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Biological Positivism. Implies some biological factor forces individuals to engage in crimeCriminals may think they are choosing to engage in crime, but free will is an illusionIf it is an illusion why does it exist?Most theories tend to focus on:GeneticsHormonesNeurotransmitters and brain functionHowever, to date, no biological cause for crime has conclusively been empirically validated to explain all crime.
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1. Causes and Correlates of Crime Classical theory
Hobbes and Free Will
Beccaria and deterent (specific and general)
Bentham and the hedonistic calculus
Positivist theory
Francis Bacon
Attempts to discover root causes of crime
Thus is deterministic---no free will
Biological, sociological and (to lesser extent) psychological
Positivist approaches have generally failed to determine causes of crime
Have noted some “risk factors” however
3. Lombroso C. Lombroso (late 1800s) suggests criminals are less evolved
both male and female criminals have “ape-like” physical characteristics
not empirically valid, but still influencial
Many people think they can still “spot” a criminal.
Elevator studies
4. Testosterone Children’s play behavior and testosterone (Auyeung et al., 2009)
Does testosterone in males (or females for that matter) cause crime.
Makes sense given lower female crime
Men in prison have higher testosterone levels
hockey players
BUT, they also have higher adrenaline and cortisol levels
Do adrenaline and cortisol cause crime---no.
Is is quite possible (and I argue more likely) that Crime causes increases in testosterone levels, much as it does with adrenaline or cortisol.
Physical functions and stress
However:
Most men are not criminals
A good percentage (15%+) of violent criminals are females
Depo-Provera for sex-offenders
Generally not believed that testosterone causes crime, per se
5. XYY Jacob’s Syndrome: A genetic disorder which pretty much has no symptoms.
Was once thought was linked with crime.
Richard Speck
However, most criminals do not have XYY (not even at a higher % than general population).
This theory has been discredited
6. Richard Speck July 14, 1966 8 nurses raped and killed
Forces his way in while 5 are home at gunpoint
1 returns from drinking
ties them up, takes them 1 by 1
2 nurses return home--these find him raping Pamela Wilkening
stabs and strangles them
Suzanne Farris stabbed 18 times
Mary Ann Jordon stabbed in chest, neck and eye
Finishes Wilkening with a stab to the heart
Nina Schmael is next
Her neck is broken, and stabbed rituatlistically
Valentina Pasion
Slits her throat through the voicebox
7. Richard Speck continued Merlita Gargullo
raped for 30 mins, then stabbed and strangled
Pat Matusek
takes her to the bathroom + asks “Are you the girl in the yellow dress?”
ruptures liver + strangles her
Cora Amurao--has been hiding + is a witness
Gloria Davey, raped while unconscious
With Amurao’s testimony Speck is convicted + sentences to life
1 appeal involves the XYY defense
hormone treatment
8. Biology and Women Alternate theories have argued that women are essentially irrational and thus not able to be held responsible for their behavior during:
PMS (Dalton)
Puberty
Menopause
Post-Partum
All of these theories have been discredited empirically:
Ex. Overpeck and Post-Partum
Hormones can influence some motivations (ex. Testosterone and sex drive)
Do hormones force us to behave in a particular manner?
That’s probably going too far, but it is a convenient rationalization
also expectancy effects
9. Brain Function and Crime Brain function is a more reasonable hypothetical link with crime than is hormones
Robert Hare
Brain tumors
Charles Whitman
16/30
brain tumor in hypothalamus
But most criminals do not have brain tumors
Unlikely any general brain chem cause
10. IQ and crime Do the less intelligent commit more crimes
What IS intelligence?
Influence of Lombroso
Bell Curve (Herrnstein & Murray)
Criminals have average IQ of 92
However, other studies suggest psychopaths have high IQs
Could be that low IQ criminals more likely to get caught
11. Sociology and Crime Sociological theories generally suggest that society is the cause of crime
Thus criminals are “normal people in an abnormal world”
This contradicts a wealth of empirical evidence
Strain Theory
goals
frustration
crime
However, American “poor” are not that poor
poor in other countries
Most crime is within class
White collar crime
12. Economics and Crime Economic deprivation linked with crime
correlation between crime and US economy
general trend across nations
However, this does not explain difference between countries
ex. England and US
Opportunities and crime
people with low opportunities at greater risk
however “opportunity” programs don’t work
Racial Disparity
Freakonomics
13. Pornography Does pornography lead to violence
Dworkin suggests pornography leads to violence against women
most research suggests that depictions of consensual sex does not
Violent (rape) pornography--weak temporary effects
Effects less consistent than some scholars have claimed
e.g. Malamuth & Ceniti, 1986
Unlikely pornography causes violence
No surprise that sex criminals enjoy violent pornography
Does pornography reduce rape? (Diamond & Uchiyama, 1999)
But we seem to favor external attributions for crime
Also provides convenient rationalization
14. Porn Part 2 Several recent reviews (Diamond, 2009; Ferguson & Hartley, 2009) have concluded:
Experimental evidence for porn/sexual violence is weak, inconsistent and plagued with methodological problems
Correlational evidence is likewise contradictory and weak in effect size.
Wherever, internationally, porn restrictions have been eased, rape and sexual violence rates declined sharply
The “porn causes sexual violence” theory is probably, at this point, a dead theory
15. Ted Bundy Perhaps most famous American serial killer
Mom/Grandparents charade
1967 Stephanie Brooks
1973 Kathy Devine/ Joni Lenz --strangled, sodomized, throat cut
Jan 1974 Lynda Healy---vanishes, bloody mattress
7 more girls go missing--books/cast trick
August ‘74--pieces of Janis Ott and Denise Nashlund are found
Oct 31--Laura Aime disappears…beaten in face w/ crowbar
16. Bundy con’t Moves from Washington to Oregon to Utah
Nov ‘74 Carol DaRonch escapes “security officer”
Debbie Kent disappears that same night---find handcuff key
Jan ‘75 Caryn Campbell disappears from CO. Found a month later, nude skull crushed.
Upwards of 20 women disappear between 4 states
Bundy apprehended for speeding---evidence in car
Feb ‘76 first trial (for kidnapping of Carol DaRonch)
Convicted---sentenced to 15 years
April 1977, tried for murder, takes over his own defense
is allowed unsupervised time in the courthouse.
17. Bundy 3 Escapes from courthouse
Is captured, but escapes again 7 months later
Chi Omega House at FSU
2 women beaten about the skull’
Lisa Levy, beaten with log, bitten, raped with hairspray bottle
Margaret Bowman, skull split and brain exposed
Kimberly Leach (12 y.o.) last victim, decomposed body found 2 months later
Bundy apprehended in stolen VW.
1978 tried for murder of Kim Leach
Perhaps as many as 36 victims in total
18. Bundy 4 Convicted on eyewitness testimony and bite marks
Sentenced to death
Body count attempts
Pornography “defence”
Marriage
Executed 1989
What role does pornography play in violent crime?
Non-violent porn
Violent porn and slasher films (Fisher & Grenier, 1994)
19. Mental Illness and Crime Do the Mentally Ill commit more crimes?
Nuisance crimes
violence
Insanity Vs. Mental Illnesses
Most Mental illnesses do not imply loss of rational thought
M’Naughton rule
However mental illness accounts for a small % of crime
Schizophrenia
Delusional Disorder
Substance Abuse (not a causal relationship)
“Compulsion” to commit violence
20. Substance Abuse & Crime Substance abuse (particularly alcohol, cocaine, heroin, & PCP) linked with crime
A good percentage of criminals intoxicated during their crimes:
property felons
spousal murder
Does substance abuse cause crime: Probably not.
Acts as a rationalization for many criminals (expectancies)
21. Schizophrenia Significant disturbance in perceptions, mood and rational cognitions
hallucinations and delusions
contrary to what you might hear schizophrenics do tend to be more violent (Douglas, Guy & Hart, 2009)
However, this is often in keeping with paranoid delusions
Crimes tend to be “disorganized”
spontaneous
poorly planned and executed (messy, much evidence)
little attempt to “hide” crime
Blitz attackes
22. Delusional disorder 1* symptom is “non-bizarre” delusion
erotomanic
paranoid
jealous
Erotomanics and stalking
Sarah MacLaughlan
Rebecca Shaffer
John Hinkley
Paranoids and terrorism
Militia
Jealous and domestic murder
23. Bipolar and Depression Bipolar sometimes hypothesized as link with crime, however:
correlations are weak
perhaps misdiagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder
more likely to engage in self-damaging behaviors
Depression and crime
Criminals are typically not happy campers
However depression does not cause crime
Stress and depression may help trigger incidents of crime in those who are already predisposed (ex. Antisocials and borderlines)
Depression and peer delinquency among top risk factors for youth violence (Ferguson, San Miguel & Hartley, 2009)
social support, suicide and homicide
Insanity defenses typically not accepted by juries…usually for good reason.
Used in less than 1% of cases, only 25% successful when used
Females more likely to be acquitted for reasons of mental defect
24. Role of the Forensic Psychologist Evaluation
NGI (Culpability)
IST
Risk Assessment
HCR-20
VRAGS
Very tough to do
Prosenjit Poddar and Tatiana Tarasoff