Psychological Criminology: An Integrative Approach (Crime Science Series)

284 Pages·2010·4.75 MB·English

by  Richard Wortley

Psychological Criminology
Psychological criminology addresses the question: what is it about individuals
and their experiences that causes them to commit crime and/or to become
criminal?
This book provides a comprehensive coverage of psychological theories of
crime and criminality, exploring theories focusing on factors present at birth
(human nature, heredity); theories that focus on factors that infl uence the offender
over the lifespan (learning, development); and theories focusing on factors present
at the crime scene. It emphasises the connections among the different approaches,
and demonstrates how, taken together rather than as rival explanations, they
provide a more complete picture of crime and criminality than each provides indi-
vidually.
Theories are arranged throughout the book in a temporal sequence, from distal
to proximal causes of crime. The analysis spans 100,000 years, from the evolu-
tionary roots of criminal behaviour in the ancestral environments of early humans
on the African savanna, to the decision to engage in a specifi c criminal act.
Key features of the book include:
• a focus on theory – ‘explaining’ crime and criminality;
• an integrative approach;
• accessibility to readers who do not have a background in psychology.
Psychological Criminology highlights the contributions that psychological theory
can make to the broader fi eld of criminology; it will be of interest to students,
academics, researchers and practitioners in both criminology and forensic
psychology.
Richard Wortley began his career as a prison psychologist and has subsequently
taught in criminology schools for many years. He is currently a Professor at
University College London, where he is Director of the Jill Dando Institute for
Security and Crime Science.
Crime Science Series
Edited by Richard Wortley, UCL
Crime science is a new way of thinking about and responding to the problem of
crime in society. The distinctive nature of crime science is captured in the name.
F irst, crime science is about crime. Instead of the usual focus in criminology on
the characteristics of the criminal offender, crime science is concerned with the
characteristics of the criminal event. The analysis shifts from the distant causes of
criminality – biological makeup, upbringing, social disadvantage and the like – to
the near causes of crime. Crime scientists are interested in why, where, when and
how particular crimes occur. They examine trends and patterns in crime in order
to devise immediate and practical strategies to disrupt these patterns.
S econd, crime science is about science. Many traditional responses to crime
control are unsystematic, reactive and populist, too often based on untested
assumptions about what works. In contrast crime science advocates an evidence-
based, problem-solving approach to crime control. Adopting the scientifi c method,
crime scientists collect data on crime, generate hypotheses about observed crime
trends, devise interventions to respond to crime problems, and test the adequacy
of those interventions.
C rime science is utilitarian in its orientation and multidisciplinary in its founda-
tions. Crime scientists actively engage with front-line criminal justice practi-
tioners to reduce crime by making it more diffi cult for individuals to offend, and
making it more likely that they will be detected if they do offend. To achieve these
objectives, crime science draws on disciplines from both the social and physical
sciences, including criminology, sociology, psychology, geography, economics,
architecture, industrial design, epidemiology, computer science, mathematics,
engineering and biology.
1. Superhighway Robbery
Graeme R. Newman and Ronald V. Clarke
2. Crime Reduction and Problem-oriented Policing
Edited by Karen Bullock and Nick Tilley
3. Crime Science
New approaches to preventing and detecting crime
Edited by Melissa J. Smith and Nick Tilley
4. Problem-oriented Policing and Partnerships
Implementing an evidence-based approach to crime reduction
Karen Bullock, Rosie Erol and Nick Tilley
5. Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Stephen Smallbone, William L. Marshall and Richard Wortley
6. Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis
Edited by Richard Wortley and Lorraine Mazerolle
7. Raising the Bar
Preventing aggression in and around bars, pubs and clubs
Kathryn Graham and Ross Homel
8. Situational Prevention of Organised Crimes
Edited by Karen Bullock, Ronald V. Clarke and Nick Tilley
9. Psychological Criminology
An integrative approach
Richard Wortley

Psychological Criminology
An integrative approach
Richard Wortley
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Richard Wortley
The right of Richard Wortley to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Wortley, Richard (Richard K.)
Psychological criminology : an integrative approach / Richard Wortley.
p. cm.
1. Criminal psychology. I. Title.
HV6080.W67 2011
364.3—dc22
2010041203
ISBN 0-203-80609-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN: 978–1–84392–806–5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–1–84392–805–8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–80609–8 (ebk)
Contents
List of illustrations x
Acknowledgements xii
1 Introduction 1
What is psychological criminology? 1
Defi ning crime and criminals 3
Debates about the nature of crime and criminality 7
Psychological theories of crime and criminality:
an integrated model 15
2 Human nature 20
The principles of evolution 20
Evolution and behaviour 24
Crime-focused evolutionary approaches 30
Offender-focused evolutionary approaches 35
Conclusion and evaluation 40
3 Heredity 4 2
A primer in behavioural genetics 42
Heritability of criminality 49
Variations in the heritability of criminality 57
Beyond behavioural genetics: molecular genetics 61
Conclusion and evaluation 62
4 The brain 65
Basic brain structures and functions 65
Psychophysiology and crime 73
Biochemistry and crime 74
viii Contents
Neuroanatomy and crime 77
Neuro-environmental factors and crime 81
Putting it together: neuropsychological theories of crime 85
Conclusion and evaluation 88
5 Personality 90
Trait approaches to personality 90
The single-trait approach and crime 96
The super-trait approach: Eysenck’s three-factor theory
of crime 100
Antisocial personality disorder (APD) 106
Conclusion and evaluation 113
6 Development 115
The biological and environmental foundations of human
development 115
Developmental risk and protective factors for crime 121
Psychosocial development and crime 126
Criminal careers 132
Conclusion and evaluation 137
7 Learning 139
The science of behaviour 139
Classical conditioning 145
Operant conditioning 151
Social learning 155
Conclusion and evaluation 160
8 Cognition 162
The cognitive revolution 162
Social cognitive theory 166
Offender decision-making 174
Schemas and scripts 180
Conclusion and evaluation 184
9 Situations 185
What is a situation? 186
Social psychology 191
Environmental psychology 195
Contents ix
Opportunity theories 199
The person–situation interaction (again) 205
Conclusion and evaluation 206
10 Conclusion 208
The argument in a nutshell 208
The strengths and limits of integration 210
Implications for practice 212
Bibliography 216
Index 261