crim 103

• Risk Factor is a variable that, if present, increases the likelihood of a negative outcome
• Protective Factor:

  • Decreases the likelihood of a negative outcome or increases the likelihood of a positive outcome by changing exposure to a risk factor
  • Change the negative chain reaction following exposure to risk
  • Avail children of opportunities others in their situation would not have
• Static risk factor

  • Cannot be changed (e.g., History of physical abuse; age of onset of offending)
  • Distal (effect may dissipate over time)
  • Intervention of Static factors may reduce (?)
  • Significant does not necessarily mean impactful
• Risk Factor Domains:

  • Individual: ADHD (can be a risk factor, but the effect is very weak), ODD, CD, Psychopathy
  • Familial: poor parenting practices
  • School: negative school performance
  • Peer: antisocial peers
  • Community: poverty, neighborhood disadvantage
• Importance of Risk Factors in the CJS:

  • Provincial and federal corrections utilize risk and need assessments
  • Identify levels of criminal risk, treatment targets, treatment planning
  • Often used to help judges make decisions about sentencing
• Gender Differences in Risk Factors:

  • High School Samples:
  • Risk factors more prevalent among boys
  • Offender Samples:
  • Risk factors more prevalent among girls
• Protective Factor Domains:

  • Individual: intelligence, social skills, confidence
  • Familial: positive environment, supervision
  • Peer: prosocial peers
  • School: supportive teachers, availability of prosocial activities
  • Community: social cohesion, collective efficacy
• Definition of Crime:

  • Intentional behavior in violation of the criminal code
  • Intentional behavior did not occur accidentally or without justification or excuse
• Definition of Antisocial Behavior:

  • Violations of social norms
  • Usually applied only to adolescent (age 12-17) behavior
  • Alcohol use is an antisocial behavior for adolescents, but not for adults
  • Crime is legally defined, antisocial behavior is socially defined
• Victimization Surveys:

  • Addresses the dark figure of crime
  • Includes crimes that victims did not report to the police
  • Victimless crimes like drug trafficking, weapons possession are not reported
• Official Reports:

  • Highly reliable
  • Easy to record the number of arrests, charges, or convictions
  • Dark figure of crime
  • Only take the most serious offense
• Theory - Interrelated set of hypotheses about a phenomenon

  • Specify constructs
  • Define these constructs
  • Propose how these constructs relate to a phenomenon
• Learning Theories:

  • Humans born neither good nor evil
  • Tabula rasa – blank slate
  • Example: Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory
• Sociological explanations:

  • Macro level theories
  • Views crime as a large-scale social phenomenon
  • Age, gender, and social class are key variables
• Developmental Pathways:

  • Stepping stones to more serious behavior
• Moffitt’s Dual Taxonomy:

  • We can’t keep assuming that our theories will fit equally well to ALL offenders
  • There may be different types of offenders with different patterns of offending characterized by different risk factors
• • Psychological Risk Factors:
  • Cognitive risk factors:
  • IQ, ADHD, CD, ODD
  • CU traits/Psychopathy:
  • Paul Frick: CU traits can be identified as early as age 3
  • Two types of empathy: cognitive and emotional
• Social Risk Factors:

  • Poverty
  • Most impoverished do not offend, but…
  • Poverty increases the likelihood of other factors (e.g., crime-ridden neighborhood) that in turn increase the risk of offending
• ADHD:

  • Includes inattention, impulsivity, and excessive motor activity
  • Important genetic component
  • Treat ADHD through drugs that stimulate the brain
• Myths of Biological Theory:

  • Sociologists describe biological theories as ‘deterministic theories’
  • No publishing author working in the field of crime and biological theory believes in things like a ‘crime gene’
• Franz Gall - Phrenology

  • The shape of the skull can be used to predict criminality (wrong idea)
• The Mark of Cain:

  • Cain offered crops as a sacrifice to God
  • God rejected Cain’s sacrifice and accepted his brother Abel’s sacrifice of a goat
  • Cain killed Abel
  • God ‘marked’ Cain as a curse
• Sheldon’s Somatotypes:

  • Ectomorph - skinny and withdrawn
  • Endomorph - obtuse and outgoing
  • Mesomorph - muscular and aggressive
• Early Biological Theories - Early theories influenced by political ideology, lacked comparison groups
• Family Studies:

  • Early criminological theories emphasized that family values were critical in preventing criminal behavior
  • Later (early 1900s), Henry Goddard and others suggested that ‘feeblemindedness’ was hereditary and explained the development of crime and delinquency
• Twin Studies:

  • Examine whether criminal behavior is present among MZ and DZ twins
  • Approximately 50% of the variation in antisocial behavior can be explained by genetics
• Specific Twin Studies:

  • Twins’ Early Development Study (n = 13,000 pairs)
  • High heritability of CU traits
  • Heritability less strong for antisocial behavior
  • However, maltreatment * genetic risk a good indicator of future antisocial behavior
  • Swedish Twin Study:
  • Genetic effect seems specific to early onset of antisocial behavior
• Limitations of Twin Studies:

  • Low base rate of violent behavior in twin studies
  • Can lead to type 2 error (false negative)
  • Shared environment more homogeneous for MZ
• Adoption Studies:

  • Help deal with the shared environment issue of twin studies and thus tease apart genetic/environmental effects
  • Two study designs:
  • Concordance between child and bio/adopted parent
  • Concordance between child and their adopted/biological siblings
  • Problem of generalizability
  • Abnormal rates of ASB and environments of adopted children tend to be more advantageous
• Twin studies:

  • Can show whether behavioural similarity is due to genetics or environment
  • Twins more likely to share the same environment than non-twins
• Adoption Studies:

  • Type of a natural experiment showing whether behaviour is influenced by bio or adopted parents
  • Less common, may not be generalizable
• Genetic Research:

  • Twin and adoption studies do not identify specific genes at play. This is the role of molecular genetics
  • Genes are not static/fixed. The environment can actually alter genes
• Molecular Genetics:

  • 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs. Each chromosome contains a DNA strand that is comprised of thousands of genes
  • Some genes come in different forms (AKA polymorphism) and explain why there is variation among people
  • Alternative forms of the same gene are called alleles
  • A particular human trait is typically governed by multiple genes and is referred to as polygenic
• Diathesis stress model - Genetic vulnerability to psychopathological dysfunction. Avoid the environmental trigger, avoid the dysfunction
• Neurotransmitters:

  • The body’s chemical messengers between neurons
  • Neurotransmitter imbalances can be genetic or environmentally-influenced
• Serotonin – behavioural inhibition, mood regulation; correlation between malfunctioning serotonin and aggression
• Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA):

  • AKA the warrior gene
  • MAOA enzyme is responsible for breaking down neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine
  • Low activity MAOA can lead to, for example, excessive levels of dopamine
• Hormones and Crime:

  • The endocrine system regulates hormone production and distribution
  • Imbalances can lead to mood swings/aggression
• The Brain and Crime: Neuroimaging:

  • Examines structural and functional characteristics of the brain
  • Damage to frontal lobe – a frequent abnormality found in offenders
  • Impairments to limbic system (emotion) and temporal lobe (behavioral regulation, personality) implicated in antisocial behaviour
• The Brain and Crime: Neuropsychology:

  • Neuropsychology studies brain function indirectly
  • A battery of paper/pencil and/or motor tests designed to diagnose what part of the brain is malfunctioning