Developmental theories of offending- Week 2. Flashcards
1) What does DLC stand for?
2) What three topics is it concerned with?
1) It stands for developmental and life-course criminology (DLC).
2) - The development of antisocial behavior during the lifespan.
- The influence of risk and protective factors at different ages.
- The effects of life events on the course of development.
What do traditional criminological theories aim to explain?
What does the DLC theory aim to explain?
It aims to explain between-individual differences in offending such as why lower class boys commit more offences than upper-class boys.
DLC theories aim to explain within-individual changes in offending over time.
What is one important longitudinal study?
What is it?
What are longitudinal studies trying to work out?
Cambridge study in delinquent development (CSDD).
A prospective longitudinal survey of more than 400 London males from age 8 to 48.
Longitudinal studies are trying to work out why people offend.
What is and when was Moffitt’s theory?
Are there two qualitatively different categories of antisocial people? If so, what are they called.
Adolescence-Limited/Life-Course-Persistent Theory in 1993.
There are two qualitatively different categories of antisocial people differing in kind rather than the degree of crime. These are adolescence-limited offenders (ALs) and life-course-persistent offenders (LCPS).
What does Moffitt’s theory focus on?
If you refer to the DSM, what can both the categories be called?
Moffitt’s theory focuses on the development of offenders and not why offences are committed.
AL- Also called adolescence onset.
LCPs- Childhood onset or conduct disorder.
What are the 4 characteristics of ALs?
What is the maturity gap?
1) Rebellious non-violent offences in teenage years.
2) Maturity gap and peer influence (from LCPs) are factors in offending.
3) Follow rational decision-making- weighting the cost and benefits of criminal activities.
4) Driven by teenage boredom and desist in adulthood.
Maturity gap means there is a stage in adolescence where the individual looks like an adult (physical maturity) but cant do certain things that adults can do like drink alcohol and drive.
What are the 4 characteristics of LCPs?
1) Wide ranging offences including violence from an early age and into adulthood.
2) Genetic and biological factors influence offending like poor parenting.
3) When faced with opportunities, they follow well-learned/automatic behavioral responses.
4) Influenced by utilitarian motives and committed to an antisocial lifestyle.
What are the individually based risks for LCPs?
What about the ALs individually based risks?
These are neurocognitive deficits (Low verbal IQ), under controlled temperament and hyperactivity.
These are less salient, the psychosocial factors like the maturity gap and peers are more salient.
What is conduct disorder for LCPs?
Neurodevelopmental disorder where individual risks are amplified by social disadvantage.
Conduct disorder is due to the social modelling of antisocial peers. There is no role for neuropsychology or individual characteristics.
DSM-5 distinguishes between childhood-onset and adolescence-onset forms of conduct disorder.
What study is the theory based on?
Are there more ALs or LCPs?
Is there support for the two theories? From who?
The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development study in 1972-73. They collected data for many years.
There are more ALs.
Yes from Moffitt and Caspi (2001).
Has this theory been refined when new data was revealed?
What are the other two new categories besides ALs and LCPs?
What is the issue with ALs?
Yes.
Low (those that do not offend) and childhood limited (they start offending early then desist).
It has been questioned as to whether it is really adolescence limited because data shows that age 32 some still commit partner abuse. Some also have mental health issues.
Who made the Developmental propensity theory?
What did they want to explain?
What is a key construct of the theory?
Lahey and Waldman in 2005.
They wanted to explain the development of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency focusing on childhood and adolescence and not adult life events or desistance in adulthood.
Antisocial propensity which tends to persist overtime (is on a continuum). There are no categories.
What four factors, with a genetic basis, contribute to antisocial propensity?
What do these four factors have?
Low-cognitive ability, prosociality, daring and negative emotionality.
A genetic basis.
Who conducted empirical evidence for the developmental propensity theory and what did they find?
Where the predictions still relevant even after controlling for major demographic predictors of delinquency?
What did Lahey develop and why?
Lahey, Loeber, Waldman and Farrington (2006). They found that prosociality (negatively), daring and negative emotionality at age 7 independently predicted self-reported delinquency between ages 11 to 17.
These predictions held up even after controlling for major demographic predictors of delinquency like mothers ethnicity and family income.
Lahey developed the Childhood and Adolescence Dispositions Scale (CADS) to measure the three dispositional dimensions. It predicted conduct disorder.
Who made the interactional theory?
What does it focus on?
What is a distinctive feature of this theory?
Thornberry and Krohn, 2005.
Focuses on factors encouraging antisocial behaviour at different ages.
The emphasis of reciprocal causation among factors. This is when not only parenting deficits cause antisocial behaviour but also the child’s antisocial behaviour elicits coercive responses from parents that make their antisocial behaviour more likely in the future.
