Theories of Criminal Behavior and Rehabilitation Overview

Theories of Criminal Behavior
An Overview
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes
Executive Director, AllCEUs.com

Psychological Theories (?) of Crime
 Cognitive theory suggests that an individual’s perception
and how it is manifested (Jacoby, 2004) affect his or her
potential to commit crime.
 Good or Bad Attributions of Self and Society
 Stable or changeable
 Internal or external
 Global or specific
 Definitions: Firmly held concepts that may make a
behavior or outcome rewarding or punishing

Psychological Theories of Crime
 The antisocial personality is characterized by
 Low levels of guilt, shallow emotions, lack of empathy
 Superficial charm
 Above-average intelligence
 Persistent violations of the rights of others
 An inability to form enduring relationships
 Impulsivity
 Risk taking
 Egocentricity
 Manipulativeness

Psychological Theories of Crime
 Neurotransmitters
 Norepinephrine, which is associated with the body’s fight-or-flight
response
 Dopamine, which plays a role in thinking and learning, motivation,
sleep, attention, and feelings of pleasure and reward
 Serotonin, which impacts many functions, such as sleep, sex
drive, anger, aggression, appetite, and metabolism

Critical Theory
 The elite of the society, decide laws and the definition of
crime
 Those who commit crimes disagree with the laws that
were created to keep control of them.
 Crime is a product of oppression of workers and less
advantaged groups within society, i.e. lower
socioeconomic status, sexism and racism.

Conflict Theory
 Crime results from the conflicts among the different social
classes
 Laws arise from necessity as a result of conflict, rather
than a general consensus. (Drug laws)
 The fundamental causes of crime are the social and
economic forces operating within society.
 The criminal justice system operates on behalf of rich and
powerful social elites, with resulting policies aimed at
controlling the poor.
 The criminal justice establishment aims at imposing
standards of morality and good behavior created by the
powerful on the whole of society.

Conflict Theory
 Focus is on separating the powerful from the have-nots
protecting themselves from crime.
 In the process, the legal rights of the poor are ignored.
 The middle class are also co-opted, siding with the elites
rather the poor, thinking they might themselves rise to the
top by supporting the status quo.
 Example: Street crimes are routinely punished quite
severely, while large scale financial and business crimes
are treated much more leniently.
Theft of a car might receive a longer sentence than stealing
through illegal business practices.

Deterrence and Rational Choice Theory
 Behavior, is NOT determined by biological, psychological, or
environmental factors acting on the person, compelling him or
her to commit crimes (Cornish & Clarke, 1986; Kubrin et al., 2009).
 People voluntarily, willfully choose to commit criminal acts
 When people are thinking about committing a crime, they
consider the related costs and benefits (McCarthy, 2002).
 There are costs and benefits of not committing crime, and this
theory presumes that, before making a decision, people
consider the costs and benefits of non-crime as well.

Labeling Theory
 Labeling is an intrinsic feature of all human interaction.
 A complete picture of crime or deviance can be attained by
examining
• Offenders and their characteristics
• Societal reactions to incidents of rule-breaking
 A person labeled as a deviant may accept that deviant label
by coming to view himself or herself as a deviant (i.e.,
internalizing the label) and then engage in further behavior
that is both consistent with the label and the way in which
the label was applied.
 Ex: Good Girl/Boy Phenomenon

Labeling Theory
 This creates additional deviance and criminality because
of the application of a deviant label
• once an addict always an addict
• once an offender, always an offender
 According to the labeling perspective, a person will
generally behave in a manner that is consistent with the
way in which that person believes others view him or her.
 Cooley (1926) referred to this process as the looking-glass
self, which is a reference to the socially shaped self.

Psychological Theories (?) of Crime
 Psychodynamic theory is centered on the notion that an
individual’s early childhood experience influences his or her
likelihood for committing future crimes.
 Crime
 Drugs
 The second is behavioral theory to include behavior
modeling and social learning.
 Crime
 Drugs

Self-Control Theory
 At the heart of criminal events and criminals was one
stable construct: low self-control.
 Self-control is “the tendency of people to avoid criminal acts
whatever the circumstances in which they find themselves”
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990)
 Low self-control is a lack of that tendency.
 Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) believed low self-control
explained criminal acts and behavior across time, gender,
ethnicity, and crime types.

Self-Control Theory
 Individuals with low self-control are characterized as
 Impulsive
 Here-and-now orientation
 Indifferent, and insensitive.
 “Risk-taking, short-sighted, and nonverbal”
 Lack diligence, tenacity, and persistence
 Self-centered
 Have unstable relationships and professional lives.

Self-Control Theory
 Individuals with low self-control are characterized as
 Having minimal tolerance for frustration, responding to conflict
physically rather than verbally
 Not possessing or valuing verbal, academic, cognitive skills.
 Gottfredson and Hirschi believe that a child with low self-
control is the product of “ineffective childrearing” (p. 97).
 Consistent supervision and discipline, coupled with
affection, results in the proper development of self-control.

Self-Control Theory
 Socialization can be impeded by parents who
 May not feel affection toward their children
 Lack the time or energy to devote to supervision
 May not see problem behavior for what it is
 Are reluctant to discipline children despite witnessing and
understanding the child’s behavior
 Engage in behavior indicative of low self-control themselves.

Social Control Theory
 Most people would commit crime if not for the controls that
society places on individuals through institutions such as
schools, workplaces, churches, and families.
 It is society’s responsibility to:
 maintain a certain degree of stability in an individual’s life
 make the rules and responsibilities clear
 create other activities to thwart criminal activity.

Social Control Theory
 The effects of poverty such as not having enough food to eat
or children being left alone at home while their parents work
plant the seeds for crime
 It is society’s obligation to prevent crime by giving children
alternative activities and full bellies

Social Learning Theory
 Criminal behavior is learned according to the principles of
operant conditioning
 Anticipated, observed and/or experienced rewards and
punishments affect the probability that an individual will
participate in a behavior and repeat it
 Behavior is learned both in social and nonsocial situations that
are reinforcing, punishing or discriminative
 The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs in
those groups which comprise the individual’s major source of
reinforcements (Bronfenbrenner's Micro and Macro systems)

Social Learning Theory
 The learning of behavior, including specific techniques,
attitudes, and avoidance procedures, is a function of the
effective and available reinforcers, and the existing
reinforcement contingencies
 Criminal behavior is a function of norms which are
discriminative/rewarding for criminal behavior
 The strength of criminal behavior is a direct function of the
amount, frequency, and probability of its reinforcement

Strain Theories
 Behavior strain occurs when the reward for prosocial
behavior is less than the rewards for criminal/antisocial
behavior.
 Most people have similar aspirations, but they don’t all
have the same opportunities or abilities.
 When people fail to achieve society’s expectations through
approved means such as hard work and delayed
gratification, they may attempt to achieve success through
crime.

Summary
 Reducing relapse/recidivism requires both the clinician
and the client to understand the benefits and
drawbacks to prosocial and criminal behavior.
 Some of these “benefits” may come in the form of
achieving firmly held beliefs and definitions about
concepts such as “success,” “loyalty,” and “being a
man”
 Most theories of criminal behavior boil down making
the more rewarding choice.
 Part of reducing recidivism means making the criminal
behaviors less rewarding to the person

Summary
 Part of the rehabilitation process may involve
 Examining definitions using the FRAMES approach
 (Feedback, Responsibility, Advice, Menu of Options, Empathy)
 Developing communication, coping, life and occupational
skills
 Ensuring frequent rewards (that are rewarding to the client)
for small achievements
 Exploring societal interventions to make prosocial choices
more rewarding
 Bonded workers
 Housing (contingency enforced)

Theories of Criminal Behavior and Rehabilitation Overview

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Theories of Criminal Behavior and Rehabilitation Overview

Similar to Theories of Criminal Behavior and Rehabilitation Overview (20)

More from Dr. DawnElise Snipes ★AllCEUs★ Unlimited Counselor Training

More from Dr. DawnElise Snipes ★AllCEUs★ Unlimited Counselor Training (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Theories of Criminal Behavior and Rehabilitation Overview