PSBE2-22 capita-selecta-clinical-forensic-psychology Summary

Capita Selecta in Clinical Psychology – “Clinical forensic psychology”

 Recidivists: those who are resistant to treatment
 Anonymous missives: crimes of harassment of stalking
 Abnormal offender
o A hybrid offender challenging health and justice systems which assume clients that
are either disordered or offenders
o Mad-bad debate: connection between criminal behavior and mental abnormality
o Male are more often seen as “bad” females as ”mad”
o Disorders associated with crimes
 Schizophrenia (hallucinations, paranoia)
 Mood disorders (depression)
 One-sided suicide pacts: seeing negative future in a threatening
world for those close to them – killing them as a “way out”
 Bipolar disorder: reckless act or paranoia
 Substance abuse: pretty crime
 Mental retardation: low IQ or lack of empathy (autism)
o Mens rea (“clear mind”), having free will, then labeled as bad
o Twinkie defense argument: defending oneself because one could not distinguish
right from wrong – mentally ill
o Disorders linked to crime: XYY sex-chromosome abnormality, genetic predisposition
to crime, maternal deprivation, abnormalities of brain structure and function, ADHD
 Clinical correlates of crime: constitutional and psychological factors
o UK, 1969: the Children and Young Person’s act - young criminals are victims, being
criminal is a “cry for help”
o Biological causes of crime
 Defending integrity by excluding or killing the individual (animals)
 Crime as a popular or economic appeal rather than labeling as bad
 Biological positivism: only focusing on biological sphere; labeling people as
deviant and not taking other factors like SES into account
 Criminals were distanced from non-criminals
o Older biological approaches to crime
 Cesare Lombroso: first to approach criminality in a scientific way – “father of
modern criminology"
 Categorized racial types, racial anthropology
 Biological positivism
 Saw criminals as not fully phylogenetically developed
 Later: only 1/3 of criminals is “born bad”
 Goring: criminals have exaggerated traits found in non-criminals
 But: thought that criminals have subnormal intelligence and a small
stature – biologically inferior
 Also studied different races and genetics
 Kretschmere: body build as indicating personality types
 Considered the 3 somatypes (extraversion, neuroticism,
psychoticism)

,  Glueck: criminality of the mesomorph
 XYY male was seen as the criminal type (“supermale”)
 Tallness, mental retardation (actually accounting for criminality),
immaturity, mild acne
 But unrelated to criminality
o Eysenck: personality and crime
 Figure of biological positivism
 Approaches 2 domains: biology, personality and control theory (everyone
could be a criminal but some factor restrains the majority – socialization,
conscience)
 3 personality dimensions (biological basis)
 Neuroticism -stability
 extraversion - introversion
 psychoticism – normality (high scores indicate criminal,
psychopathic, alcoholic or schizophrenic)
 EPI: Eyneck personality inventory → neuroticism and extraversion
 EPQ: also includes psychoticism
 4 types of personality scoring at extremes
 Neurotic introvert: melancholic, moody, anxious, prone to mental
disorders
 Neurotic extravert: choleric, restless, aggressive, prone to criminality
o Poor learning in development of a conscience
o Yerkes-Dodson principle: punishment is not seen as aversive,
aggression provides needed stimulants
 Stable introvert: phlegmatic, peaceful, controlled, reliable
 Stable extravert: sanguine, optimistic, outgoing, responsive
 An overreactive ANS on those high on neuroticism disrupts learning
 Extraversion
 Impulsiveness → criminal trait
 Sociability
 Even though he said criminality is biologically determined he recommended
behavioral therapy
 Depends on a consistent personality (no situationalism)
o Other psychological approaches to crime
 Early psychometric approaches
 Relying on Freud’s psychodynamic approach
 Lack of socialization; weak superego
 Latent delinquency
 John Bowlby: maternal deprivation → disrupted emotional
attachment →affectionless psychopathy
o Might also include other factors than maternal affect; food,
protection ,other relationships
 Learning and criminality
 Operant conditioning: material, avoidant, social esteem or status