What makes a criminal

• Self Fulfilling Prophecy

  A person is labelled as criminal. They are then treated that way by society the person then adopts the label of criminal as part of their self image.

  JAHODA- Ashanti tribe name boys after the day of the week they were born and it is believed that the day they were born impacts their temperament. Police reports reinforce this belief.
• Social Cognition

  Criminals are more likely to make situational attributions for their own behaviour such as excusing their criminal behaviour as a result of poor parenting, peer pressure or a deprived background.

  SCULLY &MAROLLA- interviewed 114 rapists and found 40% blamed the victim and 60% blamed alcohol or drugs.
• Chemical Imbalances

  Hormones such as high levels of testosterone link with violent crime.

  DABBS- studied 692 male prisoners and found inmates who had committed personal crimes of sex and violence had higher levels of testosterone.
• Brain Dysfunction

  Abnormalities in the brain such as in the prefrontal lobe can cause issues with impulse control, judgement and conscience.

  RAINE
• RAINE

  Aim- to use pet scans to discover whether there are brain abnormalities in murderers who plead NGRI

  Method- quasi experiment that had a sample of 41 NGRIs and 41 controls. All participants were kept medication free two weeks before scanning. Participants worked at a continuous performance task based around target recognition and then given a PET scan.

  Results- NGRIs had less activity in their prefrontal areas showing a loss of self-control and altered emotion.
• APPLICATION- Pharmacotherapy

  Pharmacotherapy or chemical castration is where the use of drugs such as MPA are used to reduce abnormally excessive sex drives and sexual desires which could result in criminal sexual behaviours by reducing the level of testosterone.

  MALETZKY- The use of MPA with sexual offenders meant that they were significantly less likely to reoffend than those who had no treatment and were more likely to meet the conditions of their parole.
• APPLICATION- Omega 3

  Omega 3 supplements can improve brain functioning with the specific benefit of reducing anger and aggression. These supplements can help people who display violent behaviour to control those impulses. Aylesbury prison gave prisoners a supplement and saw violence within the prison fall by 37%.