Summary Notes For Forensics

Forensic psychology
Outline the historical approach as a biological explanation of offending behaviour (6 marks)

 Explanation suggests you are biologically born to a criminal
 Lombroso suggested that criminals and essentially throwbacks to an earlier species.
‘Atavistic’ means a tendency to revert to an ancestral type
 Lombroso proposed certain features make you more likely to be chin receding, excessive
length of arms, asymmetry of the face
 Turvey (2011) identifies 18 different characteristics that make up the atavistic type. Basic
assumption is that innate physiological make-up of person causes them to become a criminal
 Lombroso based his theory on his own research using post-mortem examinations of
criminals and studying his faces of living criminals. Particular study= 383 convicted Italian
criminals, found 21% had one atavistic trait and 43% had at least 5
 Lombroso proposed inherited atavistic from interacted with person’s physical and social
environment. Led to 3 types of criminals:
o Born criminals= atavistic types, identified by physical characteristics
o Insane criminals= suffering from mental illness
o Crimnaloids= large class of offenders whose mental characteristics predisposed
them to criminal behaviour under the right circumstances
 Somatotypes= Kretschmer suggested 4 types based over 4,000 criminals:
o Tall and thin, petty thieves
o Tall and muscular, crimes of violence
o Short and fat, commit crimes of deception and sometimes violence
o More than 1 type, crimes against morality

Outline genetic and neural explanations as biological explanations of offending behaviour (6 marks)

 Link between genetic and neural explanations help explain criminal behaviour
Genetic explanations
 Genetic explanations propose 1 or more genes predispose individuals to criminal behaviour
Raine (1993)= research into delinquent behaviour of twins and found 52% concordance for
MZ twins compared with 21% for DZ twins
 Abnormally low activity levels of MAOA leads to criminal behaviour because it leads to
impulsive and aggressive behaviour (Brunner analyse of DNA 1993)
 Low levels of activity in CDH13 and MAOA leads to offensive behaviour (Tilhonen)= 5-10%
crimes due to abnormalities in both genes

Neural explanations

 Considers how structures of the brain may be different in criminals as well as differences in
neurotransmitter levels
 Murderers, psychopaths and violent individuals have lowered activity in area associated with
impulsiveness and loss of control in prefrontal cortex (Raine 2004= 71 brain image studies)
 Raine (1997) = found abnormal asymmetries in limbic system of murderers, especially
amygdala= there was reduced activity on left and increased activity on right
 Research (Seo 2008) suggest that low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin may predispose
individuals to impulsive aggression and criminal behaviour, because it leads to a lack of
inhibition of aggressive urges.

,  High levels of noradrenaline are associated with activation of sympathetic nervous systems
and flight-or-fight response, and thus linked to aggression. Noradrenaline also helps people
react to perceived threats, so low levels reduce this ability.

Outline cognitive explanations as a psychological explanation for offending behaviour (6 marks)

 Cognitive distortions:
 Form of irrational thinking where reality has become twisted so that what is
perceived no longer represents what’s actually true
 2 examples= hostile attribution bias and minimalization
 Hostile attribution bias:
 Someone has a leaning towards always thinking the worst
 E.g. someone smiling but you think the person is actually thinking bad thoughts
about you= such interpretations than lead to more aggressive behaviour
 Linked to increased levels of aggression
 Minimalisation:
 Offenders under-exaggerate significance of their crimes and emotional
consequences suffered by their crimes
 Helps individuals accept consequences of their own behaviour and means negative
emotions can be reduced
 Kohlberg’s moral reasoning theory:
 Suggested there are 3 universal levels of moral reasoning: characterised by Kohlberg
suggested that there are 3 universal levels of moral reasoning, each characterised by
a certain logic. These include the pre-conventional level (punishment orientation),
the conventional level (maintenance of the social order) and the post-conventional
level (morality of contract and individual rights).
 Criminals likely to be at pre-conventional level (Hollins 2002), believe breaking law
justified if rewards outweigh costs or if punishment avoided
 Kohlberg proposed that criminals have a childlike, immature sense of reasoning, and
so reason at the pre-conventional level, whilst non-criminals will reason at the
conventional or postconventional levels, thus being able to display more civilised
and empathic behaviours, as suggested by Chandler (1973).

Outline psychodynamic explanations as a psychological explanation to offending behaviour (6 marks)

Bowlby explanation:

 Prolonged separation between mother-substitute and child has long term emotional
consequences.
 Long term separation= affectionless psychopaths= no empathy= linked criminal behaviour
 Bowlby 44 juvenile thieves= Bowlby observed delinquent behaviour (stealing) in young
patients with frequent separation= found 86% affectionless thieves had experienced early
separation= 0 separation for control group

Superego explanation:

 Weak or undeveloped superego= occurs because of a lack of identification with same-sex
parent; results in little control over anti-social id impulses
 Harsh or overdeveloped superego= overidentification with same-sex parent means excessive
feelings of guilt and a desire to be caught, so punishment can reduce feelings of guilt
 Deviant superego= child identifies with a deviant parent and thus adopts deviant attitudes