Criminal behaviour

• Characteristics of criminal behaviour

  • The specific characteristics of 'criminal behaviour' are difficult to define, as there are many different types of crime and criminal behaviour which are bound to the laws of each society
  • These laws and definitions also change over time
  • One thing that all criminal behaviours have in common is that the behaviour has a detrimental or harmful effect (physical, psychological, financial etc) on a victim, and the person committing the crime (the perpetrator) knows that what they are doing is wrong or illegal
  • Unlike disorders such as schizophrenia, which have specific diagnostic criteria to exemplify the characteristics, the characteristics of criminal behaviour have tended to be identified and linked to specific criminal acts; many of which are abhorrent even to just read about
  • Most research relating to the characteristics of the people who have displayed criminal behaviour has investigated the shared characteristics of people who have committed similar crime
  • Psychological research in this field has been directed mostly to the most heinous of criminal acts, such as serial murder and rape
• Serial murder


  Term coined by Robert Ressler, an investigator based in the F.B.I's Behavioral Science Unit, in the 1970s
• Serial killings are thought to account for less than 2% of all actual murder cases
• Characteristics of serial killers

  • They are white, male and between the ages of 25-34
  • They are intelligent or at least 'street smart' and were considered to be charming and charismatic
• Subtypes of serial killers

  • Visionary serial killers
  • Mission serial killers
  • Hedonistic serial killers (lust/thrill and comfort orientated)
  • Power control serial killers
• Visionary serial killers


  Motivated to kill by voices or visions, can be both lucid and lose touch with reality, frequently report their actions are due to orders from God or the Devil, kill quickly and don't engage in 'staging' at crime scenes, usually declared insane or incompetent to stand trial
• Mission serial killers


  Believe they have a calling to eliminate a certain group of people, in touch with reality apart from their self-imposed need to eradicate certain groups, may stalk a potential victim and generally displays an organised typology
• Hedonistic serial killers


  Have two subtypes, lust/thrill and comfort orientated. For the lust/thrill killer, there is an established link between sexual gratification and violence, they tend to have a distinct process that they follow, and the crimes are protracted. The comfort orientated killer kills for personal gain, such as property or money, they are the only type of serial killer where the perpetrator is more likely to be female, they tend to be geographically mobile, and hence hard to catch
• Power control serial killers

  Derive sexual gratification from dominating and controlling the life of another, may be a sociopath and they choose to live by their own rules, but they are aware of the norms and values of the society in which they live, they try to derive the most gratification by prolonging their crimes and although they may use weapons, they often experience a strong compulsion to strangle their victims
• Fraud


  When trickery is used to gain a dishonest advantage, which is often financial, over another person
• Fraud is the most common form of criminal behaviour in the UK, with 3,675,000 incidents reported by the ONS in March 2020
• Fraud against individuals was estimated by the National Fraud Authority in 2013 to cost £9 billion every year</b>
• Characteristics of individual victims of fraud

  • Most tend to be elderly or vulnerable in some way
• Scampreneur


  Term coined to describe fraudsters who demonstrate characteristics similar to that of the usual entrepreneur
• Characteristics of fraudsters against organisations

  • People between the ages of 36 and 55 (69% of fraudsters investigated)
  • Predominantly male (79%), with the proportion of women on the rise at 17%, up from 13% in 2010
  • A threat from within (65% are employed by the company)
  • Hold an executive or director level position (35%)
  • Employed in the organization for at least six years (38%)
  • Described as an autocratic individual (18%) and are three times as likely to be regarded as friendly
  • Esteemed, describing themselves as well-respected in their organization
  • Likely to have colluded with others (62% of frauds, down just slightly from 70% in the 2013 survey)
  • Motivated by personal gain (60%), greed (36%) and the sense of 'because i can' (27%)
• Amygdala


  Part of the brain that may be linked to aggression
• Autopsy revealed a tumour pressing into the amygdala, possibly impairing its functioning
• Animal studies


  • Support a link between the limbic system and aggression
  • Flynn carried out studies on cats in the 1960s, using electrodes to stimulate the amygdala directly
  • Egger and Flynn (1963) introduced a rat to the cat's cage and found that the two animals would ignore each other
  • When the amygdala was electrically stimulated, the cat immediately attacked and killed the rat (predatory aggression)
  • Stimulation of a different part of the amygdala caused the cat to ignore the rat and attack the experimenter (affective/emotional/fear-based aggression)
• Criminal behaviours can be explained by biological factors
• Disinhibition hypothesis


  Focuses on the role of inhibition - most of the time we are inhibited from behaving aggressively or criminally, but dysfunctions in brain functioning can mean we are unable to inhibit socially inappropriate behaviour
• Inherited criminality


  Focuses on the possibility of a 'criminal gene' including MAOA and CDH13 - genetic differences may cause differences in neurotransmitter functioning or brain activity that are linked to criminal behaviour
• Role of the amygdala

  The amygdala plays a key role in emotional behaviour and its dysfunction is implicated in psychopathy
• Eysenck's criminal personality theory

  Based on three key personality dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism - extraverts seek more arousal and are more likely to engage in criminal behaviours, neurotics are unable to inhibit reactions to threats, and psychoticism is associated with lack of empathy and increased aggression

  
• Intelligence factors


  There is a negative correlation between intelligence and crime, and a stronger correlation between learning difficulties and criminal behaviour
• Psychopathic personality


  Characterised by lack of empathy and manipulative behaviour - psychopaths make up a significant proportion of the prison population and are responsible for a high proportion of violent and sexual crimes
• Gender socialisation theory


  • Boys and girls are socialised differently, with boys being encouraged to take risks, be tough and aggressive, leading to more criminal behaviour
  • Girls are supervised and controlled more, limiting their opportunities for criminal behaviour
• Social learning theory


  People (especially children) learn behaviour by observing and imitating role models, and are more likely to imitate role models who share their characteristics
• Role models in gender socialisation

  • Girls have an easily accessible role model in their mother, but boys' role model (their father) is often absent during formative years, leading them to reject 'feminine' influence and pursue a 'masculine' identity involving toughness and aggression
  • If boys don't have a readily available role model, socialisation can be difficult and they may turn to all-male peer groups or street gangs to express masculinity
• Social control theory


  Girls are socialised away from criminal behaviour through greater control and supervision, and the roles they are expected to take on like 'mother' take up more time than committing crime
• Crimes of powerlessness


  Women turn to crime as a rational alternative when low-paid work and unemployment have not led to the standard of living they hoped for, and they feel unrewarded by family and the workplace
• Group influence on criminal behaviour

  • Criminal behaviour is often influenced by peer pressure and deindividuation within groups
• Peer pressure is when an individual gets encouraged to follow their peers by changing their attitudes or behaviours
• Deindividuation is a concept where people lose their sense of individual identity and self-awareness when in a group
• Differential association theory (Sutherland)

  Attitudes to criminal behaviour are important, someone who learns pro-crime attitudes through association with criminals will be more likely to commit a crime, criminal behaviour is also learnt through association with criminals (and via conditioning/reward) and becomes internalised
• Gender socialisation


  Broadly a social learning explanation which applies knowledge about gender roles in general to criminal behaviour. For example, boys are encouraged to take risks more than girls are, boys are encouraged to demonstrate physical strength more than girls. Conversely girls are more controlled / monitored than boys. This gives more both more motivation and more opportunity
• Normalisation theory


  Also a social learning approach and considers the key role of the media in the normalisation of crime and our desensitisation to it
• Restorative justice


  Has three main aims: 1) It provides an opportunity for offenders to 'atone' for their criminal behaviour. 2) It provides an opportunity for offenders to take responsibility for their actions and by learning about the impact their criminal actions have on others. 3) It provides the victims of crime some input into the process
• Anger management (AM)


  A type of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) that aims to help individuals use productive methods to manage their anger, instead of demonstrating their anger in abusive, aggressive, and criminal ways
• Anger management programme


  1. Cognitive restructuring: this aims to promote greater self-awareness and control over cognitive dimensions of anger

  2. Regulation of arousal: this aims to identify physiological signs of anger and techniques to deal with them

  3. Behavioural strategies: this aims to develop problem solving and assertiveness skills
• Stages in anger management programmes

  1. Stage 1 - cognitive preparation: offenders analyse their own patterns of anger: the situations and the thinking processes that accompany their anger

  2. Stage 2 - skills acquisition: the offenders learn skills to help them manage their anger

  3. Stage 3 - application practice: offenders practise their newly acquired skills in a controlled and non-threatening environment