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issues and debates - CRIMINOLOGICAL - Coggle Diagram
issues and debates - CRIMINOLOGICAL
nature/nurture
an individual will engage in criminal behaviour as a result of internal factors - difficult or impossible to change (if genetic)
twin studies (comparing concordance rate between MZ and DZ twins) and adoption studies can indicate nature or nurture - whether criminality is environmental or genetic
self-fulfilling prophecy - nurture - does not take into account biological factors
nurture - lifestyle and environmental changes can reduce likelihood of offending; factors such as peer influence can contribute
reductionism
focusing solely on amygdala (+ its role in aggression) simplifies the complex nature of the brain - many areas of the brain work simultaneously to affect behaviour
in formulations it's important to not be reductionist of an individual - focus on all aspects of life and motivation for crimes - formulations often reductionist as they oversimplify or compartmentalise factors that may have contributed, or miss out important factors or underplay interconnection between factors
psychology as a science
Thielgaard (1984) - provides slight evidence of correlation between XYY syndrome and aggression - could be argued the aggression was due to lower intelligence and slower learning, not XYY (lack of validity of correlations)
much research into effects of neurotransmitters on aggression are correlational - cause and effect links not established, ignores cognitive aspect (thought, reasoning) - not scientific
EWT research - lab-based experiments (artificial situation, recalling artificial clips of crimes) - controlled to minimise extraneous variables, but is not ecologically valid - pps give different responses than in a real crime, and lack of additional variables could also alter responses
clinical trials often do not use random allocation (would be unethical to allocate randomly to trial/control) - biased samples (volunteer/selection bias)
lab experiments more scientific; field experiments less scientific; qualitative research methods (interviews) less scientific (requires subjective interpretation, difficult to replicate)
use of psychological knowledge in society
testosterone studies typically use animals as subjects (due to ethics) - can reduce practical applications as results may not generalise to humans
MPA given to male sexual offenders to reduce sexual aggression (due to higher testosterone levels) - anti-androgen medication reduces sex drive - chemical restraint - might be involuntary; unethical (limited application)
understanding of how people encode and retrieve memories is helpful to wider society - 'flashbulb memories' explain why individuals can vividly recall incidents for a long period of time after a traumatic event - provides explanation for PTSD
Pickel's research suggests that we should carefully consider reliability of eyewitnesses in court (esp when crime involved a weapon) - application to police officers to recall crimes better
Devlin Committee set up to investigate use of EWT in court - many people convicted by EWT alone - police and legal professionals guided to minimise leading questions to increase accuracy of info
should isolate juries to prevent influence of trial publicity on decision making
comparisons between way of explaining behaviour using different themes
biological/social explanations - both have value
need to compare biological and cognitive influences on behaviour to see how they interact and which has a bigger impact
gender
lots of data explaining why males commit crimes (highest proportion of convicted criminals) - elevated testosterone levels, XYY syndrome) but little explanation for why females commit crimes
structured treatment plans often designed for men - less effective for female offenders (less known about factors influencing women -> how to treat them)
understanding of how psychology has changed over time
cognitive interviewing now used in police interviews (effective) -> revised 'enhanced cognitive interview' includes additional memory enhancing techniques and questions that validate info provided by witnesses - Fisher et al (1989) - enhanced interview 45% more correct info
ability to explore genetic make-up of an individual can identify innate factors among offenders; brain scans can help us understand cognitive processing of a criminal brain
issues of social control
treatment of aggression via drug treatments could be social control - hormone or drug treatments change behaviour to match expectations of general population
evidence suggesting that individuals with certain biological characteristics or social experience may be more likely to commit crimes could be misapplied - can exaggerate their risk to society and be used to control their freedom
ethics
drug treatments used for aggression/sexual deviance have been used in forensic-psychiatric institutions to treat offenders with mental health issues - pharmacological treatments are generally voluntary but may not be in these institutions
can be stressful to be in mock trials or witness artificial crime scenes
informed consent may be dubious in real crimes as pps may have mental impairment - debrief is very important
practical issues
lab studies used to investigate EWT - Yerkes-Dodson curve shows that student participants in a lab don't reach optimum arousal as they know that what they're seeing is not real - artificial environment affecting validity
need to control as many external variables as possible to establish cause and effect between IV and DV
significant lack of realism in crim psych research - unethical to use real victims/witnesses, not allowed to study real jury - need to use mock jury - tasks lack mundane realism, simulations where pps are aware of participation - lacks ecological validity
individual differences
personality theories of criminality - individual variation in development of criminality/aggression - not everyone who displays extraversion, psychoticism, neuroticism become criminals (instead high-risk sports etc) - same personality traits but not necessarily same outward personality
self-fulfilling prophecy - some are exposed to labelling linked to criminal behaviour, some aren't; some do not live up to SFP (higher self-esteem & autonomy, less regard of others' opinions, active resistance)
risperidone has side effects (rash, vomiting, anxiety, sleep disturbance and hyperprolactinaemia (-> infertility)) - questioned whether or not it should be used to treat aggression (esp in young male offenders) - should only be used after careful diagnosis, taken with psychological therapy and where aggression is the most pervasive symptom
culture
much of crim psych research takes a western perspective (particular legal systems and cultural beliefs) - research may not be applicable to other cultures - cultural background of witnesses/jury members can have significant impact on interpretation
socially sensitive research
research into offending behaviour - allocating offender to control/placebo means treatment is delayed - should not negatively affect offender by denying access to treatment
much research into race of defendants impacting jury decisions (usually Black or Hispanic) - can create bias in perception of ethnic minorities and their true representation in criminal settings
brain studies and genetic mapping can be considered inflammatory - should not make assumptions about individuals