Cognitive

• Criminal personality theory (Yochelson and Samenow 1976) says that the roots of criminality lie in the way people think and make decisions.
• This theory is built on a long term study conducted on 240 male offenders most of whom had been locked in a psychiatric hospital.
• Some of the characteristics of these criminals include faulty thinking errors: lying and secretiveness, need for power, super optimism, lack of trust and victim stance.
• A strength of criminal personality is the idea that criminals' thinking patterns are different from normal has led to other research. PICTS (Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Style) is a questionnaire aimed at measuring someone's criminal thought patterns.
• CBT is quite successful, and has come about as a result of this criminal personality theory.
• Some limitations of this criminal personality theory are that Yochelson and Samenow did not use a control group of non criminals to see if normal people still make the same thinking errors.
• Yochelson and Samenow's sample was unrepresentative. There were no women and most of the men had been found insane, yet they still argue that these thinking patterns can be generalised across all criminals.
• Yochelson and Samenow's study had a high attrition (drop out) rate. By the end, only 30 participants were left in the study.
• Kohlberg's moral development theory argues that a criminal is stuck at a much earlier stage in the cycle.
• Level 1: Pre morality.

  PUNISHMENT & OBEDIENCE ORIENTATION: doing what is right because of fear of punishment.

  HEDONISTIC ORIENTATION: doing what is right for personal gain
• Level 2: Conventional Morality

  INTERPERSONAL CONCORDANCE ORIENTATION: doing what is right because of the majority.

  LAW & ORDER ORIENTATION: doing what is right because it is your duty and laws must be protected.
• Level 3: Postconventional Morality

  SOCIAL CONTRACT OR LEGALISTIC ORIENTATION: doing what is morally right, maybe despite the law.

  UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES ORIENTATION: doing what is right because of our inner conscience
• A strength of Kohlberg would be that some studies show delinquents are more likely to have immature moral development, aligning with the theory's predictions.
• Another strength of Kohlberg's theory is that Thornton and Reid found the theory to be truer for crimes such as theft and robbery (which may involve reasoning) than impulsive crimes such as murder.
• A limitation of Kohlberg's theory is his focus on moral thinking and not moral behaviour. Someone may be thinking morally while committing a crime, such as in the case of euthanasia.
• Think First - a programme of group and one to one sessions for repeat offenders on probation. It teaches self control, consequential thinking and problem solving skills. Provides social interaction and moral reasoning training, as well as allows offenders to practise empathy.
• Think First is quite successful. Those completing the programme are 30% less likely to be re-convicted than offenders who receive an alternative community sentence. However, the non-completion rate is often high.
• Another form of CBT is Aggression Replacement Training (ART). It is a programme for violent or aggressive offenders. Interpersonal skills training through role playing. Anger control techniques. Rolemodelling and roleplay techniques encourage repetition of this behaviour.
• ART may improve thinking skills, but not so much actual behaviour.
• Not all CBT programmes are equally suitable or successful. It would be pointless to put a non-violent petty thief on an ART course. Home Office 'What Works' policy matches people to the correct courses.