Exam Revision Flashcards
What mental disorders do people associate with crime?
Schizophrenia, Psychopathy, ASPD, DID
Hinshaw 2008 defines mental illness as:
Referring to a wide variety of categories of deviant, dysfunctional behavioural and emotional patterns, subject to variegated definitions but constituting hugely impairing conditions for individuals, families and societies at large
James and Glaze 2006
75% of females and 63% of male prisoners have mental health issues
Peterston et al 2014
Research indicates that approx 1/5 of criminal behaviour is mostly or completely related to mental illness
Why is there issues with contradictory research on mental health and crime?
Methodological Issues
- different methods
- understanding of diagnostic criteria
- self report vs psychiatrist
- different diagnostic systems in different countries
- measurement of crime
Hinshaw 2008 claims dangerousness is:
Rampant stereotype of people with mental illness, often promoted by public media, is that they are chronically violent and dangerous; this belief may underlie stigmatising attitudes
Turner et al 2009
According to public opinions surveys, mentally ill people such as “schizophrenics” are seen as unpredictable and dangerous
What is Cleckley 1976 definition of psychopathy?
The psychopath has manifested difficulty in social adjustment … lacks emotional control, is impulsive, lacks foresight and has an inability to withstand tedium
What is McCord and McCord 1964 definition of psychopathy?
The psychopath is selfish, impulsive, aggressive and loveless and feels no guilt or remorse for appalling beh
What is Hare 2003 definition of psychopathy?
A constellation of relatively distinct personality traits that may occur in the context of a criminal or socially deviant lifestyle
Who created the original assessment for psychopathy?
Cleckley 1941
- 16 core traits
Hare 1980, 1991 and 2003 extended their ideas to develop the psychopathy Checklist-Revised as a standard measure
Facts about PCL-R
- Used in CJS with forensics populations
- Assesses 20 characteristics on a 3 point scale
0 = does not apply
1 = applies to some extent
2 = reasonably good match - Based on interview and file info
- Score = 0-40
Examples of PCL-R
- Glibness/superficial charm
- Shallow affect
- Impulsivity
- Poor Behavioural controls
- Many short term marital relationships
Shipman and Psychopathy
DCI Williams
- he was arrogant
- wanted control and to dominate
- belittled police
- a game, competition
- thought he was of superior intellect
Bundy and Psychopathy
- Confessed to 30 murders
- prolifically America serial killer
- described as educated, handsome, charming
- crimes incorporated this e.g. luring victims
- premeditated crimes, manipulation, conning
Psychopathy and Crime
- Neumann et al 2015 = commit a large portion of crime
- Serin 1991 = especially violent crimes
- Swogger et al 2010 = predatory nature in crime
- Gray et al 2003 and Kennealy et al 2010 = Factor 2 (Social Deviance) trait of psychopathy are more predictive of violent crime than Factor 1 (Interpersonal/Affective)
What is diagnostic criteria of ASPD?
1) significant impairments in personality and interpersonal functioning manifested by:
- ego centricity and self esteem derived from personal gain, power or pleasure
- goal setting based on personal gratification
- lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another
- exploitation or others including deceit and coercion, use of dominance or intimidation
2) pathological personality traits in the following domains
- manipulation: frequent use of subterfuge to influence/control others, use of seduction, charm and glibness to achieve
- Deceitfulness: misrepresentation of the self, embellishment or fabrication when relating to events
- Callousness: lack of concern for others feelings, lack of guilt
- Irresponsibility: disregard for obligations/commitments and a lack of respect to follow through
- Impulsivity: acting the spur of the moment, difficulty establishing and following plans
- Risk Taking: engagement I’m dangerous, risky and potentially self damaging activities unnecessarily, boredom proneness
ASPD and crime
- Fazel and Danesh = 1/2 males offenders and 1/5 female offenders
- Fridell et al 2008 = able to sig predict criminal behaviour and should be a target in preventative treatment
- Joseph and Benefield 2010 = most prevalent amongst newly sentenced prisoners
How did Krapelin classify Psychosis?
1) Manic depression (now seen as comprising a range of good disorders such as major depression and BPD)
2) Dementia Praecox
Thus was the start of a shift towards classification, and a forerunner for the DSM
DSM criteria for Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
A) 2 or more of the following, each present for a sig portion of time during a 1 month period
- Delusions, Hallucinations, Disorganised or Incoherent speech, Grossly Disorganised or Catatonic Beh, Dimished Emotional Expression
B) Social/Occupational disfunction
C) Continous signs of disturbance for at least 6 month and 1 month of symptoms
D) Schizoaffective disorder ruled out
E) Substance and medical condition excluded
F) Relationship to a pervasive developmental disorder e.g. if ASD present, then can only diagnose if D/H present for 1 month
Schizophrenia and Crime
- Wallace et al 2004 = sig more likely to be a convicted criminal (both men and women)
- Appelbaum et al 2021 = other studies not found a significance
What are the legal prerequisites of a crime?
1) Actus Reus
- accused caused the particular act in present, beh was voluntary, had criminal intent, exercising free will, held responsible
2) Mens Rea
- relates to state of mind, intention, did they understand the consequences
What is NGRI?
M’Naghten rule in 1840s
- everyone presumed sane until proven insane
- must be proved that during the time of the crime, the accused was acting under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind as to not know the nature of the act or they were doing wrong
What is Diminished Responsibility?
- Must be proof of substantially impaired mental responsibility
- difficult to define psychologically
- Mentally incompetent to stand trial or unfit to make a plea of guilty or not guilty
What did Howitt believe about mental disorders and crime?
There was a circular argument
What is the Responsibilisation Debate?
Deciding who is responsible for a crime. Do we blame other people for our own actions?
What did Christie 1986 believe about the “ideal victim”?
- Some are more responsible or harmed than others
- Some are more at fault for being a victim
- Some people need to be protected more
- What bads groups together?
(Garland 2001, O’Malley 1992)
Examples of the Responsibilisation Debate
Reduction in CJS funding
- it is your fault if you cannot afford your fees
- the lack of policing highlights importance of self vigilance
Personal / Environmental Crime Prevention
- take own responsibility
- gov asks you to do things differently e.g. Home Office told people to not leave things in the back of you car
New Administrative
- Inherently wrong to blame the victim
- Example = “Stranger Danger” became “Clever Never Goes” but this puts blame onto children
What are the 3 ways we count crime in England and Wales?
1) Police Recorded
- not judged to be relevant by ONS due to police discretion and being filtered by prejudice
- even though the PCC is voted by locals, they tend to be politically anchored which affects which crimes are targetted
2) CSEW
- ask victims directly nationwide
- results are presented at a national level
3) Local Crime Surveys
- Example = Left Realists found 14 sexual offences in Islington alone but official reports found 1 in the whole of the UK
Why did Sparks et al find fault in the CSEW?
It doesn’t measure repeat victimisation very well as it doesn’t sample the same participants every time, so can’t go back to ask the same people again
What is the difference between Victimisation rate and Prevalance rate?
Victimisation rate = average no of offences per X (time period)
Prevalance rate = percentage of population suffering repeated victimisation over a set period of time
(Sparks et al)
Is there a “Fear of Crime” or a “Percpetion of risk”?
Mohan et al 2011 = Percpetion gap
- people think crime is a problem even though rate is decreasing
- “The Great Crime Drop” even though the fear is rising, creating the “Life of Brian” effect
There is a local/national perception gap as people have a positive local perception but negative national perception, so the police cannot win
Which groups view crime differently?
- Tabloids increased sense of crime nationally and locally
- Personal victimisation would double fear locally and nationally
- Living in social housing perceived higher crime in local area but not nationally
- Men who were higher educated and working in managerial/professional jobs were protected
- Strongest association for pessimistic views were being victimised
- Gender, age and newspaper allegiance were some of the strongest predictors
- Older people percive higher local and national crime, and had more fear even though less likely to be victimised
- Ethnic Heterogeneity had no effect on sense of rising crime
What did Garbriel and Greve 2003 focus on?
Directly targetting Fear
- unlike Mohan et al who looks for perception of crime from a sociological viewpoint
- fear = psychological trait, transitionary usually but if repeated then become a disposition
However, they did not deconstruct “crime”
- were too vague, need specificity to make psychological sense
- “fear of crime focuses on a person’s characteristic perception and evaluation of a particular type of event, notably crime”
What are opportunistic views of crime?
Cohen and Felson 1979 = Routine Activities Theory
1) likely offender
2) suitable target
3) absence of capable guardian or witnesses
Cornish and Clarke 1987 = Rational Choice Theory
What are ways we are unknowingly victimised?
- Environmental Pollution
- Cost of vadalism/theft passed onto us via rising prices
- links to insurance levels
- activities that are not called a crime e.g. deepfakes (yet)
- being lied to politically
What is the key point about the early approch of social psychology of acting in groups?
Conflict
- Post WW2
- How can we commit mass murder?
- What makes you hate a group?
- Conflict via competition
- Seeing group identity as a normal human outcome
Describe Sherif’s 1954 “Robbers Cave Experiment”?
1) Group Formation
- randomly assign 22 boys into 2 groups (Eagles and Rattlers) and make them take part in team building activities to promote cohesion
2) Intergroup Introduction
- groups introduced via various activities such as meal times or baseball games
3) Intergroup Competition
- pitted against each other in games with prizes for the winner
4) Intergroup Conflict
- conflict began e.g. namecalling, vandalism, physicaly aggression
5) Conflict Resolution
- superordinate goals and allowing groups to work together to reduce conflict
Describe Differential Association Theory
Sutherland 1939
- criminal behaviour is learnt through social interactions with others who hold deviant values and norms
- criminal behaviour is not simply the result of an individual pathology or personality but is rather influenced by social factors and group dynamics
Describe Bandura 1977 Social Learning Theory
People learn from observing and imitating others, particularly those who are seen as role models or authority. Highlights the importance of social modelling and reinforcements in the development of criminal behaviour
Describe Neutralisation Theory
Matza 1964
- individuals who engage in crime use neutralisation techniques to justify actions
1) Denial of Responsibility = “it wasn’t me” or “it wasn’t my fault”
2) Denial of Injury = “it didn’t hurt” or “they have insurance”
3) Denial of the Victim = “they deserved it”
4) Condemnation of Condemners = “you’re just as bad”
5) Appeal to higher loyalties = “I did it to help”
- feel guilt so use these techniques to neutralise their moral responsibility
Describe Milgram’s 1963 Obedience to Authority
Individuals can be influenced by group dynamics to engage in harmful behaviour. Followed the instructions of the experimenter. Power of authority figures and group pressure.
Describe Zimbardo 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment
Imprisonment demonstrates how social roles and group dynamics influence behaviour. The guard became abusive and authoritarian and the prisoners became passive and submissive even though they were all students enrolled at the Uni. Impact of situational factors and social roles in shaping behaviour
Describe Tajfel 1979 Social Identity Theory
- We derive part of our sense of self from the groups in which we belong
- Stereotyping is a normal cognitive process
- But this does mean we exaggerate differences between groups and similarities within
- Members of an ingroup will seel to find negatives of an outgroup to enhance their self image
Hogg and Abrams 1988
- Social Indentity theory can explain inter-group conflicts and other social phenomena
What is the difference between a mass murderer and a serial Killer
The timing and numbers!!!
What accounts a serial killer?
A person who murders 3 or more people over a month with a cooling down period between
- murders are separate events, driven by thrill or pleasure
- often lack empathy and guilt
- egocentric, maybe psychopaths
- employ a “mask of sanity” to appear charming
- more organised and planned than mass murderers
What accounts a mass murderer?
Dietz 1986 = wilful injury of 5 or more people, of who 3 are killed by a single offender in a single event
Fox and Levin 2002 = killing of 4 or more people by 1 or a few assailants within a single event, lasting a few minutes to several hours
Stone 2017 = generally dissatisfied people, poor social skills and few friends
How does Mass murder usually end?
With the death of the perpetrator either by suicide or by law enforcement
What are some characteristics of a mass murderer?
Stone
- 96.5% are male
- most are not clinically psychotic
- tend to be paranoid individuals with acute behavioural or social disorders
May possess some psychopathic traits (cruel, manipulative) but usually social misfits or loners triggered by some uncontrollable event
What is a Cult?
- Group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charasmatic leader or ideology
- Has a belief system that has the answers to all of life’s questions and offers a specific solution; which can only be ained by following the leaders rules
Who are the Manson Family?
- Messianic counterculture cult and commune, fuelled by sex and drugs in the backdrop of the “summer of love”
- approx 100 members at peak
- members were mainly well eductaed, middle class women
- Tate-LaBianca murders of 7 people in August 1969
- part of the apocalyptic prophecy or race war called “helter skelter”
Who were the Heaven’s Gate Cult?
- In March 1997, police were given an anonymous tip and found 39 victims of mass suicide in a mansion. All were found lying peacefully in bed, dressed the same with plastic bags tied around their heads
- A week prior, the founder Marshall Applewhite released a video claiming a UFO following the Hale-Bopp comet would take them to another kingdom above
- In order to reach this UFO, they needed to shed themself of their earthly form and die
- Applewhite and 38 followers drank a mixture of drugs and alcohol to die and reach a higher existence
Who are the Order of the Solar Temple?
- Joseph Di Mambro would lead humanity to a different and better planet
- October 1994, 53 members in Canada and Sweden were murdered or committed suicide and the Temples set their bodies on fire
- They anticipated environmental apocalypse
Who are the Movement for the Restoration of the 10 Commandments of God?
- Fringe Catholic group in Uganda
- Turn of the millenium would all die
- When they didn’t, people got suspicious so the Leaders created a 2nd Judgement Day
- In March, 300 followers (including 78 children) headed for a mass celebration
- Not fully a mass suicide as some were killed for not believeing in the judgement day
- Eventually mass graves were discovered, creating a death toll of 780
What was the People’s Temple?
- In the 1970s, ran by self-styled prophet Jim Jones, established a socialist utopia community
- Nov 1978 = led hundreds of followers into a mass murder-suicide
- Some willing injested poison and others at gunpoint
- 909 were found dead, 1/3 were children
What is the Psychology behind cults?
- Attractive as they promote an illusion of comfort
- Satsify human desire for absolute answers
- Those with a low Self-Esteem more likely to be recruited
- New recruits are love-bombed
- Women are more likely to join a cult
- Many are likely to have rejected mainstream religion
- Promote them vs us mentality
- Leaders are masters of mind control
- Members often don’t know they are in a cult
- Dangerous and lasting effects
Who is Lemkin and what did his research highlight?
Coined genocide meaning, genos = race/tribe and cide = killings
- lost nearly 50 relatives in the Holocaust
- “a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves”
- Father of the Genocide Convention = “the problem of genocide becomes as vital to the sociologist as the problem of disease to the physician. It calls for a diagnosis, cure and above all, prevention”
Why were the Nuremberg trials so important to understanding genocide?
First ever genocide prosecution
- Defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide which became international law in 1951
- Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national/ethnic/racial/religious group
1) killing members of the group
2) causing serious bodily or mental harm
3) Deliberatley inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
4) Imposing means to prevent birth
5) Forcibly transferring children from 1 group to another
Helped lead the United Nations Genocide Convention 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the Geneva Convention on the Laws and Customs of War (1949)
Issues with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’s definition of genocide
There are groups outside of this definition such as killing street children in Brazil or feminicide in China
What are the 8 stages of Genocide?
1) Classification
- Us vs Them mentality, create distinguising features such as Hutus and Tutsis by height, eye size and noses
2) Symbolisation
- Forces groups to identify themselves, e.g. star of David or blue scarfs in Eastern zone of Cambodia
3) Dehumanisation
- 1 group views other as subhuman, Depersonalisation, Serbians called it “ethnic cleansing”
4) Organisation
- Carried out by the state or Terrorist group, e.g. Janjaweed militarians trained and armed by Sudanese gov
5) Polarisation
- Groups have been separated by society, e.g. Nuremberg laws forbidded inter-racial marriage
6) Preparation
- Victims are identified and separated, e.g. schools in Cambodia were transfored into extermination camps
7) Extermination
- Mass killing legally becomes genocide
8) Denial
- Cover up evidence, harm witnesses, alter stats or describe it as a civil war
What did Gilbert find when searching for a Nazi Personality?
3 Personality types in 22 Nazis, all classified as having a psychopathic personality
- Schizoid, Narcissistic, Paranoid
Took into account socio-culture
- Nazis raised in a culture thats primary value was deference to authority
Democratic leaders should be trained to as critical thinkers to avoid blind obedience
What did Kelley find when searching for a Nazi Personality?
Thematic Apperception Test found underlying personality will emerge and were not spectacular types
- They were aggressive, dominating, egotistical when given the opportunity to seize power
What did the Wechsler Bellewe IQ test find when searching for a Nazi Personality?
Used to see if Nazis could stand trial. The average was 128 which was considerred of superior intellect and 2.2% of population
What did the Rorschach’s ink blot test when searching for a Nazi Personality?
Nazis were emotionally unstable and some had degenerative mental processes. Many were not psychopaths or criminally insane
What did Eichmann 1962 say when searching for a Nazi Personality?
“There is a need to draw a line between the leaders resposible and the people like me forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders… I was not a responsible leader and as such do not feel myself guilty”
- Milgram 1961 happened at the same time as he was on trial and highlighted importance of large scale obidience
What did Staub conclude when researching Genocide?
Applied a range of psychological principles to an analysis of why groups engage in genocide
- Persistent difficult life conditions, Durkheim’s anomie, Chicago School are catalysts as economic breakdown after war highlights social breakdown
- Must be combined with cultural factors like strong acceptance to hierarchy, antagonism towards outgroups and prior history with violence
- We scapegoap groups who which frustrations can be targtted to
Cohen’s 2001 State of Denial links to genocide how?
Power psychological principle of not wanting to put yourself on the firing line, which is how ordinary members of the German public were living in denial as they both knew and didn’t know what was going on
According to Yaccubian 2000, what are the reasons for neglect of genocide and mass murder?
1) Funding only for national levels, not international
2) Culture of localism forming relationships with local practioners to create social policy
3) Methods are not always appropriate to study and important to measure overseas
4) No history of studying this subject in recent history
What is the root cause of Terrorism?
- Lack of: democracy, rule of law, good governance, social justice
- Backing of illegitimate regimes
- High/rising distributive inequality
- Historical experience of violent conflict
- Support from groups using Terrorist means
- Vulnerabilities of modern democracy
- Failed safe havens outside of state control
What are Proximate causes of Terrorism?
- Escalating counter strategy
- Expectations of support groups
- Declining / rising of support
- Declining media coverage
- “Successful” rival groups
- Problems with internal group cohesion
- Group leaders personal image strategy
- De-esclating low intensity conflict
- Escalating policitcal conflict
- Enhance of new actor in existing conflict
What are Accelerators of Terrorism?
- Counter Terrorism campaigns calling for revenge or retaliation
- Huminliation of groups / supporters
- Threats
- Peace Talks
- Elections
- Symbolic Dates
