turning to crime

TURNING TO CRIME - UP BRINGING- FARRINGTONAIM: document start duration and end of offending behavior. examine influence of life events, using risk factors to predict offending and inter generational transmission of behavior.METHOD: prospective longitudinal survey- contents analysis of criminal records and interviews. PARTICIPANTS: 411 8-9 year old boys born in 1953/4 from 6 east London schools mainly white working class.FINDINGS: age 48 161 had committed at least one offense. offenders/ offenses peaked age 17. 91% of those starting a criminal carear 10-13 reconvicted. 77% of crimes commited by thoses starting a criminal career befor 16. self report sugests 93% commited at leat one offence. chronic offenders- 7% who commited 50% of crimes. they were more likely to have convicted parents, high daring, delinquent syblings, young mother and low popularity. from age 32 -48 the number of men living successful lives on criteria of life success increased 10%.CONCLUSION: early prevention for under 10's could reduce offending, accommodation, relationship, employment and alcohol problems significantly. highest risk factors: criminality in family, poverty, poor education and parenting, impassivity. APPLICATION: showing that early crimeinal behaviour can result in worse criminal records agencies such as sure start which is an early intervantion program can be expanded to prevent these people continuing to offend.

TURNING TO CRIME- UPBRINGING- SUTHERLAND9 principals of criminology1-criminality is always learnt2- its taught through gestures and verbal interactions3-its learnt through intimate personal groups- media has little effect.4- techniques motives rationalization and attitudes all included in the leaning of it.5- motives learnt through deffinitions of legal codes as favourable or unfavourable6- excess of deffinitions favourable to violation of law crime occures.7- analysing the number of contacts with criminals a precise grade of a persons criminality can be reached.8- same mechanisems involved in learning as normal- criminals not abnormal- gos against biological and pathological theories.9- cant be explained by needs and valuse as they can also lead to other behaviour.BASED ON TWO CORE ASSUMPTIONS:A- devience occures when situation defined as appropriate to violate social norms and criminal laws.B- deffinitions aquired through past expirience.CONCLUSIONemphasises social psychological processes by which a person defines an action as criminal. studying the learning processes of these definitions necassary as can explain gang crime and peer presure. however explanation falls short of individual crime.APPLICATION: the looting which took place at the London riots is and example of group crime and was described as copycat crime as behavior was being copied of learnt.

TURNING TO CRIME- UPBRINGING- WILKSTROM- PETERBOURGH YOUTHAIM: to see what factors have the greatest effect on offending.DESIGN: cross sectional studyPARTICIPANTS: nearly 2000 14-15 year old studentsMETHOD: interview and data collectionRESULTS: high frequency offenders commit a range of crimes. 44.8% of males and 30.6% of females committed crimes in the studied year. Offenders are more likely to be victims particularly violent offenders and more often on drugs.EXPLANETORY FACTORS: family social position, individual disposition, social situation, lifestyle and routine activitys, community context. individual characteristics and life style had the highest influence. more individual risk factors ( weak family and school bonds, weak morality, weak self control,poor parental monitoring,truancy) more they offended. lower classes had more risk factors but not a risk factor by its self.CONCLUSION: 3 types of offender:Propensity induced:enduring personality to offend. small group causing serious and varied crimes and having a wide range of high risk factors.lifestyle dependent: average individual social adjustment. high risk life style causes offnce.peer centered activitys in public with delinquent peers and drugs cause offending.situationaly limited: individual is well adjusted but offends occasionally if life style exposes them to situational risks.substance abuse is usually the cause and there is little to suggest serious crime problem.BACKGROUND:gov figures show the most disadvantaged 5 % are 100 x more likely to  have multiple problems such as cannabis use, conduct disorders, mood disorders, alcohol abuse.APLICATION: allows for targeted prevention stratagies which will be more effective. 

TURNING TO CRIME- COGNITIVE- YOCHELSON AND SAMENOWa 14 year project which heavily influenced the evidence base for criminal thinking patterns.AIM:  understand the make up of criminal personality, establish techniques to alter personality disorders causing crime thus preventing criminal behavior, encourage understanding of legal responsibility.PARTICIPANTS: 255  criminals. half pleaded NGRI (confined to a hospital) and a roughly equal group who did not(in a prison). all from various backgrounds and ethnicitys.METHOD: interviews over several years. freudian based thereapy used to fin root of criminality by looking at the past - be facing this expected to improve.FINDINGS: only 30 comleated program and 9 genuinly changed. acknowledged patients lied to try and improve thiere case so emphsis shifted from finding causes to examining thinking patterns. 52 criminal thinking patterns "errors" many would be classed as symptoms of antisocial personality disorder- very hard to treat. not unique to but more often displayed by criminals. E.G- considering requests from parents and teachers at school as imposition, want for excitment at any cost, super optimisem, constantly setting self apart.BACKGROUND:3 types of thinking error- criminal thinking patterns, automatic thinking errors, crime related thinking errors. helps inform NGRI and develop ways to prevent crime- sutcliff the yorksher ripper pleaded ngri, - decided guilty but later transfered to mental institute due to insanity.APLICATIONS: can help understand why criminals commit crimes and the crimes can be made less apealing, preventing crime eg burular alars on houses.

TURNING TO CRIME - COGNITION- KHOLBERG.AIM: to find supporting evidence for stage theory of moral developement.PARTICIPANTS: 58 working and middle class boys from chicargo age 7-16 in 1963METHOD: each interviewed for two hours and given ten moral dilemas. their reassoning was assesd as they solved these. some boys followed up 3 at year intervals untill age 36 making it longetudinal.1969 same  experiment carried out in tiwan, mexico,the uk, turkey and yucatan.RESULTS: younder boys performed at stages 1-2 (punishment and obedience orrientation then hedonistic personal gain orientation) older at 3-4(interpersonal concordance orientation then law and order orientation.) suporting theory. consistent cross culturally, progresion slower in non industrialized countries. no stage six support(universal ethical principals orientation).CONCLUSION: stage theory exists cross culturally. methodology subjective experimentor effect and social desirability. Thornton and ried conducted a stud on criminals and found criminals commiting crimes for financial gain had lower stages of reasoning than violent criminals showing it can explain criminality.CAn be used to work out age of criminal responsability and aid cases such as the jamie buldger case where the murderers were 11 only just over this.

TURNING TO CRIME - COGNITION - GUDJONSSON AND BOWNES.AIM: examin relationship between type of offender and attribution they make. and cross validate these with earlier findings from the same study in england.PARTICIPANTS: 80 criminals serving sentences in irland.20 for violent offences, 40 sex offences and 20 theft and burglury.METHOD: used gudjonssons 42 item blame atribution inventory (askes how far do you agree with statments like "i hate myself for the crime i commited.") to  messure type of offence,and attribututions of blame - either internal, external, or mental element and guilt.RESULTS:sex offenders showed the most remorse- 12.7 on guilt. violence showed second most guilt. all had similar mental element scores.violence had the highest external atributions, sex offenders the lowest. compaired to english findings. violent irish prisoners had lower guilt higher external  attributions and lower mental element.CONCLUSION: strong consistency with earlier findings across ofender groups implys strong consistency in how offenders attribute blame in eng and irland. difference in violent irish prisoners may be due to the troubles in irland whichwere going on at the time during the 1980's. seems more society disaproves of offence higher guilt eg pedofiles more guilt then sex offenders.BACKGROUND:gudjonsson belives people turn to crime due to fundamental attribution errors= saying its an external attribution when in fact its internal. there have been many studys on this subject such as irvings observational study at brighton police station which found the same ressults. it has implications for rehab through treatments such as CBT to help prevent reoffending and can be used to suport NGRI as mental element suggests lack of control.

TURNING TO CRIME- BIOLOGY- BRUNNERAIM: to explain the behaviour of males in a family who suffered a boarderline mental retardation and were aggresive, violent, attempted rape and exhibitionists and arsonists.five were studied.METHODOLOGY: urin samples analyed over 24 hours.RESSULTS: disturbed monoamine metabolisem was found in all urin which resulted in the impaired seratonin metabolisem.CONCLUSION: impaired seratonin levels= likley to be responsable for  retardation and may acount for violence.

TURNING TO CRIME- BIOLOGY- RAIN

THRNING TO CRIME- BIOLOGY- DALY AND WILSON

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