Summary THE PREDESTINED ACTOR MODEL

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THE PREDESTINED ACTOR MODEL

FOUNDATION: Positivist School (individual positivism)
ATTRIBUTES:
 Rejection of the legal definition of crime
 Treatment should fit the offender
 Doctrine of determinism
 Scientific methodology
FORMULATIONS OF PREDESTINED ACTOR MODEL:
 Biological positivism (Italian school and biosocial explanation)
 Psychological positivism (psychodynamic/ analytic ; behavioural and cognitive)
KEY CONCEPTS
BEHAVIOURAL PERSPECTIVE
 focuses primarily on overt behaviour, its observable antecedents and consequences, rather
than upon internal processes.
 Behaviourists stress social learning and behaviour modelling as the key to criminality
BIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM
 claims that human beings commit crime because of factors internal to the physical body
over which they have little or no control
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 is a learned response to a stimulus
COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
 is explicitly concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, decision-
making and problem-solving
 Cognitive theorists, therefore, analyse human perception and how it affects behaviour
CONDITIONING
 is the process by which associations are learnt between our actions and the consequences
of our actions
DENIAL
 is simply discounting the existence of threatening impulses.
 For example, a person with homosexual tendencies may vehemently deny ever feeling any
physical attraction to a person of the same sex


DETERMINISM

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 means that factors outside the individual’s control (be they biological, psychological,
sociological, or some combination) push that individual into criminal behaviour.
 From this perspective, crime does not result from choice, or rational decision-making, but
from sheer force of circumstance
DISPLACEMENT
 is deflecting an impulse from its original target to a less threatening one. Anger at one’s
boss may be expressed through hostility to a shop assistant, a family member, or even the
dog
OPERANT CONDITIONING
 is associated with social learning theory which states that behaviour is shaped by the
consequences that follow the act
PERSONALITY
 is a term used to describe an individual’s temperamental and emotional attributes that are
relatively consistent and that will influence his or her behaviour
PHRENOLOGY
 theory of behaviour is based on the belief that the exterior of the skull corresponds to the
interior and to the brain’s conformation.
 Phrenologists claim that a propensity towards certain types of behaviour may be discovered
by examining the bumps on the head
POSITIVIST CRIMINOLOGY
 is an approach to the study of crime that adopts a deterministic approach; in other words,
offenders are regarded as being propelled into committing criminal acts by forces
(biological, psychological, or sociological) over which they have no control.
 Common to all forms of positivist criminology is the belief that society is based on
consensual values and offenders should be treated rather than punished for their actions.
 Positivists also insist that theories that purport to explain the ‘‘why?’’ of crime should be
based on scientific analysis
PSYCHODYNAMIC or PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE
 takes the view that people have a complex inner mental life, much of which takes place at
an unconscious level, and which holds the key to understanding behaviour.
 For example, dreams and emotional problems can have deeper meanings which can be
uncovered by the analyst
 Psychoanalysts focus on early childhood experience and its effect on personality
PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM
 focuses on the mind of the criminal.
 These theorists view crime as an action that is symptomatic of internal neurological
disorders or deeply hidden personality disturbances within an individual.

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 Psychological positivism includes the study of individual characteristics, which include
personality, reasoning, thought, intelligence, learning, perception, imagination, memory and
creativity
REPRESSION
 means unconsciously ‘‘pushing under’’ threatening memories, urges, or ideas from
conscious awareness.
 A person may experience memory loss in the case of highly traumatic events
SOCIOLOGICAL POSITIVISM
 is a theoretical approach within criminology that emphasises the social determinants of
behaviour (e.g. the effects of wealth and social class), and that pays little regard to
individual decision-making or choice
SUBLIMATION
 is converting unacceptable impulses by acting in a way that opposes them.
 For example, a sexual interest in a married friend might take the appearance of strong
dislike instead