evidence.
• Criminal profiling applies social science
  research on criminal behavior to law enforcement
  investigations and involves
• Using theory and research to reach backward in
  time to determine what occurred at the scene and
  make inferences from crime scene evidence about
  the characteristics of an unknown offender.
• Identifying class and individual characteristics
  (of the offender) from crime scene evidence.
• The ultimate purpose of the profile is to produce
  a behavioral composite of the offender.

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Five General Approaches to Criminal Profiling

• Personality Profiling
  
  Personality theory and clinical diagnostic
  categories used to construct a personality
  profile representing the type of offender most
  likely to have committed the crime. Generally
  conducted by psychiatrists, psychologists,
  academic criminologists
• Criminal Investigative Analysis
  Crime scene
  patterns, crime scene indicators, victimology,
  and data collected from interviews with offenders
  used to determine type offender who committed the
  crime. Generally thought of as the method
  developed by the FBI. Done by law enforcement
  officers trained in profiling.
• Investigative Psychology
  
  Techniques and theories from psychology,
  psychiatry, and criminology to develop a profile
  based on statistical probability. Conducted
  primarily by academic psychologists and
  criminologists without investigative training who
  use of typologies and empirical studies to
  construct profiles. Term used primarily in
  reference to the work of David Canter and the
  Investigative Psychology program at the
  University of Liverpool.  

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Five General Approaches to Criminal Profiling
(Continued)

• Behavioral Evidence Analysis
  Method of
  criminal profiling involving deductive reasoning
  and critical thinking with focus on hypothesis
  testing through analysis of forensic evidence.
  Approach proposed by Turvey (1999, 2002). In
  contrast with other methods, emphasizes
  integrating forensic psychology and forensic
  science in the profiling process.
• Geographical Profiling
  Geographic
  profiling aids investigations by predicting a
  serial offender's probable location. Using
  information from a series of related crimes, a
  mathematical model is used to analyze the
  locations of the crimes and characteristics of
  local neighborhoods to produce a map showing the
  areas in which the offender most likely lives,
  works, entertains, and travel routes. Developed
  by Detective Inspector Kim Rossmo, author of
  Geographic Profiling.

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Fundamental Assumptions and the Profiling Process

• The crime scene reflects the personality of the
  offender.
• The method of operation (M.O.) remains similar.
• The offenders signature will remain the same.
• The offenders personality will not change

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Components of a Typical Profile

• List of Case Material Examined and
  Background/Time Line of Case
• Victimology
• Crime Scene Characteristics

• Review/analysis of physical evidence
• Offender Characteristics
• Investigative Suggestions

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Key Criminological Concepts Central to the
Profiling Process

• ORGANIZED-DISORGANIZED TYPOLOGY
• PSYCHOPATHY/PSYCHOSIS
• PREDATORY/AFFECTIVE AGGRESSION
• MO AND SIGNATURE
• SEXUAL HOMICIDE TYPOLOGIES

These and other concepts/typologies crucial to
the profiling process because they offer a
language with which to discuss, explain, and
classify that provides a foundation upon which
inferences can be made and a profile can then be
constructed based to aid in investigation,
interrogation, risk assessment, and case linkage.
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Crime Prevention, Public Safety, and Victim
Services

• Many police departments and private security
  firms make recommendations to communities based
  on concepts drawn from routine activity theory
  and research on environmental and situational
  crime prevention.
• Theory and research on situational and
  opportunity dynamics of crime and offender
  typologies that offer insight regarding the M.O,
  motivation, and victim selection of different
  types of offenders provide critical information
  in preventing crime and enhancing public safety.

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Routine Activity Theory

• Routine activity theory tells us that potential
  offenders are more likely to commit crime when
  temptations are high and controls are low and
  that all crimes include three elements
• A likely offender
• A suitable target
• The absence of a capable guardian

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Applying Routine Activity Theory

• Studies show that
• Certain crimes are more likely to occur when
  facilitators are present, when there is an
  audience present, and/or when there is
  camouflage to help the offender avoid being
  noticed
• Some products are stolen more than others
• Access and visibility are key factors in
  burglars decisions to select particular targets.
  
• Robbers are more likely to select victims who
  they perceive to be vulnerable.
• Violent stranger crimes are statistically rare
  because it takes an extremely bold offender whose
  temptation has superseded the high controls
  present in a stranger offense.

• How are these findings applied to criminal
  justice policy and practice?

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Environmental and Situational Crime Prevention

• ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME PREVENTION
• (Re)constructing or rearranging aspects of the
  environment with attention to the ecological
  aspects of crime and its prevention.
• SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION
• Altering situations to crime targets less
  rewarding while increasing risks, effort, and
  guilt to reduce temptation to commit crime.

Many law enforcement, public housing, college
campuses, and other agencies have applied the
principles of situational and environmental crime
prevention.
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Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
(CPTED)

• C Ray Jeffreys term Crime Prevention through
  Environmental Design (CPTED) is used to refer to
  a problem-solving approach to crime prevention
  involving a comprehensive crime reduction
  strategy that encompasses principles of routine
  activity theory and environmental and situational
  crime prevention.
• This application of theories of rational choice,
  situational and environmental crime prevention,
  and routine activity has been termed alternative
  criminology, alt-criminology, and applied
  crime analysis

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Victim Services

• Theories and typologies of crime can assist in
  developing and improving victim services.
• Research shows that
• The response of victims in the aftermath of crime
  is dependent on the nature of the offense and the
  subtype of offender responsible for the crime.
• Family members of homicide offenders and violent
  crime victims have different needs than victims
  of property and public order crime.
• Victims of sex crimes require services that
  specifically address the nature of the harm
  resulting from the particular offense.
• Victims of child abuse, family violence, and
  elder abuse greatly benefit from targeted support
  and continuity of services from charging through
  sentencing .
• Crisis intervention, advocacy, support throughout
  the investigative process, and counseling
  services are informed by research and theory on
  the ways in which different types of crime and
  the dynamics of offenses impact victims

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Courts

• Criminal Law and the Insanity Defense
• Selective Incapacitation Habitual Offender and
  Sexual Predator Laws
• Predicting Dangerousness and Violent Risk
  Assessment

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Criminal Law and the Insanity Defense

• Insanity is a legal concept that refers to
  diminished mental ability at the time of a crime
  that dismisses criminal responsibility
• For a behavior to be legally defined as a crime,
  two features must be present -- mens rea (a
  guilty mind) and actus reus (guilty act).
• What we know about the nature of different types
  of violent crimes has important implications for
  the criminal law. the relationship between law
  and science has always been conflicted. No where
  is this conflict more pronounced than in the
  legal contexts of the insanity defense where the
  science of mental illness and criminal behavior
  must be applied to make a legal determination of
  criminal responsibility.

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Legal Tests for Insanity

• THE MNAUGHTEN RULE
• THE DURHAM RULE
• THE AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE MODEL PENAL CODE
• THE INSANITY REFORM ACT OF 1984
• GUILTY BUT MENTALLY ILL

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Selective Incapacitation Habitual Offender and
Sexual Predator Laws

• It has long been recognized that a small number
  of offenders commit a disproportionate share of
  criminal behavior.
• The notion of the career criminal has dominated
  discourse on criminal justice policy probably
  more than any other single criminological
  concept.
• Though problematic, this concept has influenced
  legislation and policy since before the turn of
  the 20th century. More recently the notion of
  the career, chronic, habitual offender has
  influenced
• Three Strikes Legislation
• Sexual Predator Laws

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Predicting Dangerousness and Violent Risk
Assessment

• Theory and research on criminal behavior and
  offender types plays an important role in
  determining which individual offenders will and
  will not recidivate.
• The term prediction of dangerousness is
  generally used to refer to
• The prediction of general and violent recidivism
• The identification of conditions under which
  offender is likely to commit a crime and/or to
  behave aggressively or violently.
• Dangerousness prediction comes into play in a
  range of criminal justice decisions from pretrial
  release decisions, juvenile transfers to adult
  court, sentencing, civil commitment, and capital
  sentencing to correctional classification and
  treatment and parole/offender reentry.

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Decision Errors in Violence Risk Prediction
ACTUAL OUTCOME
Violent
Nonviolent
TRUE POSITIVE Hit FALSE POSITIVE Miss
FALSE NEGATIVE Miss TRUE NEGATIVE Hit
Dangerous High Risk
PREDICTED OUTCOME
Safe Low Risk
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Actuarial Instruments used in the Forensic
Assessment of Future Dangerousness

• Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
• Hare (1991, 2003)
• Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG)
• (Quinsey, Harris, Rice, Cormier, 1998)
• Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG)
• (Quinsey, Harris, Rice, Cormier, 1998)
• Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R)
• (Andrews Bonta, 1995, 2001, 2003)
• Historical, Clinical, Risk-20 (HCR-20)
• Webster, Douglas, Eaves, Hart (1995, 1997)
• Sexual Violence Risk-20 (SVR-20)
• (Boer, Hart, Kropp, Webster, 1997)
• Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offender
  Recidivism (RRASOR) (Hanson, 1997)

• Structured Anchored Clinical Judgment-Minimum
  (SACJ-Min)
• (Thornton, see Prentky Burgess, 2000)
• Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool
• (MnSOST-R)
• (Epperson et al, 2003)
• Static 99
• (Hanson Thornton, 1999)
• Sex Predator Risk Assessment Screening Instrument
• (English, 1999, 2006)
• Self-Appraisal Questionnaire
• (Loza Green, 2003)
• Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest
• (Abel, et al, 1994)

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Corrections

• Classification, Management, Supervision, and
  Treatment
• Community Supervision and Offender Reentry

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Classification, Management, Supervision, and
Treatment

• Theories and research on criminal behavior play
  an important role in the classification,
  management, and treatment of offenders in
  institutional and community corrections.
• Understanding the unique characteristics of
  offender types has important implications for
  correctional supervision and treatment.
• Findings from the substantial body of research on
  prediction and influences of criminal behavior
  suggests that offending behavior can be
  substantially reduced through preventative and
  treatment interventions and that correctional
  rehabilitation strategies targeting offender
  risk, need, and responsivity are far superior to
  variations in official punishment practices.

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Community Supervision and Offender Reentry

• What works in community corrections are carefully
  designed rehabilitation/treatment strategies that
  identify/attend to the risk, need, responsivity
  principle used in conjunction with increased
  surveillance or intensive rehabilitation
  supervision.
• Criminological theory and empirical research on
  offender reentry suggests that swift, certain,
  graduated responses coupled with immediate
  offender accountability enhance offender
  compliance with supervision conditions.
• Recognizing the characteristics of offender types
  and subtypes and the fit between the individual
  and the environment are important tools in
  community supervision.

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Summary

• The term applied criminology refers to the
  application of criminological theory to criminal
  justice practice.
• The application of theory to practice is crucial
  at all stages of the criminal justice --
  Understanding the connection between
  criminological theory and criminal justice
  practice is an essential component of criminal
  justice education and the foundation of
  theoretically grounded evidence-based
  initiatives.
• Societal response to criminal behavior at all
  stages of the criminal justice process from law
  enforcement and public safety to courts and law
  to corrections and offender reentry depend on
  what is known about the causes, nature, extent,
  types, and subtypes of criminal behavior.

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Discussion Questions

• Define the term applied criminology.
• Explain how criminological theories and
  typologies have been used in different stages of
  the criminal justice process.
• How has the predatory/affective aggression
  typology been applied in criminal justice
  practice? What are some of the problems in
  applying a theoretical model like this to
  real-world criminal behavior?
• Oftentimes, criminology and victimology are seen
  as completely separate areas of theory and
  research as if the study of crime and criminals
  has little or no connection to the study of
  victims and victimization. Discuss how theories
  and typologies of crime and criminals have been
  or could be applied to the study of victims,
  victimization, and the provision of victim
  services.