Criminal behaviour
❖ Clinical Characteristics: Definition of crime, Andrews and Bonta, Farr and
Gibbons, Chase shared characteristics of criminals
❖ Biological Explanations: Inherited criminality→ brain structure
❖ Individual Differences Explanations: Eysenck’s theory of criminality →
cognitive factors
❖ Social Psychological Explanations: Differential association theory →
gender socialisation
❖ Methods of Modifying Behaviour: CBT anger management→
restorative justice
Clinical Characteristics
Definition→ The legal tradition in the UK is that a crime has not been committed
unless there is an actus reus (an act voluntarily carried out) and mens rea (an
intention to commit the act).
Official national statistics (ONS)
They collect and publish information about different types and amounts of criminal behaviour
and categorises the behaviour into 2 ‘primary offence groups’:
➔ Victim-based crimes
➔ Crimes against society
Andrews and Bonta
They offer an insight into what criminal behaviour is and includes. An act prohibited by law and
punished by the state. An action considered to be a violation of moral or religious code. An
action that violates the norms of society. An action that causes serious psychological stress to a
victim, these are the 4 definitions of criminal behaviour
Farr and Gibbons
They suggested 7 categories for different types of crimes:
➔ Property predatory crime→ involved in attempting to/taking the personal
property of others without permission
➔ Property fraudulent crime→ involved in manipulation with purpose of
converting property to their own use
➔ Interpersonal violent-general→ involved in actions that threaten or cause actual
personal harm
➔ Interpersonal violent-sexual→ involved in actions that threaten or cause actual
personal harm and contain a sexual element
, ➔ Transactional crime→ involved in ‘victimless’ offences where there’s a willing
exchange of goods or services
➔ Order disruption→ involved in actions where there’s no direct victim, but
concern is raised about potential victim
➔ Folk/mundane crime→ involved in actions that range from minor role violations
Jennifer Chase 10 common characteristics of criminals
➔ Rationalisation→ people who rationalise their behaviour by diverting blame
and living a life of crime and question the motives of others
➔ Entitlement→ they live by the simple motto ‘me’ and are self-centred
➔ Asocial value system→ rarely show any remorse for their actions and fail to
adhere to norms of society
➔ Sentimentality→ many criminals see themselves in a positive light as they
have sentimentality to certain things like children
➔ Impulsive→ unable to control one’s behaviour
➔ Family dysfunction→ they have a lack of family support
➔ Easily distracted→ easily distracted from their ambitions and goals
➔ Power centric→ tend to lack of people and situations as a power struggle
➔ Invincibility→ belief that they won’t get caught
➔ Cognitive laziness→ they choose a path of the least resistance which implies
they have a lack of ambition
Biological explanations: Inherited Criminality
In order: Genetic factors, monoamine oxidase A gene, Recent genetic findings
Genetic factors
One of more genes predisposes individuals to criminal behaviour.
Evidence for the genetic inheritance comes from the Monozygotic twin studies are compared
to Dizygotic twins. Raine reviewed the delinquent behaviour of twins and found 52%
concordance for MZ twins compared with 21% for DZ twins. The shared twins were higher in
MZ twins who share 100% of their genes than in DZ twins who share fewer genes.
Family study conducted by Osborn and West who compared the sons of criminal and non-
criminal fathers. They found that 13% of the sons of the non-criminal fathers had criminal
convictions, compared with 40% of the sons of criminal fathers. This therefore supports the
argument that the closer the genetic link, the more likely there were similar behavioural patterns.
MAOA
❖ Clinical Characteristics: Definition of crime, Andrews and Bonta, Farr and
Gibbons, Chase shared characteristics of criminals
❖ Biological Explanations: Inherited criminality→ brain structure
❖ Individual Differences Explanations: Eysenck’s theory of criminality →
cognitive factors
❖ Social Psychological Explanations: Differential association theory →
gender socialisation
❖ Methods of Modifying Behaviour: CBT anger management→
restorative justice
Clinical Characteristics
Definition→ The legal tradition in the UK is that a crime has not been committed
unless there is an actus reus (an act voluntarily carried out) and mens rea (an
intention to commit the act).
Official national statistics (ONS)
They collect and publish information about different types and amounts of criminal behaviour
and categorises the behaviour into 2 ‘primary offence groups’:
➔ Victim-based crimes
➔ Crimes against society
Andrews and Bonta
They offer an insight into what criminal behaviour is and includes. An act prohibited by law and
punished by the state. An action considered to be a violation of moral or religious code. An
action that violates the norms of society. An action that causes serious psychological stress to a
victim, these are the 4 definitions of criminal behaviour
Farr and Gibbons
They suggested 7 categories for different types of crimes:
➔ Property predatory crime→ involved in attempting to/taking the personal
property of others without permission
➔ Property fraudulent crime→ involved in manipulation with purpose of
converting property to their own use
➔ Interpersonal violent-general→ involved in actions that threaten or cause actual
personal harm
➔ Interpersonal violent-sexual→ involved in actions that threaten or cause actual
personal harm and contain a sexual element
, ➔ Transactional crime→ involved in ‘victimless’ offences where there’s a willing
exchange of goods or services
➔ Order disruption→ involved in actions where there’s no direct victim, but
concern is raised about potential victim
➔ Folk/mundane crime→ involved in actions that range from minor role violations
Jennifer Chase 10 common characteristics of criminals
➔ Rationalisation→ people who rationalise their behaviour by diverting blame
and living a life of crime and question the motives of others
➔ Entitlement→ they live by the simple motto ‘me’ and are self-centred
➔ Asocial value system→ rarely show any remorse for their actions and fail to
adhere to norms of society
➔ Sentimentality→ many criminals see themselves in a positive light as they
have sentimentality to certain things like children
➔ Impulsive→ unable to control one’s behaviour
➔ Family dysfunction→ they have a lack of family support
➔ Easily distracted→ easily distracted from their ambitions and goals
➔ Power centric→ tend to lack of people and situations as a power struggle
➔ Invincibility→ belief that they won’t get caught
➔ Cognitive laziness→ they choose a path of the least resistance which implies
they have a lack of ambition
Biological explanations: Inherited Criminality
In order: Genetic factors, monoamine oxidase A gene, Recent genetic findings
Genetic factors
One of more genes predisposes individuals to criminal behaviour.
Evidence for the genetic inheritance comes from the Monozygotic twin studies are compared
to Dizygotic twins. Raine reviewed the delinquent behaviour of twins and found 52%
concordance for MZ twins compared with 21% for DZ twins. The shared twins were higher in
MZ twins who share 100% of their genes than in DZ twins who share fewer genes.
Family study conducted by Osborn and West who compared the sons of criminal and non-
criminal fathers. They found that 13% of the sons of the non-criminal fathers had criminal
convictions, compared with 40% of the sons of criminal fathers. This therefore supports the
argument that the closer the genetic link, the more likely there were similar behavioural patterns.
MAOA
