Criminal Psychology 2017

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Criminal
Psychology
This thoroughly updated and revised new edition provides an essential overview of a
full range of psychological contributions to the understanding of criminal behaviour,
as well as the processes of dealing with offenders, and supporting victims of crime.
From the cognitive, developmental and social processes that influence a diverse
range of crimes – including burglary, fraud, rape and murder – to the challenges faced
by the police and courts in investigating crime or securing reliable testimony, the text
is packed with pedagogical features that bring this fascinating subject to life. These
include boxes highlighting key topics or issues around research methods, further reading
and suggested essay titles.
Also including chapters on rehabilitation in prisons and the psychology of victims,
the text examines hot topics such as gang membership and terrorism, as well as
discussing how the field of psychology may better understand criminals and criminal
behaviour in the future. It builds to a comprehensive and accessible introduction, an
ideal text for students across psychology, criminology and socio-legal studies
and law.
David Canter is Emeritus Professor at The University of Liverpool, UK, and

Director of the International Research Centre for Investigative Psychology at The
University of Huddersfield, UK.
Topics in Applied Psychology
Series Editor: Graham Davey, Professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK,
and former President of the British Psychological Society.
Topics in Applied Psychology is a series of accessible, integrated textbooks ideal for courses
in applied psychology. Written by leading figures in the field, the books provide a
comprehensive academic and professional overview of the subject area, bringing the
topics to life through a range of features, including personal stories, case studies, ethical
debates and learner activities. Each book addresses a broad range of cutting-edge topics,
providing students with both theoretical foundations and real-life applications.
Clinical Psychology
Second Edition
Graham Davey
Educational Psychology
Second Edition
Tony Cline, Anthea Gulliford and Susan Birch
Work and Organizational Psychology

Second Edition
Ian Rothmann and Cary Cooper
Sport and Exercise Psychology

Second Edition
Andy Lane
Health Psychology
Second Edition
Charles Abraham
Criminal Psychology
Second Edition
David Canter
Forthcoming Titles:
Counselling Psychology
Victoria Galbraith
David Canter
Second edition
Criminal
Psychology
Second edition published 2017
by Routledge
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© 2017 David Canter
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and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published in 2008 by Hodder.
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ISBN: 978-0-415-71479-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-71481-5 (pbk)
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Contents
Preface to the series’ second edition vii

About the author viii
Foreword to second edition ix
Acknowledgements x
Chapter 1 Psychology and the criminal process 1
SECTION 1 Explanation of criminality 19

Chapter 2 Biological explanations of crime 21
Chapter 3 Psychological explanations of crime 33
Chapter 4 Social explanations of crime 48
SECTION 2 Psychological differences between crimes 61

Chapter 5 Acquisitive crime 63
Chapter 6 Domestic violence 74
Chapter 7 Sexual offences 88
Chapter 8 Homicide and serial killing 101
Chapter 9 Gangs, organised crime and terrorism 116
SECTION 3 Interacting with criminals 129

Chapter 10 Testimony and interviewing 131
Chapter 11 Deception and fraud 147
Chapter 12 Psychology and investigations 162

vi CONTENTS
SECTION 4 Areas of application 177

Chapter 13 Psychology and the police 179
Chapter 14 Psychology in court 195
Chapter 15 Psychology in prison 209

Chapter 16 Concerning victims 226
Chapter 17 The future of psychology and crime 240
References 252
Index 283
Preface to the series’
second edition
Psychology is still one of the most popular subjects for study at undergraduate degree
level. As well as providing the student with a range of academic and applied skills
that are valued by a broad range of employers, a psychology degree also serves as the
basis for subsequent training and a career in professional psychology. A substantial
proportion of students entering a degree programme in psychology do so with a sub-
sequent career in applied psychology firmly in mind, and as a result, the number of
applied psychology courses available at the undergraduate level has significantly
increased over the recent years. In some cases, these courses supplement core academic
areas, and in others, they provide the student with a flavour of what they might
experience as a professional psychologist.
The original series of Topics in Applied Psychology consisted of six textbooks designed
to provide a comprehensive academic and professional insight into specific areas of
professional psychology. The texts covered the areas of clinical psychology, criminal
psychology, educational psychology, health psychology, sports and exercise psychology and work
and organizational psychology, and each text was written and edited by the foremost
professional and academic figures in each of these areas.
These texts were so successful that we are now able to provide you with a second
edition of this series. All texts have been updated with details of recent professional
developments, as well as relevant research, and we have responded to the requests of
teachers and reviewers to include new material and new approaches to this material.
Just as in the first series, each textbook is based on a similar academic formula that
combines a comprehensive review of cutting-edge research and professional knowledge
with accessible teaching and learning features. The books are also structured, so they
can be used as an integrated teaching support for a one-term or one-semester course
in each of their relevant area of applied psychology. Given the increasing importance
of applying psychological knowledge across a growing range of areas of practice, we
feel this series is timely and comprehensive. We hope you find each book in the series
readable, enlightening, accessible and instructive.
Graham Davey
University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
About the author
David Canter is Professor of Psychology at the University of Huddersfield and

Emeritus Professor at the University of Liverpool where he established and directed
the Centre for Investigative Psychology for 15 years. He is one of the few psychologists
to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Psychological Society and to be
a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, editing the Academy’s flagship journal
Contemporary Social Science. Internationally known for his pioneering work developing
the discipline of Investigative Psychology, he has published on a wide range of criminal
psychology topics. This includes his award-winning book Criminal Shadows and his
popular book Mapping Murder. Over an academic career of almost half a century, he
has published hundreds of papers and many books covering a broad variety of psycho-
logical topics as diverse as complementary medicine and behaviour in emergencies.
The present volume draws on the past 25 years of his involvement in the study of
crime and criminals. www.davidcanter.com
Foreword to second edition
This second edition is a totally rewritten and updated version, somewhat different from
the first edition. That was a team effort. For the first edition, a number of colleagues
contributed chapters, many of whom were being supervised by me for research degrees.
They have all moved on to professional careers, so I have taken the opportunity in
this edition to develop my own vision of the many ways in which our understanding
of crime and criminals could be informed by psychology.
By authoring every chapter myself, I have set out to provide a coherent perspective
on the psychology of offending and ways of dealing with it. However, I have
deliberately avoided imposing a strong, or limited theoretical structure on the work
reviewed. Although where there are well-argued criticisms of that work, I have
summarised them.
I have also attempted to cover as wide a range of relevant topics as possible, with
web links and up-to-date overviews wherever possible. The book can, therefore, be
a jumping-off point to most of the areas of crime and criminality to which psychology
is contributing. Of course, a short book like this can never cover everything that is
relevant, not least because this is a rapidly developing area of research and professional
activity. In particular, where there have been notable developments since the first
edition, for example, in the detection of deception, I have attempted to cover the latest
advances as well as space allows.
Criminal Psychology opens with a section that provides a general map of the
approaches that are taken by psychologists to understand and explain offending. The
second section reviews the processes that underlie different subsets of crimes, as diverse
as burglary, rape and murder. After these reviews of some of the fundamentals of the
psychology of crime, the third section considers the challenges that the police and
courts face in obtaining effective evidence because of the vagaries of human memory
and the more overt problems of deception.
The insights that psychological research provide for those who have to deal with
crime and criminals are reviewed in the final section. This moves from psychological
contributions to policing through the courts and into the very important involvement
of psychologists in prison systems. The often-neglected consideration of the victims
of crime provides the penultimate chapter before the final review of where the study
of the psychology of crime and criminals may be heading.
David Canter
University of Huddersfield
July 2016
Acknowledgements
I am especially grateful to Kathryn Hughes for the great assistance she has given me
in overseeing the production of the chapters. The contribution of professional expertise
of Magdalene Ng for Chapter 11, Donna Youngs for Chapter 12, Michael Davis for
Chapter 14, Kevin Rogers for Chapter 15 and Jonathan Ogan for Chapter 16 is also
gratefully acknowledged.
1 Psychology and the
criminal process
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you have completed this chapter, you should be able to:
1 Recognise the range of topics that are dealt with by psychologists in the area of
crime and criminality.
2 Understand the difficulties and challenges associated with research into crime
and criminals, including practical, legal and ethical demands on study in this area.
3 Describe the various approaches to research that are utilised when studying
criminal activity.
4 Acknowledge the many different disciplines within and outside of psychology
that contribute to our understanding of criminality.
5 Summarise the dominant theoretical perspectives that are drawn on in this area.
6 Discuss the differences in approaches to knowledge that distinguish psychology
from law enforcement and other disciplines.
7 Recognise how the present book is organised from considering principles and
theories in the early chapters to more practical applications in later chapters.
8 Acknowledge the topics that forensic psychologists deal with, which are given
greater emphasis in other publications.
The wide range of psychological studies of crimes and criminals, which have emerged
over recent years, is reviewed in this book. This introductory chapter lays the
foundations for subsequent chapters, by considering the process from crime to
investigation, trial and imprisonment, then on to attempts to manage offenders in prison
and help them out of criminality. This leads to exploration of the many different
institutions and agencies that have to deal with crime and opens up the debate on the
ways in which a psychological approach may differ from other ways of considering
crimes. This includes an examination of such processes as those by which people
become criminal; the variety of ways in which crimes are enacted; how an under-
standing of criminals’ thoughts and actions can help in understanding and reducing
criminality; factors influencing witness testimony; and managing and treating offenders
2 PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CRIMINAL PROCESS
once they are convicted. The differences between criminological studies of delinquency
and psychologists’ studies of rare and extremely serious crimes are highlighted. The
study of all of these topics raises challenges in gaining access to appropriate data as well
as legal and ethical demands on the researchers.
THIS BOOK IS ORGANISED INTO FOUR SECTIONS

Section 1 – Explanation of criminality

The first section considers three broad forms of explanation of criminality; what the
basis is of becoming a criminal. This starts by considering biological explanations of
criminality: those theories that try to reduce becoming an offender to aspects of a
person’s biological makeup. Second, aspects of a person’s psychology are reviewed,
including cognitive processes as well as aspects of mental illness. The third area is the
social one, which includes family and upbringing. Membership of criminal groups and
related social psychological processes are also examined.
Section 2 – Psychological differences between crimes

The second section reviews ways in which crimes differ from each other. This is
important to understand because although two crimes may have the same legal
definition, from a psychological perspective, they may be very different. The major
distinction between crimes is whether the target is property or a person, although there
are many crimes, such as arson, that can be either or both.
The section starts with a consideration of acquisitive crimes then moves on to
violence within a domestic setting. The special types of violent crime that include
sexual assault are such a major area of criminal psychology that they are given a distinct
chapter. That is followed by consideration of homicide. The final chapter in this section
discusses organised crime and the increasingly significant area of terrorism.
Section 3 – Interacting with criminals

A rapidly developing area of crime psychology relates to what happens when an
offender, or offence, is being investigated. This often consists of interviewing those
involved, whether it is suspects, victims or witnesses. A chapter is devoted to the nature
of interviews, how they can be improved and some fundamental weaknesses to be
avoided.
Within the interview, a crucial aspect is whether the interviewee is telling the truth.
Some fascinating strides have been made in recent years in using psychological insights
and procedures to detect deception. Some crimes, notably fraud, are based entirely on
deception, so present some particular challenges for psychologists.
Investigative psychology is a relatively new area of criminal psychology that seeks
to draw on many aspects to improve the investigative process. Given the current
author’s involvement in establishing and naming this area, it is no surprise that a chapter
is devoted to it.
PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CRIMINAL PROCESS 3
Section 4 – Areas of application

The final section deals directly with the applications of psychology in law enforcement,
the courts and prisons. The too-often neglected area of victimology is also reviewed
in this section. These chapters draw on earlier chapters to show how the theories and
methods of criminal psychology can make a difference.
The final chapter looks to the future of crime and its implications for psychology.
This is the chapter that had to be updated on almost a weekly basis when it was being
written because of the rapid technological and social changes that are influencing crime
and criminality. Perhaps more emphasis should have been given to what changes in
psychology have implications for offending, but unfortunately, psychology changes far
more slowly than society. Perhaps a younger generation, especially the lively students
who read this book, will be able to get ahead of the curve and be ready for changes
in crime before they occur.
THE CRIMINAL PROCESS
To put subsequent chapters in context, it is useful to think of criminal activity as being

part of a process, rather than a particular action or an act committed by a particular
type of person. The process starts when people carry out illegal acts, but even those
acts are likely to have their roots in earlier experiences. Once the act has been
committed, there are then victims and witnesses, as well as other processes that become
associated with the act, most notably aspects of law enforcement. Thus, an important
feature of crime that emerges if the offence is recognised and reported is the police
investigation. Furthermore, the criminal is likely to be part of various social networks
that will also influence and be influenced by the crime. Other crimes may also be
associated with the initial act, so that the crime itself can become part of an unfolding
process of criminality.
Psychologists focus on individuals, rather than broader social, political or economic
aspects. So, the knowledge that is gained about the psychology of crime has to be
gleaned from the acts of offenders, rather than general crime statistics. This means that
the task of understanding the underlying cognitive, emotional and interpersonal
aspects of the criminality is very dependent on which crimes and criminals it is possible
to obtain information about. There is not very much of value for psychologists in the
sort of national crime statistics that are the stock in trade of those sociologists who
study crime. To understand the individual and social psychological aspects of crimes,
details of actual crimes and their perpetrators have to be obtained. This forces the crime
psychologist to work mainly in the field with ‘real-world’ data. The tightly controlled
laboratory studies favoured by many academic psychologists are just too artificial to
provide valid results that can be applied to actual events.
THE CHALLENGES OF CRIME PSYCHOLOGY
Yet, when considering criminals and their actions, it has to be borne in mind that a very
biased sample of people is being dealt with. For example, in most places, the offender
is appprehended in less than 10 per cent of burglaries. There is, thus, an open debate
on whether the burglars who get to court or are studied by researchers are typical of
all burglars or are, possibly, the less competent ones who do not escape arrest. By
contrast, around the developed world, as many as 95 per cent of murderers are caught.
This means that studies of those who kill others may be more representative of the
range and variety of homicides than is the case for most other crimes. It also means
that there is more information on this very rare crime than for other crimes that are
far more prevalent.
Different crimes provide different forms of challenges to understanding what

exactly is being studied. For example, arson that is committed as a carefully planned
act to make money from insurance, as might be done by a failing business, is extremely
difficult to detect. So, this ‘arson for profit’ is rarely studied by psychologists because
there are so few people convicted of this type of arson.
Rape and sexual assault provide yet other kinds of limitation on the sorts of cases
and people who become the focus for study. A conviction on these crimes is dependent
on a decision as to whether there has been consent to the offensive act. The decision
about consent relies on the interpretation of the social context of the actions.
Consequently, many of the social issues surrounding how consent is determined by
the courts will inevitably cloud the picture of who rapists actually are.
However, although in many cases, psychologists do need direct contact with
offenders to develop an understanding of crime and criminality, there is an emerging
area of psychology known as investigative psychology (Canter and Youngs, 2009) that
pays particular attention to the actions of criminals. Information on these actions may
be available from victim and witness statements, as well as police and court reports.
This information is independent of any direct contact with the offender, but the
emphasis is still on understanding criminals, rather than crime in general.
Crime and criminality can never be considered in isolation from the processes by
which the actions that are considered criminal come to notice and the route by which
the offender emerges into view. The psychology of crime always interacts with the
institution or agency that has recognised the criminal activity and the offending person.
There are many of these agencies and institutions, all of which deal with different kinds
of events and individuals, having different objectives and carrying out different tasks.
These can be thought of starting with the police who are most concerned with what
the criminal act actually consists of and the evidence that can be found to bring the
offender to justice.
Once it is decided to bring a suspect to court, the psychological aspects relate to
how the court carries out its activities. This includes an interest in what influences
court decisions, especially in those jurisdictions where a jury determines guilt or
innocence. Guidance on defendants is probably one of the main activities of forensic
psychologists, overlapping with the work of psychiatrists. This includes guidance on
whether a defendant knew what they were doing at the time of the offence and that
it was wrong, as well as whether their mental state was appropriate for them to be
able to understand the legal process and give instructions to their attorney.
Beyond the court, there are the prison authorities and other agencies that deal with
criminals, such as the probation service and various forms of support services. These
will include clinical services that attempt to assess or treat offenders and predict how
dangerous they are likely to be in the future. Prison psychologists have a particularly
FIGURE 1.1 There is a great deal of information collected in any investigation.
important role here in trying to help criminals who have say, addiction problems, or
need to manage their aggression.
VARIETIES OF CRIME
It is unlikely that there will be one set of psychological explanations and procedures
that apply to all criminal acts. To understand the psychology of crime, it is important
to take on board the great variety of actions that can be regarded as criminal. In every
culture, crime covers a great range of very different sorts of activities, from arson to
fraud to serial killing of strangers.
Even within a subgroup of crimes, there are big variations. Burglary can include
stealing a purse through an open window or breaking into a fortified warehouse to
steal carefully selected works of art. Fraud can be signing a cheque from someone else’s
account or a complex abuse of pension funds. Murder can be a violent emotional
outburst or a studied and prepared killing for profit. It seems unlikely that the same
psychological issues are relevant for all these different forms of law-breaking. Indeed,
it would be expected that individuals who carry out different types of crime in
pursuance of the same overt aim (e.g., obtaining funds) may be more similar to each
other than people who carry out actions that are given the same legal definition but
do them in different ways.
To further complicate matters, crime is not one objectively defined, universal set
of actions. It is the interpretations of actions that make them criminal. These inter-
pretations come from the legal and cultural context within which actions occur. Even
the most obviously offensive action of killing another person may not be criminal, for
example, when perpetrated by a soldier in a war or in defence of one’s own life. More
complex and subtle issues surround crimes such as rape, where consent is a central
factor. Even the action of theft usually is only considered criminal where intention to
steal can be demonstrated. When it comes to fraud and other crimes typically associated
with bureaucracies and professional work, then what is illegal in one place may be
common practice in another.
The problem of the variety of activities that can be criminal is compounded by the
lack of any strong psychological basis to legal definitions of crimes. An arson attack
carried out to hide the evidence of a crime would be classed as the same sort of crime
as that which was an act of revenge. This is a problem of particular significance when
reviewing published accounts of psychological research on crime. When studies are
carried out of the characteristics of offenders, they typically use the legal definition of
the crime for which the offender was convicted, not some subtler exploration of what
sort of actions were involved.
Because of these complications, it will become apparent in later chapters that one
of the challenges that criminal psychologists face is to get a clear account and
classification of the differences between various illegal activities. It will not be enough
to just discuss burglary, rape or even serial killing. It will always be important to
determine whether there are specific subsets of these offences that may well relate
to different psychological processes.
Identifying subsets of crimes may be quite challenging because focusing on different
aspects of crimes may give rise to very different ways of dividing them up. For example,
the popular view that ‘motive’ is an important aspect of a crime turns out to be extremely
problematic. The term ‘motive’ could be the justification a criminal has for a crime such
as revenge for a wrong done to him, or the need for money to feed her family. But, it
could also be interpreted in a more deeply psychoanalytic way, as when it is declared
that a rapist was angry with women because of the way his mother had treated him
so he was unconsciously projecting his anger with his mother on other women. Or
motive could mean some benefit the crime had for the offender, such as obtaining
recognition from other members of his gang, enjoying the excitement of getting
away with the illegal act, or carrying out what the offender considers to be a moral
duty. All these different ‘motives’ overlap with each other and could all be applied to
the same crime. Therefore, in subsequent chapters, there will often be some emphasis
on being as clear as possible about what set of actions are being considered and how
they can be distinguished from other apparently similar crimes.
Criminal psychology, therefore, relates to many and various aspects of human
activity, and as a consequence, draws on many different disciplines, as varied as cog-
nitive science and jurisprudence. The related social science disciplines that deal with
aspects of criminality and the law are drawn on to understand the context and
significance of offence behaviour. In addition, there are related areas of study that
consider the forensic traces criminals leave, whether it be where crimes occur or aspects
of the chemistry or physics of a crime. These traces can inform the understanding of
the patterns of criminal behaviour.
FIGURE 1.2 Showing many of the disciplines that contribute to the study of the
psychology of crime and criminals.
EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME
It is out of the differentiation of crimes and criminals that the various forms of psycho-
logical explanations of criminality emerge. An important point to get clear from
the start is that there is no evidence that mental illness is the cause of criminality. The
complexity and variety of criminal activity indicates that it is very unlikely that crime
is produced by mental illness or, more generally, mental disorder. The emphasis that
some psychologists, such as Blackburn (1994), give to mental problems in criminals is
partly a product of their focus being on clinical populations. This has also meant that
the aspect of the examination of criminals that emphasises a clinical psychological or
psychiatric perspective has tended to be biased towards rather extreme and unusual
subsets of criminals. In essence, the people studied by clinicians have been those who
have been referred for treatment. They, therefore, are likely to be people who are
obviously mentally disturbed or whose crimes have bizarre or extreme qualities to
them, such as serial rape, or serial arson or serial homicide.
The clinical focus has produced the rather distorted picture that much of the
psychological literature on offending is devoted to violent criminals and those whose
actions are extreme and rare. In contrast, the broader criminological literature tends
to explore the actions of delinquents and those who have carried out what is often
called ‘volume crime’, such as burglary, theft and car crime. It is, therefore, not
surprising that there is a difference in perspective between criminologists and clinical
psychologists about the causes of crime because they are really talking about different
populations.
ACTIVITY 1.1
Gee Officer Krupke

Consider this following extract from the famous lyrics written by Stephen
Sondheim for the musical West Side Story and discuss whether they exonerate
hooliganism and delinquency. (The full lyrics of the whole song are available at
www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/lyrics/krupke.html)
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,

You gotta understand,
It’s just our bringin’ up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly Moses, natcherly we’re punks!
Gee, Officer Krupke, we’re very upset;

We never had the love that ev’ry child oughta get.
We ain’t no delinquents,
We’re misunderstood.
Deep down inside us there is good!
Do any other explanations of criminality implicitly exonerate offenders? What are

the moral and legal implications of such proposals that criminality is caused by
processes outside of the direct control of the offender? Do all psychological
perspectives clarify or confuse this discussion to the same degree?
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT CRIMES AND

CRIMINALS – EVIDENCE OR DATA?
Crime is, by its very nature, very difficult to study. It is rare to be able to observe it
in action, and when it does occur, there will be many pressures to keep it secret. People
who commit offences will be reluctant to admit voluntarily that they have done so
and often will go to some effort to hide what they have done. Therefore, virtually all
study of crime and criminals depends on accounts that are given after the event, often
by people who are no longer in the situation in which the crime has occurred. It is,
therefore, rather surprising that so much has been learnt about offenders and offending.
Over the years, a large number of different sources of information have been utilised
to build up a picture of crimes and criminals. This varies from detailed interviews of
offenders themselves, or their victims, often in a clinic, prison or other institutional
setting. These may be formal questionnaire studies or more qualitative discussions with
offenders about their crimes and life experiences. These self-reports have the advantage
of direct contact with the perpetrators themselves. However, they depend on the
person’s memory of their offences, which may be weak after long periods of time and
may be affected by the desire to hide all details.
Self-reports
There are also legal and ethical issues involved both in gaining access to offenders and
in dealing with their accounts. At the most extreme, if an offender in an interview
gave an account of a serious crime that he had not been convicted of, or was intending
to commit, the interviewer could be regarded as an accessory to that crime if they did
not subsequently report it. There may also be aspects of a crime and its investigation
that are crucial for understanding what happened, which are deliberately kept from
public view for security or other matters of sensitivity.
If victims are the source of the information, there will often also be legal constraints
over the information that can be recorded, and great care is required in the storage
and reporting of any accounts obtained. For example, in many countries, the identity
of a rape victim must not be made public. As a consequence, there are often many
barriers to gaining access to offenders or their victims.
Self-report data will also suffer from various biases because transient, difficult-to-
find, uncooperative offenders will be underrepresented. There will be much more
emphasis on people who are literally a captive audience for the research; those already
incarcerated. This leads to an overrepresentation in the published research of more
prolific and more serious offenders. Their imprisonment itself may also distort what
they are prepared to talk about or how they will present their actions.
Self-report data from offenders, and victim survey data on offences, have been used
to supplement official records. However, many studies of crime rely heavily on official
records, even though this means the ‘dark figure’ of crime (unrecorded and undetected)
remains unknown. The collection of official statistics is not initially for the purposes
of research, but for the benefit of agency personnel, and thus, has with it inherent
advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it is official, and therefore, has
some authenticity. Results derived from it also have more direct relevance to policy-
makers. The disadvantages are that the sorts of information relevant to psychologists,
such as details of the characteristics of offenders, may not be recorded. Also, the official
records draw heavily on legal definitions with all the problems associated with that
discussed above. It also has to be recognised that law enforcement officers who record
details may distort them in order to massage the official figures that are presented.
Problems of remembering and deception

Given the nature of crime, deception and lying are recurrent issues that run through
any consideration of the information available. This may be generated by witnesses or
victims, as well as offenders. There has, therefore, been considerable interest in trying
to develop systematic techniques for detecting deception. These have included both
purely verbal procedures as well as physiologically based systems – ‘lie detectors’. None
has proved foolproof, not least because a person who convinces themself they are telling
the truth, or is very well rehearsed in their lies, will not be operating in any way
differently from a genuine truth teller.
However, accounts that may be suspicious may be a product of what people

remember. Therefore, questions about the evaluation of the validity of testimony can
include both the study of deliberate falsification and failures in remembering. The
matter is further complicated by the fact that the accounts that are given emerge within
the social context of the interview. There are, therefore, aspects of the interview process
itself, which may facilitate or hinder accurate recall or the recognition of falsehoods.
Victimisation surveys and official statistics

Victimisation surveys entail interviews with community samples concerning their

attitudes and experiences of being victims of crime during the preceding 6 or 12
months, and can be carried out at the local or national level. They can provide
information about who the majority of victims were, and possible characteristics of
their offender, with regards to age, sex, socioeconomic status, ethnic background and
so on, and the types of crimes they have become victim of (i.e., burglaries, assaults,
vehicle theft, harassment, property damage, etc.).
Like the other methods of obtaining information about crimes, victimisation
surveys also have their benefits and weaknesses. They are subject to sampling errors,
accuracy of recall, willingness of victims to report their experiences, as well as inter-
pretation of the coding of offences. So, while official statistics from law enforcement
can provide information on the prevalence and incidence rates of crime, they fail to
encompass the wide spectrum of crime that is actually being committed by individuals
and groups, which may not be reported to the police – this is where self-report and
victim surveys help to ‘fill in the gaps’. They are also not reliant on police processing
(i.e., reporting and recording procedures) and can often enlighten victims who are
unaware they have even been victimised.
An important disadvantage with official data is that only a small fraction of the actual
amount of crime is recorded. Many of the records also only deal with those crimes
where the offender has been identified and there is sufficient evidence against them.
Two other major disadvantages include the variations in collection protocols leading
to incomplete accounts and the biases that may be present within the data reflecting
personal agendas, or incomplete or competing views. However, there have been
improvements in recent years in the UK to unify the way police information is
collected and maintained. In other countries, notably in the USA, there are often large
variations in how crimes are recorded.
The main advantage of records has been described in detail by Canter and Alison
(2003) by exploring their parallel to what Webb et al. (1999) called ‘unobtrusive and
non-reactive’ measures. By their very nature and in their collection, they do not
influence directly the behaviour of the individual. The information is collected, in the
main, to help solve a case and bring it to court, so is essentially thought of by various
law enforcement agencies as evidence rather than data. Or, it is collected to provide
official figures for various reports, guiding policy and the overall management of crime.
These records, thus, cover very many different sorts of information. Each needs
to be assessed for validity and reliability using criteria specific to the source of the
information. Each source also possesses its own challenges to the researcher. Crime
scene photographs, for instance, demand a very different approach to analysis, to
summaries of where crimes have taken place.
Reports in the media

An increasing number of researchers draw on published accounts of crime that occur
in books and newspapers or websites that give details of crimes or provide propaganda
urging others to be violent. These can be remarkably useful sources of research data,
if treated with caution. Often, when it comes to major crimes, such as terrorist inci-
dents or serial killing, then the published sources may be the only information
publically available. They can, therefore, be drawn on to give accounts of the broad
nature, developments and changes over time in these crimes. However, caution always
needs to be exercised when using these sources because there will often be crucial
information that the police and security services deliberately keep out of the public
domain. They keep it secret both to protect their own sources and security, but also
to ensure that anyone who admits to the crime can be questioned to see whether they
have information about the crime that was not in the public domain, thus supporting
their confession.
Data and methods used in crime psychology research
Official records
Around the world police authorities and ministries of justice publish records
of the crimes that have occurred. These are readily available and are the basis
of much quantitative sociology.
Advantages
• The main advantage of these records is that they are unobtrusive in
nature, and in their collection, they do not influence directly the behaviour
of the individual.
• Their official nature also gives them significance in policy-making, which
gives added value to any study of them.
Disadvantages
• Official data are a small fraction of the actual amount of crime recorded.
• They tend to be rather general with little detail or information on
individuals or crimes of the form that is of value to psychological research.
As well, they specify the exact dates on which the offences were
recorded and make it possible to determine the ordering of offences
FOCUS 1.1
(Farrington, Snyder & Finnegan, 1988).
Police data
For example, victim and witness statements, police interviews, notes and
photographs taken at the crime scene and any geographical information.
Advantages
• Police data are not derived under laboratory conditions. Therefore, findings
from these studies will be high in ecological validity.
• There may be a lot of information about the details of the crime that are
not available any other way.
• The information is collected in relation to the requirements of the law, and
so, may be much more thorough than that collected as part of some forms
of research.
Disadvantages
• Many crimes go unreported to the police.
• Police data are collected in order to collect evidence, or for official records,
rather than for psychological research. Therefore, variables that
psychologists may be interested in will not always be recorded in an easily
extractable condition, if at all.
• Information is collected in different ways by different police forces, and
therefore, comparison is often difficult.
• In general, the police are extremely chary about making any data available
to anyone outside the police force.
Victim surveys
Researchers often use victim surveys as another data source. For example,
the British Crime Survey (BCS) is the largest adult victim survey in the UK and
is carried out annually.
Advantages
• Anonymous surveys may offer a more accurate picture of the incidence
of people being victims of crime.
Disadvantages
• Victim surveys may be subject to sample bias. Some populations are
underresearched and difficult to study (e.g., rape victims who are male or
levels of rape within vulnerable populations, such as prostitutes or
homeless people).
FOCUS 1.1 Continued
• These surveys tend to have relatively little detailed information about the
crime.
• The traumatic nature of the event itself may distort the victims’ view of events.
• No information is available about the perpetrators.
Clinical studies of victims

Studies using medical notes from hospitals or special referral centres
(as in Sexual Assault Referral Centres – SARCs), especially in violent crimes,
can give a lot of detail about the victims and their experiences.
Advantages
• As many victims do not report crimes to the police, the results from
medical centres may provide a more representative sample than those
based only on recorded crimes.
Disadvantages
• Such centres are often based in urban settings. Therefore, results derived
from these contexts may not reflect the nature of rape in more rural
areas.
• There are very significant problems of confidentiality, which may limit
access to researchers.
• Medical centres may have different methods of clinical evaluations.
Therefore, variations in results between different centres may reflect
different protocol.
Offender interviews
Offenders can be interviewed for research purposes, usually in a clinical or
prison setting.
Advantages
• Interviews with offenders may provide a greater insight into the reasons
why they carry out their crimes or how they may try to justify their
offending behaviour.
• The findings may be useful in terms of designing an appropriate
therapeutic programme for groups or individuals.
Disadvantages
• Offenders may distort events or lie in the hope that they may get a lesser
sentence on conviction or early release from prison.
• Only known offenders, or those who are not transient, will be available for
interview.
• Access to some offenders, for example terrorists, may be extremely
difficult.
• Unless other records are provided, only the offender’s side of the story
FOCUS 1.1 Continued
will be available, and the details of the crime may be very limited.
Court reports
The proceedings of courts are usually matters of public record following
the famous saying ‘Justice must not only be done but be seen to be done’.
Increasingly, the reports of courts are available online, www.Gov.public-
records.co.uk as well as a great deal of other information about legal
processes, especially in the USA, for example, LexisNexis Academic,
or www.public-records.com.
Advantages
• The details of the crime and of the offender are available.
• Information across many jurisdictions can be found.
Disadvantages
• Only the information considered appropriate and relevant to the court case
will be recorded.
• Only those crimes that come to court will be available.
Published open sources in the mass media

Because of the huge interest in crime, there are a great many accounts of
crime in many different publications, ranging from local newspapers to the
autobiographies of criminals. A great deal of this information is, inevitably,
now available on the World Wide Web.
FOCUS 1.1 Continued
Advantages
• This information is readily available.
• It covers crimes that occur all over the world and across history.
Disadvantages
• The information contained will relate to what is newsworthy and can be
very patchy.
• The accuracy of the information always has to be checked.
• The cases selected will tend to be the unusual and sensational ones.
AREAS OF CONTRIBUTION
The numerous explorations of the psychology of crime find their way into an
increasing range and quantity of contexts. It is, perhaps, easiest to understand the
contributions psychologists are making in terms of the different sorts of institutional
settings in which they work. In each of these settings, they will be bound by different
professional demands and codes of practice. This is leading to rather different profes-
sional disciplines emerging in these diverse areas even though they share a common
requirement to understand criminals and criminality.
The area of activity for which crime psychologists are most widely known, which is
popularly referred to as ‘offender profiling’, is actually still the most unusual role for them
to take. ‘Offender profiling’ was always more of a mass media creation than an actual
psychological contribution; being much more prevalent in fiction than in fact. The
accounts that are given usually owe a great deal more to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes
than to any real scientific activity. Nonetheless, there is much that psychology can
contribute to police and other investigations and it is out of this that the area of investigative
psychology has been created, as reviewed extensively in Canter and Youngs (2008).
Although the first writings on investigative psychology date back less than 25 years
(Canter, 1989), the area has developed and expanded very rapidly. Of particular interest
has been the emergence of a psychology of the police, especially of investigators. They
often have to face very challenging tasks where decisions have to be made under
conditions of considerable uncertainty. There is still very little known about how they
actually face up to such tasks and the sorts of people who are most able to handle them
effectively.
Once a criminal comes before a court, there is a new range of psychological issues
that must be dealt with. Some of these are very much within the realm of clinical
psychology when the mental state and capabilities of the defendant are at issue. But,
others relate more directly to the sorts of cognitive processes that can help the court
to understand memory processes. Psychologists take the role of expert witnesses who
can comment on the value and validity of information presented before the court, but
in most jurisdictions, great care is taken to ensure that they do not offer opinions about
the innocence or guilt of the accused. Legal systems differ from one area to the next,
and so, the particular role of the psychologist and the sorts of topics on which they
can give evidence are different in different jurisdictions.
It is probably the case that most crime psychologists ply their trade with convicted
offenders. Assessing them, particularly the risk of them re-offending, as well as
providing support and treatment. Loosely, these may be called prison psychologists,
but there are many offenders being appraised and helped in many other institutions
besides prisons. The task of these psychologists is an especially difficult one because
they have to help people be able eventually to cope with the problems of their social
environment and community. Yet, the psychologist can have no influence over that
context. However, there are some signs that a basic understanding of criminal
behaviour, how it emerges and is sustained, can give rise to productive interventions
with offenders.
It is a moot point whether the experiences of those who suffer crimes, and ways
of understanding their experiences and helping them to cope with those experiences,
should sit firmly under the heading of criminal psychology. But, as it turns out, many
offenders are themselves victims. Furthermore, a great deal can be understood about
crime by a careful consideration of who the victims are. Victims are no more randomly
distributed through the population than are criminals.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Throughout the consideration of the psychology of crime, it has been clear that it does
not exist as an abstract, independent discipline, which operates in a vacuum. At all
points, it interacts with the demands and processes of other institutions and disciplines
and the perspective and constraints of the legal system and society at large. Therefore,
one of the greatest tasks that confronts psychologists working in this area is to bridge
the gap between psychology and the other related legal disciplines. There is a variety
of valid perspectives on crime, and the challenge is to bridge the gap between them.
Central to this is the need to deal with the tendency for the social sciences to look
for causes of criminality outside of the direct agency of the person committing the
crime. The criminal’s biology, personality or upbringing are blamed for the crime, not
the offender as such. In contrast, the law and public debate puts great emphasis on the
conscious intentions of the offender. Thus, it is clear that lawyers and those involved
in the legal profession formulate the questions they consider it important to answer
about criminality in quite a different way from social scientists.
One particularly important difference between lawyers and crime psychologists
is that lawyers are looking for definitive answers that relate to specific cases. This is
very different from the general trends that characterise the conclusions reached by
psychologists. There are also differences in pragmatic issues that relate to the ways the
different communities go about answering these questions. The courts and investigators
look for evidence that will point to innocence or guilt. By contrast, psychologists look
for statistical significance that emerges out of scientific studies. At the heart of these
differences are very diverse attitudes towards the nature of evidence, as well as differ-
ences in the central models of what is the nature of human beings.
CONCLUSIONS
The psychology of crime covers a very wide range of human activity from the most
mundane acts of minor theft, or the daily occurrence of deception, through to the
outrages of serial killing and terrorism. It consequently connects with very many other
disciplines across the spectrum of professions and sciences. The central challenges of
the psychology of crime are, on the one hand, the access to valid, reliable, robust and
representative data about crimes and criminals. On the other hand, the challenge is to
build effective bridges with the many other perspectives for which the psychology of
crime is relevant.
This rapidly growing area of study and practice seems set to continue expanding
into ever-wider areas of research and application. This will, in part, be shaped by
development in criminality. It will also be influenced by the areas of success that
psychologists have already had, leading to the opening of doors into as yet
unseen areas of law enforcement and offender rehabilitation.
KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS
• Classification of • Sources of data • Forensic

crimes • Explanations of psychology
• Deception crime • The criminal
• Investigative • Criminality process
psychology
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• What are the main differences between studying crime and studying criminals?
• Review the various sources of information for studying criminals with their strengths
and weaknesses.
• Could you ever study crime under controlled laboratory conditions?
• What are the main ways in which psychology can contribute to the control and
management of crime?
• What do you think are the main differences between legal testimony and research
data, and what implications do you think this has for the understanding of criminality?
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER READING
In a concise volume, such as the present one, it is impossible to provide detailed

information on all the very many topics that fit under this broad umbrella. Therefore,
where reasonably up-to-date books already exist that deal with major topics, such as
psychology in prisons (Towl, 2006), or psychology in the courtroom (Lieberman and
Kraus, 2016), or the considerable range of connections between psychology and the
law (Brewer and Williams, 2005; Canter and Žukauskiené, 2007), then only a brief
overview of these topics is given in the present volume. The considerable literature
on clinical psychology applications in the legal context is also only touched on very
briefly in the current volume. Roesch and McLachlan (2007) have brought together
an encyclopaedic collection of papers dealing with these issues, emphasising assessment
and treatment. A more distilled set of accounts is provided by McGuire et al. (2000).
Books
Alison, L., & Rainbow, L. (Eds.). (2011). Professionalizing offender profiling: forensic and investigative
psychology in practice. London: Routledge.
Brewer, N., & Williams, K. D. (Eds.). (2005). Psychology and law: an empirical perspective. London:
Guilford Press.
Canter, D., & Youngs, D. (2008). Investigative psychology: offender profiling and the analysis of criminal
action. Chichester: Wiley.
Canter, D., & Žukauskiené, R. (Eds.). (2008). Psychology and law: bridging the gap. Farnham:
Ashgate.
Krauss, D. A., & Lieberman, J. D. (2016). Psychological expertise in court: psychology in the courtroom
(Vol. 2). London: Routledge.
Roesch, R., & McLachlan, K. (2007). Clinical forensic psychology and law. Farnham: Ashgate.
Towl, G. J. (Ed.). (2006). Psychological research in prisons. London: BPS Blackwell.
Wrightsman, L. S., Nietzel, M. T., & Fortune, W. H. (1998). Psychology and the legal system:
4th edition. London: Brooks/Cole.
Youngs, D. (Ed.). (2013). Behavioural analysis of crime: studies in David Canter’s investigative
psychology. Farnham: Ashgate.
Journal articles
Canter, D., & Alison, L. J. (2003). Converting evidence into data: the use of law enforcement
archives as unobtrusive measurement. The Qualitative Report, 8(2), 151–76.
Farrington, D. P. (1992). Criminal career research in the United Kingdom. British Journal of
Criminology, 32(4), 521–36.
Haney, C. (1993). Psychology and legal change: the impact of a decade. Law and Human
Behaviour, 17, 371–98.
Kazemian, L., & Farrington, D. (2005). Comparing the validity of prospective, retrospective,
and official onset for different offending categories. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21(2),
127–47.
Monahan, J., & Walker, L. (1988). Social science research in law: a new paradigm. American
Psychologist, 43, 465–72.
Otto, R. K., & Heilbrun, K. (2002). The practice of forensic psychology: a look toward the
future in light of the past. American Psychologists, 57, 5–18.
Websites
The following website gives a descriptive overview of investigative psychology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigative_psychology
The following website gives information about a career in forensic psychology:
http://study.com/articles/Criminal_Forensic_Psychologist_Career_Info_Duties_and_
Requirements.html
1 criminality
Explanation of
2 Biological
explanations
of crime
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:
1 Understand the major neurobiological approaches to explaining crime.

2 Evaluate the evidence offered for neurobiological explanations.
3 Understand the methods for studying biological influences on criminality.
4 Be aware of the historical origins of biological explanations of crime.
5 Evaluate the value of biological factors to explain criminality.
SUMMARY
There is a multiplicity of explanations of why crimes occur that focus on aspects of the
individual. Some of these attempt to explain crime as being based in human
evolutionary origins and having roots in a person’s neurology and physiology, which
has roots in the person’s genetic makeup. Other theories, which focus on the
individual, deal more directly with the person, including their personality and cognitive
processes. These explanations do not necessarily assume a firm biological basis to criminal
actions, although many attempts are being made to relate the psychology to
neurobiology and genes. So, although popular discussions still set ‘nature’ against
‘nurture’ as two opposing explanations of criminality, current thinking sees them
interacting in what is often called a ‘biosocial’ explanation. However, the current chapter
focuses on the biological explanations, which have a long tradition in psychology.
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE CAUSES OF CRIME
There are many different attempts to explain criminality by reducing it to some sort
of biological basis. At their most fundamental, these explanations seek a genetic cause
for a person becoming an offender. This is the idea criminals are ‘born, not made’.
22 EXPLANATION OF CRIMINALITY
A somewhat less mechanical view is that there are aspects of human evolutionary
history that predispose people (especially men) to be violent. In a curious way, these
two views are rather in conflict because genetic explanations imply variations between
individuals, but evolutionary explanations imply that certain characteristics (such as
walking upright) will have become dominant for the species.
Other biological explanations look for hormonal aspects of the person, or com-
ponents of brain functioning, as the causes for criminal actions. As will become clear,
there are a variety of critiques of all these explanations.
These sorts of explanations are called reductionist because they imply that complex
human interactions can be reduced to basic biological causes. They are often also
referred to as deterministic because they imply that the actions of people can be
determined from an identifiable number of specific causes, external to a person’s
own agency. Such explanations assume that the biological basis for human activity can
operate independently of the milieu in which that activity emerges. It is clear that
cannot be the case. Actions need a person and a context. Therefore, all current
explanations of crime accept a mixture of nature and nurture, in which they interact
with and modify each other, called socio-biological explanations. However, for clarity,
this chapter focuses on the individualistic explanations, and the next chapter deals with
more psychologically oriented ones.
NINETEENTH-CENTURY DETERMINISM
The determinist belief that human beings were essentially biological organisms was
greatly influenced by Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man. It was argued that if humans
are just evolved animals, then they are no more than their bodies. Consequently,
variations in their characteristics ought to be reflected in variations in their bodies.
Therefore, the argument went, there ought to be features of the body that indicate
aspects of the person who inhabits that body.
The most well-known illustration of this in the nineteenth century was phrenology.
Initially put forward by Franz Gall, this purported to be a science that allowed a
phrenologist to determine a person’s characteristics from the shape of their skull,
and in particular, the protrusions on the skull. It was not a big step from this to claim
that whether a person was a criminal or not could be gleaned from bodily features.
One particularly popular version of this was the idea that a person’s propensity
towards criminality was revealed in the face, known as physiognomy. Johan Lavater,
among others, produced extensive catalogues of faces to show what different types of
criminals looked like.
The idea that a person’s appearance showed how evolved they were as human beings
was drawn on by Cesare Lombroso to claim that criminals were less-evolved human
beings. His proposal was that those who followed the laws of society were more
civilised, and thus, more highly developed. In 1895, he published his influential book
L’Homme Criminel Atlas, which contained sixty-four pages of pictures of what criminals
would typically look like. This book laid the foundations for what became known as
forensic anthropology. Lombroso drew attention to many aspects of people, which he
claimed indicated propensity to various forms of criminality. These included physical
abnormalities, such as asymmetrical skull, large ears, flattened or crooked nose, fat lips,
BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME 23
enormous jaws and high cheekbones. These ideas were widely believed until Goring’s
(1913) important study. He compared students and criminals showing there were no
differences at all in their physical or facial features. However, Lombroso’s ideas are so
powerful that they still linger on in some places even today.
As with most subsequent attempts to seek the causes of criminality in the offender’s
biology, one fundamental problem with all these early attempts is the assumption that
criminality is a characteristic of the person. They ignore the fact that some actions are
not regarded as criminal in all jurisdictions, as mentioned in Chapter 1. They also ignore
other influencing factors such as the opportunities for crime. Furthermore, when
classifying offenders as certain types of criminals, say as a robber or a rapist, they assume
that people only ever commit just one type of crime. All the evidence shows that most
criminals who carry out a number of crimes are versatile to some extent. Therefore,
the idea of claiming, for example, that a rapist will have a certain look and a robber
a different look runs into difficulties if a person commits both types of crimes.
However, these early ideas, rooted in evolutionary theory, were useful in drawing
attention to the significance of characteristics of the individual in understanding the
causes of crime. In particular, they emphasise what it is that a person is born with
that gives rise to their criminality. They were the first serious scientific theories to take
the stand that some individuals are more likely to become criminals than others. This
was assumed to be because of what they are born with, whether innate, being their
genetic inheritance or congenital. That is, factors present at birth, which include
influences of the uterine and perinatal environment. This challenged the popular
superstition that criminals are possessed by evil spirits. A view that still surfaces when
particularly nasty criminals are described as monsters or ‘evil’.
CONSTITUTIONAL THEORIES
The belief that criminals could be distinguished by their physical features did not fade
away completely after systematic studies discredited them. Much more carefully
constructed assessments of body type were carried out and related to criminality. The
most notable of these was Sheldon’s (1941) constitutional types. He described three
basic body types, which he believed were correlated with particular types of personality:
• thin and bony ectomorphs, who were introverted and restrained.
• large and heavy endomorphs, who were sociable and relaxed.
• broad and muscular mesomorphs, who were aggressive and adventurous.
He argued, after studying criminals, that they were more mesomorphic and less ecto-
morphic. This claim was supported by Glueck and Glueck (1956) who found that 57
per cent of their criminal sample were mesomorphic and 16 per cent ectomorphic,
compared with 19 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, of controls. However,
whether these body types were a product of criminal lifestyles or the contexts from
which the samples were taken and not related to the biological causes of criminality
is open to question.
So, although the idea that it is possible to determine whether a person is a criminal
or not from what they look like has been shown to lack any support, there are aspects
of issues, such as disfigurement and ‘minor physical anomalies’ (MPAS), that have been
found to have weak correlations with delinquency. Masters and Greaves (1969)
showed that 60 per cent of 11,000 prisoners had facial deformities compared with 20
per cent in a non-criminal population. Agnew (1984) reported that schoolchildren rated
as unattractive self-reported higher delinquency. Thompson (1990) estimated that, in
any given year, there are 250,000 disfigured offenders in US prisons. Again the question
has to be asked whether the criminal lifestyle causes deformities or the deformities set
in motion a way of dealing with others that leads to criminality. There is also the
recurring problem of dealing with criminals as a homogenous mass, rather than many
different types of offenders.

Arseneault et al. (2000b) more recently continued research on MPAS, looking
at features such as asymmetrical ears or webbed toes, finding limited correlations
with delinquency. Arseneault et al. (2000b) though, do not claim that disfigurement
is the direct cause of criminality. Rather it may be that some people who are facially
unattractive or have MPAS are judged in negative terms, and may not have the same
opportunities or may react to the perceptions of others in ways that lead into offending.
But, it is also possible that offenders, especially those who have spent time in prison,
may have suffered assault and poor diet and hygiene because of their incarceration.
As with other deformities, the social circumstances from which they emerge could
also influence their physique or appearance.
GENETIC INHERITANCE
Whether crime is caused by ‘nature’ or ‘nurture’ is a constant source of popular debate.

It is now clear that framing of the question is oversimplified. First, crime is clearly
caused by both genetics and upbringing. Second, these interact with each other.
Furthermore, as needs constant emphasising, crime is a great mixture of activities,
which doubtless have different causes. Nonetheless, it is interesting to consider the
various ways in which the relative influence of inherited or environmental factors has
been explored. Such studies have, broadly, considered families, twins and adoptees.
Family studies
The idea behind studies of families is that if criminality is inherited, criminal families
will tend to produce criminal children. The basis for this argument is the commonplace
finding that it is indeed the case that when one or more parent has been convicted of
crimes, then it is often the case that the children will also be convicted. Furthermore,
other members of the family also have a higher probability of being criminal than the
population at large. It has been recognised for centuries that there are criminal
families, rather than just criminal individuals. One widely cited set of findings that
illustrates this comes from the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Children. Osborn and
West (1979) showed that about 40 per cent of the sons of criminal fathers were
criminals themselves compared with 13 per cent for sons of noncriminal fathers.
Subsequently, West (1982) reported that boys with a criminal father were twice as
likely to become delinquent as those with noncriminal fathers. It should be noted,
however, that not all children of criminal families become criminal, and not all
criminals come from criminal families.
The prevalence of criminal children with criminal parents does not inevitably mean
that the relationship is due to criminal genes being passed on from generation to
generation, as was believed in the nineteenth century. Low income, large families and
social and psychological factors within the family, such as parents encouraging their
children to commit crimes, transmitting delinquent values and activity (Hollin, 1989)
are more likely causes. Although family studies point to the significance of domestic
circumstances in giving rise to criminality, more subtle investigations are essential to
determine to what extent genetics may be involved.
FIGURE 2.1 The Kray Twins; Was it nature or nurture that led to these men controlling
London crime in the 1950s and 60s. How was it that only one of these
identical twins was diagnosed with schizophrenia?
Twins and adoption studies

Before the ability to examine genes directly, with the mapping of the human genome,
the most commonly used procedure for exploring many different genetic influences
is to study twins in various ways. This is because identical (monozygotic or MZ) twins
have almost exactly the same genetic makeup and fraternal (dizygotic or DZ) twins,
while having very similar genetics, are less similar. Comparing MZ and DZ individuals
and those brought up together and those brought up apart, therefore, allows a closer
examination of the influence of ‘nature’ in comparison with ‘nurture’.
It has to be emphasised though that the conclusions of these studies are not without
their challenges. Two problems in particular face anyone carrying out such studies.
One is that the distinction between MZ and DZ is not as simple as it may seem.
Gradations of identicalness exist. MZ twins develop from the splitting of a single egg
at the time of conception, and so, share a very high proportion of the same genes.
Yet, there is the possibility for random variations and different influences in the womb
that can make them slightly different. Consequently, they may not be totally identical.
The other challenge is that there are environmental factors that identical twins often
share, which are less common in fraternal twins. By contrast, DZ twins are like any
other siblings. They may share about 50 per cent of their genes. The influence of
genetic factors is, therefore, taken to be indicated by the difference between how similar
the MZ twins are when compared with how similar the DZ twins are.
Twin studies are, therefore, used in an attempt to determine the relative influence
of environment or genetics. Any findings for twin studies are inconclusive in the
absence of data on twins reared apart. Critics argue that similarities of appearance of
MZ twins means a closer relationship, more similar treatment by parents, and therefore,
similar interests, behaviour and social responses. As a consequence, it may be these
social processes that give rise to the concordance, rather than genetics.
Many researchers have pointed out that one further step towards unravelling the
confounding variables that confuse studies of the influence of genetic processes is to
compare MZ twin pairs who have been raised separately with those who have been
brought up in the same family. The argument here is that if identical twins reared apart
still show high concordance rates, then this must be explained by reference to genetic
factors. As Joseph (2003) points out in an extensive review of genetic factors in
psychology and psychiatry, there have not really been any major studies that make such
comparisons.
One reason for this lack of major studies is that there are very few twin pairs who
are separated at birth, and of those who are, relatively few will have developed criminal
records. Case studies of individual pairs of twins reared apart do sometimes show
dramatic similarities, but without knowing the frequency of such similarities, it is always
possible that they come to notice because they are so unusual. In one of the few studies
relevant to criminality, which did consider thirty-two MZ twins reared apart since
shortly after birth, Grove et al. (1990) measured a variety of ‘subclinical manifestations
of antisocial problems’. They found some concordance that indicated genetic influences
on both childhood conduct disorders and adult antisocial behaviours. However, the
former only accounted for about 16 per cent of the variations between individuals.
The adult figure was less than 8 per cent. So, although this does show some genetic
influence for aspects of the individuals that may be a precursor to criminality, they
suggest that environmental factors may be much more powerful.
The study of twins is usefully complemented by looking at people who have been
adopted, and therefore, brought up by people who are not their biological parents.
This helps to separate out the influence of genetics from the influence of family
environment. This may not be as straightforward, though, as may seem at first sight.
The whole process of adoption and indeed how people come to be adopted into
families that are criminal, or adopted from families that are criminal, raises many
questions about the social processes involved that may influence what the adopted
person does.
Crowe (1974) carried out one of the first studies of criminals who had been adopted.
A sample of adopted children whose biological mothers had a criminal record were
compared with those whose mothers had no criminal record. Almost 50 per cent of
adoptees who had criminal mothers had a criminal record by 18 years of age. Only
about 5 per cent of the adoptees whose mothers had no criminal record had been
convicted for a criminal offence. In a much larger study, Hutchings and Mednick
(1975) examining over 1,000 adoptees found that 21.4 per cent of sons became criminal
when the biological father was criminal, 11.5 per cent when the adoptive father
was criminal and 10.5 per cent when neither father was criminal. If both fathers
had criminal records, the percentage of adoptees with criminal records was higher at
36.2 per cent. Mednick, Gabrielli and Hutchings (1984) in their study with a sample
of 14,427 adoptees also showed that the percentage of criminal adoptees is higher when
both fathers are criminal (Table 2.1). All these studies imply a modest genetic
contribution to whether people become criminal and show that interaction between
genetic and environmental factors is crucial.
It is also to be expected that the weighting of these factors will vary for different
types of crimes. The ways the factors interact will also complicate any conclusions.
Rhee and Waldman’s (2002) important review is a good illustration of what it is
possible to conclude and the complexities of such studies. They examined fifty-one
twin and adoption studies that considered a wide range of antisocial activities. They
tried to discriminate between the influence of environment and genetics on individuals
and siblings as well as family processes. They also considered factors that moderate those
influences. These include methodological issues, such as how the DZ or MZ nature
of the twins was determined. They also considered the interesting moderation of the
age of the people being studied. The, perhaps, unexpected result of many studies is
that, as twins get older, they are more likely to be similar to each other. (Although as
mentioned above, Grove et al., 1990, found the opposite!) So, any studies of younger
delinquents may well get different results from those studying older people.
Overall, Rhee and Waldman’s (2002) review does lend support to some role for
genetic inheritance on whether a person becomes delinquent or not. Estimates of the
TABLE 2.1 Percentage of sons criminally convicted (Mednick, Gabrielli and Hutchings,
1984).
Convicted biological parents
Convicted adoptive parents Yes No
Yes 24.5 20.0
No 14.7 13.5
power of this influence are made in many different ways. But, broadly speaking, results
suggest that between a third and a half of the variations between people who become
criminal and those who do not may be derived from aspects of their genetic makeup.
So, although there are some indications of a genetic component to breaking the
law, and antisocial behaviour, especially in juveniles, the mechanisms by which
the genetics have their influence is far from clear. As Rutter and Giller (1983) put
it, ‘The question of just what is inherited remains unanswered; it is unlikely to be
criminality as such’ (p. 179). In other words, even though some, such as Beaver et al.
(2007), have suggested that it is possible to identify genes that relate to conduct disorder,
this is still a long way from explaining what the processes are that give rise to criminal
actions. To get further with these explanations requires more detailed consideration
of the person, rather than just their genetics.
CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES
A fundamental problem with twin and adoption studies is that the genetic influence
has to be inferred from within a complex mix of environmental factors and interactions
between the people and their surroundings. A much more direct genetic link can be
claimed if some aspect of a person’s genetic makeup can be observed directly.
Examining a person’s chromosomes would seem to offer the possibility of observing
the genetic causes directly. The chromosome is a single, long molecule of DNA, which
contains the genetic material that influences many of the individuals’ biological
characteristics. Humans normally have forty-six chromosomes in pairs – forty-four
autosomes (that determine the shape and constitution of the body) and two sex
chromosomes (that determine the gender); XX for females and XY for males. A variety
of chromosomal abnormalities can exist. Of particular interest is condition 47,XYY,
in which men have an extra Y chromosome.
This extra Y chromosome in males has been linked to above average height,
borderline intelligence and violent criminal behaviour. Sandberg, Koepf, Ishihara and
Hauschka (1961) were the first to associate the XYY syndrome and violent crime.
Witkin et al. (1976) examined 4,591 men for the presence of the extra Y chromosome
and identified only twelve cases. He also found that these men were more likely to
be involved in crime (41.7 per cent), but curiously, not violent crime. Stochholm,
Jensen, Jull and Gravholt (2012) carried out a thorough study of XYY men and found
that the overall risk of being convicted for sexual abuse, burglary and arson was
significantly increased when compared with a control group. But they pointed out
that the increased risk of convictions may be explained by the poor socioeconomic
conditions related to the chromosome aberrations. However, once again, not all the
individuals with XYY syndrome are criminals, and the vast majority of criminals do
not have any chromosomal abnormality.
BIOCHEMICAL EXPLANATIONS
Distinct from genetic influences are those biological aspects of a person that may in-
fluence their criminality. Many aspects of a person’s biology may emerge during
pregnancy, the birth process or after birth and be influenced more by environmental
factors than genetics. The most obvious example is the abuse of drugs and alcohol.
These factors may have genetic roots or be modified by aspects of a person’s genes,
but for simplicity, it is helpful to consider them in isolation of complicating factors.
In general, it is also important to keep in mind that biological explanations tend to
relate to emotional reactions, and therefore, are more likely to be drawn on when
considering violent crime than purely property-related crime.
The most frequently cited biological explanations refer to hormones. These are
compounds secreted by special glands, known as endocrine glands, which influence

overall wellbeing, especially mood. The hormone most usually considered as relevant
to antisocial behaviour is the level of testosterone. This is a key male hormone
generated by the testes. High levels of testosterone have been related to aggression in
prisoners. However, this is not a simple explanation of the great preponderance of men
among criminals because there are many criminals who do not show high levels of
this hormonal activity.
One curious correlate of testosterone is the ratio of the length of the index finger
to that of the ring finger. The smaller the ratio of second digit length divided by the
fourth digit length, the more male hormone a person is likely to have been exposed
to in the womb. As Moskowitz, Sutton, Zuroff and Young (2015) report, men with
short index fingers and long ring fingers tend, on average, to be nicer towards women
and to have more children. However, somewhat contradicting this, Bailey and Hurd
(2005) found a small, but significant relationship between this finger length ratio and
aggression. So, although these intriguing findings are often widely reported with banner
headlines, the relationships they are based on are exceedingly small, and often, not
consistent with each other.
Various other aspects of a person’s biology have also been linked to impulsivity
and aggression. These include vitamin and mineral deficiency, levels of protein and
carbohydrate, lead poisoning, radiation from artificial lighting, low levels of the key
neurochemical serotonin, as well as allergic reactions and food additives. Hypoglycae-
mia (low blood sugar) may affect the functioning of the brain and contribute to violent
behaviour (Virkkunen, 1986; DeWall, Deckman, Gailliot and Bushman 2011). As so
often with simple causal explanations, there is a problem with all of these. There are
usually other associated factors, such as general economic deprivation or membership
of particular social subgroups, which may be the influential factors.
NEUROLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
As ever more sophisticated ways of measuring brain functioning are becoming

available, there is an increasing amount of research that seeks to determine if there is
anything different about criminals’ brains. As with so many studies of offenders, there
is the problem of whether their lifestyle has caused aspects of their brain functioning
or the other way round. There is also the further question of what it really indicates
to demonstrate that there are cortical correlates of offending activity.
The results of these studies are also not consistent. Blackburn (1993) reported that
the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain using electroencephalograms
(EEG) has indicated that there were high-frequency abnormalities relating to frontal
and left hemispheric dysfunction in aggressive and psychopathic criminals. However,

a later study reported by Pillman et al. (1999) did not give similar results. There are
many other inconsistencies across published research, which are probably due to the
unreliability and confusions in what EEG is actually measuring and in the definition
of ‘criminality’ in the people they are studying.
The challenges to this approach to explaining criminality have not weakened with
the introduction of much more sophisticated tools for measuring brain activity. For
example, using a technique known as structural magnetic resonance imaging, Raine
et al. (2000) found on average there was a small, but significantly lower amount of
prefrontal grey and white matter in the brains of those with antisocial personality disorder
(see Chapter 3) when compared with those who had not carried out violent acts. This
reduction in the implied effectiveness of the prefrontal cortex does accord with other
studies, showing that on average violent individuals do have some aspects of their brains
that tend to be different from others. That should come as no surprise. The question
though still remains as to why that is and what it implies other than that, indeed, people
with extremely aggressive personalities are somewhat different from others.
As Canter (2012) argued in some detail, trying to understand what is going on in
a person’s mind by measuring the surface electrical currents is a little like trying to
understand how a car engine works by seeing which parts heat up under different
driving conditions. More focused explorations looking at the details of brain activity
and the network of connections within the brain may offer more precise indications,
but there is still the challenge of being clear what sort of criminal is being studied and
relating brain function directly to human activity and experience.
Slightly more productive have been studies where there is known brain damage
due to complications around the time of birth, head injuries, tumours or infections.
For example, Bryant, Scott, Tori and Golden (1984) found that of the 110 people
they studied in prison, violent offenders tended to have serious neuropsychological
deficits. Those classified as brain damaged had a significantly higher rate of violent
criminal activity than did the non-brain-damaged group. Yet, here again, it is not
general criminality that is typically influenced, but aspects of social and emotional
interactions, notably aggression and antisocial behaviour.
There are many case studies that illustrate how brain damage can be associated with
dramatic personality and behavioural changes. Such brain damage, though, is always
associated with other forms of trauma that relate to life-changing circumstances, so,
even if there is a causal relationship, it may well be confounded by these other changes
in the person’s circumstances. It is also worth noting that there are reports that brain
damage has been associated with the sudden emergence of special skills as well as
extreme violence. Of course, there will always be correlates of brain activity with
human actions and experience, but the effect of any particular brain damage for any
particular person is likely to be difficult to predict.
THE BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
As Beaver (2009) explains in some detail, there are a number of ways in which a
person’s biology, especially their genetic makeup, interacts with their experiences,
broadly captured in the term ‘environment’. One is that genes only have any influence
when they exist in a particular environment. Gene-environment interactions capture
the process by which genes only have effects when they are paired to certain environ-
ments, and vice versa (Beaver, Wright & DeLisi 2008). An example would be when
a biochemical imbalance that relates to aggressiveness occurs in a social context that
condones violence. Similarly, in such an environment, those prone to violence are
more likely to express that.
A rather different gene-environment relationship is when genetic factors contribute
to selecting, shaping and modifying the environment (Scarr & McCartney, 1983). An
example might be of a person of low intelligence with little support in school drifting
away from school into opportunist criminality. The genetic background helps to
predetermine the environment a person experiences.
CONCLUSIONS
An attempt to link criminality to genetic makeup, biology or hormones is the focus of the
present chapter. This must be an oversimplification on a number of counts. Crimes are
hugely diverse in their nature, so, explanations for one sort of crime, such as murder,
may be very different for another, such as burglary. Furthermore, most studies have
relatively weak findings, or are inconclusive, and reveal wide ranges of scores on any
measures. Thus, although there are, without doubt, aspects of the makeup of people
who commit crimes that, in very broad terms, distinguish them from the population at
large, these biologically based explanations of crime cannot be the whole story.
In general, most explanations of crime are what are known as ‘biosocial‘, bringing
together the nature of the individuals and the environments in which they grow up and
live. It would be difficult to find a hard and fast, fundamentalist, biological determinist
explanation of crime today. All experts will sit somewhere along a continuum from
emphasising biology to giving weight to environment. But, within that framework, there
is still considerable room for considering psychological explanations, the focus of the
next chapter.
• Genetics • Evolutionary theory • Chromosomal

• Reductionism • Constitutional abnormalities
• Determinism theories • Biochemical
• Phrenology • Nature or nurture • Biosocial
• Physiognomy • Genetic influences • Neurological
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Describe one major biological explanation of crime.

• How can criminality be inherited or influenced by familial circumstances?
• Outline some of the methods used to study the influence of genetics on criminality.

Books
Beaver, K. M. (2009). Biosocial criminology: a primer. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Rutter, M. (2006). Genes and behavior: nature-nurture interplay explained. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Durrant, R., & Ward, T. (2015). Evolutionary criminology: towards a comprehensive explanation of
crime. London: Academic Press.
For a very readable and influential account of the evolutionary origins of human aggression,
read On Aggression by Konrad Lorenz (1966). London: Methuen.
A book that challenges the general use of biological explanations for psychological and social
phenomena is Canter, D. and Turner, D. (Eds.). (2014). Biologising the social sciences. London:
Routledge.
Journal articles
Rose, N. (2000). The biology of culpability: pathological identity and crime control in a bio-
logical culture. Theoretical Criminology, 4(1), 5–34.
Beaver, K. M., Wright, J. P., & DeLisi, M. (2008). Delinquent peer group formation: evidence
of a gene X environment interaction. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 169(3), 227–44.
Websites
The following website gives a brief overview of the history of biological explanations of crime:
http://sociology.about.com/od/Deviance/a/Biological-Explanations-Of-Deviant-
Behavior.htm
The following website describes the physiological aspects of criminals’ brains:
www.livescience.com/13083-criminals-brain-neuroscience-ethics.html
This website gives an account of the neuroscience of psychopathy:
http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2013/11/neurocriminology-the-disease-behind-the-crime/#.
Vznf0o-cHIU
3 Psychological
explanations
of crime
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you have completed this chapter, you should:
1 Know about the variety of mental disorders that are relevant to criminality.
2 Appreciate the role of mental disorder in some criminal behaviour.
3 Be aware of the various cognitive distortions characteristic of criminals.
4 Understand how theories of personality are applied to criminality.
5 Appreciate the contribution of offender’s personal narratives to understanding
criminality.
SUMMARY
As discussed in Chapter 2, in general, biological explanations of criminal activity are

problematic. They suffer from the difficulty of distinguishing cause from effect; they
tend only to be relevant to crimes against the person (violent crimes); and they do not
usually help in understanding what is at the basis of criminality. So, although they are
relevant for extreme cases, such as specific brain damage, more productive explanations
are those that deal with a person’s thought processes, characteristic ways of dealing
with people and other aspects of their psychology. This chapter deals with those
psychological explanations.
One set of explanations relates directly to a person’s mental state. The possibility
that criminals are typically mentally disordered is explored. It turns out that dis-
entangling whether mental illness is a direct cause of offending or a consequence of a
criminal life style, especially imprisonment, is rather difficult. However, one area that
straddles mental disturbance and personality is the notion of the psychopath. That is
often drawn on to explain some aspects of criminality. Consideration of whether other
aspects of personality are typical of criminals is another approach to understanding their
psychology. There are some general trends of interest, but the variety of criminal
activity makes definitive correlations problematic.
A generally productive approach is to explore more directly the thought processes
and styles of personal interaction that are typical of offenders. There is considerable
research to show they do have characteristic cognitive distortions. More recently, this
has been developed to consider the personal narratives of offenders and how this relates
to their crimes.
MENTAL DISORDER AND CRIME
One aspect of individuals that is frequently thought to relate to criminality is mental

disorder. The popular assumption is that because criminals are carrying out actions that
are unacceptable, and which most people do not do, then they must be bizarre or
unusual people in some way. The assumption, therefore, is that they are mentally
disordered. However, the relationship between mental disorder and criminality is not
a simple one. Although there is a higher proportion of people who have mental
disorders among offenders than among the population at large, the great majority of
people with mental disorder do not offend (Silverstein et al., 2015).
The link between mental disorder and crime can be explored by examining the
levels of known criminal activity among mentally disordered people and the level
of mental disorder among known offenders. These are two very different things. For
the former, people with various diagnoses of mental disorder are studied. The pro-
portion that has some criminal history is identified. For the latter, a sample of offenders
is examined and the proportion that has recognisable mental disorders is found. The
implications of these differences are important. When considering people with certain
diagnoses, it is the health services that have to deal with the consequences of any
criminality. When considering offenders, it is the way those with mental health
problems are supported, or not, within the legal system that matters.
The insanity defence: the McNaughton rules

When insanity is raised as a defence, the question being asked is ‘What was
the defendant’s state of mind at the time the offence was committed?’ The
most famous and influential insanity trial is that of Daniel McNaughton in
1843. McNaughton attempted to assassinate the Prime Minister, but
mistakenly shot and killed his private secretary. In his defence, it was pleaded
that he suffered from paranoid delusions, one of which was that the Tories
FOCUS 3.1
were persecuting him, and that at the time of the offence he had lost control
and was unable to resist his delusions. McNaughton was found Not Guilty by
Reason of Insanity (NGRI) and was among the first patients transferred to
Broadmoor where he remained until his death 22 years later. However, the
original decision gave rise to the McNaughton rules (West & Walk, 1977).
PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME 35
To disentangle this conundrum, it is necessary to understand the varieties of mental

disorder that are relevant to criminality. Mental disorder is a complex mix of pheno-
mena that can contribute to, or share the same origins as, criminal activity. Five broad
classes of mental disorder particularly relevant to offending can be identified: psychosis,
personality disorders, learning disability, disorders relating to substance abuse and
paraphilias. Their main components are indicated in Focus box 3.2.
Mental disorder among offenders

Studies of mental disorder in criminals are almost entirely based on assessments of those
in prison. Prison is the only place where there is a literally captive population that
can be subjected to tests and interviews which will indicate their mental state. This
consequently raises the question as to whether incarceration caused or aggravated
their psychological condition (an issue that will be returned to in Chapter 15). This
point is supported by Ly and Foster (2005), who found 21 per cent of mentally dis-
ordered offenders were admitted to hospital from prison. A further possibility is that
their imprisonment was due to their mental disorder. It could also be the case that their
criminality has some roots in their mental problems. Sorting out these different
processes is not easy.
There is little doubt that there are high rates of mental disorder among those in
prison. Estimates for the UK range from 10 per cent to 80 per cent depending on
the prison and exactly how mental disorder is defined (Singleton, Meltzer, Gatward,
1998). This study was based on those in prisons, but there are a subset of people who
pass through the courts and are imprisoned in what are known in the UK as ‘special
hospitals’, or ‘high-security hospitals’. There are three of these in England, known as
Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton. They house people who are regarded as having
severe mental illness and are a danger to the public. The euphemism of their sentence
is that they are held ‘at her majesty’s pleasure’. This means that they can be imprisoned
in a ‘special hospital’ until they are deemed safe to allow out. Consequently, many
notorious killers are held in these places until they die.
Although a very small proportion of convicted criminals are sent to the secure
hospitals, there is still a high level of mental disorder among prisoners in the UK. The
government acknowledged some years ago ‘we continue to imprison too many people
with mental health problems’ (Home Office, 2006b, p. 26). This is not a problem unique
to Britain. Fazel and Danesh (2002) found similarly high rates of mental disorder among
prisoners in their meta-analysis of sixty-two surveys from twelve countries.
Criminal activity among mentally disordered people

The high prevalence of mental disorder among people in prison does mean that the
various forms of psychological disturbance always needs to be kept in mind when
considering prisoners. But, that does not deal with the rather different matter of
whether mental disorder contributes to becoming a criminal. Indeed, whether it can
be regarded as one of the psychological causes of criminality.
Studies suggest only a small minority of people with psychiatric diagnoses are
criminally active. For example, data for 2004/05 shows that while there were 26,800
formal admissions to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983, only 6 per cent were
admitted from court or prison (National Health Service, 2006). Nonetheless, mentally
disordered people may be responsible for proportionately more crimes than their
numbers warrant. This is illustrated by the fact that people with schizophrenia and
psychopathy have been found to have higher rates of convictions for violence and
general criminality (Hodgins et al., 1996; Hare, 1999, 2003; Fazel, Grann & Psych
2006) than those without such disorders.
However, as Silverstein et al. (2015) make clear in an extensive review of the
relationship between schizophrenia and violence, the relationship is a complex one.
The increased risk of violence in those diagnosed with schizophrenia is due to a number
of factors, some of which are due to the psychosis and some of which are related to
having other mental disorders at the same time, or even associated demographic factors.
The most important risk factor related to psychosis is the presence of untreated
psychotic symptoms, especially persecutory ideation and the Capgras syndrome, in
which a person believes that a person (or even a pet) close to them has been replaced
with an identical-looking imposter.
In addition, substance abuse, antisocial personality disorder (discussed later) and
mood symptoms also increase the risk of violence. However, anxiety and negative
symptoms both appear to reduce violence risk. Other non-diagnostic clinical risk factors
include hostility, poor social skills, a prior history of violence and a history of being
physically or sexually abused.
Therefore, there are some crimes for which mental illness plays a role. Some people
with a psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia, offend in response to their actual symp-
toms (i.e., delusions and/or hallucinations) of their illness. This process, called ‘psychotic
drive’ by Smith (2000), usually results in serious offences being committed (Taylor, 1985).
For some, this may be due to the persecutory nature of their delusions (Taylor et al.,
1996) and/or the tendency to perceive the world as threatening (Arseneault et al., 2000a).
The ‘symptom approach’ to explaining why some schizophrenics offend has been
applied to other crimes, including sexual offending (Smith & Taylor, 1999) as well as
property crimes, breaching probation and ‘mischief ’ (Hodelet, 2001). Other research
focusing specifically on sexual offending has highlighted the ways in which psychosis
may reduce inhibitions (Phillips, Heads, Taylor & Hill, 1999). The illness undermines
a person’s normal inhibitions and leaves them unable to look beyond their immediate
desires to the nature and consequences of their impulsive actions (Craissati & Hodes,
1992).
It is worth remembering that one of the origins of legal considerations of psycho-
logical characteristics of violent offenders was the case of McNaughten in 1843 (see
Focus box 3.1). It was the recognition that insane people could not be held responsible
for their actions that led to the development of laws that took account of mental illness.
PERSONALITY DISORDER
A rather curious framework for thinking about criminality that has its roots in
psychiatry and is, therefore, often considered a form of mental illness is that a person’s
personality can be disordered. The various forms of such disorders are given labels
as if they were medically recognised illnesses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association, being revised from
Aspects of mental disorder of relevance to offending

Mental illness
Schizophrenia: delusions, hallucinations, disturbed thinking, bizarre
behaviour, apathy, social withdrawal, poor self-care.
Particularly: paranoid schizophrenia – delusions and hallucinations are
persecutory and/or grandiose.
Bipolar affective disorder: A severe mental illness that consists of extensive

periods of extreme moods. These swing from deep depression to active
elation that may be regarded as a form of mania. During the manic periods,
the person may become involved in unrealistic and over-ambitious plans and
activities. At the extreme, the manic person may think they have special
powers or are someone famous.
Depression often occurs without any swings towards mania. At its
extreme, the person may be suicidal, but it is often associated with lethargy,
reduced self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. It can be brought on by
external circumstances, such as bereavement. In severe depression, there
may be delusions or hallucinations, for example, believing the world is
coming to an end or their body is rotting away.
Personality disorders
People who have no obvious mental illness, but have difficulty managing
their emotions and relating to other people in ways that are acceptable
within their culture are described as having something wrong with their
‘personality’. They persistently and pervasively are found to have dealings
with others that are generally regarded as problematic. There are many types
of personality disorders, but the one most obviously associated with
criminality is psychopathy. But, people with other recognised personality
disorders are also often involved in various forms of offending.
Antisocial – continuous pattern of disregard for and violation of rights of

others.
Paranoid – extremely sensitive to insults and rebuffs, extremely suspicious,
combative.
Borderline – outbursts of intense anger, impulsive, typically unstable
relationships.
Narcissistic – preoccupied with unrealistic sense of own self-importance,
FOCUS 3.2
believes entitled to what they want.
Learning disability
These are people who are especially vulnerable or may not understand
the implications of their activities because of an impairment of intelligence
that came about before the person’s brain was fully mature. This continues
throughout their life and reduces most aspects of the person’s
functioning.
Substance abuse disorders

FOCUS 3.2 Continued
Intoxication
Abuse
Dependence
Paraphilias (disorders of sexual preference)
Fetishism
Exhibitionism
Voyeurism
Paedophilia
Sadomasochism
time to time. It is now in its fifth incarnation (DSM 5). The important point is that
these disorders do not imply any of the mental states associated with actual mental
illness, such as schizophrenia or depression, mentioned earlier.
DSM defines personality disorder as:
An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly

from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has
an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress
or impairment.
Psychopathy
The most widely considered personality disorder of particular relevance to criminality
is psychopathy. This was given emphasis by Cleckley (1941), but its study in recent
years has been dominated by the work of Hare (2003).
The significance of psychopathy in contributing to offending is not surprising. It
can be viewed as the result of the basic features of this disorder, for example, callous-
ness, impulsivity, egocentricity, grandiosity, irresponsibility, lack of empathy, guilt or
remorse (Hare, 2003). Compared to other offenders, psychopaths begin offending at
an earlier age, commit a wider variety of crimes, pose serious management problems
while incarcerated and violate parole and/or re-offend sooner once released (Hare,
2003).
The relationship between psychopathy and violence is important. Psychopathic vio-
lence appears more instrumental, dispassionate and predatory. Further, psychopathic
violence appears motivated by factors such as greed, vengeance, anger, retribution or
personal gain (Hare, 1999). Several of these aspects are present when psychopaths
sexually offend. For example, along with opportunistic impulsivity, anger/hatred and
FIGURE 3.1 The image of mental illness still has the stigma that goes back to early
mental asylums. How relevant is this to understanding the relationships
between mental disorders and criminality?
sexual deviancy (i.e., sadism) are important motivating factors among psychopathic
rapists (Brown & Forth, 1997; Greenall & West, 2007). Also, sexual homicides com-
mitted by psychopaths have been found to be more gratuitous and sadistic, with victims
tending to be strangers (Porter et al., 2003). Psychopathic offending, however, does
not result from a deluded mind, but as Hare states, ‘from a cold, calculating rationality
combined with a chilling inability to treat others as thinking, feeling human beings’
(1993, p. 5).
PERSONALITY AND CRIME
Instead of focusing on the mental state of offenders, or disorders of their personality,

a number of psychological theories have ben drawn on to argue that certain features
of normal personality are predominant in criminals. These either deal with the general
aspects of personality or specific traits.
GENERAL PERSONALITY THEORIES
Eysenck’s personality theory of criminality

The most widely cited personality explanation of crime is that put forward by
Hans Eysenck. In many publications, Eysenck (1977) proposed that there are three
major independent dimensions that underlie personality: neuroticism (N), extraver-
sion (E) and psychoticism (P). Each of these dimensions is conceived as a continuum
with most people falling in the middle range; comparatively few people fall at the
extremes.
Eysenck suggests that: ‘In general terms, we would expect persons with strong anti-
social inclinations to have high P, high E, and high N scores’ (1977, p. 58). He believed
that certain personality types were inclined towards crime, and these individuals could
be described as neurotic extraverts, sensation seekers, characterised by high levels of
anxiety and depression, and aggressive, cold and impersonal behaviour (Eysenck &
Gudjonsson, 1989). Offenders have been found to score highly on all three dimensions,
although this finding is not consistent.
What is particularly interesting about Eysenck’s theory is that he argues that certain
biological propensities, notably limited response to conditioning, and social aspects of
upbringing combine to generate personalities that are vulnerable to becoming criminal.
But, although this is an elegant and tidy theory backed up by neat experiments,
subsequent studies have produced a variety of inconsistent results (e.g., Levine &
Jackson 2004). Presumably, this is because of the great mix of types of criminal studied
and the different socio-economic contexts in which they exist.
The five-factor model

Costa and McCrae (2008) along with others developed beyond Eysenck’s ideas to
propose five factors: neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience,
and conscientiousness. Various studies of the five-factor model have found signifi-
cant relationships to crime and delinquency (Samuels et al., 2004; Le Corff & Toupin,
2009; Ireland & Ireland, 2011). These studies tend to confirm that delinquents and
other criminals tend to be more neurotic, but can also be higher on agreeableness and
conscientiousness. However, once again, these studies tend to be based on small
ad hoc samples, so it is not surprising that they get a mixture of results. Perhaps, most
interesting is that, in general, the personality profiles of samples of criminals are not
widely different from the population at large.
The three-factor model

Tellegen proposed three domains of personality: positive emotionality, negative emo-
tionality and constraint. Positive emotionality is the ‘tendency to experience positive
emotions . . . [and] the tendency to be involved in interpersonal transactions’, while
negative emotionality is the ‘tendency to experience negative emotions . . . and to be
involved in adversarial interpersonal transactions’ (Tellegen & Waller, 2008, p. 276).
Those who are impulsive, take risks and tend to reject traditional norms, score low
on constraint.
Caspi et al. (1994) and Agnew et al. (2002) showed that there was empirical evidence
for the relationship between experiencing high negative emotionality and low
constraint and being engaged in crime. The plausible assumption here is that negative
emotionality may lead to crime because such people see the world as a threatening
and hostile place. The low constraint means that they will act on their impulses.
SPECIFIC PERSONALITY TRAITS

More focused studies of criminals have drawn attention to particular characteristics that
distinguish them from non-criminals. There are a great many such studies, so they are
mentioned here very briefly.
Thinking styles
A number of researchers have proposed that it is the thinking patterns of offenders
that are the foundation of offending. Walters (1995) developed a measure of these:
Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Scales (PICTS). It was derived from
the fascinating writing of Yochelson and Samenow (1976). In their clinical work with
offenders, they concluded that those who commit crime often seek out excitement
and engage in reckless thrill-seeking. This is fostered by their belief that they are unique.
But, they are also disingenuous and manipulative, yet have difficulty in coping with
life’s challenges. Of course, these ideas overlap with many others. They are not that
dissimilar from the idea of psychopathy, or some of the other proposals relating to
personality disorder. The difference is in the emphasis placed on cognitive processes.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to change a personality, but how a person thinks can
be modified.
The sorts of cognitive distortions that have been identified are:
• Hostile attribution bias (Dodge, 1986): They see aggression and violence where there
is none.
• Lack of empathy (Sarason, 1968): The inability to see a situation from the perspective
of others or to respond to their feelings.
• Lack of self-control: Impulsivity and inability to delay reward. This is much more
likely to be present in younger offenders, or substance abusers. It does not
characterise a person who spends months carefully planning a bank raid or a
murder.
• Poor cognitive skills: Difficulties in problem-solving, lacking the ability to make
appropriate judgements in difficult social situations and to generate a range of
solutions to social problems or ambiguous social experiences (Freedman et al.,
1978; Higgins & Thies, 1981).
• Neutralisation and attributional processes: Excuses or rationalisations such as
– denial of responsibility (one’s actions are a consequence of external factors,
such as poverty, broken home or drunkenness),
– denial of injury (little harm is entailed), denial of victim (victim deserves it),
condemnation of the condemners (critical of criminal justice system),
– appeal to higher loyalties (e.g., peers) (Sykes & Matza, 1957).
Self-control
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) proposed a general theory of criminality built around
the argument that offenders have low self-control and limited ability to delay
gratification. This also relates to the idea that criminals are often impulsive (Joliffe &
Farrington, 2009). Although when it comes to violent crime, an interesting distinction
has been made by Megargee (1966) between ‘over-controlled’ and ‘under-controlled’
offenders. The former explode after an apparent life of quiet conformity, while the
latter have a ‘short fuse’ and can become aggressive very readily.
As ever, these theories relate to some criminals, and not others. There is little doubt
that some teenage delinquents are impulsive and find it difficult to delay gratification.
But, a bank robber who spends months planning the perfect heist, or the murderer
who thinks carefully about how to kill and get away with it, can hardly be said to
have low self-control.
Machiavelianism
Prince Niccolò Machiavelli published his book The Prince in 1532. It gave guidance
on how to be an effective ruler and even discussed the methods of murder used
by Italian dukes. But, although this was regarded as the basis of political science, it
has many guidelines about how to manipulate others. In 1967, Christie and Geis
(reviewed in 2013) suggested that those who acted in ways similar to those proposed
by Machiavelli were exhibiting a particular personality trait, which they called
Machiavellianism, being a person who takes advantage of ‘the weaknesses, failings, and
foibles of others for his own purposes’ (p. 167). They developed a scale to measure
how Machiavellian a person was, which has been shown to give high readings in many
criminals (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). The concept does overlap with aspects of
personality disorder, such as narcissism and psychopathy, but nonetheless, has distinct
qualities.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OFFENDERS
Age
There are two recurrent findings in all studies of criminality and delinquency, which
stand out above all others. One is that the great majority of crimes are committed by
males. The second is that the great majority of these are in their mid-teens. As Smith
(2006) reports in a study that reflects many earlier finding: ‘Offending peaked around
the age of 14 among both boys and girls.’ He goes on to point out that after the mid-
teens, there is a ‘fairly steep and steady decline in the proportion of young people
involved in broad delinquency among both boys and girls. Among those who
continued to be involved, the amount of offending also declined.’ (p. 1).
Further, Smith (2002) elegantly summarises the implications of the many studies of
the typical age of criminals:
Crime is mostly committed by young people – by adolescents and adults in their

twenties. Criminal offending, therefore, is closely linked to the life course. It is
one of a number of psychosocial disorders that are characteristic of youth, in the

sense that they rise in prevalence or frequency, or reach a peak, in adolescence or
early adulthood. Other examples are problem drinking, use of illegal drugs,
depression (especially in females), suicide (especially in males), and eating disorders.
(p. 701)
The emergence of crime and its unfolding across the life course raises many
questions about what the underlying processes may be that give rise to crime. There
must be some aspect of maturation that is having an influence, but it is also the case
that societies are so structured that what is possible for people to do, the contacts
they have and the expectations others have of them also vary considerably as people
emerge from childhood into adolescence and on into young adulthood. Therefore,
many theories of criminality focus on the life experiences of offenders and the
opportunities offered to them to learn criminality. Many of the social processes
discussed in Chapter 4, such as labelling and differential association, relate most
strongly to particular stages in an offender’s life.
When criminals are studied as a group, especially juvenile offenders, three broad
aspects of their characteristics emerge that they are more likely to have than non-
offenders. As Andrews and Bonta (2010) summarise it, these are impulsivity, risk-taking
and aggressiveness. These are a combination of belief and attitudes embedded in the
way the person interacts with others.
Level of moral development

Kohlberg (1976) developed Piaget’s (1959) theory of cognitive development and
proposed that there were direct analogies in moral development. Kohlberg proposed
three levels of moral reasoning, each having two stages (Table 3.1). He suggested that
each stage is shaped by the one before and that an individual progresses from stage to
stage sequentially. The consequent suggestion is that offenders are less morally
developed than those who do not commit crimes.
Some research has shown that delinquents operate at lower levels of moral reasoning
than non-delinquents (Brugman & Aleva, 2004). On the other hand, Thornton and
Reid (1982) found that convicted criminals who committed serious crimes without
financial gain (murder, assault, sex offences) showed higher levels of moral reasoning
that those who offended for money (robbery, burglary, theft, fraud). This suggests that
the crimes more likely to be associated with lower levels of moral reasoning are the
less serious ones.
Poor social skills

Sarason (1968) was among the first to suggest that delinquents are deficient in socially
acceptable and adaptive behaviour, and social skills training has become a popular
technique in the ‘treatment’ of offenders. Indeed, the whole move towards what is
known as ‘restorative justice’, in which offenders meet their victims and learn from
them about the experience of suffering crimes can be seen to be based in attempts to
develop criminals’ empathy and ability to understand how to interact effectively with
others.
ACTIVITY 3.1
Find one of the many autobiographies written by gangsters or other people who
have committed crimes. Review the sorts of explanations and justifications they
give for their crimes. Do these owe more to some sort of mental disorder, the
types of cognitive processes discussed in this chapter or the social processes
discussed in Chapter 4?
TABLE 3.1 Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (1976).

Level 1: Preconventional morality: Authority is outside the individual, and reasoning
is based on the physical consequences of actions.
Stage 1: Moral behaviour is based on concrete rules; no internalisation of moral standards;
rules are kept in order to avoid punishment.
Stage 2: Each person seeks the maximum return to themself; there is consideration of
others only when it benefits itself.
Level 2: Conventional morality: Authority is internalised but not questioned, and
reasoning is based on the norms of the group to which the person belongs.
Stage 3: Persons conform and adjust to others; socially acceptable standards are
important.
Stage 4: There is a respect for those in command, such as social and religious authorities;
respect for law and order; obedience to authority.
Level 3: Postconventional morality: Individual judgement is based on self-chosen
principles, and moral reasoning is based on individual rights and justice.
Stage 5: The majority opinion of society is important.
Stage 6: People assume personal responsibility for their actions based on universal ethical
and moral principles, which are not necessarily laid down by society; self-chosen ethical
guidelines based on equality and respect for all.
Low intelligence
Many of the claims for deficiencies in cognitive abilities, whether it be inability to
see the consequence of one’s actions, the lack of empathy or the lower moral develop-
ment, could all be seen as part of some general intellectual weakness on the part of
offenders. This is supported by a number of studies that have revealed that the average
criminal is below average intelligence. However, the findings are, as so often in studies
of criminals, not as strong as might be expected. It has been found, for example, that
youngsters with a higher than average level of intelligence are less likely to get caught.
Certainly, academic failure is associated with increased risks of delinquency (Hirschi,
1969). Adult offenders are more likely to have a history of low educational attainment
than the population at large.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
All the aspects of the criminals’ psychology, discussed above, deal with components
that are treated independently of each other. They also have the curious quality of
somehow abstracting the person from the criminal. It is not some feature of how
the offender makes sense of the world and the decisions they make to commit
crimes that is at the core of these explanations, but some property of the criminal’s
psychology such as their ‘neuroticism’, ‘low intelligence’, ‘lack of empathy’ or ‘moral

development’.
A somewhat different approach is to consider how criminals construct ideas of who
they are and what is an appropriate way of dealing with the world. This approach
incorporates most of these aspects of criminals’ personality and cognitive processes, but
puts them into a holistic framework that emphasises the agency of the offender. This
works from the premise that everyone makes sense of their lives through some form
of personal narrative; a storyline in which the person is the protagonist moving through
different episodes and interacting with significant people along the way (Youngs &
Canter, 2012).
Within this framework, as Youngs and Canter (2013) have shown, it is possible to
identify a number of different narratives that characterise different themes in criminal
activity. Table 3.2 summarises the features typical of each of the dominant narratives.
In summary:
• Revengeful mission: The person sees themself as powerful and for whom one or
more other people and their reactions are a significant part of their romantic quest
narrative.
• Tragic hero: The criminal who feels they are being pushed by the fates, having little
control over their actions and little concern for others.
• Professional: The offender who lives out a narrative in which they are in control,
enjoying their power and for whom others are irrelevant.
• Victim: The offender sees themself as having no power and being alienated from
others who are nonetheless significant to them.
TABLE 3.2 Youngs and Canter’s (2014) four narrative roles.

Narrative role Offence Significance Cognitive Emotional state
identity of others distortions
Revengeful Strong Significant Own evaluation Calm,
mission displeasurable
Tragic hero Weak Not Significant Others responsible Aroused, neutral
Professional Strong Not Significant Own evaluation Calm, neutral
Victim Weak Significant Others responsible Aroused,
displeasurable
CONCLUSIONS
Aspects of the psychology of individual offenders are dealt with in this chapter. This
includes some forms of mental disorder, personality characteristics and distortions in
cognition. Although research suggests only a minority of mentally disordered people
offend, many offenders have a mental disorder. However, how this disorder interacts
with their crimes varies. In some cases, though, the disorder may have developed in
prison after conviction. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that there is an association,

albeit a modest one, between violence and some mental disorders, including certain
forms of mental illness and personality disorder, especially psychopathy.
More generally, criminals are limited in various ways. They are more neurotic, show
less empathy and have lower intelligence and fewer social and cognitive skills. They will
tend to deny the role that society applies to their actions, seeing themselves as part of
a narrative that characterises them as adventurers on a mission, professionals, victims
or tragic heroes.
• Mental disorder • Psychopathy • Psychopathy

• Criminal behaviour • Cognitive distortion • Personality disorder
• Mentally disordered • Schizophrenia • Personal narratives
offender
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• How can mental disorders influence offending?

• Compare and contrast the personality theories that have been used to explain
offending.
• What are personal narratives and how do they relate to offending?
Books
One of the first systematic studies of criminals was by Havelock Ellis (better known for his
work on human sexuality). His 1901 book The Criminal is still worth reading and his now
available in the Elibron Classics series from Adamant Media Corporation.
A useful book on mental illness aspects of criminality is Herschel Prins’ (2010) Offenders, Deviants
or Patients. London: Taylor and Francis.
A detailed consideration of the psychosocial approach is given by David W. Jones (2008)

Understanding Criminal Behaviour: Psychosocial approaches to criminality. Cullompton: Willan
Publishing.
Journal articles
Hare, R. D. (1996). Psychopathy: a clinical construct whose time has come. Criminal Justice
and Behaviour, 23, 25–54.
Hart, S. D. (1998). The role of psychopathy in assessing risk for violence: conceptual and
methodological issues. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 3(1), 121–37.
Hodgins, S., Mednick, S. A., Brennan, P. A., Schulsinger, F., & Engberg, M. (1996). Mental
disorder and crime: evidence from a Danish birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry,
53(6), 489–96.
Sahota, K., & Chesterman, P. (1998). Sexual offending in the context of mental illness. Journal
of Forensic Psychiatry, 9, 267–80.
Taylor, P. J. (1985). Motives for offending among violent and psychotic men. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 147(5), 491–8.
Websites
This website gives information regarding the link between mental illness and general offending:
www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/04/mental-illness-crime.aspx
The following website gives details of the links between violence and mental health:
www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence
The following website gives a critical account of crime and personality:
www.studentpulse.com/articles/377/crime-and-personality-personality-theory-and-
criminality-examined
This webpage gives a full reference list with links to articles relating to the PCL-R, the PCL:SV,
the PCL:YV and other Hare scales:
www.hare.org/references/#h
4 Social explanations
of crime
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the role of learning in committing crimes.

2 Know about the major social psychological theories of criminal behaviour.
3 Be aware of the variations in criminality of different genders.
4 Understand the concept of a criminal career and development in criminality.
5 Know about the role of families in encouraging criminality.
SUMMARY
Human activity is shaped by experience, especially through interactions with others.

Offending behaviour is no different. Consequently, a wide range of explanations for
causes of crime relate to social processes. These may be through learning from
associates or more invidiously within a family context of criminality. What is learnt
may be a set of attitudes that present criminality as acceptable or actual ways of
committing crimes. The social processes that support and encourage criminal activity
are, thus, an important area of study that has a long history.
SUTHERLAND’S DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY
Although social influences on criminality have always been recognised, it was Edwin
H. Sutherland’s (1947) proposal that criminal behaviour is learnt in interaction with
others, which laid the formal groundwork for current thinking. Although often
presented as a sociological or criminological theory, his arguments can be seen as
essentially social psychological. He proposed that learning to be a criminal includes
the techniques of committing crime as well as motives, rationalisations and attitudes.
In particular, the theory emphasises that it is the learning of favourable attitudes towards
violation of the law, rather than unfavourable attitudes that supports criminality.
Sutherland also proposed that the earlier, longer lasting, greater frequency of the
SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME 49
exposure to attitudes and actions favourable to violation of the law, the more likely a
person would become criminal. This influence is increased if the interaction is with
others who are important or with whom the individual has a closer relationship.
An interesting and important aspect of Sutherland’s theory is that criminals are not
seen as having different needs or values from non-criminals. It is how they interpret
and act on those needs and values that distinguishes them. This contrasts with the
biological and many of the psychological explanations reviewed in earlier chapters.
Those explanations suggest there is something radically different about criminals.
Sutherland’s theory does not.

Sutherland’s theory, then, is called differential association theory because it postulates
that it is the relationships with a particular subset of people, who are different from
the law-abiding majority, which is the main cause of criminality. It is regarded as a
general theory for all crimes, but its focus is on how young people become involved
in crime. The emphasis is on how delinquency is learned through a process of com-
munication with other people – usually small intimate peer groups (Coleman & Norris,
2000). However, a wider range of illegal activity has been explained using the idea of
differential association. For example, Chappell and Piquero (2004) have shown it helps
to explain police corruption. Also, Akers and Silverman (2004) have argued that
terrorists are influenced to carry out their violent actions by accepting an ideology and
identity generated from contact with peers and membership of reference groups, where
attitudes, beliefs and values justify violence as a means to a worthwhile end.
The consideration of terrorism points to the fact that the learning of criminal
behaviour does not have to develop through association with criminals, but with people
who support or imply favourable attitudes to illegal activity. For example, parents may
be teaching their children to be dishonest by not reporting an error in payment for a
purchase, even if they constantly tell their children that it is wrong to steal. Or, in the
terrorist context, parents may insist that their children are religiously orthodox, sowing
the seeds for a radical interpretation of what that might mean.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
The view that both behaviour and the attitudes, and conceptualisations that support
those actions, are learned, as well as the appropriateness of particular actions in given
situations (Smith & Paternoster, 1987; Coleman & Norris, 2000), requires a more
detailed consideration of how that learning occurs. A considerable contribution to
understanding criminal learning processes was made by Akers (1985). He drew on
behavioural psychologists’ studies, especially what is known as ‘operant conditioning’.
This is most closely associated with the work of Skinner (1953), much of which was
based on many different experiments training pigeons to peck for food.
Operant conditioning stresses the influences of environmental consequences on
behaviour. Thousands of studies show that behaviour is acquired through positive
reinforcement (reward) or the withdrawal of the reward (negative reinforcement). But,
its development through experiments with animals in a purely ‘behaviourist’ tradition
gave rise to many challenges to its applicability for humans. This eventually led to the
search for a more cognitive approach to understanding learning. This allowed for
people making sense of the patterns of reinforcement they were receiving, and being
able to learn through observing the actions of other people. Although initially
formulated by Rotter (1954), social learning theory is more generally associated with
the American psychologist Bandura (1976) who showed that much behaviour is initially
acquired by watching others, who he called ‘models’.
In agreement with Sutherland, according to Bandura, the more significant and
respected the models, the greater their impact on what people do. Observational
learning takes place primarily in the family, in the prevalent subculture and through
cultural symbols, such as television and books, all of which form part of the social
environment (Bandura, 1976). In relation to criminality, Akers (1999) emphasises

differential reinforcement. That means:
Whether individuals will refrain from or commit a crime at any given time
(and whether they will continue or desist from doing so in the future) depends
on the past, present and anticipated future rewards and punishments for their
actions. (p. 66)
In a nutshell, if a person gets away with a crime and benefits from it through getting
approval from friends, a pleasant feeling, money or even food, then that reward will
increase the chance of repeating the action, unless some punishment or fear of
punishment intervenes.
Akers (1999) also draws attention to imitation. This is the carrying out of actions
after seeing others doing the same thing, especially if they benefit from their behaviour.
This relies on the salience of the models that are to be imitated, which, of course,
depends on the person’s assessment of those models. However, Akers’ studies emphasise
that this imitation is of particular importance in the initial acquisition and carrying out
of the criminal actions. The continuation of criminality is likely to rely on other
processes beyond the initial imitation.
Social learning theory, though, is not without its critics. For example, it has been
suggested that adolescents become delinquent and then seek out like-minded associates
(Sampson & Laub, 1990) ‘birds of a feather flocking together’. However, although
this is true in some cases, there is far more evidence that delinquency follows associa-
tion with delinquent peers, rather than preceding it (e.g., Menard & Elliott, 1994).
FAMILY INFLUENCES
From the earliest studies of criminality, it was recognised that crime commonly runs
in families. Initially, this was taken by people, such as Lombroso, to be evidence for
the inheritance of criminal propensity (discussed in Chapter 2). However, more careful
examination of what happens in families and how they may or may not influence
offending behaviour provides more support for a social learning interpretation of family
processes.
A number of studies have drawn attention to how the relationships between the
parents (especially the mother) and their children influence delinquency (Jensen, 1972;
McCord, 1991). Most obviously, this influence is present if the parents have criminal
convictions. In the Cambridge study, 38 per cent of boys who became delinquent had
a parent with a criminal record, compared with 15 per cent of non-delinquents
(Farrington & West, 1990; Rowe & Farrington, 1997). The fact that not all delinquents
had criminal parents does indicate, though, that parenting is not the only cause of
delinquency.
PARENTING STYLES
Some particular aspects of families have been found to correlate with delinquency. For
example, West (1982) showed that delinquents were more likely to come from families
with four or more children. Of course, this could be, as Farrington (1991) suggests,
because such families are more likely to live in poor and overcrowded homes, which
may result in family disorganisation and material deprivation. However, a social
learning hypothesis would be that there is a greater possibility of exposure to delinquent
siblings in large families. Especially if limited contact with parents is such that children
rely more on their siblings as models of appropriate social behaviour.
This shows the complexity of disentangling the sources of reinforcement and social
learning. Child-rearing practices can support or reduce the impact of other influences.
When parenting is lax, neglectful, erratic, inconsistent, overly harsh or punitive, it is
predictive of adolescent delinquency. For instance, Jackson and Foshee (1998) found
a relationship between how well parents responded to the child when they were
needed (which they termed ‘responsive parenting’) and a parent’s inclination to have
rules and expectations (termed ‘demanding parenting’) and the development of antis-
ocial behaviour. More responsive and demanding parents were associated with lower
levels of delinquency in their children.
The idea that the relationships between parents and children can take many forms
has been systematised by considering what Hoffman (1984) called ‘child-rearing
styles’. The three styles are indicated in Table 4.1. Delinquent families are more likely
to use power assertion style. Parents of non-delinquents use more direct engagement
with their children, explaining the implications of their actions and threatening the
withdrawal of love. In general, physical punishment, inconsistent punishment, poor
parental monitoring, poor discipline and lack of family cohesion are found to be linked
to violent delinquency.
In relation to the consideration of parenting styles, the debate over the influence
of growing up in divorced or single-parent families on the likelihood of becoming
involved in crime should be mentioned. Over half a century ago, Bowlby (1944),
following Freudian ideas, emphasised the power of a breakdown in maternal attach-
ment as a cause of delinquency. Subsequent studies revealed that children from
TABLE 4.1 Hoffman’s child-rearing styles.

• Power assertion – Involves use of physical punishment, criticism, threats and material
deprivation.
• Love withdrawal – Involves the withholding of affection, for example, by ignoring the child
or threatens to do so, as a sign of disapproval.
• Induction – Involves the parent developing empathic and sympathetic responses in the
child by explaining what the consequences of their actions are for others.
single-parent families are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour (Bank, Forgatch,
Patterson & Fetrow 1993). Overall, there seems to be a modest relationship to the
absence of a biological parent on delinquency. But, this may not be due to parent-
ing styles, but to a combination of problems associated with single-parent families,
such as the traumas of divorce, distress, poverty and mental health problems of the
parents. This possibility is supported by Rutter’s (1971) study showing that the loss of
a parent through death does not have the same association with delinquency as a
‘broken home’.
The changes in society, in which single-parent households are much more common,
create the likelihood that the relationship between single-parent families and
delinquency is much weaker than found in these earlier studies. Indeed, the existence
of ‘blended families’ and many different domestic lifestyles in Western societies make
it increasingly difficult to say what a ‘broken home’ is.
GANGS
Youngsters from unsupportive families, especially in their mid-teens, who drift towards
criminality, are likely to commit delinquent acts in groups and with co-offenders who
live close to each other (Farrington & West, 1990). This sort of group offending is
more common for nonviolent than for violent crimes. Most adult offenders offend
alone. Nonetheless, peer pressure alone cannot explain all juvenile crime. This was
shown by Agnew (1990) when he asked 1,400 adolescents what had led them to engage
FIGURE 4.1 Youths become involved in crime for many reasons.

in crime. Their answers indicated that peer influence was only one factor, the others
being a rational choice to obtain money or excitement. Violent crime can also result
in part from anger or provocation.
When groups of youngsters regularly associate with each other, they may be
regarded as a ‘gang’. The label itself is pejorative and is open to many meanings, with
no clear definition. This has not limited the amount of research exploring how gangs
operate and the nature of their influence, such as the seminal work of Short and
Strodtbeck (1965).
In general, gangs are particularly prevalent in the United States and that is where
most of the research has been conducted (Miller, 2001). These studies show that the
nature of gangs varies enormously. Not all are involved in crime either. Yet, their
provision of a social learning context for offending is well established (Gordon et al.,
2004)
SOCIAL BONDING/CONTROL THEORY
When reviewing all the explanations for criminality in this and previous chapters, the
question arises as to why more people do not commit crimes. Of course, many crimes
go unreported and many people do not get caught for their illegal activity (especially,
for property crimes), but still it is necessary to explain what stops people offending.
Hirschi (1969) argues that youths refrain from committing deviant acts because of
a bond to conventionality and conformity. They accept social control. Whenever the
social controls, or the bonds to society, are weakened, deviance is likely to occur (Reiss,
1951). After all, a major purpose of the law is to reduce or prevent illegal actions. The
evidence for the consequence of weak controls is revealed whenever there are riots,
looting and public disorder. Once again, the impact of social learning is also indicated
here, as looters follow the examples of others.
The idea that there are social controls requires that the individual accepts those
controls, requiring self-control and a conscience in which the norms of society are
internalised. Challenging these ideas as too subjective, Hirschi (1969) argued these aspects
of self-control implied an attachment to others. His theory, therefore, emphasises
bonding, rather than simply control. The main forms of bonding are given in Table 4.2.
TABLE 4.2 Hirschi’s elements of bonding.

• Commitment: Investment in conventional goals, ‘stake in conformity’ (Toby, 1957), relates
to the rational element, akin to the ‘rational choice theory’ in which deviance would
jeopardise education and a future career.
• Attachment: The emotional aspects of the social bond, consists of those emotional ties
established with others that support conscience, internalise norms and caring what others
think. But it can support deviance as well as inhibit it.
• Involvement: The time and energy invested in conventional activities, those heavily
involved in conventional pursuits have less time and energy to be involved in deviant
pursuits; incompatible with delinquent activities.
• Belief: The endorsement of conventional values, especially the belief that society’s rules
are morally correct and should be obeyed.
The weakness of a social bond can only partially account for deviant behaviour.
Because everyone is exposed to some form of temptation, some account is needed of
how the bonds with society develop or break down. Are special motivations needed
to encourage people to deviate from acceptable social norms? Social control theorists
think not. They claim that criminal acts are natural consequences of human tendencies
to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Their commission is opportunistic, becoming more
likely when people lack self-control, as discussed in Chapter 3. They are seen as giving
in to temptations as happens with other socially disapproved acts (e.g., drug abuse,
drinking, smoking, illicit sex).

However, there is still the need to explain why some young people fail to become
bonded to the ‘conventional’ social order (Coleman & Norris, 2000). Following the
view described in Chapter 3, that it is a lack of self-control that underlies criminality,
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) have proposed that it is differences between people in
their degree of self-control that explains why some people offend. They claim the source
of low self-control is ineffective or incomplete socialisation, especially due to dysfunctional
child rearing. This view, therefore, brings together the central ideas of differential
association and of the breakdown in social bonds. It is not incompatible with Eysenck’s
claims that criminals are less able to learn from the consequences of their actions.
THE DETERRENCE THEORY
One direct explanation of why most people do not break the law is the view that the
certainty, severity and speed of punishment are what deter people. This, after all, is
the basis of Western criminal law. There is both a specific deterrence when individuals
are caught and punished and a general deterrence when it is widely known that
punishment for crime is very likely (Blackburn, 1993; Cusson, 2001). This general
deterrence is enhanced when it is taken up by informal social networks. That is
particularly important because the swiftness, severity and likelihood of formal
punishments are not always forthcoming. For example, in most jurisdictions, only about
one in ten burglaries lead to a conviction. Under such odds, potential criminals may
not see the law as a deterrent.
Consequently, the impact of legal sanctions is only going to be effective if there is
some consideration by an offender of the potential risks of committing a crime. Many
crimes are impulsive and involve very little consideration of the consequences.
Furthermore, if legal sanctions are perceived as being haphazard, their credibility is
diminished, decreasing the likelihood of them acting as a general deterrence. Also,
a person’s willingness to risk punishment will depend on their circumstances, which
will influence how they perceive the ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ of breaking the law. Once
again, their social context through differential association will shape how they interpret
the possibilities and consequences of legal sanctions.
LABELLING THEORY
An important aspect of offending is seeing oneself as being a criminal. This self-concept

is shaped by interaction with others. The consequence of this is that how others define
a person influences how they regard themselves. This idea has its roots in what is
known as symbolic interactionism (Mead, 1934). Cooley as early as 1902 captured this
perspective in the notion of the ‘looking glass self ’, in which a person’s self-identity
is a reflection of others’ conceptions of that person. It may be others in the peer group
or the legal process that provides this mirror.
A deviant person is, thus, someone to whom the label ‘deviant’ has successfully been
applied. In particular, the label may be assigned by those individuals who make the
social rules from a position of power (i.e., police officers, judges, psychiatrists, etc.)
(Coleman & Norris, 2000). Within this perspective, deviance is not seen as a quality
of the act committed, but as the application of rules and sanctions. The approach
particularly focuses on official reactions to delinquent acts (Sampson, 2001). But, how
these acts are interpreted may be influenced by the characteristics of offenders (i.e.,
age, race, gender or class), rather than by characteristics of the offence (Cusson, 2001).
While the original deviant activity may be carried out for various reasons, further
acts are sustained by adaptation to the stigmatising reactions to the primary deviance.
The initial act of norm violation (primary deviance) is largely incidental because it is
only a problem when labelled as such. Therefore, the delinquent career is sustained
by official labelling and sanctioning processes (Blackburn, 1993; Sampson, 2001)
through a self-fulfilling prophecy (Cusson, 2001). In effect, this is the view that a young
person will say, ‘If you are going to call me a delinquent, I will act like one’.
A significant influence of labelling theory is the attempt to keep youngsters out of
the court process. The idea is that appearance in a juvenile court will increase the self-
fulfilling prophecy and increase the probability of future criminality. However,
although there are clearly deleterious effects of juvenile court appearances, such as
reduced access to further education and employment, this is not the whole story.
Studies such as those by Smith and Paternoster (1990) show that the relationship
between court appearance and future delinquency results from the fact that youngsters
with a higher risk of recidivism in the first place have an increased likelihood of being
referred for court processing. They are, therefore, more likely to receive the delinquent
label. The question is, therefore, whether the label creates a new social identity or just
confirms a deviant identity already there (Cusson, 2001)?
So, although there is no strong evidence to indicate labelling causes continued
criminality, nonetheless, it does point to the unintended consequences of legal controls.
In particular, when certain subgroups in society are more likely to be labelled criminal,
this can create an atmosphere and set of stereotypical attitudes to those subgroups that
can reinforce other processes. Differentiation between groups may be influenced by
social labels, furthering the influence of members of those groups on their member’s
self-identity.
GENDER AND DEVIANCE
The great majority of offenders are male. This raises the fundamental question of why
so few women engage in deviant activity. It might have been thought that consideration
of gender differences in criminality should have been in the previous chapters on
individualistic explanations of crime. Yet, there are so many possible social correlates
of gender that these considerations sit better in the present chapter.
All of the social psychological theories explored here have relevance to gender
differences. For example, child-rearing practices are likely to be different for boys than
for girls (e.g., Lytton & Romney, 1991). Boys are more likely to differentially associate
with deviant others, especially in the context of gangs. There are also possibly
differences in attitudes to rule breaking that distinguish boys from girls.
However, it is also possible that the theories considered in this and earlier chapters
are biased to explanations of male offending. Most studies of crime have been
conducted with male samples (Smith & Paternoster, 1987; Goodkind, Ng & Sarri,
2006) because of the disproportionate number of men who are criminal. Thus, it could
be argued that theories of deviance are only appropriate for understanding young men.
Without more detailed study of female offenders, the possibility of different
explanations for their offending remains an open question. The theories that have been
put forward for female involvement in deviant behaviour have generally drawn on
qualitatively different sets of explanatory factors. These have typically emphasised
aspects of personal maladjustments and psychological disturbance, often brought on
by experiences in the family. For instance, Smith and Paternoster (1987) argue that
female delinquency is due to the inability to adjust to a poor home situation. Any such
explanations are complicated by changes in the role of women in society. These are
doubtless – also reflected in changes in their criminality.
CRIMINAL DEVELOPMENT
A person’s social interactions and the opportunities for contacts outside the family
change as the person grows and develops. Therefore, it is not surprising that the
occurrence and nature of criminality change over the life course. Studies of these
changes that explore the activities of offenders who commit crimes throughout their
lives are often referred to as examinations of ‘criminal careers’, (Blumstein, Cohen &
Farrington, 1988; Farrington, 1992; Svensson, 2002). The term ‘career’ is not really
appropriate though because what is studied is usually just change, or lack of it, in
criminality over time. It does not usually imply a training phase, graduation and
eventual supervisory and on to management roles, with ultimate retirement, as is usually
understood by a ‘career’. It is simply a shorthand term to cover the sequence of crimes
committed by one individual over their life.
Two aspects of the length and intensity of a criminal ‘career’ have emerged from
a variety of studies (Stattin & Magnusson, 1991; Piquero & Buka, 2002; Svensson,
2002; Piquero, Brame & Lynam, 2004; Kazemian & Farrington, 2005).
1 life-course persistent antisocial behaviour
2 adolescent-limited antisocial behaviour
Life-course persistent antisocial individuals exhibit a changing manifestation of anti-
social behaviour from their early years. Moffitt (1993) argues that this type of behaviour
has roots in both earlier neurological deficits and in exposure to poor parenting and
parents offering models of antisocial behaviour (Moffitt, 1993; McCabe, Hough, Wood
& Yeh, 2001). These two risk factors aggravate each other’s impacts. Neurological
deficits can lead to difficult temperaments, which, in turn, leave the child especially
vulnerable to poor parenting, and poor parenting can then lead to poorer neurological
Are female criminals different from males?

‘Girl gang’ in vicious assault on woman, 19 Angus Howarth,
The Scotsman, Mon, 28 Aug 2006 – ‘A YOUNG woman may have been left
permanently scarred after being slashed across the face in an unprovoked
attack by a ‘girl gang’ in Glasgow at the weekend. The 19-year-old victim was
subjected to a vicious assault outside a pub as she made her way home in
the city’s east end at 1 am yesterday.

Four girls, who are not thought to have known their victim, pounced as the
woman alighted from a bus at Broomfield Road in the Balornock area.
The gang then ran off leaving the badly injured young woman, who lives
locally, lying on the ground near the Broomfield Tavern’.
When the word ‘gang’ is mentioned, most will associate it with a male-
dominated group; yet, there are increasing numbers of females who are
becoming a part of the gang culture – some will form ‘girl only’ gangs, while
others will join the ‘traditional’ male gangs.
Female gangs stem from the same reasons that the male gangs develop –
economic deprivation, peer pressure, excitement, money, drugs, friendship,
self-affirmation, fear, threats and intimidation. The gang ‘family’ promises to
provide for their members with all the things they want or need or believe
that they lack in their lives, as well as providing an escape from what they
may be experiencing in their own family homes (Moore, 1991).
Female gang members have been documented as participating in all of the
criminal acts and violence associated with their male counterparts, but they
commit fewer violent crimes and are more inclined to committing property
crimes and status offences (Moore & Hagedorn, 2001). Female gang
members are no longer just ‘appendages’ of male gangs, and have been
developing their own gang culture and ‘taking care of their own’.
Many aspects of female gang members’ lives and the functioning of
FOCUS 4.1
these female gangs remain a mystery, as relatively few researchers believe

the female gangs worthy of empirical study. As well as this bias, access to
female gangs is a serious obstacle, with gang members being extremely
weary of researchers and only participating in unusual circumstances
(Moore & Hagedorn, 2001).
development (McCabe, Hough, Wood & Yeh, 2001). From this point of view, the
causal factors for life-course persistent offenders are most likely to be located early in
their childhood and support the continuity of their antisocial behaviour throughout
their lives (Moffitt, 1993).
On the other hand, those individuals with adolescent-limited antisocial behaviour,
as the name suggests, begin their offending and antisocial behaviour in adolescence
and desist once they reach young adulthood. This group of offenders makes up a large
percentage of all young criminals. Moffitt (1993) argues that youngsters who engage
in criminal activity are immature. They engage in antisocial behaviour in order to gain
access to adult privileges. They model themselves on peers who have seemingly gained
autonomy from their parents through such activities. This type of adolescent-limited
antisocial behaviour will cease to occur during early adulthood as they gain adult auto-
nomy (McCabe, Hough, Wood & Yeh 2001).
Moffitt predicts that life-persistent offenders will partake in a variety of types of
crimes especially those that are more violent and aggressive and victim-oriented.
Adolescent-limited offenders, in contrast, will engage primarily in crimes that symbolise

adult privilege or those that demonstrate autonomy from parental control. Such offen-
ces would include, but are not necessarily limited to, vandalism, public order offences,
running away, truancy and theft (McCabe, Hough, Wood & Yeh 2001).
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
As made clear in the opening chapter, the focus of the present book is on psychological
processes. But, in the context of social explanations of crime, it is important to mention
briefly the wide range of sociological theories of what causes and sustains crime. A very
short list of the main theories is presented in Table 4.3. The library shelves (and Wiki-
pedia) are filled with discussions of these issues, so they are listed here merely as pointers
to be followed up. Akers and Sellers (2008) present a good overview of these theories.
The central argument of these theories is that it is processes within the society that
generate criminal activity, rather than characteristics of individuals. Those who commit
crime just happen to be in a particular social context that makes them more likely to
offend. So, for example, strain theories explore the mismatch (or strain) between the
aspirations that society encourages and the difficulties of achieving these, crime
resulting from attempts to cope with the strain.
The different sources of strain are explored in these theories. Some of them overlap
with the considerations in conflict theories, which emphasise the difference between
those who control society, making its laws and enforcing them, and those who suffer
the effects of this control. The inherent conflict in this situation fosters attempts to
resolve that conflict through offending.
TABLE 4.3 Some of the main sociological explanations of crime.

Theory label Exceptionally brief summary Useful reference
Strain Crime results from the inability to achieve a range Agnew and
of goals. Brezina (2010)
Conflict Crime results from conflict with the powerful who Bridges and Myers
make and control the law (1994)
Marxist/critical A wide range of theories that emphasise economic Reiman and
variations across society as the source of crime Leighton (2009)
Feminist A set of different theories that emphasise the Belknap (2007)
impact of gender and sex roles on all social
processes, including crime.
One source of conflict is economic differentiation in society. Those who empha-

sise that draw on Marxist ideas of clashes between classes. These theories cover an
extremely wide range of considerations. In essence, they criticise the search for causes
of crime within psychological processes and offer many different social perspectives
on crime and punishment.
Growing out of this critical perspective, feminist theories point to the differences
in power relations between men and women. They emphasise the significance of
gender in understanding most social processes. These theories are particularly applied
to understanding crimes against women and how those crimes are dealt with.
These sociological theories are the obverse of the biological explanations presented
in Chapter 2. Similar to those explanations, they have a determinist focus seeking to
base the causes of crime in processes over which the individual has little control. They,
therefore, suffer from the same weaknesses of having difficulty explaining why all those
who experience social conflict, economic deprivation or are male do not commit
crimes. There can be little doubt that these sociological theories have some validity,
but the extent of their applicability is open to serious debate.
CONCLUSIONS
It is apparent from the explanations reviewed in this chapter that there are many social
psychological processes that contribute to a person becoming a criminal. But, these
explanations have to be put alongside the biological and psychological explanations in
previous chapters. When all of these explanations are reviewed together, it becomes
clear that no single explanation is adequate in accounting for all crime, especially as
there are many types of crimes and many types of offenders. Current theorising,
therefore, attempts to develop multi-causal models that combine biological,
psychological and social factors as explanations of criminal behaviour, sometimes
called psychosocial models (e.g., Jones, 2008).
• Theories of crime • Delinquency • Labelling

• Explanations of • Deviance • Deterrence
crime • Social conformity • Routine activity
• Sociological • Social control theory
• Psychological • Differential • Criminal career
theories of crime association
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Why do you think most crimes are committed by males in their mid-teens?
• Identify two social factors that might account for criminal behaviour.
• Discuss how familial factors might have an effect on criminal behaviour.

• Are social explanations of crime in conflict with psychological explanations or
complementary?

Books
Akers, R. L., & Sellers. C. (2004). Criminological theories: introduction, evaluation, and application,
4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing.
Akers, R. L. (2011). Social learning and social structure: a general theory of crime and deviance.
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Akers, R. L. (1999). Criminological theories. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Bartol, C. R. (1999). Criminal behaviour: a psychosocial approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Blackburn, R. (1993). The psychology of criminal conduct. Chichester: Wiley.
Brandt, D. (2006). Delinquency, development, and social policy. New Haven, CT: University Press.
Cassel, E., & Bernstein, D. (2007). Criminal behaviour. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Feldman, P. (1993). The psychology of crime. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harrower, J. (1998). Applying psychology to crime. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Hollin, C. (1989). Psychology and crime: an introduction to criminological psychology. London:
Routledge.
Journal articles
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: a routine activity
approach. American Sociological Review, 588–608.
Paternoster, R., & Iovanni, L. (1989). The labeling perspective and delinquency: an elaboration
of the theory and an assessment of the evidence. Justice Quarterly, 6(3), 359–94.
Kruttschnitt, C. (2013). Gender and crime. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 291–308.
Websites
The following website gives a very basic overview of the main sociological theories of crime:
http://sociology.about.com/od/Deviance/a/Sociological-Explanations-Of-Deviant-
Behavior.htm
This website gives an overview of gender and crime:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/1250/Gender-Crime-Differences-between-male-female-
offending-patterns.html
This website considers gangs and offending, as well as intervention and prevention:
www.merton.gov.uk/health-social-care/publichealth/jsna/cyp-maternal-health/
vulnerable-cyp/youth-offending-gangs-violence-jsna.htm
2
differences
Psychological
between crimes
5 Acquisitive crime
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you have completed this chapter, you should:
1 Appreciate the factors that contribute to a burglar’s decision to offend.

2 Comprehend the classifications of burglars and the utility and limitations of
classification models.
3 Understand the ways in which burglars can be differentiated.
4 Appreciate the various types of corporate crime and fraud.
5 Understand the various psychological theories relating to acquisitive crimes.
SUMMARY
There are two broad offence categories that have somewhat different psychological
features. One covers all those crimes that are focused on the acquisition of property.
These include burglary, theft and various forms of fraud. They are dealt with in
the present chapter. The second broad category includes all those crimes directed at
people, which includes violent and sexual offences, as well as homicide. There is much
more extensive study of the psychological issues in crimes against the person, so,
although property crime is the most common – often referred to by law enforcement
agencies as ‘volume crime’, there are more chapters in this book dealing with violent
crimes.
Crimes that focus on getting someone else’s property do take many different forms.
Breaking into a house and stealing something is, perhaps, the most ‘traditional’ of these,
but many types of frauds also need to be considered. These are growing rapidly as it
becomes possible to fraudulently steal in virtual reality, rather than on the street. The
psychological variations in these crimes relate to the characteristics of the offenders,
their skills and attitudes as considered in previous chapters.
64 PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRIMES
DEFINING ACQUISITIVE CRIME
Taking anything that belongs to someone else is classed as acquisitive or property

crime. In most legal systems, a distinction is made between taking something with-
out violence or the threat of it, such as burglary or shop lifting and robbery, or
mugging, where violence or intimidation are part of the crime. In reality, this legal
distinction is often difficult to make, so there are crimes called aggravated burglary.
How should blackmail and extortion be classified when there are implicit threats
for financial gain? Various forms of fraud and crimes, such as tax evasion and kid-
napping, are generally considered property crimes as well. There is also a range of
property crimes that do not involve direct financial benefits, where there is a transfer
or destruction of property. These vary from petty vandalism to major arson. But,
because property is the target, they are considered in the present chapter. The dis-
tinguishing psychological feature is that the target of the crime is not a person, as such,
but something physical.
VARIETIES OF PROPERTY OFFENCES
Burglary
Burglary is usually very disturbing for victims and often has significance far beyond
the value of the property stolen. It is experienced as an intrusion and a violation. This
is relevant to understanding the psychology of the burglar. There is undoubtedly an
interpersonal element to burglary. A home is usually considered to be a sanctuary and
stronghold. Intrusion of this highly personal space is felt by some victims as a violation
second only to rape.
In an early study of the reasons for burglary, Chappell (1965) claimed that the main
reason is monetary gain, but he also highlighted the role fun and excitement play,
notably for younger offenders. Scarr (1973), drawing on a variety of sources, added
money and excitement, social needs – such as peer approval – and idiosyncratic reasons,
such as challenging the authorities. Respetto (1974) supported these claims that the
need for money was the prime motive in committing an offence with excitement,
revenge, curiosity and group solidarity being found commonly in younger criminals.
The revenge may be against the home owner, but is more often a general anger or
frustration with what the owner represents.
However, research would suggest that burglars, as with fraudsters, do not always
offend out of any desperate financial need or abject poverty (Rengert & Wasilchick,
1985). So, although many offenders cite financial gain as a reason for committing a
crime, it would appear that there are other important precipitating factors in the
decision to offend. Additionally, it would seem that in choosing a suitable target,
offenders are seeking more than rich pickings. This section will first explore the factors
that trigger an offender to commit a burglary, and second, the characteristics of targets
that are attractive to a burglar.
A variety of studies (reviewed in Canter & Youngs, 2008) have shown that burglars
tend to select targets within 2 kilometres of their homes, but this does vary in relation
to the overall population density of an area. Furthermore, evidence would suggest that
ACQUISITIVE CRIME 65
Target selection
Most of the understanding of burglary target selection comes from interviews
with offenders. They can be surprisingly willing to explain their actions. Such
research informs crime reduction initiatives (Mawby, 2001). Typically, they
want to avoid confrontation with property owners and avoid detection.
Some cues burglars use to select targets:
Ensuring no residents are present

Read the local paper to see whether people may be at a wedding or funeral
Ring the doorbell to check no answer
Call the house phone
Check whether the lights or TV is on
Look to see whether the car is in the drive
Check whether the post has been collected
Watch for people going to work
Selecting location
Familiar location
FOCUS 5.1
Indications of low social cohesion

Lots of through traffic
Ease of access
Clear escape route
Absence of dogs
ease of access and escape routes are an important aspect in the target selection of an
area (see the video on David Canter’s YouTube channel of a burglar’s mental map).
Bevis and Nutter (1977) demonstrated that target selection was related to the degree
of access afforded by street design. Additionally, Luedtke (1970) found that houses near
a major highway were more likely to be selected as targets than houses far away from
major routes.
Differentiating burglars
Burglary is part of a general criminality, and thus, has a wide variety of offenders. The
variation between offenders has been examined by analysing burglary crime scene data.
This has supported two crucial ways in which burglars differ. One is the level of skill
or ‘professionalism’. The second is the interpersonal aspects of the crime (Merry, 1995;
Merry and Harsent, 2000). Canter (1989) emphasised the implicit interpersonal
element of burglary, where the perpetrator and victim become ‘intimate strangers’ as
a product of the intrusion into the resident’s personal space. Each of these two facets
generates a combination of low or high skill level and implicit or explicit interpersonal
interaction, creating four possible kinds of burglaries.
The Merry and Harsent (2000) model can be seen as a development of earlier
proposals, notably Walsh’s (1980) distinction between ‘challenge burglaries’, which are
FIGURE 5.1 Burglars choose the property they target.

characterised by destruction and revenge, and ‘dispossessive burglaries’, which have

the main purpose of instrumental gain. However, Merry and Harsent (2000) found
very low occurrence of destructive revenge-seeking behaviours.
Most attempts at distinguishing between burglars do tend to emphasise differences
in skill. As long ago as 1963, Black differentiated burglars as crude, run of the mill and
professional. Maguire and Bennett (1982) categorised them as low, medium or high
on professionalism. Elaborating this typology, Shover (1991) proposed that low
professional level offenders are often co-offending juveniles. Mid-level professionals
are older offenders who are more likely to work alone, who have a more focused target
selection and resultant higher yield. High levels of professionalism are typical of
offenders who often work in conjunction with another offender and who are selective
and plan well in advance.
It is important to be aware that the majority of studies draw on convicted and often
incarcerated offenders. In most jurisdictions, only about one in ten burglaries are
detected; therefore, it is likely that there are significant differences between those
offenders who are convicted and those who evade detection. Consequently, there may
well be other types of offenders, especially highly professional ones, who are not
covered by the existing classifications.
Arson
As Fritzon, Lewis and Doley (2011) point out, there are several indications that there
is something distinctive about arsonists. For example, the majority of young fire-setters
are part of severely disruptive family environments with many disruptive changes (early
parental separation, illegitimacy, death of a close relative or brought up in a children’s
home). In Hurley and Monahans’ (1969) study, a comparison of arsonists with other
inmates revealed that the arsonists had eight times as many property convictions as a
comparison group, spent less overall time in institutions, but significantly longer in
institutions prior to age 14. Similarly, Rice and Harris (1991) note that the arsonists
that they studied within institutions were more socially isolated (i.e., hobbies, marital
status, living arrangements), less likely to be physically aggressive, less intelligent,
younger, less physically attractive and had a more extensive psychiatric history than
individuals convicted for other offences.
These studies suggest that there is some underlying psychological pattern that is
peculiar to arson. However, instead of the popular psychoanalytic examination of
‘motivation’ that relies on the assumption that arsonists experience sexual arousal when
setting fires, a relative lack of social skills appears to be a more appropriate analysis.
For example, Lange and Kirsch (1989) noted that of a sample of 243 fire-setters only
2.5 per cent were sexually aroused by fire stimuli, while Quinsey, Chaplin and Upfold
(1989) found no differences between normal subjects and fire-setters’ sexual arousal
to fire-related stimuli. Instead, Rice and Harris (1991) established in their sample that
lack of social skills in general and low assertiveness in particular are important correlates
of fire-setting. Jackson, Hope and Glass (1987) formulated a displaced aggression
hypothesis, where feelings of hostility were redirected from people to objects. Further,
this group appeared to have less stable or well-defined constructs of the seriousness of
property as opposed to person offences, as they showed no significant bias in rating
crimes against the person as more serious.
However, despite the seeming homogeneity of the arson group, subsequent studies
have suggested variations in the individual’s background. Furthermore, it has been estab-
lished that these relate to the style in which the offence was carried out. Canter and
Fritzon (1998) used a sophisticated statistical analysis to generate four themes that
differentiated between arsonists. These were derived from consideration of whether the
target of the arson was ostensibly a person or an object, and in addition, whether
the actions were fundamentally the expression of the person’s feelings in which the act
of setting fire is the crucial component, or the arson is to achieve some further objective
as a means to an end.
Theft from work

The great majority of losses through theft in retail premises and similar organisations,
such as the postal services, are caused by theft carried out by employees. Robertson
(2000) argues that offenders justify their theft from work by believing that property-
related crimes are not especially serious, or, indeed, criminal. Controversial explanations
exist to explain the variations in individual styles of theft from work. The two main
approaches involve individualist and socio-cultural explanations, relating to viewpoints
discussed in earlier chapters.
The first relies on the assumption of continuity in the individual’s life history and
predisposition towards crime, while the latter dictates that the contextual features
of the workplace create a criminal culture. In support of the former come Hogan and
Hogans’ (1989) studies of ‘organisational delinquency’, demonstrating that there are
many behaviours that correlate with theft by an employee. These include theft outside
work, drug and alcohol abuse and assault. Moreover, Jones and Terris (1983) note that
dishonesty scales correlate positively with lateness, higher absence rates and mishandling
of company cash. These studies suggest an extended pattern of behaviours that spill over
into the offender’s everyday transaction and are a consistent, stable trait that impacts
on and is reflected in all aspects of the individual’s lifestyle. This is evidently not peculiar
to workplace crime. Barker (2000), for example, notes that burglars leave a trail of
geographic, physical and temporal information about themselves at the crime scene and
that these issues emanate from their normal, non-offending patterns of behaviour.
As Robertson (2000) notes, the environment within which the offender operates
may profoundly influence behaviour. For example, temporary or casual labour provides
a background setting of low morale, lack of identification with the company and lack
of concern about its assets. Robertson’s own studies have revealed three thematic
interpretations of behaviours that occurred in a courier and distribution company.
These are broadly associated with various identifiable features of the individual’s
personal circumstances.
• A ‘criminality group’ was defined by a deviant career and was associated with
stealing courier traffic despatched by banks and smuggling intact items from the
factory floor.
• The ‘opportunity group’ was identified by behaviours such as stealing small amounts
of cash or low value goods.
• The ‘responsibility’ group was associated with behaviour such as abandoning con-
signments or taking packages home and hiding them.
Robertson established the age ranges for the groups as early 20s to early 30s, mid
20s to mid 50s and under 25s. Furthermore, none of the opportunity group had prior
convictions, while the responsibility groups were linked more to lack of capability, all
of them having had less than 4 years of experience.
Again, as in Fritzon’s (2000) work, Robertson (2000) has highlighted the fact that
while there exist, at the broadest level, general explanations for organisational theft, these
do not account fully for the picture of individual variation within the same offence.
Fritzon and Robertson’s studies illustrate that there is no simple causal mechanism that
leads to the same behaviour. Instead, the variation in personal circumstances that lead
to individual offence events evolve through a sequence of actions that have influenced
the individual in ways that extend beyond the immediate offence behaviour. These may
accord more closely with general stylistic features of the individual’s personal history.
Fraud
Dodd (2000) states that while fraud is a relatively neglected area of research, it underpins
many other areas of criminality and is often a more general feature of the individual’s
life. Thus, much of the understanding of this offence may inform the broad features
of individual variation in more frequently studied offences. As with burglary, differ-
ences between intentional, sophisticated and organised forms of crime compared with
opportunistic, seemingly random and poorly organised actions also distinguish
fraudulent activity.
Dodd highlights the possible differences between opportunistic and sophisticated
offence styles. The first offence style does not involve the initial intention to defraud
and may begin, for example, by initially exaggerating an insurance claim. If successful,
the individual may have thought that was easy and determine to defraud again. This
pattern of behaviour is exemplified by those cases where the offender tries to secure
small amounts, especially when the individual is frequently in financial difficulty.
The sophisticated pattern involves the individual knowing their way around
organisational systems and creating their own opportunities, rather than abusing those
already in existence. Successful fraudsters, as Dodd states, have a good knowledge of
the system that they are defrauding. Therefore, the configuration of other influences
on the individual’s life, the contextual features of the offence landscape and the personal
predisposition and knowledge of the potential offender all combine to influence the
particular features of the way in which the offending behaviour is carried out.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PROPERTY CRIME
Theory is necessary to make sense of why the rate and magnitude of various property
crimes – violent, fraudulent, stealthy, destructive or entrepreneurial – vary across time
and space. Beginning in the 1970s, theories of property crime focused largely on
explaining variation in property crime between situations, rather than across people or groups.
Two distinct but interrelated theoretical perspectives, namely, rational choice theory
and routine activities theory, have dominated the situational study of property crime.
Another situation-oriented perspective, phenomenology, has also been used to explain
property crime. Although the focus is on psychological explanantions, the general nature
of many sociological and social psychological theories considered in the previous chapter
(such as strain/anomie, bonds/disorganisation, learning/culture) means that they find
the causes of all property crimes in persons’ or groups’ criminality, or propensity to
engage in crime. In the end, it is likely that the interaction between criminality and
the characteristics of situations determines the rate and magnitude of property crime.
Rational choice
The rational choice theory argues that crime becomes more likely as it becomes less costly
or more beneficial. For instance, the longer it takes to commit a crime (a cost) or the
less money obtained from it (a benefit), the less likely the crime is to occur. Undoubtedly,
the leading proponents of the rational choice theory within criminology are Clarke and
Cornish (1985), but Becker (1968) has provided a more directly economic interpretation.
He examined mathematically the interplay of the costs and benefits of crime and
punishment. Clarke and Cornish (1985) are less arithmetical in their considerations, but
do emphasise the practical implications for explaining acquisitive crime.
Routine activities
An important consequence of crime emerging out of the family, school and peer groups
is that it is integrated with all the other actions in which an offender may be engaged,
such as work and leisure. One implication of this is that criminal violations share many
of the same attributes of, and are interdependent with, other legitimate ‘routine
activities’ (Felson, 2006). They claim that people participate in legitimate routine
activities when satisfying their personal needs, through work, child rearing, shopping
or leisure pursuits. Each of these activities has a particular location associated with it,
whether it be their home, a pub they go to or a place of work. Consequently, if a
person decides to carry out a crime, where and when that occurs will be influenced
by the other routine activities in which they engage.
Cohen and Felson’s approach serves to link illegal and legal activities and builds
upon the concept of opportunity for crimes (Cohen, & Felson, 1979; Coleman, &
Norris, 2000). As such, crimes, more specifically predatory crime directed at people
and their property, involve the convergence in time and space of 1) motivated
offenders, 2) suitable targets and 3) the absence of capable guardians. Within this
framework, offending cannot be understood independently of the ecology of everyday
life (Sampson, 2001). Thus, the coming together in time and space of suitable targets
with no capable guardians present can lead to increases in crime rates, without any
increase or change in the personal condition that lead individuals to engage in crime
(Cohen & Felson, 1979; Blackburn, 1993).
However, although this account of where crimes may happen is appropriate for
opportunistic crimes, it is rather undermined if a criminal is more determined. For
people who commit many crimes, it is likely that their routines focus on the search
for criminal opportunities. For these people, their crimes are their routines, rather than
legal work or leisure activities. It also seems less plausible as a significant component
for non-predatory crimes, such as prostitution or drug dealing, or those crimes in which
the location of the activity is determined by the target of the crime, as may be the
case for a bank robbery.
Geographical implications of routine activity

One interesting development that relates to an offender’s routine activities is known
as geographical offender profiling (Canter, 2006). In essence, this considers the possi-
bility that an offender carries out crimes in relation to what they know and are familiar
with. Such knowledge is likely to be influenced by where the offender has a base,
notably where they live. Consequently, the locations of the crimes can be utilised to
indicate where the offender lives, supporting police decision-making in searches
for the culprit. The idea can even be used, in some circumstances, for linking crimes
to the same offender because of their proximity.
The calculation of the likely location of an offender’s home can be based on
statistical calculations using the relationship between known probabilities of offences
occurring at different distances from the home. Computer software has been developed
to assist these calculations and put the offences on a map together with the probabilities
of the location of the home (Canter & Hammond, 2006). One such software has been
called Dragnet (Canter, 2007), discussed in more detail in Chapter 12. Research using
this software has shown that in some cases, it can be remarkably accurate in identifying
home locations.
Burglary and drugs

Drugs and property crimes
Buying and selling drugs is a form of property crime, but the link
between drugs and other property crimes is well established. Goldstein
(1985) suggests that violence can emerge from illegal drug activity both
because of the influence of the drugs and the criminal context in which it
occurs. However, Jacques and Wright (2008) demonstrate that illicit drug
markets are also linked to crimes such as burglary and fraud. There is
considerable evidence that in order to feed a drug habit, many people
will be involved in property crime, such as fraud and robbery, as both victims
and offenders (Jacobs, 1999; Jacobs, 2000). But, as Felson et al. (2008)
and Felson and Burchfield (2004) have shown, the essentially legal drug,
alcohol, is also related to increases in a variety of offending and also
victimisation.
Although the need to obtain funds in order to feed a drug addiction is
commonly believed to be a major cause of burglary, research indicated that
this relationship is not as simple as often assumed. For many drug users, the
FOCUS 5.2
offending activity existed before their addiction (Mawby, 2001). It was the
proceeds of crime that provided the funds to buy drugs, which then became
an addiction. In some cases, even, drugs assisted carrying out the crime,
with depressants, such as cannabis and heroin, calming the nerves and
helping the offender to be more effective.
ACTIVITY 5.1
What are the characteristics of burgled houses?

Ask around to find houses that have been burgled or look on to police websites.
Do they have any characteristics illustrated in Focus box 5.1 on how burglars
choose a location?
CONCLUSIONS
Most people who commit a number of crimes and are part of some form of criminal
community, being typical of those people, most readily labelled by the population at
large as ‘criminals’ who commit some form of burglary or theft at some time during
their criminal careers. This makes burglary the essence of criminality. However, the
direct instrumental gains of burglary are no more the sole purpose of carrying out the
act than are the consequence for the victim purely financial. Burglary is most
productively thought of as reflecting both styles of relating to other people and certain
forms of cognitive skills. From this perspective, then, burglars can be of great interest
to psychologists who wish to explore the processes that shape how people interact
with each other. Yet, there are very few studies of burglars that have been carried out
to examine these issues.
• Burglary • Routine activity • Criminal versatility

• Arson theory • Criminal
• Fraud • Geographical offender professionalism
• Rational choice profiling • Volume crime
theory • Classification systems
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Give an account of the various explanations for burglary.

• Compare and contrast two psychological theories of property crime.
• How can an offender’s home location influence where they carry out their crime?
Books
Bennett, T., & Wright, R. (1984). Burglars on Burglary. Aldershot: Gower.
Canter, D. V., & Alison, L. (Eds.). (2000). Profiling property crimes. Farnham: Ashgate.
Canter, D., & Youngs, D. (2008). Geographical offender profiling: applications and oppor-
tunities. In D. Canter and D. Youngs (Eds.), Applications of Geographical Profiling (pp. 3–24).
Farnham: Ashgate.
Kila, J., & Balcells, M. (2014). Cultural property crime: an overview and analysis of contemporary
perspectives and trends (Vol. 3). Brill. Online DOI: 10.1163/9789004280540
Maguire, M. (1982). Burglary in a dwelling. London: Heinemann.
Journal articles
approach. American Sociological Review, 44, 588–608.
Farrington, D. P., & Lambert, S. (1994). Differences between burglars and violent offenders.
Psychology, Crime and Law, 1, 107–16.
Youngs, D. (2004). Personality correlates of offence style. Journal of Investigative Psychology and
Offender Profiling, 1(2) 99–120.
Websites
The following website gives an account of property crime in the USA:
www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/property-
crime
The following website gives a detailed overview of property crime in the UK:
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/
focusonpropertycrime/2014to2015
6 Domestic violence
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Know what domestic violence is.

2 Understand the prevalence, typologies and impact of domestic violence.
3 Comprehend the various explanations for domestic violence.
4 Appreciate the link between stalking and domestic violence.
5 Be aware of approaches to risk assessment and interventions for domestic
violence.
SUMMARY
Violence within intimate relationships is remarkably common, with both men and
women as the perpetrators. The different forms it can take are discussed in this chapter,
together with a range of different explanations for its causes. The impact on children
in violent relationships is also considered. Stalking and related forms of harassment,
while legally a different crime, are also reviewed. The various approaches to the assess-
ment of the risks associated with intimate partner violence are examined, and the
interventions that are utilised in attempts to reduce future violence are discussed.
THE PREVALENCE AND IMPACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The terms intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic abuse, wife abuse, spouse abuse,
spouse battering and family violence are often used synonymously. Domestic violence
occurs in all types of intimate relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual and
in all cultures and socioeconomic classes. It is perpetrated by both men and women;
however, the majority of cases involve male perpetrators and female victims. Although
Dutton and Nicholls (2005) argue that there is an underreporting of violence perpetrated
by women. This is possibly because men are reluctant to report being abused in this way.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 75
In a World Health Organisation study of 24,097 women across ten countries, it

was found that about a quarter of them had experienced some form of violence within
their relationships (Ellsberg et al., 2008). As Gelles and Cornell (1985) put it: ‘. . . people
are more likely to be killed, physically assaulted, hit, beaten up (and) slapped . . . in
their own homes by other family members than anywhere else, or by anyone else
in our society’ (p 12.). Browne and Herbert (1997) give similar figures reporting
that in both the USA and the UK, domestic violence occurs in 25 to 28 per cent of
married couples at some time in their marriage. The British Crime Survey (1998) found
that domestic violence accounts for one quarter of all violent crimes and half of
all female homicides recorded by the police. According to the British Crime Survey
(2005), 28 per cent of women and 18 per cent of men experience domestic violence,
and it is more likely than any other criminal behaviour to involve repeat victimisation.
However, any estimates of the prevalence of domestic violence have to be treated
with caution. As Felson and Paré (2005) point out, there is considerable underreporting
of violence within the family, and this has not changed over the past half century. There
are many reasons for the underreporting. Victims may not think they will be believed;
some believe that it is too trivial to bother the police, underestimating the frequency
and severity of the abuse, or they think it is a private or family matter and not police
business, or that the police cannot do much. Others believe that it will result in more
violence because often they experience pressure and intimidation not to report the
attack. Feelings of fear, shame and embarrassment are often linked to the mistaken belief
that in some way they are to blame for the violence. There is also often the fear that
their children will be taken from them in any ensuing legal process. Frequently, the
violent partner will be full of remorse and apologise, giving rise to the victim believing
and hoping there will be no future violence. As a consequence, women are likely to
suffer many acts of violence before they inform the authorities.
The violence is not just physical, but includes sexual and psychological assaults, and
often, financial coercion as well, as detailed in Focus box 6.1. The victims of these
experiences are related to poorer health, difficulties in carrying out daily activities,
memory loss, emotional distress, suicidal thoughts and attempts (Ellsberg et al., 2008).
It is also important to be aware of the impact of domestic violence on any children
in the family. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, there is growing evidence that children who
come from homes in which violence is prevalent are more likely to be involved in
bullying, as victims or perpetrators, and to suffer a variety of psychological problems
(McLean & Balding, 2003).
In the past, and in many countries today, IPV was considered a private matter. Men
were expected to be dominant and to exert their power, through emotional, verbal,
financial and physical means. Indeed, until quite recently, in many jurisdictions, even
in Western democracies, rape within marriage was not recognised as a criminal
offence.
In the past 30 years, there have been changes within legal systems, especially in
developed democracies, especially in Western Europe and North America. These
changes have been driven by changes in attitudes towards the role of women in society
and the recognition of the prevalence of, and damage resulting from, domestic
violence (Gelles & Cornell, 1985). But this has not been the case everywhere.
President Putin of Russia has even recently made ‘moderate’ violence within the family
an administrative not a criminal matter.
Forms of domestic violence

Emotional/psychological violence
Includes humiliating, ridiculing or intimidating the victim, controlling what
the victim can and cannot do, withholding information from the victim,
deliberately doing something to make the victim feel diminished or
embarrassed, isolating the victim from friends and family, yelling, swearing
and accusing them of having affairs, putting them down, name-calling,

playing mind games, making them feel guilty and to blame for causing the
abuse, using looks, actions, gestures, weapons to make them feel afraid,
attempts to undermine self-worth, threats, denial of reality (e.g., saying the
victim is mentally ill).
Financial/economic violence
Controlling victim’s money and other economic resources (this involves
putting the victim on a strict ‘allowance’, withholding money at will and
forcing the victim to beg for the money until the abuser gives them some
money), preventing the victim from finishing education or obtaining
employment, stealing from or defrauding a partner of money or assets,
exploiting the intimate partner’s resources for personal gain, withholding
physical resources such as food, clothes, necessary medications or shelter.
Physical violence
Infliction of physical pain and/or injury for example, pushing, shoving,
slapping, hitting, pulling hair, biting, grabbing, choking, shaking, arm-twisting,
kicking, punching, hitting with objects, throwing things, burning, stabbing,
shooting, poisoning, indirect physical violence (destruction of objects/
property).
Sexual violence
FOCUS 6.1
Any exploitative or coercive sexual contact without consent, including

fondling, intercourse, oral or anal sodomy, attacks on the sexual parts of the
body. Involuntary viewing of sexual imagery or activity and treating someone
in a sexually derogatory manner.
FIGURE 6.1 Domestic violence destroys lives.
RELATIONSHIPS IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
To understand the psychological processes that underlie domestic violence, it is

important to distinguish the varieties of relationships that can be the context of the
violence. As mentioned, aggression between intimate partners is not always, or only,
the violence of a man against a passive woman. It can emerge out of many different
forms of interaction. Johnson (2006) has identified four types of violent interaction.
Intimate terrorism (IT) is violence utilised as part of a general pattern of control. One
partner uses violence along with emotional and psychological abuse to maintain control
over the other. It is more likely than other types to be frequent and to escalate in
seriousness. This form of domestic violence tends to dominate cases reported to the
police and hospitals.
Violent resistance (VR) is violence by one partner in the context of the relationship
where the other partner is violent and controlling; violence used in resistance to an
intimate terrorist. Sometimes, it is self-defensive, sometimes more like payback,
sometimes the act of an entrapped victim who sees no other way to escape a violently
abusive relationship.
Common couple violence (CCV) is violence that exists within the context of a specific
argument in which one partner physically attacks the other. This arises out of conflicts
that escalate to arguments and then to violence. CCV is not connected to a general
pattern of control. It is less likely to escalate over time, less severely violent and more
likely to be mutually violent. Although it is less serious than IT, in some cases, it can
be frequent and/or quite serious, even life threatening. This is probably the most
common type of IPV and dominates general surveys, student samples and even
marriage counselling samples.
Mutual violent control (MVC) is where both partners are violent and controlling.
CLASSIFICATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENDERS
Recent research has focused on identifying different types of batterers and has found
that violent partners vary along a number of dimensions, including severity of violence,
alcohol use, anger, depression and so on, thus showing that they are heterogeneous.
Researchers developed a number of different typologies in an attempt to systematically
examine how and why different men use violence against their partners. This increases
the understanding of partner violence and facilitates effective identification, assessment
and intervention. The assumption behind all these different typologies is that a valid
typology of batterers could be used to match different types of abuse to different forms
of intervention.
Research models have differed in their emphasis on behavioural traits, form and
severity of violence or personality characteristics, motivation, causation, actions and
victim–offender interaction. All these inconsistencies have made interpreting results,
comparing findings and drawing conclusions problematic. As a consequence, there have
been numerous typologies developed in the domestic violence literature. Despite many
commonalities, no single profile has emerged that completely and reliably distinguishes
batterers from non-violent men. It must also be noted that the typology approach to
classification that seeks to identify strict categories has been criticised. Such typological
systems require that each individual belongs to only one ‘type’. This rigidity denies
the possibility of variation in an individual’s behaviour and of more complex multi-
dimensional aspects of the offending, as well as ignoring the potential for development
or change in someone’s actions.
Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994) in a review of fifteen batterer typologies
proposed that batterer subtypes can be classified along three descriptive dimensions:
1 severity and frequency of marital violence
2 generality of the violence (i.e., family-only or extra-familial violence)
3 the batterer’s psychopathology or personality disorders
These dimensions were used to identify three major subtypes of batterers: family-
only, dysphoric/borderline and generally violent/antisocial.
Family-only batterers are the most likely to feel remorse, admit having marital
problems and to seek help for such problems. They are the least violent group and
the least likely to engage in psychological and sexual abuse. The violence is generally
restricted to family members; they are the least likely to engage in violence outside
the home or to have related legal problems. Also, they evidence little psychopathology
and either no personality disorder or a passive-dependent personality disorder. Approxi-
mately 50 per cent of batterer research samples are in the family-only subgroup.
Dysphoric/borderline batterers engage in moderate to severe partner abuse, including
psychological and sexual abuse. Usually, the violence is confined to the family, but some-
times they may engage in extra-familial violence and criminal behaviour. They are the
most dysphoric, psychologically distressed and emotionally volatile. They experience
Domestic violence case example

O.J. Simpson was a very successful sportsman who then became a media
star. In 1992, he and Nicole Brown divorced, and in 1994, Nicole and her
friend, Ron Goldman, were found murdered. The American public was
shocked when O.J. was charged with the murders. During the trial, it
became clear that he had been violent to Nicole on several occasions; the
police had been called out to their home at least nine times, and in 1989,
he had been charged with spousal assault and convicted. It was also revealed
that for several months after they separated, he hung around outside her
new home, he called her trying to persuade her that they needed to work
things out, brought her flowers and left them on her doorstep and showed up
at neighbourhood restaurants they used to go to in hope of seeing her there.
FOCUS 6.2
O.J. Simpson was eventually acquitted of the murder charges, but was
ordered, in the subsequent civil case in 1997, to pay $33.5 million to the
relatives of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. He has since then written a
book called If I Did It that somewhat ambiguously implies that he may well
have committed the murders.
delusional jealousy and cannot tolerate separation from their partner. They may evidence
borderline and schizoidal personality characteristics and may have problem with alcohol
and drug abuse. These men make up about 25 per cent of the research samples.
Generally violent/antisocial batterers feel little remorse and are most likely to blame
their victim. They engage in moderate to severe violence, including psychological and
sexual abuse, and they are the most violent subtypes. They engage in high levels of
partner and extra-familial violence and have the most extensive history of related
criminal behaviour. They are likely to have problems with alcohol and drug abuse
and be most likely to show the characteristics of antisocial personality disorder or psy-
chopathy. This type constitutes 25 per cent of the batterer research sample.
Other typologies include Elbow (1977), Gondolf (1988), Saunders (1992),
Hamberger, Lohr, Bonge & Tolin (1996), Cavanaugh and Gelles (2005) and Chiffriller,
Hennessy & Zappone (2006).
STALKING AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The term stalking is used to describe the willful, repeated and malicious following,
harassing or threatening of another person. The state of California was the first in the
USA to pass an anti-stalking law in 1990. In Britain, stalking was legally recognised
by the introduction of the Protection from Harassment Act in 1997.
Stalking typically consists of a broad range of behaviours. Stalkers most often perse-
cute their targets by unwanted communications, which can consist of frequent (often
nightly) telephone calls, letters, e-mails, graffiti, notes (e.g., left on the target’s car) or
packages (e.g., gifts, pictures). The offender may camp outside the house or workplace
of the victim. Somewhat more extreme forms include ordering goods and services in
the victim’s name and charging them to the victim’s account, placing false advertise-
ments or announcements, ordering funeral wreaths, spreading rumours about the victim,
destroying or moving their property. The perpetrator may threaten the victim with
violence and actually assault, rape and murder. In many cases, innocent parties and the
target’s circle of friends and associates become victims of the stalker’s behaviour.
In a study of stalking victims conducted by the National Institute of Justice and the
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 8,000 women and 8,000 men were con-
tacted by telephone and asked whether they had ever experienced any number of acts
of stalking. The report indicated that 8.2 per cent of the women in the sample and
2.2 per cent of the men had been stalked sometime in their lives and that an estimated
1 million adult women and 0.4 million men are stalked annually in the USA (Tjaden
& Thoenness, 1997).
Stalking gained major media attention by the high-profile cases involving celebrities.
However, research shows that most cases of stalking take place between ordinary people
who had a prior intimate relationship or were acquaintances (Meloy, 1996). Emerson,
Ferris and Gardner (1998) found that of women victims, a total of 48 per cent reported
being stalked by a partner/spouse or ex-partner/spouse, 14 per cent by dates or former
dates, 19 per cent by acquaintances and 23 per cent by strangers. Most male victims,
about 70 per cent, were stalked by acquaintances or strangers.
Therefore, research shows that the largest victim group of stalking is female ex-intim-
ate partners (Meloy, 1998), establishing an association between stalking and domestic
violence. In general, a high correlation has been found between domestic violence and
stalking. However, very few studies have examined which factors predict the occurrence
of stalking in relationships characterised by domestic violence or that provide direct data
on the link between stalking and previous domestic violence. Those that have been
conducted do suggest that between 30 per cent and 65 per cent of stalking cases that
involve former intimates also involved a previous violent relationship (Tjaden &
Thoennes, 1997). Approximately 50–60 per cent of all stalking cases may be considered
‘domestic’ in the sense that cases involve former intimates. About half of this domestic
stalking group involves previous violent relationships (Douglas & Dutton, 2001). It is
estimated that between 29 per cent and 54 per cent of all female murder victims are
battered women, and in 90 per cent of these cases, stalking preceded the murder. This
has led many to conclude that stalking in intimate relationships is a form of domestic
violence.
One other finding to emerge from the research is that persons who stalk ex-intimate
partners tend to display more violence towards their victims than do persons who stalk
others. Meloy and Gothard (1995) determined that threats made by stalkers were more
common where the victim was a former intimate partner. Similarly, violent stalkers
were more likely to have a prior attachment to their victims (80 per cent) than were
non-violent stalkers (55 per cent) (Schwartz-Watts & Morgan, 1998). Generally,
findings suggest that men who stalked their former intimate partners after a break-up
were more likely than other men to have been abusive in the relationship. Violence
is common in the past relationship and is common during the stalking episode. Findings
suggest that the co-occurrence of stalking and domestic violence increases the risk of
serious violence and murder.
TABLE 6.1 Common domestic violence stalking acts (Sonkin, 1997 in Meloy, 1998).
• Posting cards or other cryptic messages
• Breaking windows, breaking into or vandalising a partner’s home
• Taking a partner’s post
• Leaving things such as flowers on a doorstep or at work
• Watching a partner from a distance
• Hang up calls on the telephone

• Following a partner with a car
• Following a partner on foot
• Hiding in bushes or other surveillance of a partner’s home
• Surveillance of a partner at work
• Other trespassing
• Vandalising a partner’s property
• Destroying property to scare or intimidate a partner
• Stealing things from a partner
• Breaking into a partner’s house or car
• Filing numerous pleadings in court cases
• Filing for custody of children, regardless of their needs
• Not respecting visitation limitations
• Harassing telephone calls or notes
• Violation of restraining orders
TYPOLOGY OF STALKING
Mohandie, Meloy, McGowan & Williams (2006) when studying a random sample of
1,005 North American stalkers decided that the main difference between them was
determined by the nature of their prior relationship. Four types were identified –
intimate, acquaintance, public figure and private stranger. As others had found, the
highest risk of violence was from those who had a prior intimate sexual relationship
and a very low risk of violence from celebrity stalkers. Interestingly, they found that
the greater the evidence for psychosis in the stalker, the less the likelihood of violence.
RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Risk factors or risk markers refer to the characteristics associated with an increased like-
lihood that a problem behaviour, in this case violence, will occur. It should be noted
that the presence of one or more risk factors is not equivalent to a causal relationship.
It means that the odds of an associated event, in this case, domestic violence, are greater
when one or more risk markers are present. While it may be an indicator of which
groups of people are most vulnerable, a risk factor is not the same as the cause of the
violence because it might be correlated with something else that is associated with the
underlying cause.
Most of the work examining factors associated with domestic violence has focused
on identifying differences between men who have engaged in violence against their
partners and those who have not. Numerous risk factors for domestic violence
perpetration have been identified by this means.
Many studies have found that men who perpetrate violence against their wives are
more likely than non-violent comparison groups to report that they experienced
violence in the family of origin, either as a witness to spouse abuse or as the victim of
child abuse; but numerous men who grew up in violent homes do not abuse their
wives, and many men who do abuse their partners did not experience violence in their
families of origin. Fear of abandonment is an important aspect of abusive men’s
behaviour (Dutton, Saunders, Starzomski & Bartholomew 1994). A threat that a partner
might leave the relationship is dangerous. Leaving or attempting to leave was found
to provoke potentially lethal violence on the part of the husband (Aldridge & Browne,
2003) in many violent relationships.
While domestic violence occurs in all demographic groups, several demographic
characteristics have been related to the perpetration of partner abuse. For example,
youth has been found to be predictive of violence. Rates of domestic violence tend
to decrease somewhat as the age of the couples increases (Straus, Gelles & Steinmetz
1980). Lower socioeconomic status has also been identified as a predictor of violence
in the general population, as well as unemployment. But, it should be noted that
batterers come from all social backgrounds.
Prior arrest for violent crime is one frequently mentioned risk factor for domestic
violence re-assault. Generally, it was found that people with criminal records are more
likely to be violent. Also, substance (drugs and alcohol) abuse has consistently been linked
with domestic violence (Cattaneo & Goodman, 2003). It has been reported that women
who are pregnant are at increased risk of being assaulted by their abusive partners (Riggs,
Caulfield & Street 2000), as well as those who are unmarried and cohabiting. The
presence of children in the household is associated with the risk of domestic violence.
Concerning psychological characteristics, spouse abusers tend to be generally more
angry and hostile than non-violent men. Their personality exhibits characteristics of
emotional dependence, insecurity, low self-esteem, low empathy, low impulse control,
poor communication and social skills, antisocial personality, narcissism, anxiety,
depression, aggressive and hostile personality styles. In terms of psychopathology mood
disorders, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality
disorder have been identified as markers for domestic violence.
It should be noted that the differences in these studies between abusers and non-
abusers are relatively small, and there is no single factor that can be used to identify
men at risk. Violence may occur even in the absence of identified risk markers.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Risk assessment in cases of domestic violence can be defined as trying to identify those
victims who are most at risk of experiencing violence in the future. The assessment
of risk for marital violence perpetration or victimisation is not a simple process. The
variety of risk markers and the general lack of information regarding risk markers for
specific incidents of spouse abuse make it quite difficult for professionals to confidently
evaluate the dangerousness of a particular person or situation.
Recently, attempts have been made to develop instruments to assess the risk of
domestic violence. These measures include items that evaluate a subgroup of the risk
markers described above, including characteristics of the perpetrators, victims and/or
abusive relationships. Accurate risk assessments are very important, as they provide a
structured way for responding officers to gather detailed and relevant information from
victims. This information when shared with other agencies can help provide better
services to victims and perpetrators because their specific needs are identified.
The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA; Kropp, Hart, Webster & Eaves 1995;
Kropp & Hart, 2000) is a twenty-item clinician administered rating form that was
designed to assess risk of re-offending in the criminal justice system. A complete
evaluation with the SARA requires psychological assessment of the perpetrator and
clinical judgment. Other risk assessment instruments include:
• The Danger Assessment (DA) is a measure designed to assist battered women in
the assessment of their own risk of femicide (Campbell, 1986).
• The Domestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI) (Williams & Houghton,
2004) is designed not only to assess risk of re-assault, but also to assess treatment
needs. Unlike the SARA, the DVSI is a structured questionnaire to be completed
by the perpetrator.
• The Kingston Screening Instrument for Domestic Violence (K-SID) was devel-
oped from the extensive program of research of Richard Gelles (Gelles, 1998) as
a screening instrument. The K-SID consists of ten risk markers for re-assault.
• The DV-MOSAIC is a computer-assisted method of threat assessment developed
by Gavin de Becker and associates (De Becker et al., 1997, 2006). DV-MOSAIC
is not a predictive instrument. It is an overall method used to aid police officers
in their assessments and investigations of domestic violence situations.
• The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; Straus, 1979) is used to measure intrafamily
conflict.
• The Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA; Hudson and McIntosh, 1981), the Danger
Assessment Instrument (Campbell, 1995) and the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale
(PAS; Dutton, 1995) were designed to measure the severity of abuse.
Various police forces and related agencies have also developed their own procedures
for assessing the risk associated with reports of violence within the home. Unfortun-
ately, these procedures are not developed using any established psychometric principles
and are not published in scholarly outlets where they can be openly and independently
evaluated. They, thus, tend to operate as checklists of what needs to be considered
with little indication that their use actually reduces risk (see Focus box 6.3).
INTERVENTIONS
A wide range of interventions exists for reducing domestic violence re-victimisation.

Intervention means trying to eliminate or improve an existing problem and trying to
Cases of women who were killed despite reporting

domestic violence incidents
Hayley Richards, 23, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, was murdered by ex-
boyfriend Hugo Quintas in June 2005. A week before, police were told that
the Portuguese factory worker had threatened to kill her and attacked her
so violently, she needed hospital treatment. Officers judged that the risk
of Quintas attacking again was low. Less than a week after her phone call,
Quintas cut her throat in her flat. She was pregnant. Hayley told police
where they could find Quintas, but officers who could have responded
were already dealing with a report of a dog locked in a car. The Independent
Police Complaints Commission blamed ‘institutional failings’. Quintas was
jailed for a minimum of 18 years. (Source: The Observer, 31 December
2006)
Julia Pemberton, 47, from Hermitage, Berkshire, was shot four times by her
estranged husband in November 2003. Before the killing, she reported three
incidents of serious abuse to Thames Valley police, but insufficient action
was taken. Julia had suffered years of emotional abuse by her husband. Alan
Pemberton killed their 17-year-old son outside their home while Julia hid
inside and called 999. An operator heard her scream: ‘Oh my God, I’m going
to die’, before gunshots were heard. Thames Valley Police were criticised for
taking almost seven hours to enter the property. Pemberton shot himself.
(Source: The Observer, 31 December 2006)
FOCUS 6.3
Vicky Horgan, 27, from Oxfordshire was shot dead, along with her 25-year-
old sister, Emma Walton, by estranged husband Stuart Horgan at a family
barbecue in June 2004. She had contacted Thames Valley police’s domestic
violence team about him on several occasions. He committed suicide while
on remand in prison. (Source: The Observer, 11 March 2007)
stop future occurrences or relapses. In cases of partner violence, this means helping
people lead non-violent and safe lives. Since the problem of violence against women
in the home was recognised, thousands of projects, programmes, policies and practices
have been developed worldwide to respond to those who suffer abuse and intervene
with respect to its perpetrators.
Many of these approaches consist of providing some form of safe haven or shelter
for the victims. Some of these try and enable the victims to understand the processes
that give rise to violence by teaching safety planning. This involves preparing in
advance the possibility of leaving when the victim recognises that the violence is likely
to become even more severe or life threatening.
There has also been a growing move to improve the responses of the justice system,
particularly of the police, by providing support for those who have been abused and
responding more effectively to the perpetrators of abuse. Domestic violence units
(DVUs) were first established in London in 1987; more than half the police forces in
England and Wales have a DVU. The units have staff who offer advice and help to
victims of domestic violence. They have links with other specialist organisations and
agencies in their local areas, such as local solicitors and Women’s Aid groups.
Protection orders, injunctions, restraining orders, sanction through fines, probation and
prison are some forms of legal intervention. But these often do not deal directly with
the central psychological issues involved in the perpetuation of domestic violence. They
may even make matters worse by treating a psychological problem as a legal one.
A more psychological approach is the development of treatment programmes for
people who are violent. So, although the primary goals of virtually all programmes/
groups are to ensure the partners’ safety, they do put emphasis also on altering attitudes
towards violence. There are attempts to increase perpetrators’ sense of personal
responsibility and learn non-violent alternatives to past behaviours. Other treatments
include couple therapy where both partners are helped to take responsibility for their
actions and their own behaviour. Also mental health programs, such as individual
psychotherapy or group therapy are being made available.
ACTIVITY 6.1
Below is an example of a domestic violence case. Based on what you have read so
far, assess the risk of future violence to Emma.
Emma has been with 32-year-old James for 12 years and they have three
children, aged nine, seven and three, respectively. James is unemployed and has
a long criminal history, including violence and property offences. He often drinks
alcohol to excess. There have already been a number of instances of domestic
violence between the couple. Emma, in the past, decided not to put up with his
abusive behaviour any longer and asked him to leave the house. James hung
around outside her house and slept at night in his car parked across the street.
He began calling her on the telephone, begging her to let him return and promising
not to drink alcohol anymore. On one occasion, he entered her home, struck her on
the back of the head with a hammer, hit her in the face and sexually assaulted her.
After living apart for a month, James is now back at home living with Emma. Find
one of the many autobiographies written by gangsters or other people who have
committed crimes. Review the sorts of explanations and justifications they give
for their crimes. Do these owe more to some sort of mental disorder, the types of
cognitive processes discussed in this chapter, or the social processes discussed
in Chapter 4?
CONCLUSIONS
Domestic violence is a widespread problem, the full extent of which is not fully known
due to underreporting by both victims and official agencies. Many theories of domestic
violence have been offered, but none of them has been adequate in thoroughly
explaining domestic violence. A number of risk factors for domestic violence
perpetration have been identified, and many programmes for abusers and their victims
exist, with mixed results. More recently, professionals have taken a more responsible
and informed attitude to domestic violence, but resources available to the health, social
and law enforcement services are still too limited to deal appropriately with the issue.
The underlying psychological mechanisms are still only poorly understood. It is likely
that social processes such as those highlighted by the feminist perspective as well as
individual’s psychological problems, probably having roots in the violent person’s own
upbringing, combine together to give rise to this pressing problem. This means a variety
of different strategies at the individual and public level will be needed to reduce the
incidence of domestic violence.
• Domestic • Intimate partner • Stalking

violence violence (IPV) • Risk assessment
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Critically discuss the different ways of classifying domestic violence.

• Discuss how stalking can be a form of domestic violence.
• Describe and evaluate the risk factors that have been associated with domestic
violence.
Books
Browne, K., & Herbert, M. (1997). Preventing family violence. Chichester: Wiley.
Dobash, E. R., Dobash, R. P., Cavanagh, K., & Lewis, R. (2000). Changing violent men. Ontario:
Sage Publications.
Newman, C., & Iwi, K. (2015). Engaging with perpetrators of domestic violence: practical techniques
for early intervention. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Westwood, J., Farrelly, N., Radford, L., Thiara, R., Hester, M., Bunston, W., & Morris, A. (2015).
Domestic violence and protecting children: new thinking and approaches. London: Jessica Kingsley
Publishers.
Journal articles
Aldridge, M. L., & Browne, K. D. (2003). Perpetrators of spousal homicide: a review. Trauma,
Violence and Abuse, 4, 265–76.
Cattaneo, L. B., & Goodman, L. A. (2003). Victim-reported risk factors for continued abusive
behaviour: Assessing the dangerousness of arrested batterers. Journal of Community Psychology,
31(4), 349–69.
Douglas, K. S., & Dutton, D. G. (2001). Assessing the link between stalking and domestic
violence. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 6, 519–46.

Kropp, R., & Hart, S. D. (2000). The spousal assault risk assessment guide (SARA): reliability
and validity in adult male offenders. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 101–18.
Riggs, D. S., Caulfield, M. B., & Street, A. E. (2000). Risk for domestic violence: factors
associated with perpetration and victimisation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56, 1289–316.
Websites
Both of the following websites give a detailed overview of the issues and effects of domestic
violence and offer practical advice:
www.refuge.org.uk
www.joyfulheartfoundation.org
This website gives a detailed overview of all types of domestic violence, including stalking and
different types of victims:
www.domesticviolencelondon.nhs.uk
7 Sexual offences
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Know the legal definition of rape.

2 Appreciate the problem of attrition and ‘rape myths’.
3 Understand the empirical research into rape.
4 Know the psychological and social explanations of rape.
5 Appreciate the key classifications of rapists and rape offences.
6 Appreciate the value of the application of the thematic approach of rape
classification in rape investigations.
SUMMARY
Rape is sexual activity without consent. It, therefore, is a difficult crime to prosecute
and psychologically challenging to understand because it is not only what is observed
that is at issue, as with other crimes, but what is understood or consented to by the
parties involved. The issue of consent, therefore, underlies all aspects of the
consideration of rape. It relates to widely held attitudes to rape, known as ‘rape myths’,
and the high proportion of allegations that never result in a conviction. For those clearer
cases in which the perpetrator does not seek consent or has no concern for the victim’s
reactions, it is fruitful to compare explanations based on the characteristics of the rapist
with sociological or cultural theories. Classifications of rape and rapists help to
demonstrate the variety of forms the crime can take and the need for a combination
of explanations for its occurrence.
Sexual abuse of children raises distinct questions and challenges not least because
the victims are so vulnerable and may not be believed. Recent changes in public
attitudes and investigative processes are revealing the significance of these crimes against
young people.
SEXUAL OFFENCES 89
RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
Unwanted sexual contact is remarkably common. Depending on how the sexual

activity is defined and the sample studied at least one in four women and as many as
one in twenty men report having experienced unwanted sexual contact. This can range
from touching and rubbing (frotteurism) to groping and rape. The legal definition of
rape varies from one jurisdiction to another. The UK Sexual Offences Act 2003 states
that the crime of rape is committed when a person ‘intentionally penetrates the vagina,
anus or mouth of another person’ when that other person ‘does not consent to the
penetration’ or that the offender ‘does not reasonably believe’ that the other person
consents. The act ensures that the laws are equally applied to both male and female
victims, as well as clarifying issues surrounding consent. The Act also outlines the crime
of ‘assault by penetration’ treating the penetration by other objects, other than the
penis, just as seriously. In the UK, both rape and assault by penetration hold the
maximum sentence of life in prison.
Rape myths
Unlike any other criminal activity, sexual assault and rape are unwanted aspects of an
activity that under different circumstances may be welcomed. Sexuality is also a
remarkably prevalent part of all cultures, either as overt expression or through strong
strictures. It is, therefore, to be expected that all cultures encompass many different
views about and attitudes towards sexuality.
In relation to rape, these views and attitudes have been found to include many
erroneous assumptions, referred to as ‘rape myths’ (see Focus box 7.1). Evidence for
these rape myths have been found in many studies, going back many years, such as
Scully and Marolla (1985) and Burt (1980). A more recent summary emphasises that
these myths are believed by many people, not just rapists (Ryan, 2004).
Because of the misunderstanding of the nature of rape, the UK judicial system has
issued guidelines to judges about how to advise juries to reduce the influence of pre-
existing attitudes or myths about rape that may influence the jury’s decision-making.
However, there are many other common misunderstandings about the situations in
which rape occurs; these are reviewed very thoroughly by Massaro (2015).
False allegations
The recognition of rape myths also opens up the contentious issue of false allegations
of rape. For example, if it is not true that women ‘cry rape’ for revenge or because
they regret what they did, can it ever be the case that a rape allegation is false? The
legal evidence is that a small number of cases do occur where it is clear that the
allegation was false. The estimate of exactly what proportion of cases is false varies
enormously between studies.
For example, Kelly, Lovett and Regan (2005) determined that sixty-seven of
2,643 (3 per cent) rape allegations studied were probably false and another 22 per cent
were possibly false. By contrast, Kanin (1994) found that forty-five of 109 rape reports
(41 per cent) were determined to be false over a nine-year period in a small US
metropolitan area. The highest estimate of false rape allegations is 89 per cent (sixteen
FIGURE 7.1 Police campaign poster against sexual assault.

SEXUAL OFFENCES 91
‘Rape myths’ as listed by the UK crown prosecution service

• Rape occurs between strangers in dark alleys.
• Women provoke rape by the way they dress or act.
• Women who drink alcohol or use drugs are asking to be raped.
• Rape is a crime of passion.
• If she did not scream, fight or get injured, it was not rape.
• You can tell if she’s ‘really’ been raped by how she acts.
FOCUS 7.1
• Women cry rape when they regret having sex or want revenge.
• Only gay men get raped/only gay men rape men.
• Prostitutes cannot be raped.
• If the victim did not complain immediately, it was not rape.
From www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/rape_and_sexual_offences/societal_myths/
of eighteen), according to Stewart (1981), a police surgeon. These differences have

been related to attitudes towards women. For example, those holding strong feminist
views believe that there are very few false allegations. On the other hand, police tend
to believe that about half the rape cases brought to their attention are fabricated. Judges,
attorneys and medical examiners tend to have more moderate views of the frequency
of false allegations (MacDonald & Michaud, 1995; Jordan, 2004).
Given the large range of estimates of how many false allegations there are and the
difficulty of determining with great confidence for every case whether it is false or
not, it is not surprising that there are no clear indicators of whether an allegation is
genuine or not. That decision relies on the judicial process, which may indeed be
influenced by rape myths.
Rape trauma syndrome

One of the myths is that a rape victim will put up a fierce fight and will suffer obvious
distress soon after the attack. The awareness that this is not always the case and that
there are aspects of the experience of rape, possibly unlike other physical assaults, that
may cause a survivor to behave in unexpected ways has led to the identification of a
specific syndrome generated by the trauma of rape.
Burgess and Holmstrom (1974) initiated the description of this syndrome, describing
two phases. The first phase is the acute phase in the minutes and hours after the assault
in which the victim’s lifestyle is disorganised with a considerable amount of continuing
fear. The emotional aspects of this can take one of the two forms depending on
characteristics of the victim and details of the situation – expressed or controlled. The
controlled form of trauma may appear superficially as if the victim has not experienced
serious distress even though they have.
The second phase is a long-term experience of anxiety that may result in substance
abuse and even obsessive-compulsive activity (Brown, Testa & Messman-Moore
2009). Understanding the various reactions to the trauma of rape can be very important
for the legal process in order to fully appreciate a victim’s reactions.
Attrition rate in rape cases

The attrition rate is the proportion of cases of rape that do not result in a conviction.
There are many reasons why rape cases are not recorded or withdrawn, especially at
the early stages of the investigation. For example, Kelly, Lovett and Regan (2005)
found that younger victims are more likely to report rape to the police, while 16–25-
year-olds are more likely to withdraw their statements at the investigation stage. Cases
where the victim knows the offender are least likely to be reported (Kelly, Lovett &
Regan 2005). Also, if the alleged perpetrator is a partner, ex-partner or friend rather
than a stranger or family member, victims are more likely to withdraw their statements
(Feist, Ashe, Lawrence, McPhee & Wilson, 2007).
Kelly, Lovett and Regan (2005) summarise the reasons for attrition at four key stages
in the criminal justice system at which cases are likely to be withdrawn.
1 Decision to report
A victim of rape may not report a rape to the police for a number of reasons, including
fears about the investigation and trial process, the trauma of having to relive the rape
again in court, feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt or fear of retribution.
2 Investigative stage
Victims may decide to withdraw a complaint of rape or refuse to provide evidence to
prosecute the accused after they are detained. This may be due to the anticipated
trauma associated with a trial (as in Stage 1). It may also be that the police cannot
identify or find the suspect, and therefore, the case is dropped.
3 Discontinuance by prosecutors
If an offender has been apprehended, the crown prosecution service (CPS) in the UK
or district attorneys in the US may decide not to take the case to trial if they believe
there is not enough evidence to secure a prosecution. This may be because of doubts
about the credibility of the victim or any witnesses, or the difficulty of determining
whether consent was withheld.
4 Trial
If the case goes to trial, the jury may decide the suspect is not guilty of the crime, and
therefore, will acquit. Alternatively, the offender may be convicted for a lesser crime
or have his conviction overturned on appeal.
Cases are more likely to get to court, and the culprit receive a custodial sentence,
if it can be shown that a rape is part of a linked series (Feist et al., 2007).
THEORIES OF RAPE
Evolutionary explanation
Evolutionary explanations put the emphasis on rape as an inherent aspect of male make-
up that gives benefits to the survival of those men who spread their DNA around,
whether or not the recipient is willing (Thornhill & Palmer, 2000). It is even claimed
that there is a natural instinct to rape if consensual intercourse is not available.
SEXUAL OFFENCES 93
While this has some simple-minded appeal, it does not really explain why the great
majority of men do not rape. It does not explain the rape of men by men or men by
women. It also does not explain the great variations between cultures and situations
in the prevalence of rape. Furthermore, if the genetic driver were due to the inability
of the rapist to have consensual intercourse, then it would not be expected that rapists
had established consensual sexual relationships, or any offspring. This is clearly not the
case. Some rapists have long-standing sexual partners and children.
Psychological explanations
Many of the explanations for criminal activity discussed in earlier chapters are directly
relevant to rape. These include impulsivity, aggressiveness and cognitive distortions.
More specifically, the sorts of cognitive distortions that blame the victims have been
found in many rapists who minimise the impact of rape on their victims, misread the
social cues from potential victims and generally lack inhibitions and controls over their
desire for sexual gratification. Furthermore, male rapists have been found to have a
limited and stereotypical view of what it means to be a man. Importantly, these men
are likely to have many sexual partners and regard women as challenging opponents
to be conquered.
One widely quoted, but somewhat controversial, explanation of rape was put
forward by Groth (1979) some time ago. He argues that there are three fundamental
processes that motivate rape: anger, power and sadism. The anger rapist wants to humiliate
and insult his victim. It is women in general or particular women who he is enraged by.
He uses sex to defile and debase his victim. Groth (1979) claims that these offenders attack
their victims by grabbing them, tearing their clothes and beating them to the ground.
The power rapist wishes to demonstrate his control and dominance of his victims.
Groth (1979) explains this as a compensation for feelings of inadequacy that is fostered
by fantasies of sexual conquest. Their mistaken belief is that once the victim is over-
powered, she will enjoy the sexual activity. Unlike the anger rapist, it is proposed that
the power rapist will coerce by verbal threats and the use of a weapon and will not
be further violent once the victim is under his control.
When aggression and the infliction of pain have an erotic quality for the rapist, his
sadistic inclinations give rise to maltreatment of the victim. Groth (1979) proposes that
this sadistic rape is driven by the actual sexual pleasure that comes from tormenting the
victim. Their struggles, distress and suffering are what heighten his enjoyment of the
assault. Therefore, these rapists are likely to prolong their attacks and may have bizarre
rituals and use foreign objects to penetrate the victim. The victims may be killed as part
of these rituals as the rapists seek an ultimate gratification by committing the murder.
Groth’s (1979) classification of rapes is interesting in combining accounts of differ-
ent psychological motivations with different patterns of behaviour. The motivations
emphasise desires other than sexual gratification. It is anger, power or the delight in
hurting a victim that gives rise to rape, according to Groth. The inherent contradic-
tion in this assertion has been challenged by many authorities (e.g., Tedeschi &
Felson, 1994). The essence of this challenge is to question why it is sexual activity that
fosters power, anger and sadism, rather than other more direct expressions of these
motivations. Instead, emphasis is given to inhibited sexual gratification that is supported
by social processes.
A second challenge to Groth’s typology is the lack of clear empirical evidence for
his trichotomy. The theory assumes there are some actions in rape that co-occur and
there are others that tend not to co-occur. For example, the hypothesis is that ripping
the victims’ clothing will tend to happen in the same rapes as beating the victim to
the ground. But, in contrast, ritual activity and penetration with a foreign object will
not occur when the clothing is ripped. These and all the other hypotheses about the
co-occurrence of actions in a rape, implied by Groth’s classifications, are open to direct
test by examining what actually happens across many rapes. Research that has carried
out such examinations is considered below when the actions in a rape are examined
directly. But, first, the social processes that may support sexual assaults are discussed.
Social processes
Feminists also follow Groth’s proposal that rape is not ultimately about sexual gratifi-
cation, but is a direct product of the general male desire to dominate, control and punish
women. This argument has been developed to claim that rape exists to ensure that there
remains an unequal balance of power between men and women, keeping women under
the general control of men. Brownmiller (1975) puts this clearly: ‘it is nothing more or
less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state
of fear’ (p. 5). These arguments are the same as those put forward to explain domestic
violence in the previous chapter. They propose that all men are potential rapists.
The feminist perspective has come into criticism, especially the assertion that all
men are potential rapists. Evidence does not support this notion – the majority of men
do not rape women. The feminist approach has also been criticised for not seeking to
explain other types of rape, such as those perpetrated by women.
Developmental models
Developmental models assert that rape occurs as a result of inadequate bonding within
childhood. As discussed in Chapter 4, these are strongly influenced by Bowlby’s (1952)
ACTIVITY 7.1
Discuss the following situation in a mixed group of men and women and consider
the variations in their views.
A young man and a young woman, who who have recently met at a nightclub,
have had enough to drink to make them feel too drunk to drive home, but sober
enough to go back to her house for a coffee. When they are alone in her house,
she allows the man to undress her, but when she tells him she is too drunk to have
sex, he says she will enjoy it once it gets started. She struggles a little, but not
enough to prevent him having sex with her. The next morning she reports him to
the police for rape. Was she right to do this? What further information should the
police collect to proceed to a court case? What reasons might there be for the man
not being convicted?
SEXUAL OFFENCES 95
ideas of maternal deprivation and attachment. This suggests that rape occurs because as
a child, offenders do not form a close, ‘healthy’ bond with their mothers at a crucial
point in their development. Therefore, as an adult, the offender is unable to form nor-
mal relationships with peers and potential partners, and thus, has to rape in order to
gain intimacy and to satisfy a desire for social contact (Marshall, 1989). This theory is
supported by evidence that some rapists do score highly on measures of intimacy and
loneliness (Seidman, Hudson & Robertson, 1994). However, there is no evidence to
suggest that lack of a parental bond will have a causal relationship with lack of intimacy
in adulthood, and it is likely that other mediating factors are involved. Not all people
who do not have a parental influence within childhood go on to be criminals, let alone
become rapists.
BEHAVIOURAL ASPECTS OF RAPE
Sexual assaults can take many different forms. These differences carry various impli-
cations. They may act as indicators that help to link offences to a common offender.
They can provide indications of the characteristics of the offender (‘offender profil-
ing’). They may also act as reference points to help determine false allegations or as
an aspect of considering the trauma caused by the assault. They are also important indi-
cators of the meaning of the rape for the perpetrator. This is of use in thinking about
the forms of treatment or sentence appropriate to that offender.
The study of these behavioural differences has its roots in investigative psychology
(Canter & Youngs, 2009), which is considered in more detail in Chapter 12. When
the actions of a criminal are the starting point for any inferences, it is essential to
understanding how those actions may differ from one crime to the next. With regard
to sexual offences, what they have in common is, of course, the sexual activity.
Consequently, it is aspects of the non-sexual actions that are particularly revealing.
Canter and Heritage (1990) developed the first behaviourally based classification
of rape by analysing sixty-six stranger sex offences from the UK police records and
content analysing the activities that occurred in each of those offences. Subsequently,
Canter, Bennell, Alison and Reddy (2003) continued to examine the behavioural
structure of rape in this way and developed a similar model using victim statements
from 112 British rapes. They identified a four-themed model of rape behaviour, where
the offences could be differentiated into hostile, involvement, controlling and steal-
ing types of behaviour. Canter et al. (2003) also used statistical techniques to examine
the levels of violation within rapes; they found that these themes could vary in the
types of sexual, physical and personal violation used in the offence. Sexual violation
was used in a majority of the cases, more than physical violation, whereas personal
violation was rarer, and thus, could be used to more readily differentiate between offen-
ces. The approach they used was to examine the patterns of co-occurrence of actions
in rapes.
Hostility
The hostility theme in rape, in the Canter et al. (2003) study, consists of nine items,
which reflect the overtly aggressive interaction between offender and victim. Six
variables emphasise what is defined as an aggressive style: tears clothing, multiple

violence, single violence, anal sex, demeans the victim and verbal violence. Aggression
and hostility are also implicit in the actions that reflect the victim being forced to take
an active role in the offence: fellatio, ‘forces victim sexual comment’ and ‘forces victim
participation’. There is a clear parallel between the actions categorised as hostility here
and the victim as vehicle theme presented by Canter (1994), summarised in Focus
box 7.2, and the aggressive region in Canter and Heritage (1990). These findings also
concur with Bartol’s (1986) classification of some offences as expressive.
Control
Six variables have been interpreted as offence behaviours that demonstrate the offen-
der’s control of the offence. The offender controls the victim through binding her,
gagging her, threatening her not to report the crime and using a weapon. Other actions
such as using a blindfold and wearing a disguise reflect the offender’s attempt to conceal
his identity. There is a clear parallel between the actions categorised as control and
the victim as object theme in the model proposed by Canter (1994) summarised in
Focus box 7.2. Both of these themes are comprised of actions that relate to
demobilisation of the victim and suggest various forms of pre-planning and preparation
on the part of the offender.
Theft
Four aspects of rape have been interpreted as offence behaviours that directly relate
to criminal behaviours beyond the sexual component of the crime. The offender in
this case is clearly using the opportunities presented by the crime for some further
instrumental goal, not just for the immediate sexual gratification of the rape. These
behaviours include demanding goods from the victim, stealing personal goods, stealing
identifiable goods and stealing unidentifiable goods. These variables support the
instrumental categorisation proposed by Bartol (1986).
Involvement
A further six actions are interpreted as offence behaviour that has distinct involve-
ment components. There is clearly a theme of attempted involvement with the victim
with behaviours such as offender sexual comment, compliments the victim, identifies
the victim, kisses the victim and implies knowing the victim. Again, there is a clear
parallel between the actions categorised as involvement here and the victim as person
theme in the model by Canter (1994), summarised in Focus box 7.2, and the intimacy
region of Canter and Heritage (1990).
These themes seem to reflect the various psychological processes identified within the
rape literature. All seem to have roots in theoretical models, from an arena of different
perspectives and reflect the type of interaction that the offender will have within the
rape situation.
SEXUAL OFFENCES 97
A behaviourally based model of rape

Another example of a behavioural model of rapists was presented by Canter
(1994) and considered how rapists could be differentiated in terms of the role
they assign to a victim. Violent behaviours were differentiated three ways,
depending on how the offender sees his victim, either as a ‘vehicle’, an
‘object’ or a ‘person.’
Vehicle
Within this theme, the offender uses the victim as a medium for their own
benefit. For example, an offender may act violently towards a victim in pursuit
of sexual gratification or monetary gain. Typical behaviours that could be seen
within this theme would include robbery and sexual assault. Behaviours
defined within this theme are also thought of as being more excessively
violent than those seen within the other two themes.
Object
Here, the offender treats the victim as a depersonalised object to be
manipulated and controlled. Typical behaviours seen within this style of
offending would, therefore, include such items as gagging, binding,
threatening and being verbally derogatory towards the victim.
Person
FOCUS 7.2
Here, the offender will treat the victim as a human being, rather than an
object and may show behaviours that indicate some kind of pseudo-intimacy.
The offender will, therefore, be interested in his or her victim’s life and may
request that the victim participate verbally or physically in any sexual contact
as if they were having a relationship.
UTILITY OF BEHAVIOURAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
Academic utility
1 The statistical methods used to establish styles of offending from the analysis of
behaviours empirically validate the theory or perspective linked to themes within
which they occur.
2 Although these classification systems are built on the analysis of offence behaviours,
protagonists of this approach do not assert that the behaviours occur in a social
vacuum. Indeed, Canter and Heritage’s early model emphasises that rape is a form
of social interaction and that the themes identified are ways in which the offender
interacts with his victim.
3 These models provide frameworks that can be tested for replicability or used as a
basis for further hypothesis testing.
Practical utility
1 The behavioural models describe the actions occurring at the crime scene, rather
than the rapists’ motivations. Therefore, when new cases are presented to criminal
investigations, police officers and analysts have an objective framework within
which to note the absence or presence of behaviours.

2 Using a thematic approach to classifying offences may be more robust than adding
meaning to behaviours on an individual basis. Thus, the themes are not depen-
dent on all of a set of behaviours being present. They only require a subset of the
behaviours to be present.
3 Crime scene behaviours are often used to link crimes, known as comparative case
analysis (or CCA), where there is a lack of evidence or eye witness testimony.
Thus, crimes are considered to be linked or unlinked in terms of how behaviour-
ally similar the crimes were. Thematic analysis of rapes could be a practical way
of carrying out CCA, instead of comparing crimes on a point-by-point basis.
Limitations of behavioural classification systems

1 These models like all the others rely on crimes that have been reported. Therefore,
given the high attrition rate, it seems very probable that they only represent a subset
of rapes. Further research is needed to establish whether other rapes can be
differentiated in the same way.
2 Without incorporating information from the offenders themselves, these models reveal
little of the thought processes of offenders. They may, thus, be a useful starting point
for therapeutic interventions with rapists, but will need to be taken much further in
terms of the offenders’ cognitions and attitudes, if they are to be really powerful.
SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN
It is only in the last few decades in Western developed nations that sexual contact
between adults and children has been clearly defined as criminal. The legal definition
has included ‘statutory rape’, which is sexual contact with a child under the age of
consent, and laws forbidding marriage with a child under a designated age. Yet, there
are still many countries and many sub-cultures in which sexual activity with children
is not regarded as criminal. This has become clear as the waves of sexual abuse have
been revealed in country after country. Often, these activities have been implicitly
condoned in organisations, such as parts of the Catholic Church and institutions that
house children, supposedly for their own protection, such as orphanages.
Sexual abuse of children often combines physical and psychological abuse.
Therefore, it is not always possible to determine the impact of illicit sexual activity on
its own. However, all these forms of abuse can have a lasting impact on the victims.
As discussed in earlier chapters, the sources of later criminality of many different sorts
can be found in childhood experiences. Consequently, the long-term impact of abuse
SEXUAL OFFENCES 99
of children can be found not just in the later experiences and activities of the victims,
but in how those victims may often, but certainly not always, perpetuate the cycle of
abuse by assaulting others, causing them to become abusers later.
Although, as in other violent crimes, those who abuse children tend to be men, but
a distinct subset are women, often young women (Giguere & Bumby, 2007). The men
who carry out the abuse often have unusual sexual arousal patterns (Finkelhor, 2008),
but the abuse can also arise in relation to drinking problems, and as mentioned, earlier
experience of abuse themselves. In general, Finkelhor (2008) summarises findings that
indicate the following circumstances increase the risk of a child being abused:
• The child lives without one biological parent.
• When the mother is not available, for example, due to employment or illness.
• When the parent’s relationship is unhappy and full of conflict.
• When the child experiences severe discipline.
• When the child has a step-father.
It is important to emphasise that these circumstances do not imply that the abuse
will always take place within the family. It is more that the conditions make the child
vulnerable. Further, the studies summarised by Finkelhor go back over more than a
quarter of a century. Family dynamics are likely to have changed a lot since then. More
up-to-date studies may reveal different patterns.
CONCLUSIONS
Rapists vary considerably in terms of the nature of their relationship to their victim
and the underlying psychological processes that give rise to rape. Overall, the general
view of most theorists is that sexual gratification is only one aspect of the reasons why
rape is carried out. Some people argue that it is almost irrelevant and that power and
control of the victim are much more significant. However, the behaviourally based
models that show the sexual act to be such a prevalent and focal part of the assault do
give a rather different picture.
• Attrition • Rape trauma syndrome • Theories of rape

• Rape myths • Attrition rates • Sexual abuse
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Compare and contrast two theories of rape.

• Explain attrition, including how and when it might occur.
• What are behaviourally based models of rape?
• Describe common rape myths.
Books
Amir, M. (1971). Patterns in forcible rape. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Beech, A. R., Craig, L. A., & Browne, K. D. (Eds.). (2009). Assessment and treatment of sex
offenders: a handbook. Chichester: Wiley.
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: men, women and rape. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Canter, D. V. (1994). Criminal shadows. London: Harper Collins.
Groth, A. N. (1979). Men who rape: the psychology of the offender. New York: Plenum Press.
Laws, D. R., & O’Donohue, W. (Eds.). (2016). Treatment of sex offenders: strengths and weaknesses
in assessment and intervention. New York: Springer.
Wilcox, D. T., Garrett, T., & Harkins, L. (Eds.). (2014). Sex offender treatment: a case study approach
to issues and interventions. Chichester: Wiley.
Journal articles
Babchishin, K. M., Hanson, R. K., & VanZuylen, H. (2015). Online child pornography offen-
ders are different: a meta-analysis of the characteristics of online and offline sex offenders
against children. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(1), 45–66.
Canter, D., Bennell, C., Alison, L., & Reddy, S. (2003). Differentiating sex offences: a
behaviourally based thematic classification of stranger rapes. Behavioral Sciences & the Law,
21, 157–74.
Hodge, S., & Canter, D. (1998). Victims and perpetrators of male sexual assault. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 13, 222–39.
Scully, D., & Marolla, J. (1985). Riding the Bull at Gilley’s: convicted rapists describe the
rewards of rape. Social Problems, 32(3), 251–63.
Websites
This website offers legal guidance for rape and sexual offences:
www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/rape_and_sexual_offences/
The following website gives an overview of types of rape and sexual assault and practical
guidance for victims:
http://rapecrisis.org.uk/
8 Homicide and
serial killing
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:
1 Identify the different types of single and multiple homicides.

2 Describe offender, victim and offence characteristics of single and serial
homicide.
3 Understand the models for explaining homicide.
4 Appreciate serial murder typologies.
5 Understand prevalence rates of single and multiple homicide.
This chapter provides an overview of homicide and serial killing and relevant research
within a forensic and criminological framework. Various offender and offence
classifications are discussed and evaluated. The advantages and disadvantages of such
classifications in an investigative setting are discussed. This chapter also highlights the
role cultural context may have on the manner in which people behave and interact
with one another, which can play a role in single and multiple homicides. It is
anticipated that this chapter will encourage the reader to seek out and critically evaluate
additional literature in this important area, which greatly affects not only victims and
their family and friends, but also the general public and individual feelings of safety
and security in society.
DISTINGUISHING SINGLE AND MULTIPLE HOMICIDES
A great majority of crime fiction features a person who kills again and again. Usually,
the victims have had no direct contact with the murderer (Bartol, 1991; Egger, 1998).
But, this is a total distortion of how murder happens. The great majority of people
are killed by someone they know. Nearly all murderers only murder once. To
understand murder, then, it is essential to distinguish the major forms it can take and
the influence of context.
When thinking about homicide (i.e., the unlawful killing of another person), it is
crucial that we recognise the differences in the number of murders across countries
and the different rate per head of population this implies as listed in Focus box 8.1.
But these figures hide huge ranges between cities in some countries. For example,
in Mexico, Yucatan has a murder rate of 1.9 per 100,000, 42 cases in 2103, Tujana
had 34.1, 478 cases. These contrast with Ciudad Juarez that had a rate of 147.7, being
1,974 cases. Clearly, there are important social, cultural and political aspects of the
occurrence of murder. As Leyton (1995) argues, it is not the presence of guns, knives
or fists that generate homicidal behaviour, but rather ‘the will to use that technology
that is culturally coded, the decision that is half-consciously culturally applauded [that]
shapes the number of homicidal assaults in a nation’ (p. 161). In some cultures, conflict
is dealt with through compromise; in other cultures, it may be dealt with through
violence or displays of power and influence. Although these socio-cultural aspects are
significant, psychological issues are the focus of the current chapter.
One-off acquaintance murder

Most murders emerge from relationships between people (Brookman, 2005). For
example, in a study of seventy-five Canadian homicides, the victim knew the offender
in 87 per cent of cases, a number that reflected national statistics as well (Salfati &
Dupont, 2001). Typically, the offenders are male, and in the majority of cases, the
victims are also male. This can be related to gang activity or other fights between young
men. There are also a proportion of murders of women by male acquaintances and
even a few cases of women killing men.
Male-on-male homicides often arise from arguments over relatively minor issues or
related to honour or reputation, especially in gangs. Male-on-female homicides most
Some cross-national comparisons of murder rates per year

for the years 2011–2013
Country Murder rate/100,000 Total number
South Africa 31.0 16,259

Brazil 25.2 50,100
Mexico 21.5 26,037
Nigeria 20.0 33,817
Russia 9.0 12,785
USA 3.8 12,253
FOCUS 8.1
India 3.5 43,355

Hungary 2.7 265
Finland 1.6 89
UK 1.0 653
Japan 0.3 442
HOMICIDE AND SERIAL KILLING 103
frequently occur between current or former romantic partners when the relationship
is failing or has failed (Brookman, 2005). The Home Office Homicide Index from
1995–2000 reports roughly 30 per cent of homicides in England and Wales and 26 per
cent of homicides in Scotland were of this type. Female-on-male homicides
predominantly occur in a domestic setting with a partner or child as the victim. Such
offences comprise about 11 per cent of homicides per year in the UK. Female-on-female
homicides are the least common type of homicide, occurring in less than 3 per cent of
homicides per year in the UK from 1997–2001 (Home Office website given on p. 115).
Spree killing
Another form of murder as typified by Brevik or the horrific number of school
shooting in the USA is when a person kills a number of people in one mass attack,
typically with an automatic firearm. These are appropriately called ‘spree’ killings
because the murderer carries out his (I know of no female spree killers, except those
extremely rare cases where they accompany men) attack in one event against a number
of people usually in one or two places in a short period of time (Delisi & Sherer, 2006).
These killers almost invariably die in the course of their spree, either in a shootout
with law enforcement or by killing themselves. Even if that does not happen, they
expect to die. This has been likened to the Biblical figure of Samson (Canter, 2006)
who killed himself by bringing the temple down on himself and his captors, the
Philistines. Spree killing may, therefore, be usefully thought of as a form of suicide.
Indeed, where the killer deliberately puts himself in a situation where he knows he
will be killed by police, it may be referred to as ‘suicide by cop’.
It is interesting to relate spree killing to the trend over recent years of insurgent,
terrorist groups using suicide bombers as a form of attack. These killers have much in
common with spree killers. Their activities have even been characterised as a Samson
syndrome (Canter, 2006) that also resonates with Second World War Japanese Kamikaze
pilots.
Serial murder
There is no agreement among experts about the number of murders that must occur
before an offender is considered a serial murderer. However, typically, the term serial
murder is applied to killings that occur when three or more victims are killed by the
same person (sometimes pairs of people) over a period of time that can range from
days to years. Usually, to distinguish these from spree killings, between each murder,
there is a ‘cooling off ’ period in which the offender does not kill (Rappaport, 1988;
Gresswell & Hollin, 1994; Jenkins, 1998). Although many serial killings involve evi-
dence of sexual activity before, during and/or after death (Meloy, 2000), not all serial
murderers are sexual murderers.
Massacres
One other example of multiple murder is ‘mass murder’. This can happen in times of
war and in ethnically based conflicts as in Rwanda or the Balkans in recent years, or
Syria today. Often, these may be better thought of as co-ordinated serial killings,
Homicide murder or manslaughter?

Most jurisdictions distinguish between intentional and unintentional murder.
Manslaughter (In the USA, this is called second-degree

murder):
This is accidentally causing death. Whether it was an accident or not may be
difficult to determine (Brookman, 2005).
Voluntary manslaughter:
This is unplanned, but the offender wilfully killed another individual, for
example, during an argument, where the original intent was not to kill (Bartol,
1991, p. 206). The UK Homicide Act (1957, p. 2–4) indicates this can be when
a person is provoked to kill, suffered mental incapacity or being part of a
suicide pact.
FOCUS 8.2
Involuntary manslaughter:
Where there is no intent to kill, but the law finds the individual responsible.
Such as a car accident or work-related accidents and some forms of suicide
pact.
perhaps having more in common with serial killing than is often realised? But, a
particularly interesting example from a psychological point of view is the sort of mass
murder that may be classed as a mass suicide. The Jonestown Massacre in 1978 in which
900 people died in cult commune in North-western Guyana is one example of such
an event. A more contentious example was the siege in 1993 near Waco in Texas.
That ended in seventy-six people being killed in a conflagration initiated during an
FBI assault on the religious community of Branch Davidians, who were storing many
weapons.
All these massacres share the aspect that one inward-looking group determines that
some other group, or society at large, are their enemy. The group-support process
strengthens these attitudes. When the belief system is fuelled by religious beliefs, and
when weapons, especially firearms, are available, a dangerous cocktail is created that
can lead to these mass murders. It is not a far step to see similarities in Nazi atrocities.
MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING HOMICIDE
The variety of forms of single and multiple murders opens up the likelihood that there
are many different processes that can give rise to homicides. But, as with all other forms
of offence, variations within any given context are helpful in providing insights into
the processes and causes underlying human beings killing each other.
Functions of violence
One of the most cited distinctions in criminality that has been related to killings was
first identified by Fesbach (1964) in relation to aggression in general. He proposed a
distinction between expressive violence, which occurs in response to anger-inducing
conditions, such as insults, physical attack or personal failures, and instrumental
aggression, which arises from the desire for material goods (money, car) or status
(power, prestige). This has been developed to cover killing as well (Salfati, 2000). So,
for example, when drug gangs kill off the competition, or as in the early work of
Bolitho (1926) called Murder for Profit, people murder tenants to get their money; these
are clear cases of instrumental violence. In contrast, a sudden outburst by one partner
furious with another may be regarded as expressive homicide. In some cases, this latter
may be regarded as manslaughter, or second-degree murder (see Focus box 8.2).
Perhaps, the most obvious form of instrumental murder is what is known as ‘contract
killing’. In these cases, a person hires another person to kill a third person. But, while
it is often assumed that the contracted killer is some anonymous person who is met
clandestinely and paid for his services, many examples exist where the killer is actually
an associate of the person who contracts him (Crumplin, 2009). This means that the
processes understood in other murders between partners or acquaintances may still be
relevant for contract killings.
The issue of rather inappropriately called ‘honour killing’ also raises questions about
what underlies these murders. These are the extremely distressing cases of a family
member, often a daughter, being killed by other members of the family. The reasons
for this are given as being that she was insulting the honour of her family. Typically,
this is because of her relationship with someone the family did not approve of, usually
because he came from a different sect, clan or religion.
Of course, as with all classifications of human activity, simple typologies rarely exist
so purely in practice. For example, a person who is angry because a relative has taken
their inheritance may decide to kill that relative. Is that an expressive or instrumental
murder? There is also the killing of a potential witness, for example, killing a rape
victim. Is that instrumental?
A rather different approach to the interpretation of different forms of violence in
single and multiple homicides is to consider the role of the victim to the offender.
Canter (1994) proposed that there were three distinct roles. This was described in the
previous chapter in Focus box 7.2, but is worth repeating here because of its relevance
to murder.
1 The victim is an object for whom the offender has no sympathy, yet desires control
over. He murders and mutilates without feeling, as these victims are objects to do
with as they desire.
2 The victim is a vehicle upon whom the offender expresses anger and frustration.
These offences are described as taking on a more controlled form than when the
victim is an object. The victim will bear the brunt of the offender’s emotions to
indirectly suffer their pain.
3 The victim is a person with whom the offender tries to establish some kind of rapport.
When Salfati (2000) studied 247 British single offender-single victim homicides,
she showed that the role of the victim, as discussed by Canter (1994), related closely
to the differentiation between expressive or instrumental killing – the person and

vehicle roles typically being an aspect of expressive violence. In addition, Salfati (2000)
reported that offender’s background criminality tended to be predominantly expressive
or instrumental. However, she found no simple relationship between offence and
offender characteristics.
Motives for killing

In popular crime fiction, the main distinction between types of murder are in terms
of motive. Often, these are summarised as revenge, greed, anger or jealousy. Others
may be offered as well. But, as Wolfgang (1958, p. 185) emphasises, the only way to
identify motive would to be in the suspects head at the time of the offence. Indeed,
in many cases, even that may not help because the killer may not be clear themself as
to why they killed. The identification of motives is open to the danger of subjectivity
(Gibson, 1975, p. 21). There is no objective way to determine the offender’s motives
at the time of the offence. This challenging issue has led some researchers to focus on
more concrete aspects of the offence, particularly victim–offender interaction and
behaviour (Arrigo & Purcell, 2001).
Furthermore, an offence may have several motives. An offender may not be entirely
clear as to why they committed an offence. A motive recorded by police may not
recognise other important behaviours that occurred. For example, a crime recorded
as having a financial motive may have also featured torture, overkill and additional
features, which may contribute significantly to the overall nature of the offence (Keppel
& Walter, 1999 p. 418).
FIGURE 8.1 Levi Bellfield.

However, the legal process does often make some assumptions about the reasons
for a killing. These assumptions have implications for offender sentencing and
management. Usually, an expressive killing is seen as less serious than one that is
predetermined for greed. The French legal system is even open to a claim that a killing
was a crime passionnel (crime of passion), and therefore, deserving of a lesser sentence,
although it is not a formal term enshrined in law.
FIGURE 8.2 Lonnie David Franklin.

FIGURE 8.3
David Berkowitz.
A person who is known to be violent, especially if he is quick to lose his temper, may
not surprise people if one of his outbursts results in him killing someone. What is more
difficult to explain is the docile person who one day bursts into murderous violence.
Megargee (1966) proposed a distinction that could help explain this. He identified two
personality types, undercontrolled and overcontrolled, that reflected a person’s ability to control
aggression. Undercontrolled offenders have little control over their aggressive urges, and
consequently, react quickly and hastily. Overcontrolled offenders repeatedly suppress their
anger; the anger builds up to an eventual explosion of violence in response to an event.
This implicit steam engine analogy of a boiler that constantly emits steam or that is so
constrained that it eventually blows up is very attractive. It has its roots in Freudian ideas
of an id supervised by a superego. But, it is really a labelling of actions that are either
consistently aggressive or suddenly explosive. Without very careful discussions with the
individuals concerned, it is difficult to substantiate.
ASPECTS OF SERIAL MURDER
Although the killing of a number of people by one person over a period of time is
extremely rare, it, nonetheless, is the bread and butter of crime fiction. It seems to
have a fascination for the general population. So, although the prevalence of serial killers
seems to be declining with a general decline in crime in Western democracies, the
rest of this chapter considers the phenomena because of widespread interest in it.
Serial murder prevalence rates

In the USA, it is estimated that about 1 per cent of murders are part of serial-killing
series. This amounts to about 150 victims a year murdered by between twenty-five
and fifty serial killers. Intriguingly, about 17 per cent of serial killers are women (Bonn,
2014). This is a higher proportion than in one-off homicides in the USA, for which
women account for about 10 per cent.
The USA generally has about three times as much violent crime per head of popula-
tion as the UK, but serial killers are very much rarer than this comparison would
indicate. As with all crimes, serial murder is more frequent in some countries than in
other countries and fluctuates over time. For example, periods in the UK devoid of
serial murder activity have been followed by several cases. In the UK, in the 1970s,
it was reported there were four or five murderers active at one time (Jenkins, 1988;
p. 5). This accords well with Canter, Missen and Hodge (1996) who estimated a decade
later that, each year, there are about five active serial killers in the UK.
However, in recent years, the numbers have declined considerably. Aamodt (2013)
indicates that while there were eighty-one active serial killers in the USA in the 1990s,
this number dropped to fifty in the 2000s and by 2012 there were around twenty. Of
course, these figures rely on identifying the killers and their victims. But, it does show
once again that this type of crime, as with all others, relates to broad social processes.
This is illustrated further in Hodgskiss’s (2003) detailed examination of South African
serial murder. He found a higher rate of cross-ethnic offending and a lack of sexually
violent offending, compared with US cases. In addition, offender behaviours were
found more similar to non-European serial murderers than to US serial murderers, a
finding that also points to the way offence behaviours are affected by the social
environment in which they occur.
Offender characteristics
Despite public beliefs, serial murderers come from a variety of different ethnic back-
grounds (Egger, 2002; Hickey, 2002; Fox & Levin, 2003), though in Hickey’s study
(2002) of over 200 serial murderers, most were found to be roughly 30-years-old,
Caucasian and male. They had killed between eight and fourteen people over 4 to 6
years. The offenders generally start killing in adulthood, between the ages of 24
and 40 (Jenkins, 1988; Bartol, 1991), though most kill their first victim before the age
of 30 (Meloy, 2000).
A history of violence is often absent from their police records, though offences such
as fraud and theft are not uncommon, and serial offending exists within the offenders’
broader criminal lifestyle (Delisi & Scherer, 2006; p. 273). In a study comparing single
and serial homicide offenders, a greater percentage of serial murderers had pre-
convictions (79 per cent) than single homicide offenders (51 per cent). Canter, Missen
and Hodge (1996) found that 75 per cent of the 217 American serial murderers they
studied had pre-convictions and nearly half had been arrested as juveniles.
These criminal histories of serial killers do suggest that they are part of extremes of
criminality, and therefore, it would be expected that the origins of offending behaviour,
especially violent behaviour, found in less serious aggression would also be present in
serial killers. In McKenzie’s (1995) study of twenty serial murderers, this was found
to be the case. Eighty per cent of the people they studied had experienced family
violence in childhood, 93 per cent had experienced chaotic parenting, and 75 per cent
had at least one alcoholic parent. This, of course, leaves a substantial proportion who
has no obvious family background that would predict serial violence. Explaining how
such people become serial killers is much more difficult.
Mental health
It is often assumed that serial killers are mentally ill, mad, insane or psychotic.
Greswell’s (1991) study of English and Welsh multiple murderers found evidence of
psychiatric history in 45 per cent of cases, and only 24 per cent of offenders had a
history of mental illness. In cases of serial sexual murders, they often had a diagnosis
of sexual sadism and antisocial personality disorder (Gerberth & Turco, 1997). So, once
again, there are important variations between these killers. Some undoubtedly fit the
stereotype of the deranged psychotic, so-often caricatured in films, but many do not fit
this image at all and live as married men with families and survive in social interactions
without drawing attention to themselves.
Although it is thought that serial murderers are inevitably psychopaths, that is not
always the case. There, certainly, are examples of serial murderers who display the
characteristics of superficial charm, intelligence, lack of remorse, impulsivity and asso-
ciated psychopathic traits. However, there are those diagnosed as psychopathic who
are not serial murderers. One danger of the use of this term, or any other psychiatric
diagnosis, is that it is used as the sole explanation for the behaviours, rather than being
understood as an important feature in a series of unfolding events (Mitchell, 1997).
ACTIVITY 8.1
The Internet is full of accounts of serial killers, their crimes and lives. Review those
you can find to determine whether accounts from totally different sources agree
with each other about the details. Then, determine what the typical background
characteristics are of the killers described. Also, review their victims. Do the victims
have anything in common?
Victim characteristics
Most serial murder victims are women, particularly prostitutes, and those living on
the edges of society (Jenkins, 1988; Ressler, Douglas, Burgess & Burgess, 1992; Egger,
1998, p. 79). These individuals are more vulnerable and their absence is less likely to
be noticed. In cases of sexual homicide, the victims may be both strangers or acquaint-
ances and are often of the same race as the offender (Dietz, Hazelwood & Warren
1990; Meloy, 2000). This points to the way in which serial killers prey on vulnerable
people. They take advantage of the weaknesses of their victims. As a consequence,
where there are more of those victims available and law enforcement agencies less able
to investigate murders, there are likely to be more serial killers active. This is illustrated
by the much higher rate of serial killers in Russia and South Africa than in many other
countries.
Serial murder typologies
Classifications of serial murders contribute to an understanding of what gives rise
to them (Megargee, 1982; Arrigo & Purcell, 2001). Some of these classification
schemes have also been developed to aid investigations (Egger, 1984). Many typologies
classify offenders on the basis of a mixture of features, including inferred motives,
crime scene evidence and offender background characteristics. This is problematic
for the development of systematic tests of these typologies because they mix object-
ively based definitions, such as the gender of victims, with subjective interpretations,
such as motivations. Such classification schemes are also of limited practical use,
especially to investigators, because the only objective data are those drawn from crime
scenes (Canter & Wentink, 2004).
The organised/disorganised binary classification is the most frequently cited serial
killer typology. It was constructed by a number of special agents of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (Ressler et al., 1986). This dichotomy rests on the assumption that the
offender’s behaviour and personality characteristics can be determined from crime
scene information. It is claimed that the organised offender leads a planned and orderly
life, which is reflected in the way they commit their crimes. They are described as
having average to high intelligence, likely to be employed and confident. The
organised crime scene shows evidence of planning, use of restraints and use of a weapon
brought by the killer, and subsequently, removed from the crime scene. The
disorganised offender, it is proposed, has low intelligence, lacks social confidence and
is less likely to be employed. Their crime scenes reflect features such as little to no
planning, a sense of disorder and careless leaving of blood, semen and/or the murder
weapon at the scene.
But, while there is an attractive simplicity to this dichotomy, it has many weak-
nesses, both in terms of the data on which it was based (Turco, 1990; Rossmo, 1997)
and lack of systematic analysis of that data. When careful data are collected and
statistically analysed, no evidence can be found for the distinction. In their study of
100 serial murders examining the co-occurrence of characteristics purported for each
type of offender, Canter, Alison, Alison and Wentink (2004) revealed that the
behavioural data did not indicate a dichotomy that distinguished between offenders.
Rather, the research showed that a subset of organised features are typical of most serial
murders, thereby facilitating offenders to successfully complete the crime and remain
undetected.
Disorganised features were not found to be a distinct type. Rather, offenders differed
in the forms of their disorganisation that Canter, Giles & Nicol (2004) labelled
execution, mutilation, sexual control and plunder. This study is one of many examples
of the ways in which the offender and offence typologies can be empirically examined
and evaluated as a first step towards developing more precise investigative tools and
ways to understand a constellation of offending behaviour.
Visionary, mission, lust, power

Another example of a serial murder typology is a fourfold classification by Holmes
and Holmes (1998b) who describe visionary, mission, lust/thrill and power/control killers.
Canter and Wentink (2004) found only limited support for this model and highlight
the difficulty in trying to operationalise a model using a mix of motive and crime scene
evidence in its typology. In a detailed recasting of the features that Holmes and his
colleagues use for their typology, Canter and Youngs (2009) showed that it was just
a more detailed reflection of the organised/disorganised dichotomy, as shown in Table
8.1. Given the weakness of that original proposal, it is not surprising that this
subsequent model was also found to have little empirical support.
Concerns with models

Through the discussion above of the typologies, several issues emerge that students
and researchers need to identify and address when working within this area. These are
the data on which the typology is based, the difficulty of working with fantasy, motive
and other internal psychological processes and the challenge of generalisation around
what are often inevitably limited samples.
First, as Canter, Alison, Alison and Wentink (2004) discuss in detail, certain
assumptions underlie any typology:
1 Each type is distinguished by certain characteristics; the characteristics within each
type co-occur with regularity.
2 Characteristics used to define a type do not occur with characteristics of another
type. The whole concept of a ‘type’ assumes its characteristics are mutually
exclusive and the set of types are exhaustive.
3 If types are assumed to contain a mix of characteristics from other types, there
need to be a clear set of criteria to determine what mix of characteristics are
necessary for an individual to be assigned to a type.
TABLE 8.1 The relationship between Holme’s types of serial killer and the
organised/disorganised dichotomy (From Canter & Youngs, 2009, p. 343)
Feature Types of serial killers
Visionary Mission Comfort Lust Thrill Power
Disorganised X
Spontaneous X
Random X X
Non-specific X X
Affiliated X
Act-focused X X X
Concentrated X X X X
Strangers X X X X X
Organised X X X X X
Planned X X X X
Specific X X X X
Process-focused X X X X
Non-random X X X
Dispersed X X
CONCLUSIONS
People kill each other for many different reasons. This chapter has only dealt with what
are called ‘extra-judicial’ killings. Those are homicides that are against the law of the
land. But, across the world, many countries have legal killings for reasons that would be
abhorrent in other countries. For example, some countries under strict Moslem law will
execute people found guilty of blasphemy, adultery or homosexuality. The US state of
Texas recognises twelve different situations in which it is legitimate to kill someone, for
example, a criminal running away from a crime. Situations that would not be regarded as
legitimate in other countries.
So, it is worth noting that the very first interpersonal crime in the Old Testament is
the murder of Able by his brother Cain. Therefore, this most fundamental and serious
type of human crimes has to be regarded as part of all societies and centuries.
Consequently, in this brief chapter, only the range of activities that constitute murder
can be touched on and only an outline to understanding this crime can be given. Of
importance is to distinguish between murder in fiction and in fact. Just about every
fictional account of crime, in novels, on television and in films, is built around murder.
Even Shakespeare’s tragedies are full of murders. This creates an environment in
which people are aware of fictional killing that can distort the understanding of
actual murder.
As a way forward from the fiction, this chapter has discussed various offender and
offence classifications for homicide and serial killing. Issues concerning offender
classifications have been highlighted. This chapter has also noted that situational and
cultural factors play a role in the emergence of homicide events.

• Serial murder • Offender typology • Spree killing

• Homicide • Acquaintance murder • Massacres
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
1 Describe and compare three different serial murder typologies.

2 What psychological processes distinguish spree killing from domestic homicide?
3 Outline the various ways of understanding behaviour in homicide.
4 Discuss the differences in rates of homicide from various countries. Why do you
think they vary?
Books
Bartol, C. R. (1991). Criminal behaviour: a psychosocial approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Brookman, F. (2005). Understanding homicide. Portland, OR: Sage.
Canter, D. (1994). Criminal shadows. London: HarperCollins.
Fitz-Gibbon, K., & Walklate, S. (Eds.). (2016). Homicide, gender and responsibility: an international
perspective. London: Routledge.
Hickey, E. (2002). Serial murderers and their victims, 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Lester, D. (1995). Serial killers. Philadelphia, PA: The Charles Press.
Ressler, R. R., Burgess, A. W., & Douglas, J. E. (1988). Sexual homicide. Lexington, MA:
Lexington Books.
Journal articles
Canter, D. V, Alison, L. J., Alison, E. & Wentink, N. (2004). The organized/disorganized
typology of serial murder: myth or model? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 10(3),
293–320.
Delisi, M., & Sherer, A. M. (2006). Multiple homicide offenders: offence characteristics, social
correlates, and criminal careers. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 33(3), 367–91.
Gresswell, D. M., & Hollin, C. R. (1994). Multiple murder: a review. British Journal of
Criminology, 34, 1–14.
Keppel, R. D., & Walter, R. (1999). Profiling killers: a revised classification model for
understanding sexual murder. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative
Meloy, J. R. (2000). The nature and dynamics of sexual homicide: an integrative review.
Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 5(1), 1–22.
Websites
A Google Scholar search for ‘serial killers’ generates over 30,000 hits showing the fascination
with this very rare type of homicide. Much of the information in this material is a regurgitation
of popular misconceptions about serial killers. But, if you want descriptions of the most notorious
of these very unusual killers, you can find them at:
http://list25.com/25-most-evil-serial-killers-of-the-20th-century/2/
An overview of homicide in the UK is given by the very thorough Home Office Homicide
Index at:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/
ons/dcp171776_352260.pdf
9 Gangs, organised
crime and terrorism
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand how crime is much more than just a lone activity or simply the result
of rational or pathological processes.
2 Appreciate different levels of social analysis, from individuals to co-offending
groups and teams, to organisations and networks.
3 Understand the difference between criminal gangs and criminal teams.
4 Appreciate the structure of various gang activities.
5 Describe the various explanations for terrorism.
SUMMARY
The crimes reviewed in earlier chapters are essentially individualistic. Although

burglars and even rapists, as well as the other forms of criminality considered, may act
in small groups, and as has been argued in Chapter 4, although social and sub-cultural
explanations are relevant to understanding these crimes, they are not inevitably part
of social networks. However, there is a set of crimes that are fundamentally social.
These require the study of a range of processes that are not obviously present in other
crimes. Gangs involved in criminality are one such social grouping. Organised crime
and related criminal networks are also fundamentally social aspects of criminality. They
have many similarities to terrorism which is also inevitably part of a social process and
often generated as part of a social network.
GROUPS, TEAMS AND GANGS
The term ‘gang’ is clearer in fiction than in systematic research. (But see Focus box
9.1 for one approach to determining if a gang exists). Also, just because a group of
GANGS, ORGANISED CRIME AND TERRORISM 117
youngsters hangout together, certainly does not mean they are delinquent or criminals.
Researchers, therefore, tend to just ask people ‘Do you belong to a gang?’ Apparently,
answers tend to accord with who police officers consider to be gang members (Curry,
2000).
Until recently, most research on gangs was carried out in the United Sates where
over 26,000 gangs of youths have been identified involving more than three-quarters
of a million people (Egley & O’Donnell, 2008). In the UK, the police in Glasgow
estimate there are as many as 170 gangs there, with 3,500 members aged between 11
and 23. A similar number is estimated to be present in London.

Gang membership does increase the likelihood of being involved in crime. It is
reported that at least half of the twenty-seven teenage murders in London in 2007
were gang related. As many as two-thirds of shootings in the UK are linked to gangs.
In the USA, those in gangs were much more likely to be involved in assaults and
shootings as well as drug-trafficking than other youngsters (Gordon et al., 2004 &
Thornberry et al., 2003).
Although being a gang member increases the risk of criminality, those who join
gangs are often already delinquent (Gordon et al., 2004 & Thornberry et al., 2003).
They also experience the same sorts of lack of parental control, dysfunctional families
and disadvantaged neighbourhoods that are typical of other youths who carry out
crimes (Wyrick & Howell, 2004). It also interesting that girls who join gangs have the
same backgrounds as those of boys (Thornberry et al., 2003).
Defining criminal gangs

Characteristically these are youths who:
• Meet on the streets

FOCUS 9.1
• See themselves as part of a group.

• Carry out crimes, including violence.
• Claim a territory.
• Have some form of identification, such as a tattoo.
• Are often in conflict with other gangs.
Reasons for being in a gang

The following reasons have been suggested for why people join gangs:
• Acceptance, a family substitute.

FOCUS 9.2
• Belonging, being part of a group of friends.

• Coercion, being forced to join.
• Enables committing of crime.
• Excitement.
• Power over other people.
Social organisation
There are many levels of social organisation involved in crimes, where a number of
individuals are working together when committing crimes. When it is a small number
of people working together, an important distinction is between transient groups and
established teams. The term group implies a rather informal or casual set of people who
do not necessarily have clear assignment of roles. In contrast, a team implies regular
roles and shared ideas of offending activities (Cannon-Bowers, Salas & Converse, 1993).
When people have distinct roles within a team, they are more likely to share
attitudes towards others and the identity of the team. If these roles are clearly defined
and complementary, they will promote cohesion and a distinct sense of being part of
something. This will further enhance mechanisms of control and processes of social
influence, especially conformity to the team’s norms and leadership.
One interesting example of how criminal teams are organised can be taken from
armed robbery. Most robbery teams consist of at least three members; a leader who
organises the ‘heist’ and may take the money, a ‘heavy’ who ensures the robbers are
not disturbed and a getaway driver. Their criminal records often reflect crimes
consistent with their roles. For example, the ‘heavy’ is likely to have a history of
violence and the getaway driver a background in stealing cars. Even when there are
more members, the number of roles is fairly consistent (Einstadter, 1969; McCluskey
& Wardle, 2000). This reflects considerable role differentiation and division of labour,
creating behavioural norms for each member and giving the group structure.
Roles arise from the demands of the task, and so, different crimes will involve more
or less role differentiation, while individual expertise and interactions determine role
allocation, and the experience of offending together gives role clarity (the transition
from group to team). Situational demands also affect role expression in terms of
representing different challenges to criminals’ goals and eliciting particular behavioural
strategies.
This difference in structure was demonstrated by Canter (2004), who showed that
groups of football hooligans were organised much more loosely than drug dealers. He
used social network analysis, as discussed below, to examine twelve drug-dealer
networks, eleven property crime networks and six hooligan networks. The results
revealed a wide range of group structures, ranging from very loose networks without
even central key figures through to highly structured networks that contained many
refinements of network structure. Interestingly, he demonstrated that as the size of the
group increased, so did the degree of formal structure to its organisation. This lead
Canter (2004) to propose three types of criminal groups:
• Ad hoc groups that were only loosely organised.
• Oligarchies that had a strong clique in overall command.
• Organised criminals, who had a clearly hierarchical structure.
Canter’s (2004) study supports many other studies that show that even in more
complex crimes, well-organised teams may be less common because many co-offenders
operate as transient groups (Reiss, 1988). Often, groups of individuals act in relation
to dynamics within the group. For example, one influential member may instigate
events, while others act as facilitators and supporters, conforming and imitating in order
that their group membership is not withdrawn. Such leading by example has been
documented in delinquent groups and also adult gang rapes and robberies (Warr, 1996;
Porter & Alison, 2001; Porter & Alison, 2006). Thus, co-offending behaviour is the
product of mutual influence and interaction between group members, which is, in
part, determined by their goals and their degree of organisation, as well as situational
demands including task complexity and victim reactions.
ORGANISED CRIME
When criminals work together over a period of time in order to profit from illegal
activities, their activities are usually given the label of organised crime. Organised crimes
are distinct from traditional crimes (such as larceny and assault) because they involve
planning, multiple participants and require corrupt measures, such as threats, to main-
tain and protect their ongoing criminal activities.
Some of the groups of criminals working together will be part of a network of
people that is indeed structured like a commercial enterprise. They will have an overall
manager and subordinates, people to look after the finances, those who fetch and carry
and so on. However, many criminal networks are much looser than that, with
associations that vary over time and in relation to different types of crime.
Mars (2000) draws on social anthropology, especially Mary Douglas’ (1978) cultural
theory, to distinguish four categories of criminal organisation, which he says also applies
to terrorist organisations. These categories are generated by two dimensions, one of
the strength of the group, the other the degree of classification within the group. The
‘pure’ types generated by this matrix are:
• Autonomy – Criminal individualists, in which constraints on group members’
activities are weak and assignment of individuals to distinct roles is limited. This
is similar to Canter’s (2004) ad hoc groups.
• Atomised – Isolated criminal, in which ‘hangers on’, who tend to be petty
criminals, are taken advantage of by more organised criminals.
• Criminal ideologues – Bounded but egalitarian, in which there is little internal
ranking of individuals, but they are held together by a commitment to an
ideology.
• Criminal hierarchies – in which the group has clear boundaries, but different levels
within, similar to Canter’s (2004) organised criminals.
This fourfold framework, generated by two dimensions, is illustrated in Figure 9.1.
TERRORISM
There are dozens of definitions of terrorism, but the seven crucial characteristics
are given in Focus box 9.3. The central idea behind these characteristics is that the
acts of violence are a political strategy carried out by groups that are not themselves
an established state. From this perspective, the strategy is very much aimed at carrying
out actions that have symbolic, propaganda significance. That is what distinguishes
them from organised criminals. But, it does not exclude organised criminal actions that
terrorist groups may carry out, for example, kidnap for ransom (Phillips, 2009).
Isolates Hierarchies
Degree of classification
Individualists Ideologues
The strength of the group
FIGURE 9.1 Mars’ (2000) classification of criminal organisations.
ACTIVITY 9.1
Armed robbery roleplay

First split up into groups of different sizes. Now, imagine that you are going to
commit a robbery of a mini-mart or convenience store with your group! Spend 10
minutes together planning how you would do it – in particular who will do what and
what sort of criminal experience of crimes or other background do you imagine
each person might have? Once you have returned to being law-abiding psychology
students, discuss your different plans:
• What were the different roles that each group used?

• Did you have a leader?
• What behaviour was expected of each role?
• What sorts of background were expected for different roles?
• Do you think your group had too few or too many people in it?
• What might be an optimum number of people for an armed robbery?
• How does your discussion relate to the literature reviewed on group structures?
FIGURE 9.2 Terrorist attack.
Seven crucial characteristics for terrorism

(from Richardson, 2006)
1 Politically inspired.
2 Violent or threatens violence.
FOCUS 9.3
3 Communicates a message.
4 Act and victim symbolically significant.
5 Carried out by sub-state groups.
6 Victim is different from the audience.
7 Deliberate targeting of civilians.
Difficulties in studying terrorists

The many difficulties in uncovering the truth about the actual people involved in
terrorism cannot be overestimated. The only people available for interview, if they
can be accessed, are those who have been detected or captured, usually through failure
to achieve their goals. These people may not be representative of the individuals who
were able to carry out their violent acts. Even if access can be gained to these people,
what they tell the security services is unlikely to be made public and what they tell
the few researchers who have gained access (e.g., Merari, 1990, Soibelman, 2004) is
likely to be distorted by their own views of their failure and their current incarceration.
It is also important to point out, as Horgan (2005) does, that gaining access to people
involved in terrorism may be dangerous, and is often a lengthy drawn-out process.
It is, therefore, understandable that most researchers are reluctant to follow this path
and rely instead on secondary and tertiary sources. This is one of the reasons why public
understanding of terrorists is often so misinformed, making it prey to the political
distortions that Danis and Stohl (2009) explore.
Statements made by terrorists, notably those by suicide bombers recorded for
broadcast after their death, suffer from similar difficulties. Merari (1990) suggests that
the preparation of such a statement is part of the process by which the bomber is tied
into the intended act. By committing themself in writing or on video to the action,
it is much more difficult to back out at a later stage without a tremendous loss of face.
It is also difficult to generalise from what is known about the psychology of one
set of terrorists to others. The changing world scene and evolving social processes also
mean that there is unlikely to be one psychology relevant to all groups. Yet, despite
these many difficulties in obtaining detailed information, a slowly growing series of
studies can be put alongside what is known about other acts of violence and of suicide,
to sketch a picture of how people find their way into these activities and what may
lead them out.
EXPLANATIONS OF TERRORISM
Is deprivation a direct cause of terrorism?

In his review of the psychological causes of terrorism, Moghaddam (2005) makes clear
that ‘material factors such as poverty and lack of education are problematic as
explanations of terrorist acts’. He quotes Coogan’s (2002) account of the IRA as giving
no support to the view ‘that they are mindless hooligans drawn from the unemployed
and unemployable’. The Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs reported in 2003 that
captured Al Qaeda terrorists were not typically from impoverished backgrounds and
had reasonable levels of education. Indeed, accounts of the people who carried out
the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington showed that they did not come out
of refugee camps, ignorant and lacking education (Bodansky, 2001). So, a simple-
minded analysis proposing that acts of terrorism are the first stages of a people’s
revolution, being the actions of a down-trodden proletariat that has no other means
of bettering its lot, does not have much empirical support.
A slightly more sophisticated argument would be that, although an individual has
some material comfort, if they live within a repressive regime, the deprivation of their
liberty is the source of their terrorist zeal. This view is also difficult to support from
the facts. As Youngs (2006) makes clear in his analysis of the influence of political repres-
sion on the prevalence of terrorism, there is little correlation between relative degrees
of political repression and ‘radicalism’. He compares various Middle Eastern countries,
India and China and the source of revolution in other areas of the world to show that,
if anything, repressive regimes serve to keep terrorist activity under control and that
those who wish to attack civilians benefit from the freedoms associated with democracy.
To account for the greater dissatisfaction and related violence in less repressive
regimes, it is fruitful to consider ‘relative deprivation’. Walker and Smith (2002) review
over 50 years of study of how people tend to compare their own experiences with
those of others that they know about and assess their personal deprivation relative to
those other experiences. Smith and Leach (2004) show that when a person’s identity
is closely associated with membership of a particular group, then the belief that the
group as a whole experiences certain deprivations can have a significant influence on
that person’s levels of dissatisfaction beyond their own personal comparisons.
Mental illness and suicide bombing

The psychological explanation of suicide bombing is particularly difficult to fathom.

It seems to go against all notions of self-preservation unless the person was out of con-
tact with reality. As a consequence, one common view about the psychology of suicide
bombers is that they must be severely mentally disturbed. However, even an elementary
consideration of the July 2005 bombings in London would make clear that the
perpetrators could not have been insane in the usual sense or out of contact with reality,
drugged or even highly trained fanatics. The New York 9/11 aeroplane hijackers
similarly indicated a determination and coolness of purpose that is not compatible with
a psychosis or other extreme form of mental illness. This accords with the reviews of
both Silke (2003) and Moghaddam (2005), who make clear that there is no evidence
at all that suicide bombers are overtly mentally disturbed. The five failed Palestinian
suicide bombers that Soibelman (2004) had interviewed showed no signs of mental
illness and were able to discuss many matters with their interviewers in an apparently
rational way.
Far from being disturbed, there is some evidence that those recruiting people to
commit these atrocities go to some pains to exclude people who may be mentally
unstable. Merari (1990) claims that only a minority of all those who volunteer to be
suicide bombers are selected to do so. This is understandable in military terms. A person
who was mentally unstable could not be relied upon to focus and follow through with
the desired objective, and so, would weaken the whole operation and put disclosure
of its methods at risk.
Brainwashing
The graphic metaphor for clearing a person of previously held beliefs, washing their
brains, in order to insert some alien set of perspectives, has become a further explanation
of how people could turn from reasonably well-adjusted citizens to violent terrorists.
This perspective puts people, such as Osama Bin Laden and the Hamas leader Sheikh
Yassin, in roles that have only ever been demonstrated clearly in George Du Maurier’s
fictional story of the control of the opera singer Trilby by the manipulative Svengali.
Many other studies show that in real life, it is difficult to demonstrate the possibility
of such quasi-occult powers (cf. Heap & Kirsch, 2006, for a review of these issues).
This view of the influence of terrorist leaders also implies a very strong hierarchy,
very similar indeed to what would be expected in a rigid military structure. In general,
however, as with all illegal groups, as discussed above, especially those spread over a
wide geography, it is not possible to maintain the top-down discipline that is de rigueur
for a standing army. Instead, what Atran (2004) calls a ‘hydra-headed network’ is much
more likely to be the norm.
The role of religious ideology

If it is not some particular guru who brainwashes followers, then it has often been
thought that it is a general religious ideology that is drawn on to formulate destructive
intentions. The fact that all the London and USA attackers were Moslem and that
Palestinian suicide bombers are typically Moslem too has led to the assumption in many
quarters that there are some inherent seeds in Islam that provide the basis for suicide
bombing. Certainly, as Sarangi and Canter (2009) explain, there are streams of thought
that do interpret the Quran as endorsing violence against non-believers. But, the
dominant Islamic tradition is, nonetheless, extremely tolerant.
Even when considering suicide bombers, there is nothing new or particularly Islamic
about them. There is the ancient Jewish exemplar in the biblical account of Samson
bringing the temple down upon the Philistines as a way of escaping from his own
degradation and death at their hands. In modern time, as Gunaratna (2000) documents,
suicide bombing is certainly not limited to Moslem terrorists. The Kurdistan Worker’s
Party (PKK) that has carried out many suicide bombings in Turkey is anti-religious.
What Gunaratna (2003) calls ‘ethno-nationalism’, rather than religious doctrine, is what
drove the ‘Tamil Tigers’ to carry out suicide bombing in Sri Lanka and India.
Terrorism as a process
In his earlier writing, Horgan (2005) has developed the important argument that
terrorism is not an act, but a process of which a person is a part. Moghaddam’s (2005)
‘staircase’ model of terrorism makes a similar point of a person entering into and
becoming part of an ever more involving commitment to violence for political or
ideological ends. The framework for this is a mixture of first, recognition that the group
with which the terrorist identifies is distinct from and threatened by some other external
group, and second, that there are culturally remembered or experienced causes of
grievance that are nursed by the group to which the terrorist belongs.
The grievances become a way of specifying the special, distinct identity of the group
and what fuels its antagonism to those who the group sees as their enemies. An import-
ant point here is that it is not the deprivation or other degrading experiences themselves
that are seen as central causes of acts of violence, but the interpretation of these.
The grievance, however, only has to give rise to a few people acting violently before
the explosive mix of emotional turmoil and direct experience draws others into the
destructive cycle. Ferguson, Burgess and Hoyywood (2008) show how for many people
it is the psychological consequences of being part of violence that itself can set up a
continuing process of terrorist aggression. For these individuals, the world becomes
framed in terms of its potential for bloodshed.
This process of identification with a particular, violent group can take many and
often unexpected forms and is currently, certainly, not limited to jihadi factions of Islam.
Borgeson and Valeri (2009) describe a Christian group that is given little coverage in
most reviews of terrorism, but which has been responsible, directly or indirectly, for
a number of atrocities, most notably the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy
McVeigh.
The essentially criminal nature of their actions can readily overlap with what is more
commonly thought of as organised crime. As Vishnevetsky (2009) shows in his fascin-
ating account of youth gangs in Chechnya, organised crime may be the route into
terrorism for some individuals. This accords with the Gupta et al.’s (2009) argument
that distinguishing between terrorists and organised criminals is indeed difficult.
The spread of interactions between terrorism and organised crime is also paralleled
in the ways in which terrorist acts drift into state structures, being covertly or overtly
supported by national authorities. In this regard, the actions of Chechyian leader Shamil
Basayev, who masterminded the Budennovsk, Dubrovka and Beslan suicidal, hostage-
taking raids as acts against Russian control of Chechnya, would place those actions
outside of Richardson’s (2006) (Focus box 9.3) definition of terrorism. However, most
of the processes that can be recognised in more obvious terrorist groups were present
in these violent attacks.
STUDYING SOCIAL NETWORKS
When a group of people are interacting together, they form a network of contacts.
This is open to study and analysis in order to reveal the structure of those contacts. This
can help to identify who the leaders of the network are and have a central role in com-
munications. It can also reveal whether there are cliques of individuals who are in close
contact with each other, forming a team that may, in effect, manage the network.
People on the fringe of the network who have little contact with more than one person
can also be clearly exposed by this analysis, helping to identify individuals who may
have less commitment to the organisation.
Social network analysis

A particularly useful research method for discovering social structures, and thereby
understanding inherent roles and relationships, is social network analysis (SNA). SNA
is increasingly being recognised as having great potential within the field of criminal
investigation and has been utilised in research into crimes ranging from adolescent drug
use (Pearson & West, 2003) to terrorist activities (e.g., Krebs, 2002).
SNA is based on the principle that relationships between people result in social struc-
ture, which, in turn, affects social processes and opportunities for, or constraints upon,
behaviour. SNA represents networks as multiple nodes connected by lines (as shown
in Research methods box 9.1). It can be applied at any level of analysis, so nodes might
signify individuals, groups, organisations or societies, and can even include inanimate
objects, such as vehicles, or locations of interest.
Destructive organisational psychology

SNA can also be used to identify structural weakpoints that in the context of law
enforcement may be targeted in efforts to disrupt or destroy networks. This makes
SNA a potentially very powerful tool for developing what Canter (2000) called
‘destructive organisational psychology’. For example, crucial communication links
could be broken by law enforcement, or peripheral members of a network could be
approached to act as informants. By understanding the social structure within which
people operate, insights can be gained into the psychology of those individuals as well
as the functioning of their social groups. This, in turn, aids the understanding of how
to manipulate and disrupt that functioning.
O. B. LADEN
MOTASSADEQ’S WIFE
AL-MIDHAR’S FAMILY
BAHAJI’S WIFE M. ATEF
K. S. MOHAMMED
S
S.BAHAJI
BAHAJI
KAL-MIDHAR
M. MOTASSADEQ
R. B. AL-SHIBH N. AL-HAZMI
A. SENGUEN
A. MZOUDI M. BELFAS F. BANIHAMMAD
Z. JARRAH
LINK TO AL-QAEDA
Z. ESSABAR M. AL-SHEHHI M. AL-SHEHRI
M. ATTA
AL-OMARI’S FAMILY
S. AL-HAZMI
M. H. ZAMMAR
M. MOQED A. A. AL-OMARI
M. O. SLAHI
S. SUQAMI
K. AL-MASRI A. AL-NAMI
H. AL-GHAMDI
NO INVOLVEMENT
S. AL-GHAMDI
SECONDARY PLOT FACILITATOR H. HANJOUR WD. AL-SHEHRI
MAJOR PLOT FACILITATOR A. AL-GHAMDI
PLOT PERPETRATOR A. AL-HAZNAWI W. AL-SHEHRI
FIGURE 9.3 Spring 2000 during the development of the 11 September terrorist network. Key members of the network are represented as
nodes. The ties connecting them signify different kinds of relationship between members, with thicker ties representing
stronger psychological and emotional bonds.1
RESEARCH METHODS 9.1
SNA
At its simplest, SNA involves no more than identifying the presence or absence of
a link between nodes such as whether two people were arrested for the same
crime. This results in a matrix of zeros and ones, which is converted into a diagram
depicting the overall social structure of who was arrested with whom. Figure 9.3
demonstrates this, based on knowledge of personal relationships, but uses a third
level of association to indicate ‘stronger’ bonds between certain network members,
and is part of a sequence of network diagrams.
Networks are typically ever-changing fluid structures, as relationships between
people change. Network visualisations, combined with quantitative network
measures, help identify central or peripheral members, overall cohesion,
subgroups, roles and channels of communication and resource flow.
To learn more about SNA, there is freely available software such as UCINET
(Borgatti, Everett & Freeman, 2002) available online. Also, see recommendations
for further reading.
CONCLUSIONS
This chapter has served to highlight the importance of a social psychological perspec-
tive for comprehending the antecedents and functioning of criminal behaviour. The
surface has barely been scratched in terms of the theory and research presented
here; however, the reader is encouraged to delve deeper into these introductory topics
and also to reflect upon how any piece of social psychological research might apply to
the criminal world and how it may ‘fit’ with the existing theory. Currently, a good deal
of extrapolation is involved from studies of ‘legitimate’ social interactions, but with
increasing recognition of this relevance, the social psychology of crime will be more
directly explored.
• Gangs • Social network • Terrorism

• Social analysis • Destructive
organisation • Co-offending organisational
• Criminal teams • Organised crime psychology
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Outline the various definitions and explanations of terrorism.

• How can destructive organisational psychology be used to intervene in criminal
networks?
• Drug dealers are better organised than football hooligans. Discuss.
• Discuss the various characteristics of terrorists.
Books
Canter, D. (2000). Destructive organisational psychology. In D. Canter & L. Alison (Eds.), The
social psychology of crime: groups, teams and networks. Farnham: Ashgate.
Canter, D., & Alison, L. (2000). The social psychology of crime: groups, teams & networks. Farnham:
Ashgate.
Canter, D. (Ed.). (2009). The faces of terrorism: multidisciplinary perspectives. Chichester: Wiley.
Harding, S. (Ed.). (2016). Global perspectives on youth gang behavior, violence, and weapons use.
Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Horgan, J. (2014). The psychology of terrorism. London: Routledge.
Miller, J. (2001). One of the guys: girls, gangs, and gender. New York: Oxford University Press.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1997). Social network analysis: structural analysis in the social sciences.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Journal articles
Einstadter, W. (1969). The social organisation of armed robbery. Social Problems, 17(1), 64–83.
Hanneman, R., & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods, Riverside, CA:
University of California. Published online; available at http://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/
nettext/.
Horgan, J., & Braddock, K. (2010). Rehabilitating the terrorists? Challenges in assessing the
effectiveness of de-radicalization programs. Terrorism and Political Violence, 22(2), 267–91.
Weerman, F. (2003). Co-offending as social exchange: explaining characteristics of co-offending.
British Journal of Criminology, 43(2), 398–416.
Note
1 Figure 9.3 is one of a sequence of SNA diagrams used to model the dynamic development
of this network over time. An in-depth account of this development is given by Mullins,
(2009), ‘Terrorist Networks and Small Group Psychology’ in Canter, D. (Ed.) Faces of
Terrorism: Cross-Disciplinary Explorations. Wiley.
3 criminals
Interacting with
10 Testimony and
interviewing
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the key issues relating to interviewing and eyewitness testimony.

2 Understand the relevance of each throughout the legal process.
3 Understand what strategies and techniques make for an effective interview.
4 Recognise the impact of various factors and processes on the accuracy and
reliability of eyewitness testimony.
SUMMARY
The initial information about a crime comes from a report by a person; this then
becomes important for legal proceedings as testimony. A growing number of studies
have revealed some weaknesses in important aspects of testimony, including when a
person gives an account of what has been seen: eyewitness testimony, and how that
testimony may be distorted inadvertently. Chapter 11 considers the major topic of how
to determine whether the testimony has been distorted deliberately, through deception
or lying.
Interviewing is usually the starting point for obtaining testimony. The process
consists of helping people to remember, but also is an interpersonal transaction of some
sensitivity, which varies depending on whether a victim, witness or suspect is being
interviewed. To facilitate these matters, various procedures have been developed
including the ‘cognitive interview’ and in the UK the PEACE protocol.
TESTIMONY
In most Western legal processes, especially English-speaking jurisdictions, evidence is

given by a witness, victim or defendant in court. This is their testimony of what they
132 INTERACTING WITH CRIMINALS
remember happened. Typically, that is derived from an account they have given during
an earlier stage in the investigation. In some places, testimony is derived from an earlier
interview or by video to the court, or by a written account of what the person remem-
bers. Testimony can, therefore, be seen as a form of memory retrieval. Consequently,
any consideration of testimony draws on the psychology of remembering.
There are two distinct aspects of testimony. One is remembering what happened
and giving an account of that. The other is identifying some person or aspect of the
event witnessed from options being made available. The most common is selecting
a person from a line-up who is remembered as being present at a crime. It could also
be a weapon used or a make of a car, but these are rarely studied.
Memory has been a subject of psychological research since the earliest days of
modern psychology (Ebbinghaus, 1895), but the research developed significantly nearly
a century ago when Bartlett (1932) declared that memory is ‘far more decisively an
affair of reconstruction than one of mere reproduction’. In other words, the popular
notion that memory is some sort of recording process that fades with time, like printed
photographs when exposed to sunlight, is misleading. People build up their account
of what they remember in a variety of ways. This reconstruction is, therefore, open
to various forms of distortion, rather than just lacking detail over time.
The Rashomon effect

A widely quoted illustration of how people who experience the same event
remember it differently is the reference to the classic film by Kurosawa
(1950) called Rashomon. In the film, a rape and murder occur, but the victim,
witness and suspect all give a very different account of what happened. This
emphasises the subjectivity of the memory and how different people
reconstruct it in different ways.
However, it is well documented that when testimony by an eyewitness is
given in a criminal trial, the chances of a suspect being convicted of an
offence are very high. This was found to be true by Loftus (1979) who found
that judges would be likely to convict a suspect based on the eyewitness
testimony given even by a legally blind witness. But, in recent years, with the
FOCUS 10.1
advent of DNA evidence, a large number of people who were convicted of

crimes were found to be innocent. In many cases, they had been convicted
on the basis of eyewitness testimony. This finding has demonstrated that
mistaken identifications by eyewitnesses are one of the leading causes of
wrongful convictions within the criminal justice system
(www.innocenceproject.org & Wells et al. (1998)).
TESTIMONY AND INTERVIEWING 133
Field or laboratory research?

It is relatively easy to set up experiments in a university laboratory to study precisely
various aspects of eyewitness testimony and interviewing procedures. These
studies are a direct development of a century of the study of memory mentioned
earlier. But, there are drawbacks, usually expressed as a lack of ‘ecological validity’.
This means that the conditions do not reflect various important aspects of what
actually happens in the ‘real world’, outside of a laboratory experiment.
Eyewitnesses in the laboratory

The main problem with laboratory studies is that just because all conditions are
carefully controlled, they can never have the richness or detail of actual events.
Typically, students are shown a staged crime, either actually happening or via a
video recording, and are later asked to answer questions on what happened or to
identify people from the event. This enables the researcher to modify details of the
crime, how it is presented and the methods used to obtain the witnesses’ memory.
This situation is artificial in a number of different ways:
• Students are typically used as participants, which are not representative in age,
background or other aspects of the rest of the population.
• Laboratory experiments generate various ‘expectancy effects’ (see Research
methods box 10.2). The participants assume what it is that the experimenter is
looking for and inadvertently provide the sorts of answers
they think are expected.
• The nature of the crime to be witnessed is severely limited; it cannot, for
example, be too traumatic or extreme, for ethical and practical reasons.
• The witness’s role in the event is distant and external. There would be no
reason, for instance, for the witness to lie as may be the case in a real crime.
• The interview procedure is not constrained by the sorts of administrative and
legal demands that happen when a witness is interviewed by police officers.
• When a participant is required to act the part of an offender, their ‘crimes’
cannot be high stake or of great significance to them if they are caught out.
(This is even more relevant for study of deception in the next chapter.)
Until recently, the majority of published studies into eyewitness testimony

were laboratory based. Consequently, the main findings on influences on witness
accuracy are the result of laboratory-based research.
Eyewitness research in the field

An increasing number of researchers have used field studies or case analyses to
assess eyewitness testimony. Such methods allow less control and are usually
more complex than laboratory studies, although have the advantage of being more
realistic, more ‘ecologically valid’, and therefore, more reliably applicable outside
the laboratory.
These can be ‘field experiments’ in which the study is quite well controlled, but
takes place in a real-life situation. For example, an individual may purchase an item
from a shopkeeper in a shop and the shopkeeper is later asked to identify the
shopper from a photographic line-up.
In even more natural situations, details of actual interviews with witnesses,

which are part of real police investigations, are examined. The processes involved
are more difficult to disentangle in these studies because so much is going on that
is not controlled by the researcher, such as the experience of the police officer and
the nature of the incident being recalled. But, these complexities are real-world
variables that are usually relevant and are an integral part of the ‘ecology’ that is
being studied.
FACTORS AFFECTING EYEWITNESS PERFORMANCE
There are two crucial aspects of what eyewitnesses report. One is how much detailed
information they provide. The second is how accurate it is. Because the memory is
being reconstructed, it is open to influence from many different aspects of the event
as well as the processes used to remember. Influences subsequent to the event can also
lead to distortion in what people think they remember.
Many years of research on memory have identified four stages that influence how
well something is remembered:
• Acpects of the event – Factors relating to the event.
• Aspects of the person – Characteristics of the witness.
• Retention – How well the information is retained.
• Retrieval – How the information is retrieved.
Factors relating to the event

Many of the key factors relating to the nature of the event or incident that influence
an eyewitness’s ability to recall were identified in what is known as the ‘Turnbull ruling’
(R. v Turnbull and Others, 1977), and can be remembered using the mnemonic
‘ADVOKATE’ (Kebbell & Wagstaff, 1999):
• Amount of time under observation – The longer a witness observes an event, the better
they remember it.
• Distance of the witness from the person or event – The closer they are, the better they
are able to encode and remember details.
• Visibility – The more visible the event, the better the witness is likely to
recall it.
• Obstruction – The fewer obstructions to the witnesses view, the better they will
remember the event.
• Known or seen before – If a witness has seen an offender before, they will be
more likely to remember that person when they see them again in different
situations.
• Any reason to remember – If something is salient or novel, then it is more likely to
be ‘memorable’ for the witness.
• Time lapsed – The greater the amount of time between an event and attempts to
recall it, the worse their memory for that event is likely to be.
• Errors or material discrepancies – If parts of a witness’s testimony are inaccurate, then
other aspects of their testimony are also likely to be inaccurate.
Other major event factors influencing eyewitness performance are stress or fear, and
violence. The more stressful or intense something is for a witness, the greater the impact
that it is likely to have on them and the more likely they are to remember it. For
example, violent events tend to be remembered better than non-violent events.
However, what has come to be known as ‘weapon focus’ has been identified as
occurring in situations where a weapon is used and the anxiety associated with that
may cause the witness to narrow their focus to looking at the weapon. Consequently,
other information relating to the event may not be remembered as well.
Factors relating to the person (witness)

• Age – Very young children are usually less able to effectively recall information,
as their memory is generally poorer than that of adults and they are less articulate.
Older adults also tend to make worse witnesses than younger; perceptual abilities
and visual acuity may become impaired with age, and they may have more
difficulty in storing and retrieving information.
• Race – People are better able to recall and identify people who belong to the same
racial group as themselves.
• Expectations – Witnesses may reconstruct an event according to what they expect
to have happened, or what they feel is most likely to have occurred, rather than
what they genuinely remember. Expectancy effects, in terms of what the witness
feels they should be remembering or saying, may also come into play. This is
another aspect of the ‘expectancy effect’ mentioned earlier and illustrated in
Research methods box 10.2.
• Pressure to perform – Most witnesses will want to be helpful and keen to be as
accurate as possible. Pressure to perform and the desire to avoid seeming foolish
or useless may impact upon a witness’s recollection and their reporting of the
memory that they have of an event. This makes them especially vulnerable to
implicit pressure from interviewers as noted in Research methods box 10.2.
Factors influencing retention of information

• Length of retention interval (see ‘Time lapsed’, above).
• Post-event suggestions – Information that is made available to a witness between the
original event and subsequent attempts to recall it (e.g., through feedback provided
by interviewers/investigators or discussions with other witnesses, or information

that is reported in the media) may impact upon an eyewitness’s testimony and
alter their memory for an event. See Research methods box 10.2.
• Confabulations and distortions – As memory for an event decreases over time, a wit-
ness may fill in gaps or ambiguities in their memory, causing ‘confabulations’ in
their account. This may or may not be conscious. Confabulations and discrepancies
are frequently produced by exposure to additional or conflicting information
presented to the witness between the event and their attempts to remember it.
Retrieval factors
• Actions versus descriptions – Generally, witnesses are good at describing what hap-
pened during an event, but encounter more problems in describing the physical
characteristics of the perpetrator.
• Confidence and accuracy – Research has shown that the confidence of an eyewitness
in their testimony and recall is not necessarily related to the accuracy of what they
report. However, this relationship is complex (Kebbell & Wagstaff, 1999) and tends
to be malleable – it is easily influenced by, for example, comments or feedback
from interviewers.
Other factors influencing the retrieval of information include those relating to the
questioning of the witness, such as method of questioning and the influence of the
person asking the questions, see Research methods box 10.2.
INFLUENCE OF PROCEDURE THAT IS USED TO OBTAIN

EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION
Even subtle aspects of the procedure used to obtain identification can influence
the selection the witness makes. A number of general aspects of the commonly used
line-up procedure have been recognised as causing unwanted influences. These
include:
• The format of the line-up from which the witness is asked to make a selection and
the people that compose the line-up.
• The instructions given to the witness prior to the line-up.
• The influence of line-up administrators.
• Exposure to suspects or people featuring in the line-up previously.
To reduce unwanted effects on eyewitness identifications and reduce the risks of
mistaken identifications, the following proposals have been made:
• Individuals in actual or photographic line-ups should be presented sequentially.
• The individual conducting the line-up should not know the identity of the actual
suspect.
• Witnesses should be warned that the suspect may or may not be in the line-up.
• Additional line-up members should be selected based on the eyewitness’s
description of the perpetrator.
• No feedback should be given during or after a line-up.
Indirect influence
In a study carried out by Canter and his colleagues in preparation for the appeal
by Mr Al Megrahi who was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing (full report
available online at https://tinyurl.com/pkrncbm), respondents were given twelve
pictures of possible suspects and asked to guess which one was the actual
convicted bomber.
In the study using the photographs actually used in the investigation leading
to Al Megrahi’s conviction, for one condition, the interviewer was told who the
actual bomber was believed to be, but told not to tell anyone. In the other
condition, a different interviewer was not given any information.
The results (reported in Canter, Hammond & Youngs 2013) show very clearly
the indirect influence of the interviewer who knew the ‘expected’ answer.
TABLE 10.1 Frequencies of people selecting a target from a set of twelve under
different interviewer conditions.
Condition Someone Target Totals
other selected
than from
suspect line-up
selected
from
line-up
Interviewer did not know identity of suspect 20 0 20
in line-up
Interviewer knew identity of suspect in line-up 21 15 36
Total 41 15 56
This result is an aspect of the ‘expectancy effect’, which is long-established in

explorations in psychological research, known generally as ‘experimenter effects’
(Risinger, Saks, Thompson & Rosenthal, 2002). These biases are found in many
social psychology experiments as well as similar influences in teacher’s
assessments of their pupils (Raudenbush, 1984). It is, therefore, no surprise that in
the even more heightened atmosphere of police identity parades, the same
phenomena can be observed.
• Witnesses should provide confidence ratings at the time of making their

identification.
However, there are many practical difficulties to incorporating all these requirements
in a busy police station.
FIGURE 10.1 A police ‘identification parade’. What weaknesses can you see in using this
line-up to help a witness recognise the offender?
ACTIVITY 10.1
Inducing false memories

Spend 30 seconds memorising the fifteen words below. After these 30 seconds,
cover the list and then write down as many of the words as you can remember.
Table Sit
Legs Seat
Couch Desk
Recliner Sofa
Wood Cushion
Swivel Stool
Sitting Rocking
Bench
(Roediger & McDermott, 1995).
How many did you remember? Check the words you wrote down against the list
of words here. Are there any words in your list that were not in the original list?
There almost certainly will be, especially the word ‘chair’. This and other words
you thought you remembered are those with similar meanings to the underlying
idea behind the list. This shows that your memory relates to what the words have
in common; what they mean. It is not just a passive process.
INTERVIEWING
Given what has been said about memory and its weaknesses, a great deal of research
has been conducted over recent years to improve the way in which memories are
obtained in interviews. For although talking to a person may seem an everyday activity,
when this becomes an important investigative tool, it is open to study, development
and training. The study of investigative interviewing has, therefore, become an
important area of research, which is having a significant influence on police procedures
in many countries.
INTERVIEWING VICTIMS AND WITNESSES
Victims and witnesses may be fearful of the process and even anxious that they will
be intimidated, as well as the problems of remembering what has occurred as discussed
above. Various procedures have, therefore, been developed to improve the effective-
ness of the interview. In most jurisdictions, these procedures operate within legally
defined boundaries. If the interview is not carried out as the law requires, then evidence
gained using it may not be allowed in court. In the UK, police officers are trained
in a procedure developed as part of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)
1984 codes of practice. The main framework for this is known as PEACE as listed
in Table 10.2.
Broadly speaking, how questions are formulated can have a substantial effect on the
kinds of information produced during an interview.
Open questions such as ‘What happened?’ produce fuller accounts.
Closed questions such as ‘Were you scared?’ are likely to produce simple ‘yes’ and
‘no’ answers, which will not give much detail.
Leading questions, such as the notorious ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’,
will produce accounts that suffer greatly from misinformation effects, and would not
be acceptable in most courts.
THE COGNITIVE INTERVIEW
To improve the amount and quality of information generated during an interview,

Fisher and Geiselman (1992) developed what they called the ‘cognitive interview’(CI),
derived directly from experimental psychology studies of memory. The outline of the
CI is given in Focus box 10.3. In reviewing the dozens of studies of the CI, Memon
and her colleagues (2010) conclude that the CI generates:
TABLE 10.2 The PEACE interview framework.

Stage 1 Planning and preparation
Stage 2 Engage and explain
Stage 3 Account, develop a full account of what happened, clarification and challenge, going
back over inconsistencies and/or ambiguities
Stage 4 Closure, review the interview and summarise
Stage 5 Evaluation, considering how the interview went
a large and significant increase in correct details and a small increase in errors. In
addition we found that there were no differences in the rate at which details are
confabulated. The CI appeared to benefit older adult witnesses even more than
younger adults.
The origins of the CI in laboratory studies and the experimental literature studying
it have given the procedure considerable support. Nonetheless, like many other
psychological procedures that emerge from university laboratories, there are difficulties
in practice of using the procedure by actual police investigators (Kebbell, Milne &
Wagstaff, 1999).
Perhaps, not surprisingly, in practice, it is often difficult for police interviewers to
follow all the stages of the CI. In particular, it is rare for them to evaluate their
interviews because of pressures to complete paperwork and move on to the next case.
False memory
False memories occur when a person remembers something that has not
actually occurred. The most famous example of false memories can be found
in the Loftus and Palmer (1974) study where participants were asked to
watch a video of an automobile accident, then asked questions about the
footage. Participants reported aspects of the accident they could not possibly
have seen, with confidence. This occurred through a process known as
‘misinformation’ where participants are led to believe they have a memory
by the way in which a question is phrased.
Another aspect of false memories is that of ‘recovered memories’. These
particular forms of false memory came to the fore with a number of well-
FOCUS 10.2
publicised accounts of people suddenly remembering that they had been

abused as children. Accusations were often made about innocent people and
the effect on their lives was devastating. Of note, however, is that these
memories felt real to the person ‘remembering’ them. It has been suggested
that recovered memories are brought about by questioning methods that have
many parallels to a person being hypnotised. See Loftus (2003) for review.
INTERVIEWING VULNERABLE OR INTIMIDATED VICTIMS/

EYEWITNESSES
Interviewing vulnerable or intimidated witnesses provides particular challenges;

consequently, studies and legal guidelines have been developed aimed specifically at
dealing with these challenges. In the UK, this has been reflected in public policy with
Home Office research focusing on ‘achieving best evidence’ (Home Office, 2006a)
from such witnesses.
Vulnerable/intimidated witnesses include:

• Those under 17 years.
• Those with learning/physical disabilities.
• Those with mental disorders/illness.
• Those suffering from fear or distress.
It is noteworthy that with the exception of children and some physical/learning
disabilities, it is not possible to reliably establish exactly who else is likely to be a ‘vulner-
able’ witness. These days the police in the UK, therefore, tend to err on the side of
caution, especially for serious crimes, such as murder, and will, thus, treat anyone they
think may be ‘vulnerable’ in the same way they treat a child or person with learning
disabilities.
One noteworthy process is to ensure what is known as an ‘appropriate adult’ is pre-
sent when any vulnerable suspect or witness is being interviewed. This can be a parent
or guardian or a social worker, but if they are not available, a person will be appointed
by the police to act in this role. Their task is safeguarding the welfare and rights of
the person being interviewed. They are there to ensure the interviewee understands
what is happening and is not put under inappropriate pressure.
Interviewing children
The use of children in criminal proceedings is uncommon and usually reserved for
serious offences, such as sexual assault. Children rarely appear in an actual court in
the UK, and it is far more likely that they will be interviewed in a separate room,
and the interview video-recorded. This provides a less intimidating atmosphere and
is, therefore, more likely to be successful.
It may be necessary to use an interview supporter, interpreter or intermediary in
an interview to ensure that a child can understand what is being asked of them. It may
also be useful to use props, such as dolls, in the interview.
The UK Home Office suggests that, when interviewing children, four main phases
should be followed:
• Establishing rapport with the child.
• Ask the child to provide a free narrative account of what happened.
• Asking specific questions based on the free narrative provided.
• Closure (e.g., post-interview counselling).
INTERVIEWING SUSPECTS
Many police officers view suspect interrogations as being the single-most important
stage in the investigative process (Baldwin, 1993). Almost all suspects are interviewed
at some stage in the judicial process, regardless of the offence type, and it is often at
this point that a suspect’s fate is sealed. Yet, there has been continued debate as to
what the central purposes of conducting a suspect interview are: is the aim to induce
a confession, or to get to the truth at the heart of the investigation? Research has found
that the majority of police officers view securing a confession as the principle purpose
of an interview. Baldwin (1993) shows that many officers approach interviews anti-
cipating a confession. Confessions are considered beneficial because securing a
confession reduces the need for further enquiries, although as discussed below, the
possibility of false confessions cannot be ignored. Therefore, in any civilised society,
the police will be required to demonstrate that there is evidence, from what is said,
or other sources to support the confession.
CONFESSING
So, what might make a suspect confess? Gudjonsson (1992) proposes the following
reasons:
• The suspect perceives the evidence against them to be very strong, and sees denial
as futile.
• The suspect is sorry for their crime and wants to explain what happened.
• The subject is reacting to pressure, for example, from the police or the stress of
confinement.
Strong evidence carefully and clearly presented to a suspect is, by far, the biggest
influence in obtaining a confession.
FALSE CONFESSIONS
A substantial body of research has emerged that indicates there are many situations in
which people may falsely confess to a crime (Lassiter & Meissner, 2010). These relate,
on the one hand, to the vulnerability of individuals, through for example having a
learning disability, or having a particularly suggestible personality, or even antisocial
personality traits (Gudjohnnson, 2003). On the other hand, the coercive nature of the
interview can cause the suspect to confess in order to avoid the uncomfortable
situation.
An interview procedure for getting suspects to confess, which is particularly open
to unwanted false confessions, was developed in the USA by Inbau, Reid, Buckley
and Jayne (2001). This is a nine-step framework for carrying out an interview. It
includes:
‘Intimidation’, for example, emphasising the seriousness of the offence; maximising
a suspect’s anxiety about their predicament and the officer’s position, which may
include leaning forward in an aggressive manner.
‘Manipulation’, for example, minimising the seriousness of the offence, the suspect’s
role within it and suggestions of scenarios for the offence.
‘Appeal’, appealing to the suspect to make a confession, telling them it is in their
best interests to do so.
It also includes the possibility of deceiving the suspect by claiming, for example,
that evidence has been found, which is untrue. The interviewer is further encouraged
to decide whether the suspect is lying using nonverbal cues.
Vrij (2008a) argues that as well as trickery and deceit (introducing false evidence)
being unlawful in many countries, such psychological manipulation may result in false
confessions in addition to the processes outlined by Gudjonsson and Pearse (2011)
discussed above. He also shows that these deceptive techniques can actually reduce
the possibility of detecting deception on the part of the interviewee.
Decisions by English courts have consistently outlawed the manipulative forms
of interview. For example, in one case, the evidence was not accepted by the court
because an officer had lied about the suspect’s fingerprints being found. The coercion
implicit in the interview may also lead to the suspect’s comments being declared as
not acceptable in court. Interestingly, in India, which had a history of police abuse
of the interview process to obtain a confession, any confession given in the presence of
a police officer, even in court, is not acceptable.
Many researchers have supported the view given, for example, by Baldwin (1993)
that it may be ‘more realistic to see interviews as mechanisms directed towards the
“construction of proof ” ’ (p. 327). In other words, suspect interviews are perhaps best
thought of as a search for evidence.
TORTURE
Most Western democracies outlaw torture in their human rights legislation, but the
definition of torture and the ways in which it is used in extra-judicial interrogations
have raised concerns among psychologists. Indeed, the American Psychological
Association passed a resolution against the use of torture (Suedfeld, 2007) and banned
any psychologists for assisting in its use. Therefore, when a US congress report made
clear that psychologists were helping to develop torture procedures for use in
Guantanamo Bay, there was outrage among psychologists (Kaslow, 2014).
As scientists, besides the obvious ethical and legal abhorrence for the practice, there is
also the direct empirical question of whether it is of any value. Clearly, this is a difficult
topic to study. However, a review by Sullivan (2014) concluded that it was ineffective
in reducing killings by insurgents. Also, an interesting examination of interviews of
Islamist terrorists by Alison et al. (2014) demonstrated clearly that using an adaptive
interrogation style that treats the interviewees with respect, reduces their attempts to
counteract the interview process.
CONCLUSIONS
This very brief overview of the psychology of interviewing has outlined the central
significance of memory in the interviewing processes. This has led to the recognition
Enhancing eyewitness memory: CI

CI was developed by Geiselman, Fisher and colleagues in the early 1980s.
They examined real-life forensic interviewing conditions and drew heavily
from research into the effectiveness of standard and hypnotic interviewing
procedures. They proposed four principles (‘mnemonics’) that should be used
in instructions given to witnesses during an interview to enhance both the
quantity and quality of the information they provide:

• Reinstate the context; mentally visualise the context of the original event.
• Report everything; even if it seems trivial or irrelevant.
• Recall the events in different orders; for example, in reverse order as well
as in chronological order.
• Change perspectives; when you recall the incident, try and adopt the
perspectives of others who were there.
(Geiselman, Fisher, MacKinnon & Holland 1985)
These principles formed the earliest version of the CI. CI was later revised
to include thirteen basic skills for an interviewer to use. These consisted of
steps taken by the interviewer to optimise the performance of the witness in
the interview, as well as instructions to be given to the witnesses
themselves, including:
• Establishing rapport.
• Actively listening.
• Encouraging spontaneous recall.
• Asking open-ended questions.
• Pausing after responses.
• Avoiding interrupting.
• Requesting detailed descriptions.
• Recreating the original context.
CI has been found to be an effective means of enhancing eyewitness
recall both in laboratory and field studies. These days, it is used by police
forces and law enforcement agencies around the world.
Although CI has been shown to be an effective memory enhancement
technique, producing more detailed and accurate information than a standard
interview (see Geiselman, Fisher, MacKinnon & Holland 1985, for a detailed
discussion), there are still a number of problems with the approach.
• CI, if used inaccurately or by untrained interviewers, can produce a notable
FOCUS 10.3
amount of errors and incorrect information.

• Police officers frequently encounter difficulties using CI, and sometimes,
fail to adhere to the correct procedures.
• Using CI can be time-consuming, both in terms of time taken to train
interviewers and the time that conducting an interview takes.
(Hammond, Wagstaff & Cole 2006)
that reliable testimony is more likely to be produced if procedures that enhance memory
are utilised. However, these do need to take account of the risks of distorting memory
by intrusive processes. The challenges of achieving effective testimony are especially
important in relation to eyewitness identification, in which the pressures on the witness
to give the answer the investigators want may be very strong. This area is consequently
noteworthy for the impact that psychological research can have in the improvement of
criminal justice processes.
• Investigative • Testimony • Vulnerable

interviewing • Eyewitness witness
• Cognitive interview identification • Ecological validity
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Discuss CI as a memory enhancement method. What limitations do you think the

process may have in practice?
• What similarities and differences would you recommend for the methods used by
police to interview suspects as opposed to victims?
• What influences how reliable eyewitnesses are likely to be?
• What is a ‘vulnerable’ witness and what are the implications for such a person being
interviewed?
• What conditions are likely to give rise to ‘false memories’?
• Why do you think it is useful to have laws about how police officers should carry out
interviews?
Books
Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: a study in experimental and social psychology. London:
Cambridge University Press.
Canter, D., & Alison, L. (1999). (Eds.). Interviewing and deception. Farnham: Ashgate.
Gudjonsson, G. (1992). The psychology of interrogations, confessions and testimony. Chichester: Wiley.
Loftus, E. F. (1979). Eyewitness testimony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Police & Criminal Evidence Act. (1984). London: Home Office. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/
documents/PACE-cover
Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting lies and deceit: pitfalls and opportunities, 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley.
Journal articles
Baldwin, J. (1993). Police interview techniques: establishing truth or proof? British Journal of
Gieselman, R. E., Fisher, R. P., MacKinnon, D. P., & Holland, H. L. (1985). Eyewitness
memory enhancement in the police interview: cognitive retrieval mnemonics versus
hypnosis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(2), 401–12.
Gudjonsson, G., & Pearse, J. (2011). Suspect interviews and false confessions. Current Directions
in Psychological Science, 20, 133–37, doi: 10.1177/0963721410396824.

Hammond, L., Wagstaff, G. F., & Cole, J. (2006). Facilitating eyewitness memory in adults
and children with context reinstatement and focused meditation. Journal of Investigative
Psychology and Offender Profiling, 3, 117–30.
Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: remembering words
that were not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory &
Cognition, 21, 803–14.
Websites
The following website gives an overview of the cognitive interview and shows a video of one
being conducted:
www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-interview.html
The following website gives a comprehensive outline of investigative interviewing techniques:
www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/investigations/investigative-interviewing/
The following website outlines factors relating to eyewitness testimony:
www.apa.org/monitor/apr06/eyewitness.aspx
11 Deception
and fraud
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the theories of deception.

2 Understand the various psychological approaches to detecting deception.
3 Evaluate the ability to detect verbal and nonverbal cues to deception.
4 Understand the principles underlying physiological techniques for detecting lies
(known as ‘lie detectors’).
5 Consider possibilities for improving the detection of deception.
SUMMARY
Detecting deception and identifying the processes of fraud provide significant chal-
lenges for psychologists. How deception occurs and what can lead to its detection
are reviewed in this chapter. The bases on which people judge plausibility are also
considered. The technology used for lie detection is discussed together with its
strengths and weaknesses.
DIFFICULTIES IN DETECTING DECEPTION
Most psychological research is based on the assumption that the people involved in
the studies (usually referred to as ‘subjects’) are telling the truth. When they are asked
to complete questionnaires or answer questions about themselves or their activities, they
are not expected to lie. However, in the area of criminal psychology, that cannot be
assumed. Many people who are part of the criminal process might be assumed not
to be telling the truth. This covers not only suspects, but some witnesses and even
victims. A major area of research in criminal psychology is, therefore, concerned with
how and why people lie and how that deception can be detected.
ABILITY TO DETECT DECEPTION
Laboratory research on the ability to detect deception usually consists of showing

videotaped clips of liars and truth-tellers to observers (often undergraduate students)
who have to indicate after each clip whether it contained a truth or a lie. In these
studies, the observers base their judgments on limited information. For example, they
do not have any actual evidence to compare with what is revealed in the video. In
general, these studies show people’s estimates of whether a person is lying is little better
than would have been obtained from flipping a coin. Bond and DePaulo (2006)
reviewed the results of 186 studies, including 22,282 observers. On average, observers
achieved a 54 per cent accuracy rate, correctly classifying 47 per cent of the lies as
deceptive and 61 per cent of truths as truthful. The better result for indentifying
truthfulness could be explained by a tendency to assume people tell the truth, a ‘truth
bias’. In contrast, studies conducted on prisoners found that they contain a lie bias
(Hartwig, Granhag, Strömwall & Andersson, 2004).
REASONS FOR POOR LIE DETECTION
The poor ability to detect deception is related to the fact that people have incorrect
beliefs about indicators of lying (The Global Deception Research Team, 2006).
Common misconceptions
Zimmerman, Compo and Carlucci (2013) and Vrij (2008) demonstrated that many
people use invalid cues as indicators of deception. These include gaze aversion, which
is not a reliable predictor of deception. Vrij, Granhag and Porter (2010) describe the
‘Othello error’. This includes inappropriate nonverbal cues, such as nervousness, to
indicate that a person is lying. Such nervousness could be a product of being fearful
of being wrongly accused of committing a crime or of not being believed. Curiously,
law enforcement agents in the USA are often trained in the Criminal Interrogation and
Confessions manual by Inbau, Reid, Buckley and Jayne (2001), discussed in the
previous chapter. This proposes cues to deception that are unsupported by empirical
evidence such as shifting posture and placing a hand over the mouth (Vrij, Granhag
& Mann (2010).
Assumed preparation
Greuel (1992) reports that observers assessing veracity in repeated interrogations
gave emphasis to the ‘consistency heuristic’. Strömwall and Granhag (2003) describe
this as the assumption that inconsistency in a story indicates deceit and consist-
ency truthfulness. Although there is little firm evidence for this, Ekman (1992)
claims that liars tend to prepare their stories beforehand. He argues that liars who
do not prepare are not able to ‘keep their stories straight’. They are, therefore, more
likely to reveal contradictions in their stories. But, the conclusion that liars who have
prepared well will give the impression of being ‘overprepared’ is more difficult to
substantiate.
DECEPTION AND FRAUD 149
Nonverbal and verbal cues to deception

A common misconception is the belief that liars reveal nervousness when lying. Studies
such as Vrij, Edward and Bull (2001) report people did not behave nervously when
lying, even though they thought they had. In fact, participants showed a decrease in
nervousness. This is explained because, apparently, many liars control their behaviours
in order to make an honest impression.
BETTER LIE DETECTORS
Some studies have examined the ability of professional lie catchers, such as police
officers, rather than undergraduates, to detect deception. Granhag and Vrij (2005)
in a review of ten studies found these professionals performed similarly to the under-
graduates with an overall accuracy rate of 55 per cent (55 per cent lie accuracy rate
and 55 per cent truth accuracy rate). However, Ekman, O’Sullivan and Frank (1999)
found that some professionals are better, such as members of the Secret Service
(64 per cent accuracy rate), Central Intelligence Agency (73 per cent accuracy rates)
and sheriffs (67 per cent accuracy rates). Intriguingly, Vrij and Semin (1996) and
Strömwall, Granhag and Hartwig (2004) found that prisoners used more accurate
indicators of deception than did college students and professional lie catchers.
O’Sullivan and Ekman (2004) found that individuals of differing occupations are
generally better at recognising the kinds of deceit they were most acquainted and familiar
with. They found that experts in law were considerably higher in accuracy of lie identi-
fication in task involving crime deception when compared with a task involving emotive
deception.
Many studies highlight individual differences in the ability to detect lies, with accur-
acy rates ranging from 20 per cent to 80 per cent (Vrij & Graham, 1997; O’Sullivan &
Ekman, 2004) across individuals. Some personality characteristics have also been found
to relate to lie detection. In particular, Nahari, Glicksohn & Nachson (2010) demonstrate
that people with lower levels of ‘absorption’ are more successful in detecting lies. This
aspect of personality is the extent to which a person has the ability to become involved
in sensory and imaginative experiences. Nahari, Glicksohn & Nachson (2010) suggest
that high absorption individuals are more likely to use irrelevant criteria, such as how
they experienced the reading of a text, rather than the narrative’s plausibility itself.
Liar characteristics
Porter, Campbell, Stapleton and Birt (2002) found that participants were most accurate
at detecting lies when the sender was not attractive and when sender and receiver were
the opposite sex. Bond and DePaulo (2008), however, argue sender detectability is
important. Some individuals just appear more credible than others.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
As discussed in the previous chapter, most studies of interviewing and lie detection
use experimental procedures that for ethical and practical reasons have low ecological
validity. As Frank, Feeley, Paolantonio and Servoss (2004) point out, very few studies
incorporate high-stake situations. Low-stake scenarios, in which the liar has little to
lose, reduce the determination to succeed in lying (Zimmerman, Compo & Carlucci,
2013). Miller and Stiff (1993) suggested that the higher the stakes, the more likely are
lies to be detected. Those who have studied actual high-stake situations, such as true
and false calls to the emergency services (Harpster, Adam & Jarvis, 2009) and the
television shows COPS and Jeremy Kyle, do claim that response latencies distinguish
truths from lies (Reynolds & Rendle-Short, 2010).
JUDGING PLAUSIBILITY
Often the decision that is being made is whether a person’s account is plausible or
not, which can be regarded as the other side of the coin from detecting deception.
Attractiveness bias
Paunonen (2006), in his paper ‘You are honest, therefore I like you and find you
attractive’, explains that people draw on a person’s physical attributes to form a view
of their character. This has been shown in a jury’s decisions where attractive defendants
received judgments with less certainty of guilt than unattractive ones (Efran, 1974).
Also, after conviction, attractive defendants were given shorter sentences (Leventhal
& Krate, 1977). However, Sigall and Ostrove (1975) report that attractive defendants
received more lenient sentences in a mock jury study only when the offense was not
attractiveness-related, such as burglary compared to swindling.
Johnson, Podratz, Dipboye and Gibbons (2010) reviewing a number of studies
report that generally ‘what is beautiful is good’. Thus, the general implication from
the majority of research in social psychology and in criminology shows that attractive-
ness and appearance do influence judgments of veracity. The key reason seems to be
that attractiveness is a heuristic device, a mental shortcut (Tversky & Kahneman, 1985),
for coming to a conclusion in the absence of other information.
Emotional bias
A strong illustration of how people respond to expressed emotion in forming judgments
of plausibility is given by Doss (2002), who describes how a mother who murdered
her sons pleaded with great emotion for their ‘return’ and fooled many people into
believing she was innocent. She even mobilised people to help her find the ‘missing’
sons and catch a non-existent perpetrator who had supposedly kidnapped them.
As Shafir, Simonson and Tversky (1993) show, intense emotional aspects of a
situation can overpower any logical assessment. It has even been suggested by Epstein
(1994) that relying on emotional displays is faster especially when dealing with a difficult
situation that is ambiguous. It is, therefore, not surprising that the amount of emotion
expressed in a criminal context can influence judgments of plausibility. This was shown
by Antonio and Arone (2006) when jury members reported that a witness’s emotional
expression influenced their assessment of their credibility.
Semmler and Brewer (2002) and Vrij (2008) also showed some individuals
sometimes incorrectly relied on the display of emotions to decide how truthful an
account is. Further evidence of this effect is given by Peace and Sinclair (2012)
who found that emotional rape statements compromised the accuracy of judgements.
Also, Vrij and Mann (2001) found in their study using television press conferen-
ces that people were less accurate in judging an appealer’s veracity when they thought
the emotions of the appealer were real.
It is not just the way expressed emotion influences judgements that is import-
ant, the level of sympathetic response can create a ‘felt emotion bias’. The emotion
the respondent feels can influence processing of source information. Another way
of looking at this is that in highly emotional situations, such as television appeals,
observers may falsely think what they feel is relevant for making veracity assessments,
especially when only limited information is available about the appealer. With jury
members, they may search for corroboration of what they are feeling and misinter-
pret this, although unreliable or invalid, to be consistent with their emotion (Salerno
& Bottoms, 2009). Granhag (2006) calls this experience a meta-emotion, where
observers are biased to pay more attention to cues exhibited by the sender that supports
their level of felt emotions, rather than more rational judgments.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE LIE?
Central to considerations about deception and its detection have been explorations
of what happens psychologically when people lie (see DePaulo et al., 2003, for an
overview).
A four-factor model outlines the differences between telling the truth and lying
(Zuckerman, DePaulo & Rosenthal, 1981):
• Arousal: Lying causes physiological arousal, either because of discomfort in breaking
social norms or due to fear of getting caught.
• Behaviour control: Liars attempt to keep their movements and other nonverbal
activity under control, so that they make a convincing impression.
• Emotion: Emotions change when lying, either because the liar is secretly pleased
at duping others or because of guilt.
• Thinking: There is pressure to think a lot harder when lying to ensure coherence
in the invented account.
However, not all people experience these processes when telling a lie. Individual
differences and situational differences, such as personality, motivation to succeed,
consequences of getting caught and planning what to say in advance, play a role in
the deceptive processes (Vrij, Granhag & Mann 2010). Further, truth-tellers may
experience these processes if they are highly motivated to be believed, such as during
a police interrogation. Indeed, Levine (2010) has argued that many people will not
give any indication at all that they are lying. This makes it difficult to distinguish truth-
tellers from deceivers.
APPROACHES TO DETECTING DECEPTION
Ekman’s theory of micro-expressions

Developed from his study of emotions, Ekman (1985) has developed an approach to
lie detection that considers very brief facial expressions that last only a fraction of a
second, sometimes as quick as a twentieth of a second. They are not normally noticed
unless the person is trained to look for them or uses slowed down video recordings.
They could be a brief rolling of the eyes or furrowing of the forehead, twitching of
the cheek or a repeated touching of the nose. These, Ekman claims, reveal emotions
such as fear, sadness, disgust, contempt, surprise and happiness. Those emotions, in
turn, are taken to indicate deliberate or unconscious feelings that relate to not telling
the truth, such as a very brief smile associated with pleasure in getting away with
the lie.
Although Ekman has contributed to many popular accounts of his work, including
a television series Lie to Me, and advises many agencies on how to use his ideas, they
are not without criticism. For example, Bond and Uysal (2007) claim others have been
unable to replicate Ekman’s findings. Russell has challenged the generality of micro-
expressions of emotion (e.g., Kayyal, Widen & Russell, 2015) in a series of studies
that question the generality of facial expression of emotion. He argues that how we
reveal emotions depends considerably on the context, which undermines the
exploration of general cues to lying.
Exploring content
Statement validity analysis (SVA) developed by Kohnken (2004) is a validity assessment
tool mainly applied to written statements, especially in child sexual abuse cases,
although it has since been expanded to evaluations of any statement in a criminal
context. SVA was built on detailed consideration of statement content using criteria-
based content analysis (CBCA). Akehurst, Kohnken and Hofer (2001) reported that
CBCA successfully discriminated between truthful accounts and untruthful ones, with
a hit rate of 70 per cent. CBCA is based on the hypothesis that a statement of an
experience originating from a true memory differs in content and quality from the
one that is fabricated. Furthermore, only a person who has had genuine experience
of the event will automatically include specific contents into the statement, adding to
its quality (Vrij, Kneller & Mann, 2010).
The central principle on which SVA is based was proposed by Undeutsch (1989),
claiming that untruthful accounts contain fewer details and are less vivid than statements
derived from true memory. This principle was developed further by Steller and
Kohnken (1989) into a set of criteria for truthfulness that can be summarised as:
• There are no contradictions or logical inconsistencies. Logical consistency is not to be
confused with plausibility. A statement may sound implausible, but still be logically
consistent.
• Contextual embedding, such that the event is described in relation to particular
locations, time schedules, personal relationships and other persons before and after
the incident.
• Reporting unexpected complications, in the course of events, there sometimes appears

unforeseen interruptions and impediments. Steller and Kohnken (1989) find that
liars rarely mention any deviations in the ‘normal’ way.
• Superfluous details, the details are superfluous if their reporting is not strictly
necessary for the descriptions of the event.
• Accounts of subjective mental states, including feelings such as disgust or fear and crime-
related thoughts such as how to escape.
• Spontaneous corrections, a witness corrects or modifies previous descriptions, without
having been prompted by the interviewer.

SVA and related CBCA are not without their critics.
• The validity checklist can be improperly used because of the difficulties in
applying it, as Gumpert, Lindblad and Johansson (1999) commented on initial uses.
• There can be large differences between people in their use of the approach. In
their study of early applications of the Swedish application of SVA, Gumpert and
Lindblad (2000) revealed that each of ten experts emphasised different aspects of
CBCA when making their judgment.
• The lack of standardisation and the consequent possibility of confirmation bias
(Bogaard et al., 2014).
SCAN (scientific content analysis) (Sapir, 2005) is based on the claim that liars and
truth-tellers use different language developed into a criterion list to assist in dif-
ferentiating their statements. Bogaard et al. (2014) contended that there is no evidence
for SCAN’s ability to identify lying. Also, individuals differ in the way they use SCAN,
which is not standardised.
Vrij, Granhag and Mann (2010) do show that overall careful content analysis can
assist lie detection. Those telling the truth were more likely to be fixated upon what
had transpired and provided more detailed responses, whereas liars would prepare their
answers for the questions to come, if they could and would choose to deliver replies
that were less comprehensive. Porter et al. (2008) have also found several content
distinctions between verbal statements between liars and truth-tellers. They found that
overall both offenders and students displayed a comparable pattern of lying verbal
behaviour, where liars offered less details than did truth-tellers.
The emergence of computer-based language analysis is showing potential for lie
detection. Pennebaker, Francis and Booth (2001) developed the Linguistic Inquiry and
Word Count (LIWC) system, which analyses the use of functional and emotional
words. It is based on an extensive dictionary of words, so that the software can calculate
the ratio of words within several dozen categories. Using the LIWC software,
Pennebaker, Francis and Booth (2001) found that liars tend to use fewer first person
pronouns, more words related to negative emotions and more tentative words
such as ‘maybe’ and ‘perhaps’. These are thought to reduce cognitive discord, such as
feelings of guilt, acceptance of responsibility and committing to a lie (Zhou, Burgoon,
Nunamaker & Twitchell, 2004).
Lying in pairs
Often, lies are perpetrated by a pair or group of individuals. The traditional police
approach has been to interview individuals separately to determine whether their stories
are consistent with each other. But, there is a growing amount of research (Vernham
& Vrij, 2015) that indicates interviewing people together can be very revealing. For
instance, Granhag, Strömwall and Jonsson (2003) found that liars in pairs were more
consistent between themselves than were pairs who told the truth. If, however,
substantial discrepancies are found in the description of the core of an event, then this
would at least require an explanation.
Imposing cognitive load

Besides the social process of examining people together, another direction that is being
explored draws on the cognitive challenges of maintaining an untruth for any length
of time. The hypothesis, thus, is that if the person has to carry out other tasks
while giving an account, then the added cognitive load makes it much more difficult
for the liar to provide a logically consistent account. Vrij, Granhag, Mann and Leal
(2011) reviewed the ways of increasing cognitive load, such as requiring a person to
say what happened in reverse chronological order, or while maintaining eye contact
or even while doing moderate exercise. This can also be achieved by questioning that
requires more invention by the respondent, thereby forcing clearer indications of
deception.
Narrative plausibility
A crucial aspect of deciding whether someone is telling the truth is whether the storyline
it is part of is convincing. Many laboratory studies of deception ignore this aspect. Yet,
in daily life, that is often how plausibility is assessed. One interesting aspect of stories
is that they have a natural form to them that can be drawn on to evaluate their likely
validity. In essence, this is a beginning, middle and end, usually in that order.
To study the influence of story sequence on judgments of plausibility, Canter,
Grieve, Nicol and Benneworth’s (2003) used Stein, Glenn and Freedle’s (1979) model
of the normal flow of a narrative ‘abstract, setting, initiating event, attempt, conse-
quence and reaction’. They created scenarios that in one condition used this structure.
In the second setting, they reversed the order, taking care that the narrative plausibility
of the story in terms of syntax and grammar remained intact. The ‘disordered’
narratives were judged less plausible than those that followed a conventional sequence.
In addition to these ‘internal’ aspects of the account, Canter, Grieve, Nicol
and Benneworth (2003) also introduced a ‘criminal anchor’ element. This draws on
stereotypical assumptions, such that if there is a hint that a person is a criminal, then
that colours all judgements about the narrative, much as attractiveness influences views
about other irrelevant matters discussed earlier. These ‘external’ factors that draw on
assumptions about what is likely to be the case were found to be a powerful influence
on assumptions about plausibility. For example, simply stating in the account that the
person had just come out of prison in contrast to just coming home from work leads
to quite different assessments about the credibility of the story. Of course, these were
highly controlled experiments in which a lot of other information was absent. But, it
is noteworthy that in many jurisdictions, previous convictions of a defendant are kept
hidden from the jury because of how it can distort their evaluating the evidence
objectively.
FRAUDSTERS’ NARRATIVES
Fraud consists of influencing a person, usually to part with money, by deceptive means.
It, therefore, requires determined deception for its success. Yet, studies of deception
because of their laboratory origins, which do not give a full account of the context of
the deception, usually ignore the real world of fraud. However, considering how
fraudsters operate does provide further understanding of the nature of deception and
how it can be detected.
As Onyebadi and Park (2012) have shown, there are common characteristics to
what are known as 419, or ‘advance fee fraud’ messages. These messages typically offer
the recipient a large sum of money. Once the recipient takes the bait, they are asked
for a fee in advance to obtain the money, but, of course, the money is never received.
These forms of fraud are deeply embedded in a plausible narrative. A person in the
news, for example, is said to have died, leaving a lot of money to be got out of
the country, or a banker has stumbled on money in a closed account and so on. There
are usually many specific details, some of which can be checked on the Internet and
have some credibility. It is the plausible narrative that draws people in.
ACTIVITY 11.1
Find examples of 419 (advanced fee) fraud (e.g., at www.hoax-slayer.com/
nigerian-scam-list.shtml) and discuss why so many people are convinced by them.
SUMMARY OF VERBAL AND BEHAVIOURAL APPROACHES

TO DETECTING DECEPTION
The general findings from many studies are that behavioural cues, such as averting
gaze and broken speech, are not useful in detecting deception. DePaulo et al. (2003)
examined 158 behavioural cues and found there were no consistent cues that dia-
gnostically distinguished liars from truth-tellers, and no cues that are reliably associated
with lying. Most differences found were very small and difficult to discriminate in real-
life situations.
By contrast, listening carefully to what a person says can be of some value, especially
if there are external corroborating facts to draw on. Content analysis of text is of some
utility, but that is difficult to standardise and readily open to abuse. Computer software
that makes the analysis of text more objective and standardised has some potential, but
it does depend on having appropriate inbuilt dictionaries that probably need to be
developed specially for each context.
The work that Vrij and his colleagues have been developing with its emphasis on
the cognitive challenges of lying seems to have great potential, although making it
acceptable within a legal context has some way to go. Some aspects of it could be
regarded as coercion. Similarly, interviewing people jointly offers some very interesting
possibilities, but there would be real challenges to having the results of such interviews
accepted in court.
In general, there is an important distinction between processes that may be of assist-

ance in an investigation compared with those that can be used as categorical evidence
in court. There are probably no psychological procedures that would be accepted by
a court as indicating that a person was lying. The same is true in many, but not all,
jurisdictions for physiological approaches to detecting deception to which we now turn.
Deception detection technology

The ability to detect deception is a skill that is necessary within various occupations,
from the military to crime investigators, customs agents and insurance agents. Money
is invested to develop reliable lie detectors for use against terrorism and in the judicial
system. These technologies all assume that telling lies produces a physiological response.
In general, they detect the person’s emotional reaction to the situation and questions
being asked. But, whether that reaction is an indication of lying is an extremely
contentious issue.
FIGURE 11.1 A ‘polygraph’ in use. The various physiological measurements are all read
into a computer, which represents the changes in these and allows various
forms of analysis.
POLYGRAPH
From the Greek, ‘poly’ (= many) and ‘graph’ (= to write). It gets its name from a
general-purpose piece of equipment that is used in many areas of physiology that
records a number of different measures of physiological response at the same time. An
examinee is attached to a blood-pressure cuff to measure heart rate and blood pressure,
pneumographs to measure respiration and galvanometers to measure the skin resistance
produced by palm sweat. As the examinee answers questions put carefully by the
examiner, changes in physiological activity are displayed on to chart paper or a com-

puter screen that records all the measures together. It is the nature of these changes
that are used to assess whether the examinee is telling the truth.
There are many technical nuances to how the polygraph is used and the resulting
chart analysed (Synnott & Ioannou, 2015). So, that effective use does demand con-
siderable training and careful application. But, as Synnot, Dietzel and Ioannou (2015)
make clear, there is no standard approach or training procedure, although many
different approaches do claim they have established these standards.
Lie detection procedures

There are several types of polygraph test procedures. The two most commonly used
procedures in the field are the Control Question Technique (CQT) and the Guilty
Knowledge Test (GKT). Even within these procedures, there are different practices,
but for simplicity, two are outlined here.
CQT is a four-phased procedure. First, the examiner becomes familiar with the
facts of the crime by reading the case file and by speaking with the investigating officer
and then develops the appropriate questions. The examiner then conducts an extensive
pre-test with the examinee in order to establish rapport, allow the examinee to give
his or her version of the crime and for the examiner to explain the test procedure
to the examinee. Once the examinee understands the procedure and the examiner
has developed their questions into a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer format, the examinee is
attached to the polygraph.
The third phase is the actual test phase. The examinee is asked three types of
questions: relevant questions (R) relate to the crime under investigation. It is assumed
that both guilty and innocent examinees will answer ‘no’ to these questions;
otherwise, they would be admitting to the crime. Control questions (C) are gene-
ral, non-specific misconducts that are used to establish a baseline lie. Both guilty
and innocent examinees are expected to lie about these questions by answering
‘no’ because the examiner will tell the examinee that admitting to such a misconduct
would cause the examiner to conclude that the examinee is the type of person who
would commit the crime in question and is, therefore, considered guilty. Irrelevant
questions (I) relate to neutral issues, and both guilty and innocent examinees are
expected to tell the truth about these questions by answering ‘yes’. These questions
are intended to allow rest periods between the more important relevant and control
questions. Generally, a series of ten to twelve questions are asked, which are repeated
three or four times. For example, the polygraph examiner’s questions could run as
follows:
Respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following questions:

I: Is your name James? Yes
C: Have you hit anyone? No
R: Did you slap Liam? No
I: Is today Wednesday? Yes
C: Have you ever told a lie to stay out of trouble? No
R: Did you threaten Liam? No
I: Are you sitting in a chair? Yes

C: Have you ever threatened anyone? No
R: Did you punch Liam? No
CQT is based on the assumption that guilty examinees will be more concerned
with the relevant questions and become more aroused while answering these questions
than while answering the control questions. Innocent examinees are assumed to be more
concerned with the control questions and will become more aroused while answering
these questions than when answering the relevant questions.
The final phase is where the examiner compares the responses of the control ques-
tions to the relevant questions. This phase may also be used to obtain a confession
from the examinee.
The limitations of CQT are that the specific relevant questions are not compar-
able to the general control questions and may lead to a high false positive rate, where
the innocent are mistakenly deemed as guilty. Studies have found that 40 per cent to
50 per cent of innocent examinees ‘fail’ the CQT polygraph test (NRC, 2003). To
pass the test, you have to lie. If an innocent person is honest on the control questions,
they will provide a higher physiological response to the relevant question than to the
control question, eliciting a response that makes them look guilty.
This use of the polygraph can also be beaten by intentionally eliciting stronger
responses on the control questions than on the relevant questions. The way to do this
is by changing your blood pressure and heart rate by doing math in your head, thinking
of something frightening or squeezing your bottom cheeks during the control questions.
GKT is based on determining whether the examinee has a distinct response to infor-
mation that only the criminal would know, ‘guilty knowledge’. It, therefore, depends
on identifying aspects of the crime that are distinct and would not be known by anyone
else, but these have to be aspects that would not elicit strong emotional reactions from
an innocent person such as ‘Was the victim’s throat cut?’
A series of questions are put to the examinee who is instructed to respond ‘no’ to
each one. It is assumed that the guilty examinee will be more aroused by the relevant
alternative than the control alternatives. Only if responses to the relevant items are
consistently larger is the examinee deemed guilty. This controls against false positives.
A selection from a GKT interview may, therefore, be as follows:
Regarding the abduction location, do you know for sure it was . . .
1. ... at a toy store? No
2. ... at a shopping mall? No (relative alternative)
3. ... at a city park? No
4. ... at a friend’s house? No
5. ... at school? No
GKT is limited by the difficulty in certain cases of designing questions to which only
the suspect would know the answers. In cases where details are highly publicised (e.g.,
the O.J. Simpson case) or if memory is affected (e.g., the suspect is under the influence
of drinks or drugs, or there was a long period between the time of crime and the
polygraph test), there would be no guilty knowledge to detect. In general, GKT has
been found to help distinguish whether a person is innocent or not, but is much less
effective in determining if a person is guilty (Synnott, Dietzel & Ioannou 2015).
VOICE STRESS ANALYSIS: THE STRESS DETECTOR
Voice stress analysis (VSA) assumes that liars will be more aroused than truth-tellers
due to feelings of guilt and fear, and as a result, display stress in their voice. VSA
measures and displays inaudible fluctuations in the human voice known as ‘micro-
tremor’ patterns on a computer screen, which indicate when a speaker delivers words
under stress. As with the polygraph, it is not a lie detector, but rather a stress detector;
an indirect measure of lie telling.
The appeal of VSA is its ease of use in the field. In crime investigations, the
computer voice stress analyser (CVSA) can be easily brought to the crime scene to
interview suspects, and the results are instant. CVSA is also being used by insurance
companies to identify false insurance claim calls.
The National Research Council (2003) has examined the reliability of VSA and
concluded that ‘The practical performance of voice stress analysis for detecting
deception has not been impressive’ (p. 168) and that the relevant research offers ‘little
or no scientific basis for the use of . . . voice measurement instruments as an alternative
to the polygraph . . .’ (p. 168).
Despite its lack of scientific basis for use, it continues to be used in the field. VSA
has been found to be effective in eliciting confessions from suspects and also in eliciting
false confessions as in the case of Michael Crowe who was accused of the murder of
his sister in 1998.
CONCLUSIONS
Lie detection is not as easy as many people think. In general, people are very poor at
detecting deceit. This may be because ‘white lies’ are a natural part of human
interactions, so we must all be able to lie convincingly at some time or other. However,
detecting deceit is a crucial part of the criminal justice system, and so, there is a great
deal of interest in developing procedures to help discover lies. The physiologically based
‘lie detectors’ have rather less utility than is often believed and may be of more value in
encouraging confessions than detecting lies. No system does a great deal better than
chance across all situations, but the cognitive and emotional load that sustained lying
requires is a reasonable basis for exploring the psychology of deceit, which may, in
limited circumstances with some people, provide a productive basis for understanding
how lying occurs, and so, how it may be detected.
• Ecological validity • Guilty Knowledge • Control Question

• Polygraph Test Technique
• Nonverbal cues
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• What are the main challenges to producing ecologically valid studies of lie detection?
• What are lie detectors? Do they work?
• Are any groups of people better at detecting liars than others? Why might that be?
• What are the main psychological processes involved in sustaining a lie?
• Describe the various factors that can enhance or impair ability to detect deception.
• Why might attractiveness be relevant to plausibility?
Books
Canter, D., & Alison, L. (Eds.). (1999). Interviewing and deception. Farnham: Ashgate.
Ekman, P. (2001). Telling lies: clues to deceit in the marketplace, politics and marriage. New York:
Norton.
Ford, C. V. (1996). Lies! lies! lies!: the psychology of deceit. London: American Psychiatric Press.
Goldstraw-White, J. (2011). White-collar crime: accounts of offending behaviour. New York:
Springer.
Granhag, P. A., & Strömwall, L. A. (Eds.). (2004). Deception detection in forensic contexts
(pp. 229–50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Granhag, P. A., Vrij, A., & Verschuere, B. (2015). Detecting deception: current challenges and cognitive
approaches. Chichester: Wiley.
Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting lies and deceit: pitfalls and opportunities, 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley.
Journal articles
DePaulo, B. M., Lindsay, J. J., Malone, B. E., Muhlenbruck, L., Charlton, K. & Cooper, H.
(2003). Cues to deception. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 74–118.
Krinsky, K. L. (2015). A review of eyewitness identification in the United States: problems and
policies. Crime Psychology Review, 1(1), 84–97.
National Research Council. (2003). The polygraph and lie detection. Committee to review the
scientific evidence on the polygraph. Washington, DC: The National Academic Press.
Rosenfeld, J. P. (2005). ‘Brain Fingerprinting:’ a critical analysis. Scientific Review of Mental Health
Practice, 4, 20–37.
Synnott, J., Dietzel, D., & Ioannou, M. (2015). A review of the polygraph: history, methodology
and current status. Crime Psychology Review, 1(1), 59–83.
Vernham, Z., & Vrij, A. (2015). A review of the collective interviewing approach to detecting
deception in pairs. Crime Psychology Review, 1(1), 43–58.
Vrij, A. (2004). Why professionals fail to catch liars and how they can improve. Legal and
Criminological Psychology, 9, 151–81.

Wolpe, P. R., Foster, K. R., & Langleben, D. D. (2005). Emerging neurotechnologies for lie-
detection: promises and perils. The American Journal for Bioethics, 5(2), 39–49.
Websites
The following website highlights some of the difficulties in detecting deception as well as some
successes:
www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/detecting.aspx
The following website critically evaluates some of the methods for detecting deception:
www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/uncategorized/detecting-deception.html
12 Psychology and
investigations
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Identify the three broad types of contribution psychologists can make to

investigations.
2 Identify the operational questions that investigators can use psychology to help
them answer.
3 Explain the concept of ‘profiling equations’, and how these are used to make
inferences about crimes.
4 Distinguish the three common roles that a perpetrator assigns to his or her
victim.
5 Discuss the nature of decision-making in investigation.
6 Outline the issues that psychologists might think about when assessing
investigative information
SUMMARY
Increasingly, in recent years, psychologists and ideas from psychology have contributed
to the investigation of a wide range of crimes. The contributions fall within three
broad areas. The first of these is the examination of the styles and patterns of criminal
action within offenders’ behaviour and the unravelling of how these relate to psycho-
logical and social characteristics; sometimes referred to as ‘offender profiling’. Although
sometimes assumed only to be relevant to serious, serial or sexual crimes, in fact, these
‘investigative inferences’ can be derived for all forms of criminality from burglary or
fraud or arson through to serial killing, kidnapping and terrorism.
The second contribution psychologists can make is to the analysis of the investi-
gation process itself to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness of investigative
decision-making.
Third, psychologists contribute to investigations through the assessment and
improvement of the material and information that is the basis of the investigation or
PSYCHOLOGY AND INVESTIGATIONS 163
the case in court. These include developing interviewing approaches discussed in

Chapter 10, or detecting deception reviewed in Chapter 11. But also, in some cases,
especially in the USA, the ‘psychological autopsy’.
HOW CAN PSYCHOLOGISTS CONTRIBUTE TO

INVESTIGATIONS?
Recognition of these potential contributions of scientific psychology (Canter 1989;

Canter & Youngs, 2003) has led to the development of the science of investigative
psychology (for a full account of this discipline, see Canter & Youngs 2009).
Brief definition: investigative psychology is a scientific discipline concerned with
the psychological principles, theories and empirical findings that may be applied to
investigations and the legal process, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of
criminal detection and the appropriateness of the work of the courts.
Investigative psychology is an overall approach to thinking about criminals and
criminal action that captures David Canter’s perspective on the psychology of human
action and how it should be studied, outlined in his laws of criminality (Canter & Youngs
2009). It has generated studies of topics as diverse as the nature of the criminal emotional
experience, the social networks of offenders, the identification of lying in insurance
claims or false rape allegations, burglary modus operandi or the spatial behaviour of serial
killers. But, all of these studies proceed from an attempt to inform one of the three points
of connection between psychology and investigations as mapped out here.
INVESTIGATIVE INFERENCES: THE CANTER

‘PROFILING’ EQUATIONS
The contributions that psychologists can make to police investigations are most widely
known and understood in terms of ‘offender profiles’. Offender profiling, as typically
practised, is the process by which individuals, drawing on their clinical or other
professional experience, make judgments about the personality traits or psychodynamics
of the perpetrators of crimes. From the perspective of scientific psychology, such a
process is flawed in its reliance on personal judgment, rather than actuarial (based on
empirical analysis) assessment. These flaws in personal judgements have been shown
in a wide range of professional applications through extensive studies first reviewed
TABLE 12.1 The three classes of contribution by psychologists to investigations.

1. Investigative inferences (e.g., actions – characteristics equations, offender profiling,
geographical profiling, modelling offence styles, psychological correlates of offence style)
2. Investigative and legal process (e.g., investigative strategy, interviewing, prediction of
violence, detective decision-making)
3. Assessment of investigative and legal information (e.g., false allegations, eyewitness
testimony, detecting deception, psycholinguistic authorship attribution)
Source www.ia-ip.org
by Meehl in 1954 (republished in 1996). The theories about criminals and their
behaviour upon which much ‘offender profiling’ has been based are also open to
question. The lack of scientific rigour evident in the profiling process has, for two
decades, driven proponents of investigative psychology research to map out a more
scientific approach to underpin and systematise this almost mystical ‘profiling’ process
(cf. Alison & Rainbow, 2011).
At the heart of this are what have become known as the ‘profiling equations’ (after
Canter, 1995). These are hypothetical equations that capture the scientific perspective
for inferring associations between the actions that occur during the offence – including
when and where they happen and to whom – and the characteristics of the offender,
including the offender’s criminal history, background, base location and relationships
to others. They are also known as the Actions → Characteristics or A → C equa-
tions, where A are the actions in the crime and C are the characteristics of typical
offenders for such crimes, and → is the theory or argument and the evidence for
inferring one from the other.
Investigative psychologists conduct a wide range of empirical studies of different
types of offences and the offenders who committed them, with the purpose of
establishing solutions to these equations, in the hope of providing objective bases for
the inferences that detectives make in an investigation about the perpetrator’s likely
characteristics. A number of ideas about the processes that may underlie A → C links
can be drawn from general social and psychological theory. These include personality
and interpersonal behaviour theories, as well as frameworks drawing on interpersonal
narratives and on socio-economic factors. Any or all of these theories could provide
a valid basis for investigative inferences if the differences in individuals that they propose
are associated with real variations in criminal behaviour.
Starting principles: the consistency hypothesis

The feasibility of ‘profiling’ is based on two fundamental hypotheses about offenders
and their offending behaviour. As Canter and Youngs (2009) explain, in order to
generate some form of A → C equation, it is essential that offenders show some
consistency between the nature of their crimes and characteristics they exhibit in other
situations. This is rather different from psychological models that attempt to explain
criminality as a displacement or compensatory activity, whereby the way the individual
behaves in committing the crime differs from the way they would behave in ‘normal’
situations. Canter and Youngs favour this general consistency model, suggesting that
processes relating to the offender’s characteristic interpersonal style may be particularly
useful in linking actions and characteristics (Youngs, 2004).
Starting principles: the differentiation hypothesis

As well as being consistent, different sets of offenders need to be different from one
another if drawing investigative inferences is to be useful to police. If every offender
offended in the same way, then the A → C equations would provide characteristics
that were the same for every offender.
In Criminal Shadows, Canter (1994) advanced a general framework of psychological
differences in offending style. Arguing that ‘the inner narratives that violent men write
for themselves cast their victims in less than human roles’, he proposed that differences
in the way offenders carried out their crimes would relate to the role assigned to the
victim or the ‘mode of interpersonal transaction’ adopted by the offender. He proposed
three types of roles to which a victim may be assigned:
1 Victim as an object
The offender treats the victim as an object, that is, as something to be used and
controlled through restraint and threat, often involving alternative gains in the form
of other crimes such as theft. Offenders have a complete lack of empathy. Victims
are chosen opportunistically, so tend to be vulnerable individuals.
2 Victim as a vehicle
The offender sees the victim as a vehicle for the offender’s own emotional state,
for example, anger and frustration. There is some awareness of the victim as human,
but this recognition facilitates the offender using the victim to express their feelings
and desires. The victim is typically subjected to extreme violence and abuse. The
victim may have symbolic importance, for example, women of particular
appearance.
3 Victim as a person
The offender sees the victim as a person. These offenders nurture the confused
belief that through the assault, they achieve some sort of personal intimacy with
the victim, so offending actions will include attempts to create a degree of rapport
or relationship. Offenders think they are heroes – in Criminal Shadows, one rapist
is quoted as saying to his victim ‘be more careful, next time someone nasty may
attack you’.
Adapted from Canter, 1994
Studies have shown that this general model does help to understand the specific
empirical differences in offending behaviour found within rape (Canter 1994) and
paedophilia (Canter, Hughes & Kirby 1998), as well as stranger homicide (Salfati &
Canter 1999).
More recently, the role offenders enact in a crime has been studied directly (Youngs
& Canter, 2012, 2013) by asking them to describe whether, for example, they thought
they were a ‘hero’ or a ‘victim’ or ‘just doing a job’. This is proving very fruitful in
opening up an understanding of what maintains criminal actions (Presser, 2010).
IS PROFILING POSSIBLE?
Youngs (2008) points out that it was in the 1970s and 1980s that the FBI first drew
attention to what investigators had long known: deductions about the likely perpe-
trator can be drawn from a consideration, in detail, of the crime itself (Douglas,
Ressler, Burgess & Hartman, 1986). The FBI special agents who drew particular
attention to this process gave prominence to the label ‘Offender Profiling’. Coming
from a scientifically grounded psychological perspective, David Canter argued that the
profiling process was a rather more profound one, requiring formal specification. He
proposed, as a first step in unravelling this process, that the relationship between actions
and characteristics was one that, in mathematical terms, could be represented as:
F1A1 + . . . + FnAn = F1C1 + . . . + FmCm
where the As represent the actions in the crimes, the Cs the characteristics of the per-
petrator and the Fs are the functions that relate the two, that is, the degree, level or
amount of the action/characteristic.

What this equation means is that the A → C mapping does not take the form of
a number of one-to-one relationships that can simply be collected together to pro-
vide the description of an offender, like ‘clues’ in a typical crime fiction. Rather, the
relationship between the offending actions and the offender’s characteristics takes
the form of a combination of interacting action variables that map on to a combination
of interacting characteristic variables.
Technically, this type of relationship is known as a canonical equation. What it
tells us is that particular actions do not map on to particular characteristics in any
simple or direct way. As Youngs (2008) points out, this may be because the same action
can, on a consistent basis, indicate more than one characteristic, and equally, the same
characteristic can be inferred from different actions. She cites the example of extreme
violence that may be threatened in a robbery carried out by an inexperienced or a
highly experienced offender. Conversely, both rapists and robbers will tend to have
criminal histories that include burglary convictions.
The actions–characteristics relationship is further complicated, in that the same action
can indicate different characteristics in different contexts or at different points in an offen-
der’s criminal progression. So, for example, using a weapon against a weak or elderly
victim who was being totally compliant may indicate a rather different individual than
the use of a weapon against a victim who was fighting back. Similarly, forensic awareness
may indicate an above-average intellect in a young rapist, but less so in one that was
more experienced (Canter, Heritage & Kovacik 1989; Youngs, 2004).
FURTHER COMPLEXITIES IN THE PROFILING PROCESS
The second thing that became clear in specifying the potential relationships between
the offending and the offender in these formal terms was that there were many reasons
why ‘offender profiling’ just was not going to be possible (see Canter & Youngs, 2008).
One of the reasons for this is the problem of ‘contingency destabilisation’ (Youngs,
2008). This effect is most readily understood through consideration of the example
she provides (Table 12.2).
Crime B differs from the previous one (A) on just one action of when the offender
chose to carry out the offence. Yet, this change in one behavioural detail puts the entire
offence in a different perspective, casting a whole new light on many of the other
components of the offence. For example, the smashing of the window is a rather
different behaviour in the middle of the night than in the middle of the day. Similarly,
the offender’s violent reaction to encountering the occupant is less readily construed
as a panic-based reaction, given that he must have expected someone to be in at that
TABLE 12.2 The contingency destabilisation effect.

One Monday afternoon in November, a suburban house in Manchester is burgled. The
offender disabled the alarm, then entered by smashing a downstairs window. He stole
cash and jewellery, without making any mess, but leaving fingerprints. The larger electronic
goods in the house were not stolen. Just as he was about to leave, the offender encountered
the occupant and reacted violently punching her in the face several times before running
off.
Crime Description A
At 2 a.m. one Saturday morning, a suburban house in Manchester is burgled. The offender
disabled the alarm, then entered by smashing a downstairs window. He stole cash and
jewellery, without making any mess, but leaving fingerprints. The larger electronic goods in
the house were not stolen. Just as he was about to leave, the offender encountered the
occupant and reacted violently punching her in the face several times before running off.
Crime Description B
Adapted from Youngs (2008)
time. So, a change in one action component within a crime description can change
the meaning of exactly the same actions, indicating an entirely different style of offend-
ing and suggesting a very different type of offender.
DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE
A further complication is that, although some degree of consistency from one offence
to the next is useful for developing associations between actions and characteristics of
offenders, it also has to be recognised that there are many reasons why offenders may
change their pattern of activity from one crime to another (Sorochinski & Salfati, 2010).
Canter and Youngs (2009) list six processes that may give rise to differences for the
same offender from one crime to another:
• Responsiveness – The way the criminal reacts to the situation as they find it. A
burglar is less likely to climb a drainpipe on discovering the front door is open.
• Maturation – Physical, physiological and psychological ageing may bring maturity.
A hot-blooded robber may turn into a calm fraudster.
• Cognitive development – An increase in expertise and understanding of what is
possible, such as realising that certain people are more open to a charm offensive
than a violent one. This also includes greater familiarity with potential targets.
• Learning – The consequence of earlier criminal experience can produce learnt
changes. A serial rapist may threaten their victim to be quiet after a previous victim
screamed. Also, access to firearms, say, after a spell in prison may be regarded as
both learning and cognitive development.
• Career development – Criminals may move up through an organised network
becoming less of the ‘heavy’ forcing others and more of the ‘brains’ behind a crime.
• Cultural changes – Increased security makes some crimes more difficult. Airplane
hijacking is much more difficult with the changes at airports. This has given rise
to kidnapping and other forms of extortion. The development of the Internet,
discussed in Chapter 17, has also opened up other opportunities for criminality.
TABLE 12.3 Actions and characteristics relationships for arsonists.

Study N Offending Offender Correlation
style characteristic (Pearson’s r)
Canter 175 Expressive object (EO) Repeat arsonist (RA) 0.56
& Fritzon Expressive person (EP) Psychiatric history (PH) 0.38
(1998) Instrumental object (IO) Young offender (YO) 0.44
Instrumental person (IP) Failed relationship (FR) 0.49
FIGURE 12.1 Police officers meeting to plan the investigation of a crime.
Despite these complexities in relating actions to characteristics, there are now a num-
ber of studies that show these links between offending style and offender characteristics
do exist and can be established (e.g., Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Lobato, 2000; Youngs,
2004; Santtila, Junkkila & Sandnabba, 2005; Santtila, Laukkanen, Zappala & Bosco,
2008). The results from one such study are shown in Table 12.3. The identification
of such relationships points to the general feasibility of the inferential process. The chal-
lenge to develop theoretical and conceptual approaches to the complexities that will
allow full solutions to the original Canter profiling equations were mapped out at the
birth of investigative psychology.
THE INVESTIGATION PROCESS
A second major area of contribution psychologists can make to investigations relates to

improving the investigation process itself, and in particular, the way in which decisions
are made about which lines of enquiry to pursue and what actions to take during that
process. The main challenge to investigators is to make the right decisions under highly
pressurised conditions. Where the crime under investigation is a serious one or an ongoing
series of offences, there will be intense media attention, political and organisational stresses
that make objective judgement very difficult. Alongside these pressures, the investigators
must handle a vast amount of information, much of which may be of unknown reliability
or simply irrelevant, that needs to be amassed, organised and interpreted.
These challenges generate uncertainty both from within the decision-making team
and from external contexts (Alison, Power, van den Heuvel & Waring, 2015). The
challenge for those in charge of investigations is, therefore, to manage the many
cognitive challenges this uncertainty creates. One way of working with these issues is
to conceptualise an investigation as a series of decisions that detectives must make. This
can be represented as in Figure 12.2 (Canter & Youngs, 2009). In this diagram, the
lines represent investigative actions by the police, while the nodes are the results of
that action, that is, new pieces of information or facts. In the period immediately after
a crime occurs, investigators will often have very little information. Rapidly, however,
the investigation will uncover further pieces of information that, in turn, will produce
more information, suggesting further directions for investigative action. Typically, after
a fairly short period of time, the options will narrow down as the police actions (the
lines) show more and more of the information to be irrelevant to the case, and
detectives establish facts that close off all but one of the lines of enquiry.
Understanding the investigation process in these terms draws attention to two
possible points at which detectives may be particularly prone to making erroneous
decisions, and therefore, at which psychological contributions could be most useful.
The first potential problem point occurs early on in the process. As listed in Figure
12.2, in investigative decisions about the actions to be undertaken or the leads to follow
up must rely on the information that comes in; information that has come to light as
Police
CRIME
actions
OCCURS
Information
FIGURE 12.2 A simple model of how a police investigation unfolds.

CRIME
OCCURS
Investigation
CONVICTION
FIGURE 12.3 A simple model of how a police investigation develops towards a conclusion.
a result of previous actions. In other words, the range of options about what actions
to take at each point is contingent upon the previous decisions that have been made.
This opens up the potential for investigations to proceed along entirely wrong lines
if the early information is wrong or even just incomplete. It is in the early stages then
that investigative psychological findings about the features of the crime to focus on or
the geographical area to explore or the suspect pool to consider could then be most
instructive.
The second problem point is the result of the way in which information builds
rapidly in the early stages of an investigation. Each lead can give rise to numerous others
that, in turn, generate multiple follow-on leads. As Canter and Youngs (2009) argue,
this will give rise to exponential increases in the cognitive load on detectives, reaching
some maximum weight, typically after a few days. The weight of this cognitive load
on those involved in the investigation can distort the decisions that are made at this
point of the investigation.
Detectives labouring under huge quantities of information and time pressures may
rely on heuristics or ‘rules of thumb’, rather than more systematic approaches to make
decisions. Yet, as seminal psychological research has shown, decisions made in this way
are often inappropriate ones (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). As the investigation pro-
gresses, they will eventually be able to start to narrow down their lines of enquiry,
reducing the general demands upon them and the probability of distorted decisions.
The general diamond shape in Figure 12.3 shows the possible build up of conditions
under which various biases in investigators’ thought processes are likely to occur, with
consequent inadequacies in the decisions made and the subsequent actions.
Recognition of the potential for these problems is leading to the development of

decision support tools that reduce the complexity of the information that needs to be
understood and facilitates empirical analyses that can inform the decisions investigators
face. One such decision-support tool is iOPS, an interactive offender profiling system
(Canter & Youngs, 2008b). iOPS is one of the next generation of software tools for
police and law enforcement analysts, which integrates large police databases at speed,
drawing on the very latest research findings to improve and systematise the investigation
process through its ability to:
• Link crimes
• Prioritise suspects
• Build catalogues of offenders’ geo-behavioural profiles
• Generate potential TICs (further offences ‘taken into consideration’)
• Explore co-offending networks
• Indicate locations for intelligence gathering
• Map crimes and perform hotspot analysis
Adapted from Canter and Youngs (2008a)
However, administrative and bureaucratic complications mean that systems such as
iOPS are currtently rarely is use.
DRAGNET – A GEOGRAPHICAL DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM
There has been considerable development in drawing on one area of psychological

research to support police investigations. This has been the production of decision-support
systems that give guidance to detectives on where to focus their attention to find
offenders. This has become known as geographical offender profiling. This was first
outlined by Canter and Larkin (1993). These systems are usually based on two principles:
• Propinquity, which is the general idea that as the probability of a crime occurring
increases, the closer the crime is to the offender’s home. This is characterised by
what is known as a decay function because the probability of a crime occurring
decays as the distance from home increases.
• Morphology, which is the structure of crime locations, often around the home.
When these two principles are put together, a map can be generated that represents
the probabilities of the home being located at each point on the map. One system
using these two principles, known as Dragnet (Canter, 2004), produces a map as shown
in Figure 12.4 based on the locations of the bodies found of the victims of Jack the
Ripper (cf Canter, 2007 for more details). The analysis points to an area to the left of
the map close to Middlesex Street as a possible base for the murderer.
The maps produced by these systems can then be used for intelligence gathering
or for prioritising suspects, as well as a number of other ways to support investigative
decision-making.
The numerical nature of crime and home locations lend themselves to detailed
statistical tests, for example, of the best formula for characterising the decay function
(Canter & Hammond, 2006) and testing whether that improves the accuracy of
predicting where the home is likely to be (Canter, Coffey, Huntley & Missen, 2000).
FIGURE 12.4 An illustration of the output from geographical profiling software (Dragnet).
The names of the victims are the locations of the bodies of the murdered
victims of Jack the Ripper. In this case, the prediction is that Jack, the
Ripper had a base on Middlesex Street between where Kelly was murdered
and where a Graffitto was left. (More details in Canter (2007) Mapping
Murder, p. 124.)
There have also been developments in building mathematical models that do not
draw upon the aggregate probability functions of decays, by working out the character-
istics of a series of crimes committed by an individual. This approach that draws on the
characteristics of individual crime series is known as ‘ideographic’ (Canter, Hammond,
Youngs & Juszczak 2012).
Various approaches to geographical profiling have been successfully applied to a
wide range of crimes. These include burglary (Block & Bernasco, 2009), serial killers
(Canter, Coffey, Huntley & Missen 2000), vehicle theft (Tonkin, Woodhams, Bond
& Loe, 2010). In places as different as India (Sarangi & Youngs, 2006) and New
Zealand (Hammond, 2013).
ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF INVESTIGATIVE

INFORMATION
A further broad class of contribution psychologists can make to investigations concerns
the evaluation and enhancement of the information detectives are relying upon to
advance their enquiries. This information can be evaluated against the same scienti-
fic principles that psychologists would use to evaluate their data in a study. More
particularly, psychological research on distortions in recall, whether from normal
psychological memory deficiencies or deliberate attempts at deception, can be applied
to assess and offer ways to improve the material the police have (as discussed in Chapter
10). In relation to investigative information, psychologists will be concerned with
improvements on two components of the scientific data assessment approach. One of
these is the usefulness and detail of the material. The second is its accuracy or validity.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOPSY
One other interesting contribution to investigations as well as the courts, which is most
prevalent in the USA, is what is known as a ‘psychological autopsy’. This is an
assessment of an individual’s state of mind after that person has died. It developed as
part of suicide intervention programmes (Farberow & Shneidman, 1961). It became
a crucial tool in insurance examinations of suspicious suicides, and questioned murders,
most notably in Canter’s (2005) questioning of whether Paula Gilfoyle had been
murdered or killed herself.

The original procedure consisted of building a psychosocial description of the dead
person in the 30 days prior to their death. This included description of their activities,
relations with others, attitudes and any indications of their state of mind. This was based
on interviews with spouse, other relatives, friends, neighbours, supervisors, co-workers
and anyone else they may have contact with. The autopsy would focus on suicidal
ideation, indicators of depression and schizophrenia (Wekstein, 1979).
However, as Canter, Alison, Alison and Wentink (2004) have pointed out, in about
10 per cent of suicides, there are no previous indicators that may be apparent to friends
and family. Also, in a legal context, such as the death of Paula Gilfoyle, family may
be reluctant to talk about the dead person because they do not want to indicate that
person may have been suffering without their knowing, or because they did not want
to indicate that person had some sort of mental illness.
HELPING THE POLICE WITH THEIR ENQUIRIES

From the broad areas of study mentioned, psychologists are increasingly able to for-
mulate answers to, or approaches to answering, a number of the specific questions faced
during various stages of an investigation.
Investigators’ question Informed by psychologists’

understanding of:
What type of crime is this? The differentiation of criminal action
What are the likely characteristics of the sort of Investigative inferences
individual who might commit a crime such as this?
Which of the possible suspects are most likely to Investigative inferences
have committed the crime?
Where is the offender most likely to live in relation Geographical offender profiling
to the crime?
Which other crimes are likely to have been committed The consistency of criminal action
by the same perpetrator(s)?
Are the decisions made during the investigation free Decision-making under stress/
from distortion and bias? cognitive load
Have the lines of enquiry pursued been determined Decision-support tools
systematically?
Can we get the witness to remember more? How to interview a witness
Can we tell if a suspect is lying? The detection of deception
Can we tell who wrote something? Forensic psycholinguistics
Did this crime really happen? False allegations
Did this person really do the crime they say they did? False confessions
CONCLUSIONS
There are three broad forms of contribution psychologists can make to investigations.
These are a) investigative inferences, b) the investigation process and c) the assess-
ment and improvement of investigative information. Investigative psychology (IP) is the
academic discipline that has emerged in response to the need for a more scientific basis
to the ‘offender profiling’ advice given to investigators. The challenge at the heart of IP
is to resolve the Actions–Characteristics (A → C) equations, which relate the set of an
offender’s actions in a crime to the set of his or her characteristics, such that these
characteristics can be reliably inferred in the investigation context when the offender
is unknown.
Psychological principles are being applied to the investigation process itself to
facilitate decision-making and to evaluate the information upon which those decisions
are based. There is considerable psychological research that can be drawn upon to
improve both the usefulness and detail and the accuracy and validity of investigative
information. In particular, a number of specific psychological approaches to validity
assessment have been developed.
• Offender profiling • Canter profiling • Investigative

• Investigative equations information
psychology
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Is offender profiling possible?

• What psychological processes are implied by the claim there are links between an
offender’s actions and their characteristics?
• How might investigators benefit from psychologists’ assistance?
Books
Canter, D. V. (2007). Mapping murder: The secrets of geographical profiling, 2nd ed. London: Virgin.
Canter, D. V. (1995). Criminal shadows. London: Harper Collins (2006 edition, New York:
Dorset Press).
Canter, D., & Youngs, D. (2008) Investigative psychology: offender profiling and the analysis of criminal
Keppel, R. (2004). (Ed.). Offender profiling: readings in crime assessment and profiling. London:
Thomson/Custom Publishing.
Youngs, D. (Ed.). (2013). Behavioural analysis of crime: studies in David Canter’s investigative
psychology. Farnham: Ashgate.
Journal articles
Canter, D. V. (2011). Resolving the offender ‘profiling equations’ and the emergence of an
investigative psychology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(1), 5–10.
Canter, D., & Fritzon, K. (1998). Differentiating arsonists: a model of firesetting actions and
characteristics. Legal and Criminal Psychology, 3, 73–96.
Salfati, G., & Canter, D. (1999). Differentiating stranger murders: profiling offender character-
istics from behavioural styles. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 17, 391–406.
Websites
This website gives an overview of the topics covered by investigative psychology as well as other
useful resources:
www.davidcanter.com
The following website gives an account of various approaches to profiling:
www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/criminal.aspx
This website critically analyses the usefulness of offender profiles:
www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/cjm/article/usefulness-criminal-profiling
4 Areas of
application
13 Psychology and
the police
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the issues involved in the recruitment and selection of police officers.
2 Understand what advancements there are in UK police training.
3 Discuss the role of stress in policing.
Although this book is about criminal psychology, there are many aspects of psychology
considered in the previous part of this book that overlap with more general aspects of
police work. In addition, there are contributions that psychologists make to policing
that draw on other areas of applied psychology. These include the recruitment and
selection of police officers, counselling in relation to critical incidents and more general
family matters. They also include direct operational assistance, especially in hostage
negotiations. Furthermore, contributions to training and management are increasingly
being made by psychologists, often drawing on the material discussed in earlier
chapters.
THE ROLE OF A POLICE OFFICER
It is important to be aware that formal, organised police forces are a relatively new
development in modern society. Although an organisation dedicated to the main-
tenance of order in society can be traced back at least to the Roman Emperor Augustus,
it was only in 1829 that the first official police force was set up as the Metropolitan
Police in London. Previously, and still in many countries today, there was little distinc-
tion between the military and the police. As a consequence, there was (and is in some
places still) a general disquiet by the general public about what the role of the police
was and whether they would help or inhibit civil liberties. It is, therefore, instructive
to note the initial orders issued by Sir Robert Peel, when he established the police
force, regarding the conduct of police constables:
180 AREAS OF APPLICATION
He will be civil and obliging to all people of every rank and class. He must be
particularly cautious not to interfere idly nor unnecessarily in order to make a
display of his authority; when required to act, he will do so with decision and
boldness; on all occasions, he may expect to receive the fullest support in the
proper exercise of his authority.
(Klockars, 1985, p. 47)
In general, the police have three primary objectives, each of which carries impli-
cations for psychological support:

1 Prevention of crime
2 Detection of offenders
3 Preservation of the peace
The combination of the requirement that police officers be ‘civil and obliging’,
as well as the more coercive tasks, do make it a challenging job with great potential
for stress. It is also a potentially extremely varied job covering everything from taking
statements from victims and witnesses, interviewing suspects, managing traffic, crowd
control, carrying out administrative duties, and maybe, even engaging in covert oper-
ations. Selecting people appropriate for this range of tasks and training and managing
them effectively is a challenge in itself, as is shown from time to time when police
officers are convicted of failures in their duty, bullying, corruption and worse.
WHAT POLICE PSYCHOLOGISTS DO
The term police psychology is most readily recognised in the USA, with its own
organisations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Psycho-
logical Services Section, Society for Police and Criminal Psychology and American
Psychological Association, Division 18, Police and Public Safety Section. Drawing on
these organisations, Aumiller and Corey (2007) identified over fifty distinct pro-
ficiencies that police psychologists need to demonstrate (see Focus box 13.1), although,
of course, none cover the full range of areas and many only deal with one.
Aumiller and Corey (2007) put these areas of activity under four domains of practice:
1 Assessment-related activities
2 Intervention services
3 Operational support
4 Organisational/management consultation
RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
From the earliest days of psychological testing, various law enforcement agencies have,
from time to time, taken advantage of the ease and objectivity of psychological tests.
As early as 1916, police selection in California utilised the then novel intelligence
testing procedure (Dietz & Reese, 1986). But subsequently, although, in general, police
forces have been rather conservative in their approaches to selection, they have
increasingly made use of psychometric procedures.
PSYCHOLOGY AND THE POLICE 181
FIGURE 13.1 The police carry out a wide range of tasks.
The use of various personality tests of police officers have found, very generally, that
when compared to the rest of the population, police officers are more conservative,
extraverted and tough-minded (Cook, 1977; Colman & Gorman, 1982). In a British
study, Burbeck and Furnham (1984), using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
(EPQ), found that successful candidates were more extraverted and less neurotic than
unsuccessful candidates. However, these findings do not necessarily predict later success.
Most assessments are aimed at determining whether applicants have any problems
of emotional adjustment, antisocial tendencies or mental disturbance at the time of
their application. In other words, the process is one of ‘screening out’ people who
may become an embarrassment or risk to the police force, rather than selecting those
who are predicted to be outstanding police officers. One inventory commonly used
is the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) (Inwald & Gebbia, 1993), which was
specifically devised for use in jobs relating to security and policing. The Minnesota
Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which has a long history of use in many
areas of psychology (Hathaway & McKinley, 1940), is also popular with law
enforcement agencies, as it provides indications of many different psychological
disorders and other aspects of mental health.
Detrick and Chibnull (2002) examined whether police officer performance
could be predicted using the IPI. They examined whether performance on the job
after working for a year in the field as evaluated by their supervisors could be
predicted from pre-employment IPI scores. In their study of the performance and
IPI scores of 108 applicants, they found that three of the IPI scales – family conflicts,
guardedness and driving violations – significantly predicted supervisors’ ratings of
officers’ performance on the job.
However, as Dunnette and Motowidlo (1976) pointed out, there are many aspects
of actually being a police officer that influence the person’s actions and attitudes.
As a consequence, there is little evidence that conventional measures of personality
on their own predict how a person will perform throughout a career in the police.
The idea that police culture and training influences and alters personality is referred
to as the socialisation model (Brown & Willis, 1985). Indeed, the evidence is that police
officers tend to show more symptoms relating to their body, more anxiety and more
alcohol vulnerability the longer they’ve been in the police (Hyatt & Hargrave, 1988).
Thus, predictors of these potential problems are less likely to be effective at the time
of selecting police officers. Curiously, Neal (1986) found that recruits who keep quiet
about their attitudes and feelings when being recruited are more likely to become
successful police officers.
Another problem with the use of psychometric testing is that the criteria to be used
have not been generally agreed (Ainsworth, 2002). Systematic research on the key
attributes required of a police officer is inconclusive. Identifying suitable recruits is an
extremely important issue because employing the wrong individual will cost a police
force financially due to the high costs involved in training recruits and could also
damage the reputation of the police force.
QUALITIES OF POLICE OFFICERS
An important aspect of developing appropriate psychometric criteria is a careful

analysis of what police officers do. This is often couched in terms of job and task
analysis. This requires as objective a description as possible of what the job essentially
consists of and what the subsidiary components are. This enables the identification of
the appropriate selection criteria as well as training needs, performance measurement
instruments, career development plans and other personnel-related assessments.
The job and task analysis typically involves a survey of incumbents and superiors.
This allows the duties, activities, responsibilities and other job requirements to be speci-
fied. It also enables the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform the job
to be specified. In a thorough job and task analysis, the relative contribution to
performance is calculated, usually in terms of importance, frequency and criticality.
In broad terms, a ‘good cop’ is often specified as having the following characteristics:
• Bravery and courage
• Decisiveness
• Consistency and reliability
• Resistance to stress
• Cooperativeness
• Traditional values
• Respect for authority
Blau (1994), p. 72
In the quarter of a century since these characteristics were listed, it may be expected
that other characteristics are becoming dominant. Certainly, at the senior levels in the
UK, intellectual and academic ability are coming to the fore. Awareness of human
Areas of activity of police psychologists (based on Aumiller

& Corey, 2007)
Assessment domain
Job analysis
Pre-employment, evaluations of job candidates
Post-offer psychological evaluations
Psychological fitness-for-duty evaluations, evaluations for reasonable

accommodation
Evaluations for high-risk, high-demand assignments
Direct threat assessments
Workplace violence assessments
Emergency consultations concerning the seriously mentally ill
Supervision of psychological assistants, interns, residents or fellow police
psychologists
Pre-offer suitability screening of job
Promotional assessments
Assessment centre development and administration assessment
Psychological evaluations (normal traits and competencies) for high-risk, high-
demand assignments
Psychological autopsies (not for case closure)
Development of psychologically based tests or assessment
Assessment-related education and training
Assessment-related research
Assessment-related process improvement
Assessment-related consultation
Intervention domain
Employee assistance
Individual therapy
Group, couple, family therapy or counselling group
Critical incident early intervention
Dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Critical incident therapy or counselling
Counselling to cope with unique or chronic job stressors (e.g., deep
undercover, homicide, child abuse, sex crimes, etc.)
FOCUS 13.1
Disability recovery
Mental attitude preparation
Wellness programmes
Life coaching
Intervention-related education and training
Intervention-related research
Intervention-related process improvement

Operational domain
Psychological intelligence
Psychological autopsies (for case resolution)
Hostage negotiation
Counterterrorism/anti-terrorism operations
Counterintelligence
Threat assessments
Operations-related education and training
Operations-related process improvement
Consulting domain
FOCUS 13.1 Continued
Development of performance appraisal systems

Organisational consultation
Executive consultation
Management consultation
Supervisor consultation
Process consultation
Mediation
Multi-rater feedback
Consulting psychology-related education and training
Consulting psychology-related research
diversity and respect for that is also being asked for. Rather than ‘traditional values’,
police in many countries are being required to accept the sorts of equalities that
Sir Robert Peel emphasised when he first established a police force.
POLICE SELECTION IN ENGLAND AND WALES
So far, the focus has been predominantly on studies from America where police
psychologists have a much wider range of formal roles (see Focus box 13.1). Across
the forty-three police forces in England and Wales, there has been increasing
standardisation in the recruitment and selection of police officers (National Policing
Plan, 2005–2008). This has introduced more consistency in how police officers are
recruited. There is now a national recruitment application form that is used by all
forces. Each force has an operational assessment centre where recruits undergo a
competency-based structured interview comprising four questions, a numeric and
verbal logical reasoning test, two written exercises and four interactive exercises. Seven
core competencies for undertaking the role of police constable are assessed (refer to
Focus box 13.2 for details). These required competencies were put together by a Home
Office Working group.
The seven core competencies can be categorised into three types: job related, general
skills and personality characteristics. The competencies that are considered to be related
The key competencies for a police officer

• Effective communication – Communicates all needs, instructions and
decisions clearly. Adapts the style of communication to meet the needs of
the audience.
• Community and customer focus – Sees things from the customer’s point
of view and encourages others to do the same.
• Personal responsibility – Takes personal responsibility for own actions and

for dealing with issues or problems that arise.
• Resilience – Remains calm and confident and responds logically and
decisively in difficult situations.
• Problem solving – Gathers information from a range of sources to
understand situations, making sure it is reliable and accurate.
• Respect for race and diversity – Understands other people’s views and
FOCUS 13.2
takes them into account. Treats people with dignity and respect at all
times, no matter what their background, status, circumstances or
appearance.
• Team working – Works effectively as a team member and helps build
relationships within the team.
Taken from: www.policecouldyou.co.uk/documents/pc-guide-brochure2835.pdf?view=Binary
to the nature of the work of a police constable are community focus and respect and
awareness of race and diversity issues. The key skills required are communication,
problem solving and ability to work in a team. The personality characteristics required
are resilience and responsibility.
FITNESS FOR DUTY
A very specialised area of psychological evaluation is to assess whether the incumbent

police officer can safely and effectively carry out their duties (Blau, 1994; Aumiller
& Corey, 2007). These evaluations are designated when there is clear evidence that
the employee may be substantially psychologically impaired or pose a direct threat to
themself. The assessment has to be based on an adequate understanding of the
requirements and working conditions of the employee’s position. So, it does require
considerable experience on the part of the psychologist.
These assessments usually consist of a number of components, which have many
similarities to the psychological autopsy discussed in Chapter 12, although, of course,
in this case, the person at the focus is available to talk to and test:
• A clinical interview in which the officer’s current and past medical history and
mental health status are determined. An important aspect is the psychologist taking
careful note of how the officer deals with the stressful aspects of the interview
situation.
• Collateral information will also be collected from family, colleagues or even

counsellor and associates who have been working with the officer.
• In some cases, an intellectual evaluation will be made, probably using a standard
intelligence test. This would be, for example, if it was thought that the stresses of
the tasks being given to the officer were in part because of the intellectual demands
of those tasks.
• Brain function might also be examined, especially if the officer had experienced
some physical trauma, especially head injuries. An alert to the need for this may
be memory dysfunction, cognitive confusion or diminution of ability to plan or

organise things effectively.
• Personality evaluation would also take place if the officer’s actions and judgements
had been brought into question. The psychometric tests used in selection to deter-
mine whether there was any mental illness or personality disorder may well be
drawn on for this purpose.
SELECTION FOR SPECIAL UNITS
There are a number of roles in the police that are particularly stressful and put special
demands on the capabilities of those taking on those roles. They include:
• In the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams. These are highly trained units
with weapons that allow rapid, confrontational entry into a building. There is no
direct equivalent in the UK, but there are officers who are specially selected and
trained to use firearms.
• Being involved in undercover operations is often a long-term commitment that
requires considerable skills. It also can create a unique variety of stressors, such as
the constant vigilance required to maintain an alternate identity, fears of exposure,
separations from family and friends and even pressures to commit criminal
acts (Aumiller & Corey, 2007). There is also the special ability to be able to avoid
initiating crime, and thus, becoming an agent provocateur, which would endan-
ger any subsequent court proceedings. There is a long history of undercover
policemen becoming corrupt, so the psychological issues of this role are consider-
able.
• Taking part in hostage negotiation is another highly skilled task that requires special
types of individuals and training, discussed in more detail below.
• Emergency consultations concerning the seriously mentally ill. Police psychologists
provide direct and indirect assessment of individuals identified by police officers
as potentially suicidal, imminently dangerous to self or others, unable to provide
for basic personal needs as a result of a mental disease or disorder, incapable of
understanding risks to health and safety as the result of a mental disorder, using
drugs or alcohol in a manner that might endanger the safety of the individual or
others or who are extremely combative in association with a mental disease or
disorder. The police psychologist consults with police officers on de-escalation,
crisis intervention and referral to a medical treatment facility for voluntary or
involuntary emergency psychiatric evaluation.
• Working with youngsters involved in crime also has its own requirements.
• Investigating sex crimes is another challenging area of policing, both in inter-

viewing victims and carrying out other aspects of the investigation.
Psychologists are often involved in helping to select people for these roles as well as
contributing to their training for the tasks they have to deal with.
In all of these cases, the central psychological task is to determine whether the
individual is confident and stable. The assessment procedures in general used for
selection are also used to identify individuals who are most likely to cope with the
challenges of these assignments. In addition, some form of assessment centre is likely

to be used, which provides simulation exercises in which the applicant is observed
dealing with examples of the sorts of situations that might be experienced on a mission.
As in other areas of selection, the focus is usually to keep out people who are likely
to find it difficult to perform effectively in the challenging circumstances. It is not
usually to predict individual competency relative to other team members. Furthermore,
Baruth (1988) recommended that routine health checks are carried out on police
officers who have dealings with hostage and terrorist incidents. In the UK, where it
is very rare for a police officer to discharge a firearm, whenever that does happen,
some sort of psychological counselling is often carried out.
POLICE TRAINING
Police training is an area where psychologists in Britain have not been utilised as
extensively as in America (Hollin, 1989). However, the most notable input of British
psychologists to police training occurred in the early 1980s in London. In 1982, the
Metropolitan Police introduced a new training programme for police recruits, human
awareness training (HAT), which was later re-titled police skills training (PST). The
training programme focused on developing recruits in three main areas: interpersonal
skills, self-awareness and community relations. An independent evaluation project was
carried out over a 5-year period by two psychologists Ray Bull and Peter Horncastle
(for full details, see Horncastle & Bull, 1986; Bull & Horncastle, 1989, 1994). In
subsequent years, this sort of training has found its way throughout the police in various
diffused ways.
The findings of those early training programmes did show a reduction in social
anxiety of the recruits across the test periods, with levels of self-esteem showing little
change on completion of the training programme. Officers who had received HAT
training received fewer complaints against them during their first 3 years of service
when compared with a matched control group. In terms of improvements in the skills
that the HAT programme set out, to enhance the interpersonal skills component was
considered to be the best aspect of the training, self-awareness reasonable and
community relations poor. On completion of the evaluation, Bull and Horncastle
recommended a number of modifications that they felt needed to be made to the
training programme in light of their findings. These recommendations included
enhancing officers’ sympathy towards victims and improvement of the self-evaluation
and awareness components of the training programme.
In the USA, a broader range of training activity is sometimes carried out by police
psychologists. These centre on preventing and/or ameliorating problematic behaviours
in law enforcement officers. It can consist of providing individual or group education
and training about the causes and consequences of such behaviours, as well as
techniques for changing behaviour. Such training typically focuses on critical issues in
law enforcement, such as understanding and controlling:
1 Police use of deadly force
2 Deviant or corrupt police behaviour
3 Police prejudice and discrimination
4 Violence-prone police officer
5 Substance abuse by police officers

Police psychologists might also provide information about stress management or
other psychological health and wellness issues within an educational or work setting,
rather than in a clinical setting. (Taken from Aumiller & Corey, 2007.)
STRESS AND POLICE WORK
The concept of stress was developed by Selye (1956). Selye considered stress in terms
of the physiological responses of the body to the demands made upon it. No single
definition of stress exists. Ainsworth and Pease (1987: 43) ask ‘Is stress something
that is imposed on you (a stimulus) or is it a way in which you react to the world
(a response)?’ Many researchers approach stress from both angles considering stress in
terms of environmental stressors and how individuals respond to stress. Stress responses
can be divided into three categories, physiological, psychological and behavioural
(Schuler, 1980). Physiological symptoms consist of bodily changes such as increased
heart rate and headaches. Psychological responses include apathy, forgetfulness and
irritability. Behavioural changes include loss of appetite, disturbed sleeping patterns
and increased smoking or alcohol habits.
Policing is considered to be one of the most stressful occupations (Brown &
Campbell, 1994). Occupational stress is something that should be taken seriously
because stress can impact upon the health and welfare of officers and effect job
performance as a result of absenteeism or inability to focus on the job. There is an
extensive literature on stress in policing, most of which stems from America (see Toch,
2002).
HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION
Getty and Elam (1988) found that hostage negotiators had above-average ability to
communicate with others, were self-confident and good at divergent thinking and
helpful and sympathetic in their dealing with others.
Negotiators find it useful to identify different types of hostage situations (Blau, 1994):
1 Where a criminal takes hostages to ensure escape or for ransom.
2 Criminals unexpectedly trapped while robbing seize hostages to get out.
3 As part of a prison riot.
4 Mentally ill person with disturbed thinking.
5 Person under severe stress, possibly intoxicated, for example, a parent taking a child
hostage in a custody dispute.
6 As part of a political, terrorist campaign. This cannot usually be handled by local

police.
One of the central concerns law enforcement has in these cases is to avoid injury
to or death of the hostage. Phillips (2013) found that this did not relate to whether
the event was undertaken by criminals or those politically motivated, but rather to the
degree of violence they were willing to express.
Yokota (2013) developed these ideas, giving firmer empirical support to the
underlying variations that Blau (1994) identified. Yokota draws on an action system
framework (Shye, 1985) to identify four processes underlying hostage events that
related to differences between the people taking and their reasons for doing so:
‘Integrative’ hostage situations had the most disturbed styles of destructive and inter-
personal activity. No substantive demands were made by these hostage-takers,
and variables such as ‘drug use’, ‘sexual activity’, ‘demand for alcohol’ or ‘demand
for victim’s comfort’ were actions in this mode. These hostage situations are often
public places. These were perpetrators with emotional or mental problems.
‘Adaptive’ situations are the ones in which the perpetrators react to an unprepared
environment and take hostages in order to obtain tangible rewards. Most typically,
the perpetrators held hostages as a consequence of their failure to carry out a crime
successfully.
‘Expressive’ mode in which a partner or relative is typically involved. These
hostage-takers are likely to hold as a hostage an individual with whom they have
a close but troubled relationship, often a wife or a girlfriend. Hostage taking arises
from the frustration of the perpetrator, and they are likely to attempt to redress
the problems of the relationship following a long period of difficulty.
In Conservative situations, perpetrators tend to have objectives that are related
to their own systems of beliefs and values. They plan in advance, anticipating
the impact their actions will have. They make various demands and goals for the
outcome. These are often related to their own beliefs or values and their political
backgrounds. They have little personal interest in their victims and view them
merely as means of achieving their goals.
(From Yokota, 2013, p. 70–71)
The way the hostage negotiator will deal with the situation would normally vary
considerably depending on what sort of event it was. A planned terrorist incident
would, for example, require a quite different approach from interacting with a
mentally disturbed individual, or one who has taken a family member hostage. A psy-
chologist may often be on-hand to help with this as well as supporting the police
officers in dealing with their own stresses.
POLICE WORK STRESSORS
One of the key psychological research studies on stress is the work carried out by
Holmes and Rahe (1967). They claimed that certain events in life can cause stress and
increase susceptibility to illness. Holmes and Rahe’s (1967) Social Readjustment
Rating Scale (SRRS) lists forty-three life events that are considered to be stressful.
These events are ranked on a scale of stressfulness. The death of a spouse is rated as
the highest stressful life event and the lowest is a minor violation of the law. However,
there is likely to be variation in how individuals deal with stressful life events and the
scale does not take this into account. The scale also neglects other factors that may
play a role in stress and susceptibility to illness, such as lifestyle and diet. Sewell (1983)
has developed a critical life events scale specifically for law enforcement officers. The
scale consists of 144 items. At the top of the scale is the death of a partner in the line
of duty and at the lower end of the scale the completion of a routine report.
In a review of the literature on stress, Terry (1981) identified four categories

of stressors, which he termed external, internal, task and individual. External stressors
included negative public opinion, bad media coverage and dissatisfaction with court
sentences. Internal stressors included dissatisfaction with training and pay level. Task-
related stressors focused on the nature of police work and included working in danger-
ous situations and the investigation of certain types of crime, such as child abuse.
Individual stressors included officers concerns regarding their competence, success and
safety. Terry’s typology offers a useful framework for considering the stressors faced
by police officers.
Cooper, Davidson and Robinson (1982) identified nine police work stressors. Work
overload was considered the highest stressor, with complaints against the police the
lowest. Gudjonsson and Adlam (1983) have also examined stressors perceived to be
stressful by the police. Ninety-three British police officers were asked to rate forty-
five situations that they could face in the line of duty. The highest rated and, therefore,
the situation considered to be the most stressful was being taken hostage by terrorists.
The lowest rated and least stressful situation was going into people’s homes.
Unpredictable and uncontrollable events were rated as most stressful, for example,
confronting a person with a gun and negotiating over hostages, which highlights the
notion of control as a factor in police stress. This study differed from Cooper,
Davidson and Robinson (1982), in that officers were asked how stressful a situation
would be if it took place, rather than asking about an actual situation they had
experienced.
Research has revealed a difference in the stressors of officers of different ranks, which
corresponds to officers’ length of service and nature of duties performed. The main
source of stress experienced by higher-ranking officers is work overload. With lower-
ranking officers citing the dangers they face in routine policing such as having to deal
with violent confrontations (Gudjonsson & Adlam, 1983). This highlights how the
type of work carried out by different officers exposes them to different types of occu-
pational stressors.
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Stress can be managed at an individual and organisational level. In the area of police
stress, the focus has tended to be on the management of stress at the organisational
level (Bull, Bustin, Evans & Gahagan 1983). In two studies that asked officers about
ways of managing job stress, five organisational factors were identified: better training
to cope with demanding situations, support from senior ranks, better familiarity with
police procedures, improved police-community relations and fewer bureaucratic
obstacles (Gudjonsson & Adlam, 1982; Gudjonsson, 1983, cited in Hollin, 1989: 144).
Interestingly, no reference was made to the offer of counselling for officers who had
experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. This may be because of the police’s
negative view and rejection of psychological services (Miller, 1995). This relates to
the occupational culture of the police, whereby counselling services are likely to be
perceived as an inability to cope and frowned upon by colleagues. It is important
for the police service to develop an understanding of which aspects of the job cause
stress and also how individuals deal with stress to determine how best they can manage
stress at an organisational level.

Critical incident debriefing is a procedure that has been developed recently and used
in policing when officers have experienced a traumatic or critical incident (Bohl, 2013).
Critical incident stress debriefing is usually carried out by a psychologist and involves
asking officers to describe the incident in their own words and from their own
viewpoint, followed by an examination of their thoughts and emotional reactions. An
assessment of the individual’s physical and psychological symptoms will be conducted
and strategies for coping outlined.
Leonard and Alison (1999) explored the effectiveness of Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD) with Australian police officers who had been involved in a
shooting incident. They compared two groups of thirty officers, one group that had
received CISD and one group that had not. The two groups were examined for
differences in maladaptive coping strategies and levels of anger. The findings revealed
that the group that received CISD showed a significant reduction in anger levels and
use of adaptive coping strategies. However, Leonard and Alison (1999) emphasise the
need for further research on CISD to also consider contextual life factors that may
impact upon stress levels and coping strategies.
The police service has begun to recognise the detrimental effects stress can have on
its officers and the ways in which stress can be identified and managed. In order to
reduce stress levels in policing, there needs to be a conscious move away from the
perception that officers are tough and able to cope with anything the job throws at
them. There also needs to be an acknowledgment and acceptance by officers that
attending counselling and/or debriefing sessions aims to help them and does not reflect
an inability to cope.
PUBLIC ORDER POLICING
One further area of recent social psychological research that is informing the work
of the police is the study of crowd behaviour (Drury & Scott, 2011). The result of
this work is finding its way into policy and training of those police officers who deal
with protests and other events demanding maintenance of public order (Hoggett &
Stott, 2012). These studies of crowd behaviour draw on a form of participant
observation (being part of the crowd) and interviews of those participating in public
events. They challenge earlier views that crowds were primitive challenges to civilised
society. Instead, they offer a nuanced view of individuals within crowds forming
an identity of themselves in relation to any other groups, notably law enforcement
that may challenge them. The implications of this are that public order policing
needs to be aware of the individuals within a crowd and not treat any large group of
people as a homogenous mass. When training in the social psychological issues are acted
on notable reductions in public disorder are possible (Stott, Hoggett & Pearson, 2012).
POLICE CULTURE
Brown (2000) in considering occupational culture as a factor in the stress experiences

of police officers, comments how the ‘particularities of the police occupational culture
create a working climate and foster patterns of behaviour that are supportive of but
can inhibit or exacerbate individuals adverse reactions to stressor exposure’ (p. 259).
Police forces consist of predominantly male officers, it is, therefore, of no surprise that
the police culture has a ‘strong masculine ethos’ (Brown, 2000). Females and ethnic
minorities are still underrepresented in the police force (Ainsworth, 2002). The police
develop informal support systems with their colleagues, but they do not discuss and
share emotional issues (Stephens, Long & Miller, 1997). This links back to the com-
ments outlined above regarding the acceptance and acknowledgement of the need for
counselling and critical incident debriefing to address the emotional pressures police
officers may experience.
CONCLUSIONS
The role of a police officer is diverse and multifaceted, which poses a challenge for
selection. Attempts to deal with this have been made using psychometric testing in
police recruitment and selection in the USA. However, research on the key attributes
required for suitable police recruits is inconclusive. The use of assessment centres is
now a standard procedure in the recruitment and selection process for police officers in
the UK. Assessment involves a structured interview, role-play exercises, numerical and
verbal testing.
The training of police officers is generally conducted ‘in-house’, within the police
organisation. In the UK, training courses are rarely taught by psychologists. The most
notable contribution of British psychologists to police training is an evaluation of the HAT
programme for new recruits carried out by Bull and Horncastle (1986). However, there
have been recent advancements in UK police training, with the consultation and input
from academics and practitioners in the development and implementation of training
programmes. This has included the utilisation of simulation exercises, a form of
immersive learning that offers a unique and effective way of training officers in
specialised roles and investigations.
Policing is one of the most stressful occupations. Work stressors vary according to
the rank of officer and the policing tasks they are involved in. Stress needs to be
managed at both an individual and organisational level. Psychological counselling and
CISD are two ways in which stress in policing can be addressed. Police culture impacts
upon the stress experienced by officers. The tough, masculine ethos and informal
support system mean officers are likely to keep their emotional feelings bottled up and
hold a negative view of psychological services.
Over recent years, the police service in the UK has become much more open to input
from psychologists, especially with regard to the training of officers and the development
of training programmes, which marks a positive step forward. To further contribute
psychological principles, theories and research into the recruitment, selection and training
of police officers, the police service and psychologists must work together and foster
closer links to further understanding of each other’s line of work. The combination of
practical knowledge and experience of police procedures and scientific endeavour will
produce more effective developments within the field of psychology and policing.
• Psychometric • Stress in policing • Simulation exercises

testing • Inwald Personality • Critical Incident
• Minnesota Multi- Inventory (IPI) Stress Debriefing
Phasic Personality • Eysenck Personality (CISD)
Inventory (MMPI) Questionnaire (EPQ) • Hostage negotiation
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current methods used to recruit
and select police officers.
• How can psychology be used to advance the training of police officers?
• Outline the key stressors related to police work and the ways in which stress can be
managed.
Books
Ainsworth, P. B. (2002). Psychology and policing. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
Blagdon, N. (2012). Policing and psychology. London: Sage.
Brown, J. M., & Campbell, E. A. (1994). Stress and policing: sources and strategies. New York:
Wiley.
Bull, R., Bustin, R., Evans P., & Gahagan, D. (1983). Psychology for police officers. Chichester:
Wiley.
Oxburgh, G., Myklebust, T., Grant, T., Milne, R. R. (2015). Communication in investigative
and legal contexts: integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement.
Chichester: Wiley.
Toch, H. (2002). Stress in policing. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Journal articles
The Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology publishes papers that deal with many of the issues
in the present chapter.
Bartol, C. R. (1996). Police psychology: then, now and beyond. Criminal Justice and Behaviour,
23, 70–89.
Bull, R., & Horncastle, P. (1994). Evaluation of police recruit training involving psychology.
Psychology, Crime and Law, 1, 143–9.
Ross, L., & Alison, L. (1999). Critical incident stress debriefing and its effects on coping
strategies and anger in a sample of Australian police officers involved in shooting incidents.
Work and Stress, 13(2), 144–61.
Websites
The following website outlines the qualities of potential officers by the College of Policing:
http://recruit.college.police.uk/Pages/home.aspx
The following website gives an overview of the symptoms and effects of stress causes and
impacts on police officers:
www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/officer-safety/stress-fatigue/Pages/welcome.aspx
The following website gives an overview of how psychology can be integrated into every day
policing:
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-9/ferguson-policing-and-social-
psychology
14 Psychology
in court
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the various models used to study jury decision-making.

2 Be aware of the areas of law in which psychologists practice.
3 Discuss the many roles that psychological evidence may take in court.
4 Appreciate the ethical concerns of studying and understanding jury decision-
making.
5 Understand how risk of reoffending is determined.
SUMMARY
This chapter provides an overview of forensic psychology in its most literal form –
direct application to the courts. Psychology contributes to and explores the judicial
process before the trial, during it, and after. Typically, this is by providing expert
testimony in a clinical, experimental, actuarial or advisory role. A variety of procedures,
including intensive interviews and psychometric procedures, are drawn upon. Social
psychologists have studied the legal process through mock juries and surveys. These
studies include how juries are influenced and the impact of external influences on
aspects of the legal process.
ROLES OF A PSYCHOLOGIST IN PROVIDING ASSISTANCE

TO THE COURTS
Haward (1981; see also Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998) identified four roles that a forensic
psychologist may fulfil depending on the nature of the legal case. These are clinical,
experimental, actuarial and advisory. In some instances, the psychologist may fulfil more
than one of these roles. In all but the advisory role, the psychologist acts as an expert
witness. This means that, unlike other witnesses who are restricted to stating facts, experts
are allowed to provide opinion evidence on issues that are considered outside the know-
ledge of the jury or judiciary and within their specialist competence (Kapardis, 1997;
Ogloff & Polvi, 1998; Cox, 1999; Schuller & Ogloff, 2001; Hess, 2006). Within most
Western legal systems expert witnesses, like all witnesses, are subjected to examination-
in-chief by the party that called them, cross-examination and re-examination.
Psychologists usually submit reports in advance of giving evidence in court. If the
report is not deemed useful to the side that requested the report, it may not be
presented to the court. In this situation, the psychologist will not be asked to be a
witness in the actual court. If both the defence and prosecution accept the report, then
the psychologist may not have to defend it in person either. Consequently, writing a
clear report that addresses the issue the court is interested in is crucial.
Being an expert witness does, therefore, require some understanding of the legal
process. In the present chapter, it is assumed that the process is what is known as the
‘adversarial system’, which is the main process in most English language, Anglo-Saxon-
origin countries, notably the UK, the USA, Australia and Canada. This is the system
where a defence and prosecution are clearly identified, having distinct roles in the court.
In this process, most serious cases are tried in front of a jury of ordinary people. In
many other countries, for example, across mainland Europe and countries such as India
and South Africa, juries are far less usual. In those countries, the final decisions are
made by a judge or magistrate, so it is known as a ‘magisterial system’. In the absence
of a jury and with the expert not explicitly called by the defence or the prosecution,
the expert has a somewhat different, and often more significant role. In the adversarial
system, the judge usually decides the sentence the convicted person will receive.
Although in some US cases, the jury may decide this.
EVIDENCE PRIOR TO THE TRIAL TAKING PLACE
Fitness to plead (competency to stand trial)

Some people charged with a crime are considered so intellectually and/or psycho-
logically impaired that they are unable to understand the charges against them or the
judicial process that is dealing with them. They may be unable to cooperate rationally
with their legal representative in their own defence. In such cases, the defendant may
be considered under the English law, Unfit to Plead, called in the US ‘not competent
to stand trial’. In determining fitness to plead, it is necessary to determine whether the
defendant is able to:
• Defend themself
• Challenge a juror
• Understand the substance of the evidence
• Understand the nature of the charge
• Follow the proceedings in court
• Understand the difference between pleading guilty and not guilty
Traditionally, those considered unfit to plead were detained in hospital; however,
since the enactment of the UK Criminal Procedure1 (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead)
PSYCHOLOGY IN COURT 197
Act 1991, innocent individuals go free and a range of disposals are now available for
those who have acted as charged (Ormerod, 2005).
In unfitness to plead deliberations, the question essentially is, ‘What is the defendant’s
state of mind at the present time, or at the time of the trial?’ An individual who was
seriously mentally disordered at the time of an offence may be fit to plead by the time
of their trial. Conversely, a person may be mentally stable during an offence, but may
later become disordered and be determined Unfit to Plead.
This is assessed through an intensive interview. Sometimes, the sorts of assessment
instruments discussed in Chapter 3 are used.
DURING THE TRIAL
The insanity defence

In a trial, two main elements need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt: actus reus
(the guilty act) and mens rea (intent to commit the act). Actus reus requires a voluntary
physical act. For example, if person X pushed person Y’s arm into person Z, person
Y would not be criminally responsible because the act was not voluntary. The rare
defence of automatism is one example, in which the defendant commits the act while
unconscious due to head injury, hypnotic suggestion, shock created by bullet wounds
or metabolic disorders (such as anoxia, hypoglycaemia or the involuntary ingestion of
alcohol or drugs) (Melton, Petrila, Poythress & Slobogin 2007, p. 219).
Perhaps, the most well-known defence regarding mens rea is the insanity defence,
discussed in Chapter 3. While this is primarily the domain of psychiatrists, in most
jurisdictions psychologists are sometimes involved, often to complement a psychiatric
evaluation (Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998).
The first role is the clinical or assessment role. This is the most common role for
psychologists in legal proceedings (Gudjonsson, 1985, 1996; Kapardis, 1997). Typically,
the psychologist conducts an assessment interview in order to answer a particular
question posed by the court or the defence or prosecution. The interview may include
the use of psychometric tests, including personality, mental state and cognitive testing,
as well as tests that focus solely on forensic issues such as the person’s competency to
understand the legal process, or even if the person may be malingering or lying.
This role has a somewhat different focus to the usual therapeutic relationship with
a patient. Of particular note is the absence of a traditional psychologist–client
relationship. In a treating capacity, the ‘client’ is generally the person being assessed
or treated. In a forensic assessment situation, the client is usually the referral source
(e.g., solicitor, court or agency). Accordingly, informed consent of the examinee is
required because any material discussed during the assessment interview may be
included in the report that is provided to the referrer (Melton, Petrila, Poythress &
Slobogin, 2007).
However, although the psychologist may have been commissioned, and actually
paid by a solicitor, the opinion provided has to be unbiased and is regarded as being
advice to the court, not special pleading. This can mean that the examinee’s wellbeing
and needs are regarded as only of secondary relevance. The psychologist must also take
into account the possibility of resistance or intentional distortion, which is something
that is far less of a problem (if at all) when working in a therapeutic role (Melton,
Petrila, Poythress & Slobogin 2007). Accordingly, specialised psychometric tests may
be employed and corroborative evidence from other sources is important.
Although the clinical role of the forensic psychologist has some obvious overlap
with the work of forensic psychiatrists (Grisso, 1993), the training of psychologists,
grounded as it is in an understanding of human behaviour in general, does mean
that they can go beyond issues of mental disorder, to discuss personality, social and
interpersonal functioning and cognitive abilities. Psychologists also tend to use stand-
ardised tests, whereas psychiatrists tend to focus on information gleaned from a clinical
interview (Grisso, 1993; Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998).
SYNDROME EVIDENCE
The legal process in many countries is greatly influenced by the medical framework,
which provides diagnoses and possibilities for treatment. As a consequence, especially
in the USA, a variety of ‘psychological syndromes’ have gained favour for use in court.
They are drawn on to explain, and often exonerate, defendants.
A syndrome is a grouping or constellation of symptoms used to identify an under-

lying undesirable condition.
Kennedy (2009), p. 103
The American Psychiatric Association has developed a catalogue of syndromes in

its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5R) (APA, 2013). It is
widely used by clinicians and researchers as well as insurance companies, pharmaceutical
companies and policymakers to put labels onto many different mental conditions.
Despite its wide use, it has attracted controversy and criticism, mainly because it treats
mental problems as if they were distinct illnesses, or syndromes.
The clearest example of a psychological syndrome in this manual is Tourette’s
syndrome, which consists of involuntary motor movements and vocal tics. It can
manifest in many different forms and does not appear to be caused by substance abuse
or recognisable medical conditions. But, DSM has supported psychiatrists and
psychologists in arguing for more contentious syndromes to be used in court. These
have less clear definition and often little firm scientific support, but they may still be
accepted as evidence. A number of psychological syndromes are given in Table 14.1.
Evidence from experiments

The second role described by Haward (1981) is the experimental role. This was actually
the first role that a psychologist played in a court of law (Schrenck-Notzing, 1897),
long before the advent of clinical psychology. The experimental role includes two
related activities (Kapardis, 1997). The more traditional meaning described by Haward
(1981) involves the psychologist actually conducting an experiment that is directly
relevant to the individual court case. An example of such an experiment is described
by Kapardis (1997) in regard to a rape trial. In this case, a crucial piece of evidence
was the fact that the victim picked the defendant out of a ‘voice parade’. To their
TABLE 14.1 Psychological syndromes.

Dissociative amnesia
An inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature,
which is too extensive to be explained by normal forgetfulness. This can be complete or partial
memory loss either due to physical trauma, neurophysiological disturbance or psychological
factors. The loss is temporary and restricted to a specific event or incident. In general, the
courts have not been receptive to amnesia as a valid condition. One reason is the suspicion
that memory loss may be faked. It is difficult for psychologists to determine whether a person
can or cannot remember. Claims of amnesia are made in many homicide cases.
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the development of characteristic symptoms
following exposure to extreme traumatic stressors involving direct personal experience of an
event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or witnessing or learning
about an event that involves death, injury or a threat to the physical integrity of another
person. The precipitating event is usually experienced with intense fear, terror and
helplessness. A successful PTSD defence usually results in a verdict of diminished
responsibility, rather than not guilty by reason of insanity.
It is proposed that the trauma of being raped may itself lead to delays in reporting,
appearance of self-doubt in initial reports of an incident and other counterintuitive reactions.
This is used in court to explain to a jury why the reactions of a victim were not what they
might have expected (Kennedy, 2009).
Parental alienation syndrome
A contentious syndrome proposed particularly in child custody cases is the focused effort to
instil negative views of the other parent (Kennedy, 2009). This amounts to unjustified
disparagement of a loving parent. It is used in court, almost exclusively in divorce disputes to
undermine any viewpoints put forward by a child about a parent.
Personality disorders
As discussed in Chapter 3, personality disorders cover a range of conditions, the most
common one presented in court being psychopathy. Defence psychiatrists argue that this is
a medical condition that means the person does not have certain actions under control. This
is used to claim that violence and homicide committed by the defendant should be treated
as manslaughter or that the defendant has diminished responsibility (see Focus box 14.1).
credit, the police had apparently gone to great lengths to avoid bias in the procedure,
by seeking advice from a linguist. However, despite the fact that all voices in the parade
were apparently similar, only the defendant’s voice was taken from a police interview.
A psychologist subsequently conducted an experiment in which participants were asked
to identify which voices were taken from a police interview. The defendant’s voice
was identified at a rate beyond chance. This evidence was deemed admissible at trial.
The case resulted in a hung jury.
The second type of experimental role involves the psychologist testifying about the
state of knowledge regarding a particular psychological topic or process that is relevant
to the case (Pfeifer & Brigham, 1993; Kapardis, 1997; Schuller & Ogloff, 2001). For
example, Loftus (1991) described testifying in numerous cases about the vagaries of
eyewitness memory (discussed in Chapter 10). In this way, the psychologist takes
a particularly instructive position while giving evidence.
Civil law
Psychologists are also involved as experts in civil disputes within the UK. For example,
in regard to the law of torts (i.e., ‘wrongs’), compensation is the goal. Psychologists have
been involved in cases in which a particular trauma, emotional distress or cognitive
impairment is claimed to have been sustained. Conditions such as PTSD and acute stress
disorder are common afflictions to be assessed. Once again, the possibility of deception
and malingering must be considered (Melton, Petrila, Poythress & Slobogin 2007).
Psychologists are also involved in areas of children’s and family law. This includes areas
such as child abuse and neglect, and child custody in cases of divorce.
Statistical evidence
The third role is the actuarial role. This involves applying statistical probabilities to
behaviours and events. This may be obtained from a literature search or by collecting
new observational data (Gudjonsson, 1996; Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998). Haward
(1981) described several examples of the actuarial role, such as ‘the probability of earning
a living with a given IQ, the probability of finding two identical cars passing a road
within a given period of time, (and) the probability of finding two persons with a given
number of personal characteristics in the same town’ (p. 55). Unsurprisingly, this role
is often adopted by statisticians or other professionals as well (see Activity box 14.1).
It is, perhaps, the least common of the four roles (Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998).
Advising lawyers
The final role is the advisory role. This involves advising lawyers about the psychological
evidence of other experts, pointing out weaknesses, and thus, assisting in the pre-
paration of cross-examination strategies (Haward, 1981). By its very nature, this role
is a destructive one, but can be seen as a form of peer review. Nonetheless, it is
important that the advisor draws attention to clearly unsound material without
becoming an advocate (Gudjonsson & Haward, 1998).
An interesting example of this is the study by Canter and Chester (1997). They
challenged the claims of Reverend Morton that he had a procedure he called CUSUM
(cumulative sum control chart) that could be used to determine whether text or
utterances were likely to contain the authorship of more than one person. This
procedure was being used in court to argue that confessions contained the utterances
of more than one person and could, therefore, be regarded as having been falsified.
Through carefully studying the way the CUSUM procedure operated, Canter was able
to show that its results were virtually random and did not distinguish authorship at all.
This was accepted by the courts and CUSUM evidence was no longer accepted.
ONCE A PERSON IS CONVICTED
Reoffending and risk assessment

In regard to the pre-sentence phase, psychologists are often asked to provide reports
that are relevant to mitigation, treatment options and the risk of recidivism (Melton
Petrila, Poythress & Slobogin 2007). Over the past three decades, the latter has become
a prominent focus in the forensic mental health literature. Monahan (1981) reviewed
the extant literature and found that mental health professionals were accurate in
only one out of three violence predictions. This can be contrasted with current risk
assessment approaches that perform well above chance (Douglas, Cox & Webster,
1999; Davis & Ogloff, 2008).
The modern literature suggests that risk opinions made on the basis of unstructured,
intuitive clinical judgment are inadequate. Greater accuracy can be attained by using
either an actuarial prediction tool or a structured professional judgment (SPJ) scheme.

The latter involves a mechanical process whereby risk factors are coded and tallied to
form a score that relates to a probability estimate. This indicates how many people in
the development sample, at that score or category, went on to reoffend during a defined
follow-up period. This can then be compared to the base rate of offending within the
development sample. In contrast, SPJ schemes also require careful coding of a series
of risk factors, after which the clinician makes a structured judgment of low, moderate
or high risk. Both approaches has demonstrated comparable predictive validity,
although the SPJ approach has some advantages in regard to risk management planning
(see Davis & Ogloff, 2008). Risk assessment is also of considerable relevance in cases
of post-sentence detention, such as the UK’s Dangerous and Severe Personality
Disorder Programme (Barrett & Byford, 2007).
Although percentages vary across samples studied, some offenders are very unlikely
to reoffend once released (Councell & Olagondoye, 2003). To help identify those most
likely to reoffend, psychologists often conduct risk assessments of offenders. Risk
assessment is a ‘process of evaluating individuals to characterise the likelihood they will
commit acts of violence and develop interventions to reduce that likelihood’ (Hart,
1998, p.122). To assist in this process, various risk assessment tools exist, which rate
an individual on the absence or presence of a list of variables that differentiate
recidivists from non-recidivists (Cooke, 2000). Acknowledging the link between
mental disorder and crime, several risk assessment tools include factors such as mental
illness, psychopathy and personality disorder in their assessments of physical (Webster,
Douglas, Eaves & Hart, 1997) or sexual (Hart et al., 2003) violence risk, as they have
been shown to be important predictor variables.
Fit to be executed
An area of court psychology that is unique to the USA is the study of how decisions
are made when the sentence of the defendant can be execution (reviewed by Lynch,
2009). In most such ‘capital cases’, the jury is called on to decide whether the convicted
person (almost always male) should be sentenced to death. The curiosity of the US
legal system is that jurors must be ‘death qualified’. This means that they do not hold
opinions about the death penalty, which are so strong that they prejudice their ability
to follow the law when deciding on the sentence. Therefore, this essentially
psychological issue about a juror’s opinion has to be determined by the court before
the person is allowed to be a member of the jury.
The research on how decisions are reached by juries in capital cases gives strong
support to the view that their decisions are, in fact, not fair within the legal
requirements and those of the American constitution. In general, the selection of jurors
Diminished responsibility for a sexual psychopath:

Regina versus Byrne (1960)
In December 1959, a woman was found strangled in a YMCA hostel and her
dead body had been subjected to what were described as horrifying
mutilations. In the court, Patrick Joseph Byrne admitted to killing his victim
and claimed that in doing so, he was suffering from diminished responsibility.
Three medical witnesses testified that Byrne was a ‘sexual psychopath’ who
had suffered from violent perverted sexual desires from an early age and
which he found difficult or impossible to control, such that in some cases, he
had indulged them. These impulses or urges were stronger than the normal
impulse or urge of sex and the killing was done under such impulses or
urges. Indeed, when not under the influence of such desires, Byrne was
FOCUS 14.1
considered normal. All three doctors considered the killing was done under
the influence of Byrne’s perverted sexual desires. Although not amounting to
insanity, as defined by the McNaughton rules, his sexual psychopathy could
properly be described as partial insanity. Byrne’s diminished responsibility
plea was accepted, and he was convicted of manslaughter ([1960] 3 All
England Reports 1).
FIGURE 14.1 A modern courtroom in use.

tends to be biased to those in favour of the death penalty (Luginbuhl & Middendorf,
1988). They also appear unable to follow instructions closely and are thrown back on
‘their own resources with few limits on their discretion’ (Lynch, 2009, p. 175). As a
consequence of this research, a number of US states have put a moratorium (no pun
intended) on executions until they can be sure the system has improved. This is a clear
case of psychological research influencing the judicial policy.
One further psychological aspect of this archaic punishment is that the 8th
Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. This
has been interpreted as meaning that if a person is so mentally disturbed that they
cannot understand that they will suffer the death penalty then they cannot, therefore,
be executed. This, therefore, requires an assessment, usually by a psychiatrist, but
sometimes by a forensic psychologist, of whether the convicted person is mentally well
enough to be executed. These assessments draw on the various clinical psychology
issues discussed in earlier chapters.
STUDYING THE LEGAL PROCESS
A court case is an interesting set of interactions between many different people. The
different attorneys, the judge and when the jury is present, their interaction with each
other and with the various lawyers is interesting. These interactions are difficult to
study because recordings of all the details of what happens in court are complex and
hard to come by. Most importantly, in all jurisdictions in which juries occur, no direct
access to the jury is allowed. Their deliberations are secret, and usually, they are not
allowed to tell anyone else about them. However, sometimes, in the US, researchers
are allowed to interview people who have been on juries.
The most frequent way of studying jury decision making is to set up ‘mock juries’
(DeMatteo & Anumba, 2009). A common way of doing this is just to give
undergraduates descriptions of the information that would be available in a trial and
then ask them to reach a decision about the guilt or innocence of the defendant alone
or in a discussion. This obviously lacks the reality of an actual trial, but can reveal some
useful indicators. A more expensive and demanding process consists of inviting people
who are typical of those who could form a jury to attend a session that is run like an
actual court case. Various aspects of the proceedings are varied in the usual experimental
way, and the decision of the mock jury is then monitored. Those involved are also
likely to be questioned about their experiences and how they reached their decisions.
But, even here the simulation is likely to be shorter and less complex than an actual
case (Schuller & Yarmey, 2001). There are, therefore, still many questions raised about
the possibility of generalising results from studies of juries to actual cases.
MODELS OF JURY DECISION-MAKING
From these studies, various models have been proposed of jury decision-making
(Groscup & Tallon, 2009). Some of these emphasise the cognitive challenge that jurors’
have to face and how they may deal with those challenges by putting more weight
on whether they trust the person providing the evidence than on the evidence itself
(Chaiken, 1980). Surprisingly, little research has been carried out on the social pro-
cesses of jury discussions, presumably because such data are so difficult to collect and
analyse. More emphasis has been given to the ethnic background of jurors and how
that might influence their decisions (Sommer, 2006). Attempts have also been made
to create models of how juries come to a verdict. Two contrasting models are briefly
outlined below.
Mathematical approaches
One is a mathematical model in which jurors are assumed to give weight to each piece
of evidence in terms of whether it indicates guilt. To come to a verdict, they then
average the weighted values (Pennington & Hastie, 1981). This rather elegant approach
allows a variety of mathematical approaches to be applied. But, they all assume the
juror is a) relatively logical, b) deals with each piece of evidence separately from all
the others, c) is not influenced by the order of the evidence, d) there are no social
psychological matters at work in the discussion about the verdict.
The story model

This assumes that jurors seek out plausible storylines that characterise the information
presented in court (Pennington & Hastie, 1992). They then choose between those
stories to determine which best fits the facts as presented. The stories will be drawn
from what the prosecution claim as well as the defence. These narratives are assessed
in terms of their comprehensiveness and plausibility in relation to the jurors’ own
experiences. Interestingly, Huntley and Costanzo (2003) found that the elements of a
story were much better predictors of the decision made than the gender of the juror.
However, there were differences between men and women in which elements of the
story were selected as pertinent.
INFLUENCING THE VERDICT
The knowledge of how juries decide could be drawn on to influence how evidence
is presented in court in order to achieve the desired outcome. Quite rightly, there is
some debate about the ethics of doing this and whether it is an inappropriate way of
biasing the jury. The book by John Gresham and later film The Runaway Jury is a witty
and enthralling exploration of the extremes of what might be possible if psychological
techniques were to be applied unethically.
The possibility for these forms of influence is particularly present in US legal
procedures that allow great flexibility in selecting members of the jury. The idea behind
this is that jurors are expected to be neutral and objective. Consequently, any hint
that a juror may be biased one way or the other can be the basis for having that person
excluded from the jury. However, as Lieberman and Olson (2009) make clear in their
review of studies of jury selection, the process has far less influence on the verdict
reached than may be expected. It is the evidence and how it is presented that has the
dominant influence.
ACTIVITY 14.1
Actuarial risk assessment

Consider two child sex offenders. The first is a 35-year-old married man who has
been found guilty of molesting his daughter for the past 11 years while she was
aged 4–14. The second is a single 23-year-old man who had ‘consensual’ sexual
intercourse with a 14-year-old boy 4 hours after meeting him in a local park. Neither
man has any prior criminal history for sexual or non-sexual offences. Neither has a
history of substance abuse. Neither man has ever received treatment for a mental
illness. Clinical psychologists indicate that neither man suffers from a psychotic
illness. With this information, you have been asked to provide an opinion about the
risk that each man may pose for committing further sexual offences. From the
limited information described here, who would you consider to pose the greatest
risk and what information would you focus on to make this judgment? One solution
is provided at the end of this chapter (in Activity box 14.2).
One bias which turns out to be very difficult to combat is any information that
jurors may have about the case prior to the trial. This can also include evidence that
becomes available during the trial, which the jury is told to ignore because it is
inadmissible. These matters are more significant in the USA than in other jurisdictions
because freedom of information traditions allow a great deal to be said about a court
case before it comes to trial. In the UK, the sub judice laws make it illegal to comment
on any features of a case once a person has been charged, so ‘trial by media’ is less
common. To reduce the bias of information external to what is revealed in court, jurors
are often instructed to disregard anything they may have heard prior to being in court.
But intriguingly, as Lieberman, Arndt and Vess (2009) show, it is extremely difficult
for jurors to do this.
CONCLUSIONS
In its most literal form, the topic of this chapter is forensic psychology which is
concerned with ‘the collection, examination, and presentation of evidence for judicial
purposes’ (Haward, 1981, p. 21). The field has grown considerably since the first
experimental psychologist gave expert evidence in court in 1897. Present day forensic
psychology comprises four broad roles: clinical, experimental, actuarial and advisory.
Forensic psychologists provide opinions on a range of topics within both criminal and
civil law and have managed to be admitted in areas that were previously the domain of
the psychiatrist. Even the field of investigative psychology, developed to assist police
investigations, has seen some limited application in the courts, although this has largely
been seen to encroach upon the ultimate issue. Nonetheless, advances made within the
field of forensic psychology over the past century have clearly been enormous.
ACTIVITY 14.2
Actuarial risk assessment solution

One tool that you might consider using is the Static-99 (Hanson & Thornton,
1999). This is a ten-item actuarial tool that is comprised exclusively of ‘static’
(i.e., relatively unchanging) risk factors. The first offender has no risk factors on this
instrument. He is above the age of 25, has been married, has not been charged
with non-sexual violence in his index offence, has no previous charges or
convictions and has not committed a sexual offence against someone outside of
his family, a stranger or a male. A score of zero places this offender in the ‘low’
category of risk. In the studies on which this measure was developed, 13 per
cent of the offenders who had a score of zero went on to sexually reoffend over
15 years. This is half the base rate in the development sample (which was 26 per
cent).
In contrast, the second offender has five risk factors. He is under the age of 25,
has never been in a cohabiting relationship and has committed a sexual offence
against a victim who is outside of his family, a stranger and a male. A score of five
places this man in the ‘moderate-high’ category of risk. In the development studies,
40 per cent of the offenders who had a score of five went on to sexually reoffend
over 15 years. This is considerably higher than the base rate of 26. Thus, based on
the static risk factors, the second offender would appear to pose a higher risk of
sexual recidivism than the first offender.
Those conducting risk assessments generally do not rely exclusively on the
results of the Static-99. Indeed, the manual for the instrument indicates that it
‘does not address all relevant risk factors for sexual offenders’ (Harris, Phenix,
Thornton & Hanson 2003, p. 3). Nonetheless, it does provide a useful anchor point
for conducting a risk assessment.
• Expert evidence • Insanity defence • Jury decision-

• Criminal law • Syndrome evidence making
• Adversarial • Civil law • Psychological
system • Actuarial risk syndromes
• Fitness to plead assessment
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the various models used to understand
jury decision-making.
• What are the main roles for psychologists in court?
• In what sorts of civil court cases might psychology be relevant?
Books
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2015). Forensic and legal psychology: psychological science applied to
law, 2nd ed. New York: Worth Publishers.
Goldstein, A. M. (Ed.). (2007). Forensic psychology: emerging topics and expanding roles. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Gudjonsson, G. H., & Haward, L. R. C. (Eds.). (1998). Forensic psychology: a guide to practice.
London: Routledge.
Huss, M. T. (2013). Forensic psychology, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Krauss, D., & Lieberman, J. (Eds.). (2009). Psychology in the courtroom: volume ii, psychological
expertise in court. Farnham: Ashgate.
Lieberman, J., & Krauss, D. (Eds.). (2009). Psychology in the courtroom: volume i, jury psychology.
Farnham: Ashgate.
Melton, G. B., Petrila, J., Poythress, N. G., & Slobogin, C. (2007). Psychological evaluations
for the courts: a handbook for mental health professionals and lawyers, 3rd ed. New York:
Guilford Press.
Weiner, I. B., & Hess, A. K. (Eds.). (2006). The handbook of forensic psychology, 3rd ed. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Journal articles
Brigham, J. (1999). What is forensic psychology anyway? Law and Human Behavior, 23, 273–98.
Cattell, J. M. (1895). Measurements of the accuracy of recollection. Science, 2, 761–6.
Heilbrun, K., & Brooks, S. (2010). Forensic psychology and forensic science: a proposed agenda
for the next decade. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 16(3), 219.
Risinger, D. M., & Loop, J. L. (2002). Three card monte, monty hall, modus operandi and
‘offender profiling’: some lessons of modern cognitive science for the law of evidence.
Cardozo Law Review, 24, 193–285.
Websites
The following website gives an overview of the roles forensic psychologists play in the court
room:
www.nwforensicpsychology.com/wordpress/articles-media/paperspublications
The following website is an informative account of the roles and difficulties of forensic
psychology in Australia:
www.psychology.org.au/publications/inpsych/2010/august/allan/
This website gives an account of fitness to plead assessment:
www.psychologydirect.co.uk/what-is-a-fitness-to-plead-assessment/
Note
1 For simplicity laws in Great Britain are referred to here as the UK, but actually Scotland
has a somewhat different legal system to England and Wales and Northern Ireland law has
some differences too.
15 Psychology
in prison
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the purpose of prison.

2 Understand how imprisonment affects mental health.
3 Discuss the psychological impact of imprisonment.
4 Consider the methods undertaken to reduce reoffending, including offending
behaviour programmes offered to prisoners.
5 Understand the work of a prison-based forensic psychologist.
SUMMARY
Denying people their freedom is a common form of punishment. But, it carries with
it many unwanted and, often, unexpected consequences. Dealing with these conse-
quences is especially important if one objective of this punishment is to reduce the
likelihood that people will reoffend. This has become a major task for the increasing
number of psychologists who have been employed in prisons, especially in the UK and
Western Europe, over the last 60 years. Their task is to help mitigate the unwanted
effects of imprisonment. It is also to use the opportunity to work with prisoners in a
way that will reduce those aspects of their ways of seeing themselves and dealing with
others that underlie their offending. Various approaches to reducing reoffending are
considered with an explanation of the psychological issues involved.
THE PURPOSE OF PRISON
The term ‘prison’ in this chapter covers all those places in which people are placed in
which the punishment is to deny them their freedom for a period of time. It includes
locations called jails (or goals), borstals, young offender institutions, and even in the
FIGURE 15.1 A typical modern prison cell in the UK.
US, the euphemistically labelled ‘corrections’. In the UK, there are also ‘special
hospitals’ that are for people deemed mentally ill, but who have committed crimes for
which they are imprisoned. It is crucial to emphasise that in Western democracies, the
punishment that a prison provides is not intended to be any form of discomfort or
torture. It is only to curtail liberty. In both US law and European law, as well as in
many other countries, ‘cruel and inhuman’ punishment is illegal. Many prisoners who
have experienced extremely harrowing conditions in prison have successfully won cases
against the authorities because the circumstances of their incarceration were illegal.
In general, the imprisonment has a number of purposes. The most obvious one is
to protect the public by stopping offenders having the opportunity to commit any
crimes outside of prison. Another clear objective is to punish people for their misdeeds.
It is also intended to be a deterrent to stop others committing crimes or the prisoner
committing other crimes in the future. In enlightened countries, it is also regarded as
being a basis for rehabilitating offenders, so that whatever gave rise to them committing
crimes would be dealt with, so that they did not commit crimes in the future. It has
been known for some time that, broadly speaking, imprisonment fails in all these
purposes (Sommer, 1976).
Recidivism rates
Recidivism is the term used to describe a person committing a crime after having
been punished for something similar. The rate at which people do commit subsequent
PSYCHOLOGY IN PRISON 211
crimes, the ‘recidivism rate’, varies depending on the time period that is used to
calculate when the subsequent crime happens. But, however it is calculated, it is
certainly one important measure of the effect of locking a person up. Yet, the rates
with which people reoffend are stubbornly consistent as Havelock Ellis (1901) in his
informative book The Criminal pointed out. He noted that about two-thirds of the
offenders committed further crimes after being in prison. However, despite many
attempts at apparent prison reform studies, a century after Havelock Ellis, very similar
broad recidivism rates of over 60 per cent are still reported (e.g., Redondo, Sanchez-
Meca & Garrido 2002).

It has to be borne in mind, though, that these are average figures across a wide
range of different kinds of offenders in many different prisons. When a more focused
examination is made on variations between prisoners and on the impact of various
treatment programmes and other forms of intervention, a slightly more optimistic
picture emerges. McGuire (2003) puts it in his review of findings of many studies:
The mean effect taken across a broad spectrum of treatment of intervention

types is relatively modest. It is estimated on average to be 9 or 10 percentage points.
(pp. 13 and 20)
However, there are some interventions that are much more effective reducing
recidivism rates to less than 40 per cent (Redondo, Sanchez-Meca & Garrido 2002).
So, even though this is far from perfect, it does show that psychological approaches
can have some benefit. A range of the approaches being used are, therefore, considered
below.
PEOPLE IN PRISON
The main reason why imprisonment can be so ineffective was captured in a slightly
archaic form of words over a century ago by Havelock Ellis (1901):
If, as now scarcely admits of questions, every truly criminal act proceeds from a
person who is, temporarily or permanently, in a more or less abnormal condition,
the notion of ‘punishment’ loses much of its foundation. We cannot punish a
monstrosity for acting according to its monstrous state.
(p. 295)
Our discussions in early chapters of the psychological and social basis of criminality
raise doubts about the general abnormality or ‘monstrous’ nature of all criminals, but
the idea that when committing a crime offenders are driven by various processes that
neutralise the reflection on possible punishment is certainly relevant. Treatments in
prison, therefore, are most likely to be effective if they address the fundamental processes
that give rise to criminality, rather than just providing some general form of punishment.
The challenge, though, is that many aspects of prison life may itself give rise to
processes that encourage general criminality. Therefore, psychological support in prison
has to mitigate against these deleterious effects as well as helping offenders overcome
whatever it was that brought them into prison in the first place.
THE EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT
Being in prison is emotionally taxing, although generally, it has been found that the
most depressing effect of confinement is that the majority of prisoners who have served
time in prison return to the outside world with little or no permanent ‘clinically
diagnosable’ psychological disorders as a result (Haney, 1997). Nonetheless, there are
many other effects that may not emerge so clearly as clinical diagnoses.
These effects were first articulated in Goffman’s (1961) book Asylums. He identified
what he called ‘total institutions’, places in which every aspect of the residents’ daily
life are controlled by the institution, where, when and how to eat and sleep, who is
allowed to meet with whom and when. All those aspects of daily life that most people
take for granted as under their own control are actually managed in detail by others.
Prisons are the extreme example of total institutions.
Imprisonment apparently does not ordinarily cause people to be mentally ill,
although as discussed in Chapter 3, there is a considerable amount of mental illness
among prisoners. Although for at least some, incarceration can generate damaging,
long-term psychological change (Bonta & Gendreau, 1990). Most agree that the more
psychologically demanding the type of the imprisonment, the greater the number of
people who will suffer and the deeper the damage that they will experience (Bonta &
Gendreau, 1990). As Goffman (1961) was the first to emphasise, the norms and organ-
isation of a total institution do have psychologically debilitating effects. This is outlined
in Focus box 15.1.
The psychological effects of imprisonment

Haney (2001) summarises the many effects of being in prison:
• Dependence on institutional structure and contingencies

The prison system demands that prisoners give up their freedom of choice
and independence. Consequently, prisoners may become dependent on
the institution to make decisions for them. This can cause anxiety when
their autonomy is returned.
• Hyper-vigilance, interpersonal distrust and suspicion

Because prisons can be dangerous places, prisoners tend to become ever
alert for signs of personal risk. The people in their close surroundings are
ready to take advantage of any weakness, so there is a constant suspicion
FOCUS 15.1
of others. Some learn to project a ‘hard man’ image that conveys the
ability for violence, so that they are not exploited. This leads to:
– Emotional overcontrol, alienation and psychological distancing

Prisoners who struggle at both an emotional and behavioural level tend
to develop a ‘prison mask’ that is unrevealing and impenetrable, risking
alienation from themselves and others. They may acquire an emotional

void, which becomes habitual and socially incapacitating, forming an
enduring distance between themselves and other people.
– Social withdrawal and isolation

Some prisoners protect themselves by a self-imposed social isolation
that may include withdrawing themselves from everything and
everyone. In extreme cases, this is similar in nature to clinical

depression. Prisoners serving long-term sentences are particularly
susceptible to this type of psychological adjustment.
– Incorporation of exploitative norms of prison culture

As well as having to follow the recognised and established rules of
the institution, prisoners are forced to accept the unofficial rules that
are part of the unwritten, but critical prisoner code or face repercussion.
This can mean accepting all of its informal norms, including the most
exploitative and extremist. Prisoners typically are given no alternative
culture in which to participate.
If a person adopts these principles completely, it generates huge

obstacles to significant interpersonal communication with others and is
a barrier to seeking assistance with problems. It can also lead to what
appears to be spontaneous overreaction, hitting out at people in response
to token provocation, which is difficult to relinquish upon release.
• Diminished sense of self-worth and personal value

Most prisoners live in a small space, may have little or no say in choosing
the person with whom they must share that cell space, have no control
over when they must get up or go to bed, when or what they eat, when
they shower or when they exercise. These degraded circumstances
continually remind them of their compromised social status and
FOCUS 15.1 Continued
stigmatised social role. As a result, a diminished sense of self-worth and

personal value may exist. They may internalise the belief that they deserve
this degradation and stigma.
• Posttraumatic stress reactions to the pains of imprisonment

The fact that a high percentage of people currently in prison have
experienced some form of childhood distress means prison may be a
type of ‘re-traumatisation’. Time in prison may, therefore, renew not only
the recollections of earlier traumas, but the disabling psychological
reactions and consequences of these earlier damaging experiences.
SUICIDE AND SELF-HARM
About 200 people a year die in UK prisons and over 4,000 a year in the USA (Rohloff
& Ginder, 2015). Around half of these deaths are caused by suicide. Much of this is
a consequence of the experience of prison life and the isolation from those outside
who may have provided social support previously. Attempts to prevent, or at least
reduce, these problems together with the other difficulties outlined in Focus box 15.1
may be carried out by psychologists on an individual basis or by helping to implement
prison policies that will alleviate the worst effects.

Studies show that the greatest risk of suicide and self-harm are in the early days
of reception into prison – a time when the prisoner has the greatest culture shock
and feelings of loss of esteem and empowerment. Interventions to mitigate this stress
are, therefore, of particular importance at this time. Setting up support systems pro-
vided by other inmates, often called ‘listeners’, who are trained by the Samaritans
is increasingly being implemented in prisons, with more than 1,500 listeners across
UK prisons. This doubtlessly has some benefits for the prisoners offering help as well
as some limited success in reducing self-harm and suicide (http://tinyurl.com/zxc
3882).
Although everyone who comes into prison is subjected to the pressures of insti-
tutionalisation, they will experience varying amounts and kinds of psychological
change. It is, therefore, important to note that there are some prisoners who are much
more vulnerable to these pressures and the overall pains of imprisonment than others.
These will include mentally ill and developmentally disabled prisoners and those held
in solitary confinement.
PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS
The most common form of psychological intervention in prison, usually carried out
in one-to-one sessions, is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). An illustration of
this process is given in Focus box 15.2. CBT is based on the theory that most unwanted
thinking patterns and emotional and behavioural reactions are learnt over a long period
of time. The aim is to identify the thinking that is causing those unwanted feelings
and behaviours and learn to replace them with more positive thoughts.
CBT helps prisoners to make sense of the problems they may experience by
breaking them into smaller parts. This makes it easier to see how they are connected
and to formulate manageable ways of dealing with each of them. These parts are:
• A situation (a problem, event or difficult situation)
From this can follow:
• Thoughts
• Emotions
• Physical feelings
And, this will determine:
• Actions
An example of CBT with a prisoner
SITUATION: You’re expecting a visit from your partner. She has promised to
arrive by 2pm. At 2.15pm, you’re escorted to the visits room and she’s not
there.
HELPFUL UNHELPFUL
THOUGHTS: Perhaps she’s stuck in traffic She’s found someone else.
or missed the bus. She’ll be She’s dumped me and can’t face
here soon. me to tell me.
EMOTIONAL Happy, positive, in high spirits. Angry, upset, jealous, low, sad,
FEELINGS: rejected.
PHYSICAL: None – feel comfortable. Stomach cramps, low energy,
feel sick.
ACTION: Wait quietly, get a coffee and Go back to the wing, telephone
chat with prison staff. her tonight, accuse her of being
unfaithful and tell her exactly
what I think of her.
The same situation has led to two very different results, depending on
how you thought about the situation. How you think has affected how you
felt and what you did. In the example in the right hand column, you’ve
jumped to a conclusion without very much evidence for it – and this matters,
because it’s led to:
• A number of uncomfortable feelings.

• An unhelpful behaviour.
If you go back to your cell feeling depressed, you’ll probably brood on

what has happened and feel worse. If you get in touch with the other person,
there's a good chance you’ll feel better about yourself. If you don’t, you
won’t have the chance to correct any misunderstandings about what they
think of you – and you will probably feel worse.
This is a simplified way of looking at what happens. The whole sequence,
and parts of it, can also feedback like this:
Situation
Thoughts
Actions Feelings
FOCUS 15.2
This ‘vicious circle’ can make you feel worse. It can even create new
situations that make you feel worse. You can start to believe quite unrealistic
(and unpleasant) things about yourself. This happens because, when we are
distressed, we are more likely to jump to conclusions and to interpret things
in extreme and unhelpful ways.
Each one of these can affect the others. How a person thinks about a problem can
affect how they feel physically and emotionally. It can also alter what the person does
about it.
Overall, CBT programmes do seem to be effective in reducing recidivism (as
reviewed, for example, by Lipton, Pearson, Cleland & Yee 2002). Although the effects
are significant statistically and socially, they are not enormous at the extreme reducing
the typical recidivism rate of around 60 per cent to about 40 per cent (Lipton, Pearson,
Cleland & Yee 2002). Although typically, with CBT as the starting point, well-
designed interventions matched to the needs and abilities of the offender and delivered
systematically are only likely to reduce the base rate of offender reconviction by around
10 per cent (Hollin, 1999). This shows that psychological intervention can never be
the whole answer to criminality; cultural, social and economic process are also of great
importance as emphasised in Chapter 4.
Another form of therapy that combines individual sessions with group sessions is
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). It has many similarities to CBT, but was
especially developed for working with people with personality disorder (described in
Chapter 3) who may have unusually high emotional reaction to situations and not have
learnt how to relate to others effectively. As the person who developed this approach
puts it:
Both between and during sessions, the therapist actively teaches and reinforces
adaptive behaviors, especially as they occur within the therapeutic relationship
. . . The emphasis is on teaching patients how to manage emotional trauma rather
than reducing or taking them out of crises. . . . contact with the individual
therapist between sessions is part of DBT procedures.
(Linehan, 1993)
In other words, it focuses on helping the individual to develop the skills to recog-
nise the situations in which heightened unproductive emotions are likely to happen
and to learn ways of dealing with those effectively.
ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM OF OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
Many of the psychological interventions in prison deal directly with the problems of
the offending behaviour, rather than general issues of the psychological difficulties the
person is experiencing. These all build on the cognitive behavioural approach, but are
shaped to deal directly with the criminal actions. A variety of such programmes has been
developed in the UK prison system. Some of the main ones in use are outlined below.
Each programme of intervention used in the prison service is designed around the
following criteria:
• A clear model of change – There must be an explicit model to explain how the
programme is intended to bring about relevant change in offenders. The
programme’s theory manual must explain who the programme is for and which
areas of risk it will reduce. It must specify how it will do this and what is achieved
at each stage of the programme. It must describe why this combination of targets
and methods is likely to work with the offenders selected. Evidence from existing
research must be given to support the approach. The methods and exercises in
the programme manual have to fit with the theory manual.
• Selection of offenders – There must be clear specification of the types of offender for
whom the programme is intended, and the methods used to select them. The
programme has to identify the characteristics of the offenders selected. These
should include the nature of the offences that the programme is tackling, risk,
motivation, learning style, gender and race. The measures used to assess these must
be described. Standard measures developed and validated by the prison and

probation services are preferred. The programme must have ways for dealing with
offenders who have started and are then found to be unsuitable.
• Targeting a range of dynamic risk factors – A range of dynamic risk factors known
to be associated with reoffending must be addressed in an integrated manner
within the programme. We know that people who offend very often share certain
characteristics or experiences. These are risk factors. Some are fixed (i.e., static or
non-changeable) factors, such as previous convictions and family background.
Some are changeable (i.e., dynamic) factors, such as attitudes and behaviours.
Programmes target changeable areas. The areas chosen must be explained. An
effective programme targets areas of dynamic risk, which are well established.
Alternatively, the programme must provide evidence to justify targeting other
factors.
• Effective methods – There must be evidence to show that the treatment methods
used are likely to have an impact on the targeted dynamic risk factors. The methods
on the panel’s approved list are those that have been proved to be effective with
offenders. Cognitive behavioural methods work well with most types of offenders,
including sex offenders. These focus directly on changing thinking and behavioural
patterns and the way thoughts, feelings and behaviours interact. Structured
therapeutic communities attempt to change the lifestyle of people with drug or
alcohol addictions or other patterns of antisocial behaviour. If other methods are
selected, existing research or a testable theory is put forward.
• Skills orientated – The programme must facilitate the learning of skills that will assist
participants in avoiding criminal activities and facilitate their involvement in
legitimate pursuits. It must teach skills that help participants live and work without
reoffending. These can include literacy, numeracy, how to find work, make and
keep relationships, general problem solving and other skills relevant to the
participants’ lives. How skills are selected and taught and how participants’
learning is evaluated must be described.
• Sequencing, intensity and duration – The amount of treatment provided must be
linked to the needs of programme participants, with the introduction of different
treatment components timed, so that they complement each other. Length
matches risk. Offenders who have high fixed risk, for example, they have a history
of antisocial behaviour, need programmes long enough to change established
attitudes and habits. For lower-risk offenders, a shorter programme is sufficient.
Those with many, but potentially changeable, risk areas need enough time to work
on these.
• Engagement and motivation – The programme must be structured to maximise
the engagement of participants and to sustain their motivation throughout.
Staff should be positively committed to the programme. The content and the
methods of teaching should match the way participants learn best and motivate
them to want to change.
• Continuity of programmes and services – There must be clear links between the
programme and the overall management of the offender, both during a prison
sentence and in the context of community supervision. Relevant information is
shared. Key agencies concerned with protection of the public are kept informed
to aid work with victims and monitor offenders.
• Maintaining integrity – There must be provision to monitor how well the

programme functions, and a system to modify aspects of it that do not perform
as expected.
• Ongoing evaluation – There must be provision built into the programme to evaluate
the efficacy of it. Checks are done to ensure that staff are properly selected,
trained and supervised, and that the programme is run as intended. Failure in any
of these areas can undermine effectiveness and make it impossible to evaluate what
does actually work. Further checks are made on whether there are improvements
in the risk areas targeted and reconviction is reduced. Research into making
programmes more effective is continued.
OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR PROGRAMMES
Enhanced thinking skills

Enhanced thinking skills (ETS) (discussed in Chapter 3) is a twenty-session, 40-hour
course based on the premise that much antisocial behaviour stems from offenders’
inability to reach their goals in pro-social ways, because they lack various cognitive skills.
These deficiencies are not related to intelligence or educational attainment, but are
related to styles of thinking and attitudes that lead to antisocial behaviour. This includes
impulse control, flexible thinking, social perspective taking, values/moral reasoning,
reasoning and inter-personal problem solving (see Table 15.1). Such deficits have been
reported by many researchers working with offenders, including Bowman and
Auerbach (1982), Young (1984), Arbuthnot and Gordon (1986) and Ross, Fabiano and
Eweles (1988). ETS is the programme most frequently delivered, with over 40,000
offenders having completed this course within HMPS over the past 12 years.
COGNITIVE SKILLS BOOSTER PROGRAMME
This programme is run by both the prison and probation service and is designed to
reinforce learning from general offending programmes (such as ETS) through skills
rehearsal and relapse prevention.
CONTROLLING ANGER AND LEARNING TO MANAGE IT
The controlling anger and learning to manage it (CALM) programme is not designed
to target offenders who have a poor institutional history of anger/aggression alone.
TABLE 15.1 A general overview of ETS.

Session Content
Pre-course session An opportunity for group members to get to know each other and to be
introduced to topics in the course. Tutors also increase the awareness
of the group in the value of monitoring their own thoughts.
1 Relationships between thoughts and behaviour are explored, and the
first step of the problem-solving strategy is explained.
2 Involves a number of exercises aimed at demonstrating the importance

of stopping and thinking (second step of the problem-solving strategy)
before making a decision. Having considered how errors in information
processing occur, techniques to avoid behaving impulsively are
covered.
3 Covers Steps 3 and 4 of the problem-solving strategy. Group is
encouraged to explore how ‘good’ information can help in decision-
making and what type of information is most useful.
4 Continues the development of the problem-solving strategy, through
the introduction of the second part of the decision-making process –
consideration of consequences.
5 This session introduces the final two steps of the problem-solving
strategy, planning and action. The strategy is then reviewed and
practised.
6 Having completed the problem-solving strategy, group members
explore the influence of past experiences, group membership and
levels of personal involvement in their beliefs are considered.
7 This session introduces the group to the idea that there are different
ways of behaving, which can affect interactions with others. Also,
examines the differences between aggressive, assertive and passive
behaviours.
8 Session 8 covers perspective taking and highlights how seeing a
situation from a number of perspectives can be important in
understanding the facts.
9 Two related social skills are covered in this session, listening and
asking for help.
10 This session provides another opportunity to take part in a perspective
taking exercise. The second half of the session involves the first in a
series of moral dilemmas, which encourage the group to think about
the reasons they use to reach value-laden decisions.
11 Session 11 begins with another moral dilemma that raises the issue of
loyalty and trust. This is followed by the social skill of convincing
others. Tutors highlight the differences between this skill and
manipulation or bullying.
12 At this stage, the group should have an understanding of the link
between thinking and behaviour, will have developed a problem-solving
strategy and have begun developing perspective taking and social skills
strategies. The first part of session 12 focuses on identifying and
managing irrational thinking. The second part introduces the skill
responding to failure and offers a way of dealing with irrational
thoughts when you have been told you have failed at something.
continued . . .
TABLE 15.1 Continued

Session Content
13 This session offers the opportunity to review how emotions affect us
and how we can identify emotions in ourselves and others. The second
part of the session is a moral dilemma on an issue with a high
emotional content.
14 Session 14 looks at working with others on problem-solving tasks.
This requires keeping an open mind, planning, co-operation and
guarding against selfishness. The moral debate raises the issue of

what is fair and just for society and individual responsibility.
15 The first part of the session looks at the issues of rules and how they
are essential to enable people to live and work together. The moral
debate examines issues of trust and deception and informal versus
legal and formal rules.
16 This session examines negotiation, involving a combination of
problem solving with social skills. It is also pointed out that not
everything is negotiable.
17 Session 17 further develops the group’s repertoire of skills by
presenting how to respond to others. It gives them a strategy for
dealing with occasions when others try to convince them of
something or when someone attempts to manipulate or cajole them.
The moral debate focuses on an emotive issue where several of the
characters are under pressure from others to make an irreversible
decision.
18 This session brings together all the main aspects of the course and
demonstrates how the various points fit together. Group members
work through the whole problem-solving strategy and present a chosen
solution for a problem they have thought of.
19 This session focuses on the implementation of solutions generated by
the group to real-life problems.
20 The final session reviews the course by means of a quiz. Group
members then produce individual action plans for areas they feel they
need further work on.
It is aimed at those for whom anger/aggression features as a factor in either current

or previous offending. Within this context, institutional behaviour provides additional
information on the level of need. All referrals must meet the criteria of a previous or
current offence that involved the expression of anger or another intense emotion. This
criterion excludes the use of instrumental aggression that is used to achieve a purpose
(e.g., street robbery).
The CALM programme has been developed specifically to meet the needs of
offenders in managing emotions associated with the occurrence of aggression and
antisocial behaviour. It uses a cognitive behavioural approach to teach offender’s skills
in managing anger and other emotions.
There are a number of programmes on offer that specifically target violent and sexual
offenders. These are as follows.
COGNITIVE SELF-CHANGE PROGRAMME
The cognitive self-change programme (CSCP) targets high-risk violent offenders

and includes group and individual sessions. It equips prisoners with skills to help
them control their violence and avoid re-conviction. It is aimed at offenders with
a history of violent behaviour and is suitable for those whose violence is reactive
and/or instrumental.
SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAMMES
In order for a sex offender to stop offending, they need to be motivated to do so and
they need to possess the insight, skills and strategies to avoid risk and control
temptation. The prison service sex offender treatment programme (SOTP) is based
on established cognitive behavioural principles of the type known to be most effective
in reducing risk of reoffending. The cognitive behavioural approach to treatment
teaches clients to understand and control thinking, feelings and behaviour to achieve
this goal.
A range of programmes is available for sexual offenders, providing a menu that is
offered according to the level of risk and need of the offender. These are:
• Core programme: The treatment goals of this programme include helping
offenders develop an understanding of how and why sexual offences were
committed to increase awareness of victim harm issues and to develop meaningful
life goals as part of a relapsed prevention plan. The programme is targeted at male
medium- and high-risk sex offenders, and challenges thinking patterns, develops
victim empathy and relapse prevention skills.
• Extended programme: A supplementary programme for high-risk offenders
covering five treatment need areas: dysfunctional thinking styles, emotion
management, offence-related sexual fantasy, intimacy skills and inadequate relapse
prevention plans. It is targeted at male high- and very high-risk sex offenders.
• Adapted programme: Treatment goals are similar to the core programme,
but treatment methods are adapted to suit learning-disabled sex offenders across
all risk levels. The programme is designed to increase sexual knowledge, modify
offence-justifying thinking, develop ability to recognise feelings in themselves and
others, to gain an understanding of victim harm and to develop relapse prevention
skills.
• Rolling programme: This programme covers the same topics as the core
programme, but with less emphasis on obtaining an adequate offence account, and
more emphasis on relationship skills and attachment deficits. It is targeted at male
low- and medium-risk sex offenders, but sex offenders who have completed
primary treatment programmes and who are serving long sentences can attend as
a ‘top-up’ programme.
• Booster programme: This programme is designed to provide an opportunity
for offenders to refresh their learning in treatment and to prepare for additional
relapse prevention and release work.
Summary of the work of a forensic psychologist based

in prison
Forensic psychologists work mainly in the prison and probation services to
develop intervention techniques and treatment programmes. They work
closely with other professionals and agencies both in the assessment and
treatment of individuals, and in the development of institutional policy and
working practices. These include one-to-one or group treatment

interventions. They deal with:
• Offending behaviour
• Related psychological needs, for example, to manage depression, anger or
anxiety
They work with individuals, and with organisations, within the judicial and
penal systems, such as:
• Offenders
• Victims
• Witnesses
• Probation services
• Judges and juries
• Prisoners and prison staff
Much of the work of a forensic psychologist focuses on therapy in

correctional settings where tasks typically involve:
• Carrying risk out assessments (as discussed in Chapter 14)

• Presenting findings from assessments to a wider staff audience
• Developing and evaluating the contribution of assessment techniques,
such as psychometrics
• Undertaking research projects to evaluate the contribution of specific
service elements, policy initiatives or group programme developments,
for example, exploring programme ‘drop-out’ rates or evaluating a group
programme
• Participating in delivery or management of nationally recognised cognitive
behavioural group programmes, for example, ETS, or severe personality
disorder and SOTPs
• Checking and monitoring treatment groups to ensure standards and
FOCUS 15.3
quality
• Overseeing the training of prison/probation service staff
• Overseeing the provision of support during serious incidents
• Advising prison governors on incidents such as riots, demonstrations and
hostage-taking
• Attending team and area meetings
Other tasks include:
• Management and administration

Continued
• Analysing local, area and national policy to develop strategies for

continuous improvement
• Casework notes and court work, sometimes including attendance and
providing expert witness testimony in court as discussed in Chapter 14
HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS PROGRAMME
The healthy relationships programme (HRP) intervention is designed for male offen-
ders who demonstrate a risk of being violent to an intimate female partner. High-risk
offenders receive a high intensity programme, while lower-risk offenders receive a
moderate intensity programme. Both programmes target attitudes supporting or con-
doning domestic violence, poor emotional control, skills deficits and motivational
issues.
CHROMIS
Chromis is a complex and intensive programme that aims to reduce violence in high-
risk offenders whose level or combination of psychopathic traits disrupts their ability
to accept treatment and change. Chromis has been specifically designed to meet the
needs of highly psychopathic individuals and provides participants with the skills to
reduce and manage their risk.
PRISON ADDRESSING SUBSTANCE-RELATED OFFENDING
Prison addressing substance-related offending (PASRO) is a cognitive behavioural

group work programme designed to address drug dependence and related offending.
The programme targets offenders who are dependent on one or more drug, or a
combination of drugs and alcohol. Participants should be at risk of reoffending with
a historical link between their substance dependence and offending or a likelihood that
future untreated substance dependence would lead to reoffending.
CONCLUSIONS
The psychological consequences of imprisonment are considerable. They act against

one of the primary objectives of this form of punishment, which is to reduce the
likelihood of a person committing crimes subsequent to being in prison. Therefore,
there are many aspects of imprisonment that could benefit from psychological
interventions. The recognition of this over the last 50 years has led in many countries
to the emergence of prison psychology. Those psychologists working within this

discipline help prisoners to deal with the effects of imprisonment as well as providing
programmes that address their offending behaviour directly. Prison psychologists also
often act in training and advisory roles for those employed in the prison service.
• Cognitive Behavioural • Recidivism • Dialectical

Therapy • Institutionalisation Behavioural Therapy
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Taking into consideration the ‘What Works’ literature, critically evaluate its usefulness
in the punishment or rehabilitation debate.
• Consider ways in which you might intervene with a prisoner displaying anger
management problems towards other prisoners.
• Why is skills-based training used in offending behaviour programmes?
Books
Caulfield, L., & Wilkinson, D. (2014). Forensic psychology (undergraduate revision guide). London:
Pearson.
Hollin, C. R. (Ed). (2001). Handbook of offender assessment and treatment. Chichester: Wiley.
Liebling, A., & Maruna, S. (2005). The effects of imprisonment. London: Routledge.
McGuire, J. (Ed.). (1995). What works: reducing reoffending – guidelines from research and practice.
Chichester: Wiley.
Needs, A., & Towl, G. J. (2003). Applying psychology to forensic practice. Oxford: Blackwell.
Sommer, R. (1976). The end of imprisonment. London: Oxford University Press.
Towl, G. J., & Crighton, D. A. (1996). The handbook of psychology for forensic practitioners. London:
Routledge.
Journal articles
Andrews, D. A., Zinger, I., Hoge, R. D., Bonta, J., Gendreau, P. & Cullen, F. T. (1990). Does
correctional treatment work? A clinically relevant and psychologically informed meta-
analysis. Criminology, 28, 369–404.
Izzo, R. L., & Ross, R. R. (1990). Meta-analysis of rehabilitation programmes for juvenile
delinquents. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 17, 134–42.
Ogloff, J. R. P., & Davis, M. R. (2004). Advances in offender assessment and rehabilitation:
contributions of the risk-need-responsivity approach. Psychology, Crime and Law, 10(3),
229–42.
Mears, D. P., Cochran, J. C., & Cullen, F. T. (2015). Incarceration heterogeneity and its
implications for assessing the effectiveness of imprisonment on recidivism. Criminal Justice
Policy Review, 26(7), 691–712.

Western, B., Braga, A. A., Davis, J., & Sirois, C. (2015). Stress and hardship after prison. American
Journal of Sociology, 120(5), 1512–47.
Websites
The following website gives an overview of the objectives and principles of prisons in the UK:
www.justice.gov.uk/about/hmps/
The following website gives some facts and figures about mental health in prison:
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/projectsresearch/mentalhealth
The following website gives an overview of the treatment programmes available in prison:
www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/before-after-release/obp
16 Concerning
victims
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Understand the impact of crime on various types of victim.

2 Consider how some characteristics make some people more vulnerable to
victimisation.
3 Understand how criminals can become victims.
4 Discuss the benefits of restorative justice over incarceration.
5 Discuss the ways in which victims can reduce the risk of repeat victimisation.
SUMMARY
People who suffer crimes, the victims, have often been ignored in many areas of
criminology and crime psychology that tend to focus on the criminals. Over the recent
years, this gap is being filled by studies of who becomes a victim, the consequences
of experiencing and fearing crime and how criminal justice systems may take more
account of helping victims, rather than just punishing the culprits. This chapter, there-
fore, focuses on fear of crime, the experience of crime, who becomes a victim and
how victimisation occurs.
FEAR OF CRIME
Fear of crime is an area that is increasingly studied (Vanderveen, 2006), with some
law enforcement agencies even aiming to reduce the fear of crime as well as the actual
crime levels. These studies show that there is neither a close relationship between fear
of crime and actual crime levels, or fear of crime and the actual experience of crime.
This somewhat paradoxical finding that being a direct victim of an offence has no rela-
tionship with levels of fearfulness (DuBow, McCabe & Kaplan 1979) has opened up
the consideration that what is feared is not the possibility of crime but of being a victim.
CONCERNING VICTIMS 227
The common-sense hypothesis that those who have been victimised before are likely
to have an increased estimation of their own risk of victimisation has no clear support
for this premise. Box, Hale and Andrews (1988) found previous victims had lower
levels of fear than those who had not suffered a crime. Skogan and Maxfield (1981)
found previous victims to be more fearful, but the levels of fear varied by crime as
well as age and sex. Although Liska, Sanchirico and Reed (1988) did find that those
who had been victims were more fearful than those who had not. Rountree (1998)
showed that the type of victimisation experienced influenced the nature of the fear.
Victims of violent crimes had increased levels of fear of both property and violent
crime, but property victims only had increased fear of property crime.
In general, then, fear of crime is often highest in those people who feel vulnerable, such
as the infirm elderly, but they are the least likely to have directly suffered a crime (Warr,
1987). Over the last decade, a growing number of people think crime is increasing, but,
in fact, crime has generally been decreasing. The murder rate in Oxford at the time of
William Shakespeare was many times higher than it is anywhere in the UK today.
EXPERIENCE OF CRIME
Although most crimes are legally defined in terms of physical injury or loss of pro-
perty, there are also a range of psychological consequences that legal processes tend
to undervalue, except in certain aspects of sentencing. Focus box 16.2 summarises the
results of some studies of the experience of being burgled. This demonstrates the trauma
that can be caused even when there is no direct contact between the criminal and the
victim. All forms of crime, then, from burglary to rape can have lasting psychological
effects on the victims far beyond any economic or physical consequences. These
consequences can include posttraumatic stress (Griffing et al., 2006).
The worst part is not knowing

The experience of property crime, physical assault or rape often introduces an increased
feeling of vulnerability. The fixed beliefs in the stability of daily routine, free from
threat, are eroded. The trust in relationships is jeopardised. This increases the fear of
possible future victimisation and a lack of confidence in people and places that had
earlier been regarded as unthreatening. When the offender is still at large, this adds
considerably to the anxiety of the victim.
In many areas of human activity, it has been found that stress is partly a product of
lack of control over what it is you are trying to do. Not knowing whether an attack
or a burglary is likely to recur does consequently generate considerable stress. When
the crime relates to a family member or a friend who has disappeared, then the inability
to clarify the emotional relationship to the missing person, whether to mourn them
or not, for instance, can cause considerable distress. That is why, such victims will often
say they would rather know that their loved one is dead than be kept in the dark.

Some forms of violent assault have been shown to have particular traumatic responses.
Most notable are the effects of being raped.
Two stages are often identified in response to rape (Burgess & Holmstrom, 1974).
In the hours just after the assault, victims may experience shock, disbelief, anger and
general anxiety. This is likely to be accompanied by confusion and disorganisation in
their activities with considerable general fear. Later on, as victims begin to put their
life back together, they are likely to feel humiliation, embarrassment and a growing
desire for revenge.
One of the most debilitating psychological aspects of this is when victims blame
themselves in some way for what happened. They may think they gave the wrong
signals, through their actions, what they said or wore. In some cultures, the tendency
to blame the victims can be so strong that they accept their culpability quite
inappropriately.
Women, in particular, experience rape as life threatening, even if there were no
direct physical or verbal threats. This, of course, aggravates all the other anxieties
associated with unwanted sexual activity. There are big variations, though, in how
victims react to sexual assaults. Those with more sexual experience may be more able
to find the ability to pull through and deal with the trauma. Also, family and social
support is very significant in helping victims to cope.
Male victims
Men who experience rape can suffer particular traumas. These can be experienced
when their assailants are women as well as men. Men may feel that the attack chal-
lenges their identity as men. Many men also feel that they are usually in control in
social situations and sexual encounters and have some autonomy over their intimate
relationships. A rape can shatter all that and make them feel especially vulnerable and
even guilty in some ill-defined way for not being manly enough.
It is useful to recognise different situations in which male rape can occur, although
these situations have parallels when the victims are women.
• The victim may be overwhelmed by physical forces that he is unable to resist.
• A friendly, mildly sexual encounter may be taken further than the victim wishes.
• The victim may be trapped in a situation he cannot manage due to substance abuse
or unwanted drugs.
• Threats may be used to coerce the victim.
The effects of physical abuse on children

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of abuse because they are still forming
an understanding of who they are and how they should relate to others. The likely
consequences (Maas, Herrenkohl & Sousa 2008) are:
• Beyond the immediate pain and suffering, there are likely to be medical problems.
Young children will have less physical capability to cope with physical assault. As
a result, in some cases, death can be caused by physical injury, which would not
be regarded as so severe in an adult.
• Emotional problems are likely to be expressed through a general level of anger,
hostility and anxiety. They will be fearful of adult contact that will also involve
an inability to express their feelings.
• Children will experience physical assault as humiliation, and thus, have lowered
self-esteem.
• Their relationships with other children will be problematic, expressed as aggression
towards others, hyperactivity, truancy, inability to form friendships and poor social
skills. Self-destructive behaviour, including excessive risk-taking, may also be
present.
• Their inability to be part of a social group or to relate to others can make the
educational process very challenging for them, with poorer cognitive and language
skills than non-abused children being the outcome.

Long-term consequences of child physical abuse are:
• Long-term physical disabilities, for example, brain damage or eye damage.
• Disordered interpersonal relationships, for example, difficulty trusting others
within adult relationships or violent relationships.
• A predisposition to emotional disturbance.
• Feelings of low self-esteem.
• Depression.
• An increased potential for child abuse as a parent.
• Drug or alcohol abuse.
Traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury is most often caused by accidents of many different forms,
although it can be a result of violent assault. So, it is relevant in considering victims
from two points of view. One is the effects it has on those victims, which may be
relevant to helping them. The other is the basis it can provide for understanding how,
in some cases, such victims can become criminals (see Focus box 16.1).
There are, of course, many possible consequences of injury to the brain depending
on which part of the brain is injured. It is also important to recognise that the accident
itself may have had a psychological effect in making the person fearful and anxious
quite independently of any brain injury. If the injury resulted from an assault, then
the psychological consequence of that, discussed earlier in this chapter, may be the
main causes of any psychological disturbance. Therefore, it can often be difficult to
disentangle the influences of organic brain damage from the emotions associated with
the violent crime.
Children, as noted above, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of injury. It has
been found that with brain injuries, they have:
• Lower levels of self-esteem and adaptive behaviour
• Higher levels of loneliness
• Maladaptive behaviour
• Aggressive/antisocial behaviour
For adults, similar problems may be apparent. However, because their involvement
in the community at large is more demanding than for children, brain injury can be
psychologically more debilitating. It typically reduces the victim’s social contact. This
may increase feelings of loneliness and related depression. These problems can remain
long after the physical consequences of the injury have improved. Social isolation and
The consequences of traumatic brain injury that can increase susceptibility to

FOCUS 16.1
becoming criminal are:
• Decrease in friendships and social support.

• Lack of opportunity for establishing new social contacts and friends.
• Reduced leisure activities.
• Anxiety and depression for prolonged periods of time.
decreased leisure activities create a renewed dependence of the victim on their family
to meet these needs.
ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF CRIME
There are a variety of circumstances in which assessment of the victim of a crime

requires psychological expertise, instead of, or as well as, medical expertise. The
assessment issues here are very similar to those that would be required if a person
had had an accident, rather than being the victim of a crime. As mentioned earlier in
this chapter, crimes do generate fears and anxieties that may not be so prevalent as a
consequence of accidents, but the psychological issues are very similar.
Part of the challenge of making these assessments is that there are often reasons why
the victim may wish to appear as disabled as possible. This may be to increase the
chance of an insurance payment and to increase the amount of payment. It can be a
desire to obtain compensation that some jurisdictions offer victims. In a court case,
there may be a determination to ensure the culprit is seen to have caused deep
psychological damage, and thus, the judge or jury will be less lenient towards him.
Consequently, any psychologist assessing the victim has to find ways of determining
the true nature of the situation. However, psychological processes can complicate all
this. The victim themself may not be aware of the extent to which they are searching
for disabilities within themself, in part, as a way of reassuring themself that what they
are suffering was the result of the assault.
The main ways of dealing with the challenges faced in assessing the impact on the
victim of their experiences are as follows:
• Objective information from as wide a range of sources as possible is sought. This
will include medical and employment records, and wherever possible, interviewing
people who knew the victim before and after the critical event, such as family
friends and work colleagues.
• Obtaining as clear details as possible of the incident to determine how it may have
had any effects.
• Capabilities and emotional tendencies prior to the incident are considered.
• Interviewing the victim is important, but has to be assessed in the light of other
evidence.
• Psychological tests as mentioned in Chapter 14 may be very helpful too.
One particular aspect of the interview that a forensic psychologist will take account
of is how the victim deals with the interview process itself, sometimes called response
style. These can take a number of different characteristics:
• Malingering, especially the deliberate fabrication of symptoms or greatly exag-
gerating them.
• Minimisation, the denial of any symptoms or a reduction in the account of their
seriousness.
• Distraction, dealing with questions by going off at a tangent to talk about irrele-
vant issues, probably indicating an unwillingness to engage directly with the

interview procedure.
• Lack of effort in performing any tasks as part of the assessment. This may be due
to weariness or frustration, but can also indicate other symptoms the victim is not
totally aware of, notably depression.
• Lack of co-operation, such as when the victim refuses to answer questions or gives
only minimal answers.
These response styles are used by the forensic psychologists to form a view of the
disabilities of the victim and the effect of the incident. Each one of them on their own
does not imply that the victim’s account of the effect the crime has had on their life
is valid or not. But, taken together with all the other information, it can provide a
valuable basis for any opinion offered.
Victim or survivor?
There is a problem with identifying the traumatic consequences of crime and devel-
oping accounts of victims’ experiences that can be taken to imply they have something
close to a medical problem. This can lead to them being assigned a clinical label that
can then ignore their unique experiences and ways of dealing with those experiences.
They may find themselves being treated as a medical ‘case’, rather than a person, with
expectations of how they will act being influenced by general ideas about those sorts
of ‘cases’, rather than the special way the particular person is acting.
Many victims are, therefore, encouraged not to think of themselves in those terms,
but as people who have survived something awful. This also gives them confidence
to take back control of their lives and not allow the offender still to exert an influence
over what they do by continuing to give rise to their fears and anxieties. One way of
helping victims feel empowered is by confronting the person who attacked them or
stole from them. This can include testifying in court or being part of a restorative justice
process described below.
Secondary victimisation
Many crimes have an influence beyond their immediate victims, family, friends and
neighbours. Even people who happen to be passing-by and witness what happened
can be disturbed by a criminal event. When it is a major event, such as the increasing
number of terrorist attacks in major cities, then the consequent trauma spreads around
the world. In New York, it was reported that there was a 25 per cent increase in
alcohol consumption after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, a sign of
the increase in fear and anxiety.
The experience of being burgled

The feelings of violation following a burglary are often compared to the
intrusion felt by victims of rape (Bennett & Wright, 1984). Victims of burglary
report increased levels of anxiety, depression and hostility, fatigue and
experience more psychological stress (Beaton, Cook, Kavanagh & Herrington,
2000). Although the emotional and psychological ramifications are shorter
lived than the effects of violent crime, there is a clear cost above and beyond
the loss of possessions or damage to property (Maguire & Corbett, 1987). In
the 2006 British Crime Survey (BCS) burglary victims reported the following:
• 86 per cent were emotionally affected
• 56 per cent said anger was experienced
• 46 per cent reported annoyance
• 28 per cent to feelings of fear
• 10 per cent experienced depression
• 11 per cent suffered anxiety or panic attacks
FOCUS 16.2
Bennett and Wright (1984) report that many feel that they became
paranoid and distrustful even of neighbours and friends. They have an
overwhelming sense that the crime was committed by somebody known to
them. Not an unfounded paranoia, with the 2006 BCS reporting that 52 per
cent of offenders are known to the victim in some capacity.
FIGURE 16.1 Who becomes a victim?

CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTIMS
Not everyone has the same chance of becoming a victim (Nicholas, Kershaw & Walker
2008). Personal, behavioural and aspects of locations all have an influence. In general,
there are two contributory factors to whether a person becomes a victim or not.
• Their personal characteristics and vulnerabilities. A disorganised lifestyle, not
looking after property or being less able to look after oneself may be taken
advantage of by criminals.
• The location in which they are. Inevitably, living in or often visiting a high crime
area increases the likelihood of experiencing crime.
In the UK, the following groups are more than twice as likely to be burgled as the
average household:
• Young households
• Lone parents
• The unemployed
There are also big variations in the prevalence of crimes in different regions, especi-
ally property crimes. There are more crimes in cities and fewer in the countryside,
although the types of crimes vary, so comparisons have to be treated with caution.
There is not much cattle rustling in New York or London, and not a lot of fraudulent
bankers on the Yorkshire moors or Indiana prairies.
Violent crimes tend to have the same relative frequency across the UK. This contra-
dicts the general assumption that violence has a higher rate of incidence in the inner
city. There are many more people living in inner cities and many more vulnerable
people in inner cities than in small towns, so the actual number of violent crimes is
much higher.
The relative incidence of crimes can be very different when there are particular
local issues; gangs in Chicago or Detroit, vendettas between organised crime groups
and subsets of the population for whom violence is a way of life, as discussed in
Chapter 4. These may capture the attention of the mass media and raise public concern,
but the simple fact is that, in Western countries, the number of crimes reported overall
has been dropping steadily for the last 20 years or so.
The variations in experience of crime do reflect cultural aspects of who the victims
are. In the USA, African-Americans are almost twice as likely to experience a violent
crime as whites. In the UK and the USA, people in their teens and young adults are
twice as likely to experience violent crime compared with the rest of the population.
In general, as people get older, they are less likely to experience violent crime. A teen-
ager in the USA is ten times more likely to experience some sort of assault that a person
over 65 years of age.
Summarising many studies (e.g., reviewed by Dijk, Kesteren & Smit 2008), the
following features increase the chance of becoming a victim:
• Attractiveness target object – When a product is so valued that the offender can sell
it on to others, for example, an expensive car or the latest model mobile phone.
This list is ever-changing, especially as new desirable objects come onto the market.
It may be assumed it could also apply to victims of sexual assaults, but there is no
clear evidence that women who are generally regarded as attractive have a higher
probability of being victims of such crimes. Although younger women are more
likely to suffer rape than older women, this is just as likely to be a consequence
of lifestyle, being out and about, mixing with a variety of people, than any special
attractiveness to rapists.
• Proximity – Whether the offender can access the target either geographically or
by person-to-person interaction. Some victims are selected because they are near
to where the offender operates, and thus, does not have to travel far.
• Deviant place – Locations where crime can flourish, such as where large numbers
of people meet at the same time. For example, there tends to be more crime
around football matches. If these places are not patrolled by the police, they can
become known as ‘crime hot spots’, where people will be at a higher risk of
victimisation.
• Vulnerability – A lack of protection of property or the reduced ability of a person
to resist an attack increases the risk of being a victim. The elderly, very young or
infirm, or those with learning disabilities may all be more at risk if they are in the
wrong place at the wrong time.
CRIMINALS CAN BE VICTIMS
All of the factors that can increase the possibility of a person becoming a victim are
relevant within a community of criminals, especially within a prison, as well as for
law-abiding citizens outside. Therefore, one of the challenges of imprisonment is to
create an environment in which vulnerable individuals do not become victims with
all the traumatic and personally destructive consequences that can entail as discussed
in the previous chapter.
One particularly vulnerable group of people are those women and men who earn
money as street-level sex workers. The great majority are under pressure from pimps
or due to drug addiction to earn money. Their circumstances do make them more
vulnerable to assault and homicide. Their vulnerability illustrates the circumstances that
can combine to increase the risk of suffering crime (Canter, Ioannou & Youngs, 2009):
• Sex work is illegal in most places, therefore, it has to be carried out away from
the relative safety of public settings. This is especially hazardous if it is outdoors
without any recourse to others for help.
• When a crime is committed against a sex worker, it is difficult for investigators
to gain information from the victim or her associates because of the way revelations
about their activities will open them up to prosecution. Furthermore, their clients
are also committing an illegal act, as well as one they would not want others to
know about, so are extremely reluctant to volunteer information to help the police.
It is also difficult for detectives to identify them.
• The general public are less likely to be concerned over such victims, and so, may
be unwilling to come forward with information that may help the police.
• Many, probably most, street sex workers have alcohol and/or drug dependency.
This makes them desperate to obtain money to maintain their addiction. This will
encourage them to take risks relating to where they go and with whom. If under
FIGURE 16.2 An integrated model of victimisation.
the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are probably less able to defend themselves
or remember the details to report to the police.
• Criminals are aware of these vulnerabilities, and so, may prey on street sex workers.
They are the favoured victims of serial killers.
REPEAT VICTIMISATION
When considering the conditions that make people more at risk of being a victim of
a crime, it is apparent that many of those conditions are still present once a crime has
happened. As a consequence, it is to be expected that some people will be unfortunate
enough to experience crimes a number of times over a relatively short period, say, a
year. Yet, although this may seem obvious, it was only in the last decade or so that
this susceptibility to repeat crime has been recognised by law enforcement with a
resulting direct policy for tackling it, as reviewed, for example, by Outlaw, Ruback
and Britt (2002) in relation to the USA, and Perreault, Sauve and Burns (2010) for
Canada.
Studies show (Pease, 1998) that more than one in ten people who suffer a crime,
such as burglary, are likely to experience a similar crime within 12 months, if direct
efforts are not taken to reduce the risks. In the days and weeks following the crime,
the chances of a further similar crime are the greatest. Efforts to reduce future risk of
crime need to take account of the following factors that make people particularly prone
to repeat victimisation:
• Living in a crime-prone area, especially an area where many criminals live or where
they visit.
• Chaotic lifestyles, occupations or leisure activities that put people at risk of crime.
• Lack of concern to control the crime as sometimes happens with theft from shops
or petty vandalism, or in student accommodation.
• Crimes that are part of destructive relationships, most notably domestic violence,
continue as long as the relationship does, or some outside agent intervenes to stop
the violence.
Reducing repeat victimisation, therefore, consists of dealing with the context that
supports the crime, either from the locality or from the weakness of the target of crime,
often referred to as ‘target hardening’ (Farrington, 1992). This may be something as
simple as making sure buildings are securely locked, students do not leave their laptops
by open windows or more complex such as introducing careful stock control. Where
the reasons for the repeat victimisation are within the people who suffer, helping them
to understand what they can do to reduce the risk is crucial.
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
One approach to helping victims is known restorative justice (Braithwaite, 2002) because
it emphasises the repairing of the harm that has been caused by the crime. It focuses
on the fact that crime involves a relationship between the offender and the victim,
even if this is an implicit relationship as in a theft when the victim is absent. It is this
that needs to be dealt with, whether it is burglary or rape. Bringing the offender and
victim together can also have beneficial effects on the criminals.
Many pre-industrial societies had processes that can now be recognised as restorative
justice. In these societies, the offender and victim are brought together to resolve their
differences and for the offender to make amends. The victim is given a significant role
in the judicial process and their suffering is at centre stage. This differs considerably
from most advanced legal systems in which the state punishes the criminal and the
victim is just one more witness to provide evidence for the state.
At the heart of restorative justice processes is the offender acknowledging his
wrongdoing and apologising for it. Studies have shown that even this humane
acceptance that they should not have done what they did is very beneficial to the
victim. It helps them to accept the validity of their own suffering and to understand
more fully the reasons why the crime occurred, which also helps them come to terms
with it.
Victims offer the following reasons for requesting a restorative justice procedure:
• To find out from the offenders why they committed the crime in that way with
that particular victim.
• To make the offender understand and accept the effect the crime has had on the
victim and to accept and apologise for that effect.
• To have the opportunity to forgive the offender, and thus, bring the experience
to a resolution.
The actual process can be set up many different ways, such as small group meetings,
more formal conferences and mediation through a third party. They can include
support from legal or psychotherapeutic professionals or even ex-offenders. In general,
they follow the process of:
• Meeting: Bringing together all those on whom the crime has impacted to talk about
the crime and its consequences.
• Recompense: Explore how the offender will help to repair the harm they have
caused. This will include clear indications of remorse, apology and acceptance of
the impact of the offence.
• Reintegration: Set in motion, the restoration of victims and offenders to be full,
positive members of society.
• Inclusion: Ensure that all those for whom the crime has particular relevance
participate in the actions agreed.
Many experts point out that restorative justice is not a soft option for criminals.
Many of them refuse to accept responsibility for their crimes, drawing on the
justifications discussed in Chapter 3. They also do not want to face their victims or
set in motion anything that would redress the damage they have done. There are many
examples where offenders have preferred to go to prison, rather than participate
in restorative justice. This is the central weakness of what is otherwise a good idea.
It requires the offender’s full and open participation.
CONCLUSIONS
The experience of being a victim is too often a limited aspect of the study of crime.
Yet, as has been explored in this chapter, the fear of becoming a victim is an important
influence on human activity. It does not have a strong relationship to actual experience of
crime, but to the general feeling of vulnerability. When people do experience crime, even
when the target of the crime is property, they often have strongly emotional responses.
This trauma can be even more severe if violent crime is experienced, notably rape.
Helping victims is, therefore, an important area for psychological intervention. Judicial
processes that take note of the victim’s experiences, known as ‘restorative justice’, is
therefore an area that will benefit considerably from future psychological research.
• Victimology • Secondary • Repeat victimisation

• Rape trauma victimisation • Restorative justice
syndrome
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
• Explore which recent laws deal directly with the psychological experience of being a
victim.
• Give an outline of restorative justice.
• What are the psychological consequences of becoming a victim of crime?
• Describe the ways in which a forensic psychologist can assess victims.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING
Books
Karmen, A. (2001). Crime victims: an introduction to victimology, 4th ed. London: Wadsworth.
Kirchengast, T. (2016). Victims and the criminal trial (Palgrave studies in victims and victimology).
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shapland, J., Robinson, G., & Sorsby, A. (2011). Restorative justice in practice: evaluating what works
for victims and offenders. London: Routledge.
Vanfraechem, I., Fernández, D. B., & Aertsen, I. (Eds.). (2015). Victims and restorative justice.
London: Routledge.
Walklate, S. (2001). Gender, crime and criminal justice. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
Walklate, S. L. (2014). Victimology (Routledge revivals): the victim and the criminal justice process.
London: Routledge.
Journal articles
Averdijk, M. (2011). Reciprocal effects of victimization and routine activities. Journal of
Quantitative Criminology, 27(2), 125–49.
Beaton, A., Cook, M., Kavanagh, M., & Herrington, C. (2000). The psychological impact
of burglary. Psychology, Crime & Law, 6(1), 33–43.
Davis, R. C., Taylor, B., & Lurigio, A. J. (1996). Adjusting to criminal victimization: the
correlates of postcrime distress. Violence and Victims, 11(1), 21–38.
Fohring, S. (2015). An integrated model of victimization as an explanation of non-involvement
with the criminal justice system. International Review of Victimology, 21(1), 45–70.
Kury, H., & Ferdinand, T. (1998). The victim’s experience and fear of crime. International Review
of Victimology, 5(2), 93–140.
Veneziano, C., Veneziano, L., & LeGrand, S. (2000). The relationship between adolescent sex
offender behaviors and victim characteristics with prior victimization. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 15(4), 363–74.
Websites
This website is a good source of victim and recorded crime statistics in the UK, along with
details of governmental initiatives:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk
The following website is a useful international website that holds a number of news items on
the developments of victimology, with links to other relevant sources of information:
www.victimology.nl/
This is an American website of the National Criminal Victim Center, useful for crime and victim
statistics:
www.ncvc.org
This is a website of the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) that provides the
reader with information on serious sexual crimes in America:
www.rainn.org/
The following is a link to the FBI’s website – a useful resource for their national crime figures
and research findings on a variety of topics:
www.fbi.orgs
17 The future of
psychology
and crime
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Discuss the changes in the world that are relevant for considering the
developing nature of crime and criminality.
2 Appreciate how offenders and their actions evolve in relation to their social and
personal context.
3 Consider the possible significance of psychology for helping to prevent crime.
4 Appreciate the challenges to psychological research that are inherent in the
evolving nature of crime and criminality.
5 Understand that there are many questions about the psychology of crime that
still remain to be answered.
SUMMARY
The many processes that give rise to changes in the nature of criminality of
psychological relevance are discussed. They include the many aspects of the Internet
and related technologies, as well as the associated globalisation, including easier travel
between countries. Related changes in society also need to be considered. These
include, in many countries, a more professional and highly trained police force, which
is consequently more able to utilise psychological input. The changing family structure
and role of women, as well as the emerging ideological battles between different
religious and ethical frameworks, all create a fertile ground in which new forms of
criminality will grow. Psychologists seem destined to chase these trends, rather than
be ahead of them, but a revised evolutionary perspective that recognises that crimes
will emerge to fill the environmental niches that are available could change this. Such
a perspective will require closer integration between psychological approaches to crime,
sociological, political and technological ones.
THE FUTURE OF PSYCHOLOGY AND CRIME 241
CHANGES IN HOW WE LIVE
Internet-related changes
Criminal actions operate on the opportunities available, whether this is other people
or property that those people own, and the resources that facilitate crime. Therefore,
as the opportunities change, so do the crimes. If psychologists are to play any role in
understanding, predicting or managing crimes, then the unfolding opportunities and
their implications for human behaviour need to be understood. The variety and range
of emerging opportunities for crime are mindboggling. They include those listed in
Table 17.1.
It is not surprising therefore that the majority of property crimes are now committed
over the Internet. The annual Crime Survey of England and Wales between April 2015
and March 2016 revealed that one in ten adults were victims of online fraud during
that period. This makes it much more likely that people will lose money online than
having their house burgled, being robbed or mugged on the street. As indicated in
Table 17.1, these crimes are often committed by criminals who are living overseas out
TABLE 17.1 Developments and emerging opportunities for crime.

Developments Opportunities for criminals
Property and wealth
Increased wealth throughout the world, More wealth to be stolen or fought over,
while there are increasing differences with plenty of people feeling injustices.
between the rich and the poor.
A greater number of consumer goods, More and easier desirable objects to be
often smaller and more portable. stolen.
Information and communication
Ideas and publications available beyond People far apart encouraged to carry out
borders. crimes.
Information and communication being stored Access to crucial information, such as
and transmitted electronically around the identities and bank accounts, can be obtained
world. in cyberspace.
Access to resources beyond borders and Weapons and other criminal resources can
police control. be purchased by mail order.
Increased movement of people
Open borders between many countries. Criminals can move without hindrance.
Increased ease of movement around the Criminals can move much greater distances.
world.
Technological developments
Developments in technology. Technology becomes a target as well as a tool
for criminality.
Improved crime prevention. More violent crime to overcome protective
devices.
of reach of the country’s law enforcement agencies. Some fraudulent activity online,
such as advance fee fraud, discussed in Chapter 11, may even be difficult to prosecute
because the victim gives up their money freely in the belief that they will get a much
larger sum in return.
The Internet can also operate as a breeding ground for people who in the past might
not have drifted into offending. Youngsters may start off ‘stealing’ objects in online
games, but that opens them up to being influenced by criminals to steal actual property
online (National Crime Agency, 2016. www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk). Because
they are not in direct contact with victims, this reduces their awareness of the damage
they are causing. This is especially the case if they can steal from and defraud large
anonymous institutions.
Furthermore, the opportunities for more, and more secret, contact between
criminals has been greatly increased by the Internet and mobile phones. People do not
even need to send messages overtly to each other. A seemingly innocent message can
be put on a Facebook page or a title to an Instagram picture that hundreds or thousands
of people can read without law enforcement knowing who the intended recipient is.
SOCIAL CHANGES
These economic and technological changes are also being joined by big social changes,
which drive and are driven by some processes that draw on the Internet, but also have
their own momentum. As indicated in Table 17.2, they carry implications for the
nature of criminals and their criminality as much as for the sorts of offences they
commit. Many of these changes have direct implications for how individuals see the
world and their fundamental ethical stands.
There are four important points about the nature of criminals and criminality, which
derive from these technological and social changes.
• Those who may have become criminals in the past may now and in the future
turn to different sorts of crime. Bank robbers turn to penetration of Internet
accounts, rather than wearing mask and wielding guns in a bank. Stalkers will harass
their victims over e-mail, through Facebook, YouTube and other social media.
TABLE 17.2 Social changes of relevance to the nature of offenders.

Social changes Implications for criminals
Breakdown of traditional religious and moral The origins of offenders may be in wider areas
frameworks combined with re-emergence of society and from unusual backgrounds
of fundamentalist belief systems. compared to most criminals.
Reduction in the power of the nuclear family Criminogenic backgrounds more widely
and family discipline. dispersed through social groups.
Wider education and increased technological The increasing ease of use of many emerging
skills and availability. technologies means more offenders have
the skills needed to abuse them.
The increased cultural mix of many cities. Offenders drawn from a wider ethnic and
cultural background.
• New forms of criminals are emerging, driven by the re-emerging fundamentalist

beliefs or the excitement they see in cybercrime. In the past centuries, anarchists
and urban guerrillas also attacked because of their beliefs in an unjust world, and
young men broke into houses because of the thrills that provided.
• New types of crimes are also emerging, such as revenge porn and cyber bullying.
Although there were similar types of offences in the past, the scale of activity that
can be generated over the Internet is so much larger that these crimes take on a
quite different quality from their less powerful forbears. Various forms of child
abuse are also an example of criminal activity that can be stimulated by the
opportunities the World Wide Web offers.
• The possibility of contact with likeminded people across the world gives
psychological support to people who may have been reluctant to recognise their
own predilections. The most obvious example of this is the explosion of child
pornography over the Internet. Paedophiles view their actions as more acceptable
when they discover how many other people share them. The emergence of lone
terrorists who draw on information from the Web, which encourages their
actions, is also a product of the open availability of propaganda on the Web.
But, it is an open question as to whether the terrorists and hackers of today are
drawn from the same psychological mix as their analogous counterparts from 50 or a
100 years ago.
AN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF CRIME
One way of conceptualising the future of crimes is to recognise that crime has always
emerged in relation to the context and opportunities for breaking the norms of society.
This is a much more solidly evolutionary approach to crime than the rather bizarre
search for atavistic origins of offending within humanity’s distant animal heritage. It
sees behaviour as emerging in response to the niches that are made available by the
way people relate to each other. Such behaviour may well be passed down from one
generation to the next in many different ways, but it will continually evolve in relation
to the changing circumstances.
This evolution is partly a product of changes within the direct experiences of
individuals, either within the family or in the culture and ideology to which that person
is exposed. It is also partly a product of changes in the opportunities for crime and the
way those opportunities are accessed by those who, for whatever reason, have the
potential for criminality. Thus, when ships had no ready contact with the shore and
spent many months at sea with valuable cargo, piracy was a constant threat. It still is
a problem in those parts of the world where a rapid response from law enforcement
is unlikely. Highwaymen could similarly rob stagecoaches because of their isolation
on some journeys. Today, there are some forms of crime that only occur on very long
train journeys, such as thieves in India, who politely offer fellow travellers biscuits that
are laced with sedatives, so that they can steal from them when they are knocked out
by the drug. Or the ‘door-pushers’ that Canter (2005) describes in Las Vegas who take
advantage of the vast number of hotel doors in that city to look for the very small
number that are not locked properly by visitors, so that they can steal from what the
hotel guest has left in the room.
The many forms of opportunity for crime that the Internet provides have spawned
a new generation of criminals for whom this is their hunting ground. But, the increase
in security also requires those who would steal or rob to find new ways of getting
away with their crimes. They may decide to be more violent, attacking people to steal
their cars, when in the past, they would just have stolen the car and jump started it.
It is noticeable how many fewer aeroplane hijackings there have been since airport
security has been strengthened, but the number of kidnappings has increased.
The question for psychologists in all this is whether these changes are bringing new
sorts of people into criminality or whether criminals have always been the same, but
find their outlets in different ways. The answer is probably a bit of both. It is certainly
the case that the sort of people who would have sold snake oil as a panacea in Victorian
times will now have websites selling equally useless products. It is even the case that
people who stalked an estranged loved one in the past by sitting outside her house or
sending her endless letters will these days fill her answer-phone with messages and
bombard her with e-mails, and leave messages on her Facebook page or Snapchat
address. Therefore, many of the psychological processes discussed in this volume will
still be relevant for many of the crimes of the future. It may even be suggested that
the young dropout that Charles Dickens portrays in Oliver Twist as stealing from
gentlemen on the street, under the management of Fagin, a criminal mastermind, may
now be set to work at computer terminals by a latter-day Fagin to send fraudulent
offers of business contracts by e-mail.
The changing culture and opportunities are probably also drawing some people
into criminality, who in earlier generations would not have been the sorts of people
who would have committed crimes. The fundamentalist young men and women who
become suicide bombers may have some counterparts in earlier generations, but as
Canter (2006) suggests, the psychological processes that are now at play may have some
rather different emphases. Others may regard the possibility of defrauding large
FIGURE 17.1 New technology opens up new opportunities for crime.

Cybercrime – New crimes or old ones in a new guise?
Many acquisitive crimes now occur over the Internet. It is slightly odd to
consider crimes in terms of the medium used to perpetrate them. We could
just as readily consider railway crimes or football crimes. But, the Internet and
associated World Wide Web provide such an opportunity for criminality that it
is useful to review the range of crimes that operate within this context.
Central to this consideration is the question of whether the crime that takes
place via the Internet, or using information technology, is just the same sort
of crime as there has always been, or some very new sorts of crime?
Consequently, all the distinctions and psychological explanations relevant to

other crimes are also relevant to cybercrime, but there are doubtlessly some
unique aspects to these Internet crimes too.
A list of the varieties of cybercrime is instructive:
• Computer hacking into private locations such as bank accounts

• Fraudulent websites
FOCUS 17.1
• Digital piracy
• Identity theft
• Cyber bullying, harassment, stalking
• Sexual deviance
• Child pornography, predation
• Cyber terrorism, information warfare
Internet-aided outrage
On the night of Friday, 22 July 2016, a teenager shot and killed nine people
and wounded fifteen at a shopping centre in Munich. As mentioned in
Chapter 8, this type of spree killing often ends in the death of the killer, as it
is a form of suicide. News reports indicated that 18-year-old Ali Sonboly had
searched the Web for information about previous spree attacks of this kind.
He also hacked a young woman’s Facebook account to issue an invitation to
a local McDonald’s, claiming he would buy them a meal, so that he could
attack those who took up the offer.
Like so many spree killers before him, he had been depressed enough to
seek treatment and was generally regarded as a lonely individual who did not
have much contact with others. He is reported to have bought the firearm
FOCUS 17.2
with which he killed and injured so many people over a secret area of the
Internet, known as the Dark Web.
Videos of his killing spree were instantly available around the world as well
as details of the police process that led to his identification. A number of
other violent attacks against strangers in Germany happened in the following
days. Were these encouraged by the huge media coverage?
Are crimes changing?

Which of the following are truly new areas of criminality? Which require new forms
of psychological explanation? Which are really well-established forms of crime that
are now carried out in a new way or a different context from earlier? What offences
are missing from this list?

If you want to find out what they are, just use a www search engine such as
Google.
Advanced fee (419) fraud e-mails

Car-jacking
Cyber stalking
‘Happy-slapping’
Computer hacking
Hoax e-mails
Identity fraud
Phishing
Suicide bombing
Urban terrorism
anonymous organisations, that they have never had actual contact with in person, such
as insurance companies, as not really a crime at all. In past times, those same criminals
would have had such direct contact with people in the same companies that they would
never have thought of cheating them.
It is, therefore, an open question as to the extent that there will emerge new forms
of crime or new forms of criminal.
COMPUTER-AIDED CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
One further development over recent years, which many will find a positive aspect of
developments in computing, is the way it can enhance psychological contributions: the
Dragnet software described in Chapter 12, for instance, that helps to locate where an
offender may be based. Other software is also emerging that deals more directly with
the type of clinical assessments discussed in Chapter 14, notably the prediction of
whether a person is likely to be more violent in the future. For example, Cunningham,
Sorensen and Reidy (2005) used aspects of a prisoner’s behavioural history to predict
the risk of a prisoner becoming violent. Berk et al. (2009) report on the effectiveness
of using a computer program based on statistics about previous incidents to forecast who
is likely to murder within a population of probationers and parolees.
The development of computer-generated support for policing has also found its way
into general approaches to crime prevention under the heading of ‘Predictive Policing’
(Perry et al., 2013). This approach tends to be based upon examinations of where and
when crimes have occurred. These statistics are then turned into guidelines for mobil-
isation of police resources. However, an understanding of what is generating the
statistics, in other words, the criminal psychology processes, is often lacking.
Furthermore, unthinking computer algorithms can have unwanted effects. As
Amore and De Goede (2005) point out, a self-fulfilling cycle can be set in motion
that brings more attention on alienated, marginal groups. This, in turn, can make some
members of those groups feel victimised, encouraging them to criminal activity. The
US practice of what is known as ‘racial profiling’, where it is assumed that the statistical
evidence that points to some subgroups in society being more prone to crime, and
therefore, more appropriate for police to stop and search, is criticised in detail by Banks
(2003). These critiques do demonstrate that statistical algorithms, which are not
founded in psychological understanding, may potentially do more harm than good.
CRIME PREVENTION
One issue that has not really been touched on directly in the present book is the
contribution that psychology can make to the reduction and prevention of crime. Of
course, one of the most powerful ways in which psychologists help is by reducing the
number of people who become criminal. Of those that do, psychological interventions
can reduce the number who return to crime after being caught. There is still an open
question about how much psychologists really can offer to either of these. Yet, as dis-
cussed in earlier chapters, some progress is being made in the managing of offenders
in prisons and mental hospitals. Perhaps, even more important is the contribution that
educational and child psychologists can make to children who have difficulties in their
early years.
Many offenders try to avoid capture and do find the risk of apprehension a serious
constraint on their criminality. So, the contribution that investigative psychology is
making to the development of decision-support systems for the police, such as geo-
graphical profiling (Canter, 2005) and help to crime analysts, as discussed by Clarke
and Eck (2003), are important ways in which crime reduction is being assisted by
behavioural science. There are also a growing number of studies of what actually works
when policing processes attempt to reduce crime (Sherman, Farringdon, Welsh &
Mackenzie 2002).
The understanding of how criminals make decisions and the situations they choose
to commit crimes is also elucidated by the sorts of considerations in earlier chapters.
These perspectives are finding their way into more general criminological considera-
tions about crime prevention. Indeed, this is one area in which the borders between
criminal psychology and traditional criminology are very vague. The cognitive pro-
cesses of offenders may lead to a distortion in their understanding of which targets are
safe to attack or worthwhile attacking. This may be reflected in criminological
processes such as ‘repeat victimisation’ as discussed in the previous chapter by Farrell
(2005), for example. Yet, there have been no detailed attempts to link these two
perspectives together.
In general, psychological and social psychological perspectives on offenders have been
remarkably absent from the consideration of crime prevention. This is in part due to
the difference, noted in the opening chapter, between the focus of criminologists and
of psychologists. Those who see themselves as studying crime tend to deal with volume
crime and often characterise their work as being as much about delinquency and
deviance as about criminality. They, therefore, tend to be considering young offenders
involved in relatively minor crimes. Crime prevention, thus, focuses on deterrence and
target hardening. But, as we have seen in the chapters on rape and homicide, these more
serious crimes tend to be perpetrated by older offenders, and there is more of a possibility
of their having some obvious mental disorder (although as discussed in Chapter 3, that
relationship is not as clear cut as might be expected). It is these older, more serious
offenders with whom criminal psychologists often work. Bridging these two realms is
an important future development for a more thorough approach to crime prevention.
CHANGING ROLES
Throughout this book, a great variety of roles for crime psychologists has been
described as well as a range of contexts in which they operate. These exist in many
different sorts of institutions, working with many different agencies. There seems to
be no reduction in the contributions of psychology to the understanding and manage-
ment of crime. It, therefore, seems very likely that the contributions of psychologists
will continue to expand, relating to new areas of crime control and new ways of dealing
with offenders, often in unpredictable ways.
Some of these developments will doubtlessly relate to the new forms of crime that
are emerging as well as the recognition of emerging forms of criminality. One signi-
ficant example, explored in Chapter 6, is the identification of harassment, or in popular
parlance ‘stalking’ as a crime. By creating laws that deal with this behaviour specifically,
the way is open for the search for treatment programmes or other ways of managing
this behaviour, which in the past would just have been regarded as a nuisance.
The realms of psychological expertise is also broadening, and whenever the expertise
becomes established enough for wider recognition, there are pressures to draw it into
court cases. One unusual example described by Canter (2008) is the use of environ-
mental psychology principles to support the case for Human Rights Abuse in prison
solitary confinement. Other examples of new, emerging expert evidence are reviewed
by Kennedy and Sakis (2008) dealing, for example, with the liability that organisations
may have for creating environments that facilitate criminality. The specification of new
syndromes, such as ‘battered wife syndrome’, also creates opportunities for psychological
evidence in court, although not without its difficulties as Kennedy (2008) makes clear.
In all of this, the professional psychologist offers an ethical framework and opinion
rooted wherever possible in empirical research. As in so many other areas of human
progress, the scientific tradition eventually survives over other more subjective, biased
approaches.
DEVELOPMENTS IN POLICING
One other important development of relevance to psychologists’ research and practice

is the increasing educational sophistication of police officers. In particular, an awareness
of the value of sound empirical research as a basis for the management of crime. This
has been called evidence-based policing (Sherman, 2013). In general, the approach
emphasises randomised controlled trials of specific aspects of police work, often in
relation to crime reduction, for example, exploring the effects of certain sorts of police
patrols.
This sort of applied research is also increasingly possible as police forces around the
world utilise information technology to collect larger amounts of progressively more
accurate data about crimes and criminals. Although, as Sherman (2003) pointed out,
such processes require educated users within the police, if they are not to be misled
by weak research. Thus, as is always the case, an understanding of what is behind the
results and the strengths and limitations of the methodologies used is essential.
THE CHALLENGE TO RESEARCH
It is research and a scientific basis that distinguishes psychology from personal opinion
and ideology. However, as has emerged many times throughout this volume, there
are many challenges to carrying out crime psychology research. Modern psychology
grew out of laboratory and clinical studies, mainly with institutional subject groups.
But, crime has to be studied on the streets. Examining how people may cheat in
laboratory experiments, or if they will generate aggressive behaviour having watched
a film of violence, are so far removed from the rough and tumble of the day to day
world outside of the controlled circumstances of a laboratory that such pure studies
can only hint at genuine processes. People in institutions are also subject to so many
significant pressures that their reactions have to be carefully evaluated before any
generalisations can be made.
Once psychologists get out of their institutions and laboratories, they discover
that they do not have all the answers to all the world’s problems. Crime, like many
other areas of human activity, requires a fundamentally multi-disciplinary approach.
A burglary or violent assault in a public house, a fraud carried out over the Internet
or a terrorist attack can never be fully understood only from the examination of the
individual involved. Their social, economic, political and cultural context all play a
part, and thus, need to be integrated into our understanding. The changing nature
of crime and criminality, as well as the broadening roles of psychologists, there-
fore, provides very severe challenges to how psychological studies of criminals are
carried out. However, the improving education of police officers in many countries,
and the developments in the information they collect, is increasing the possibilities for
collaboration across a range of criminal psychology topics.
CONCLUSIONS
The consideration of a wide range of human activity in the present volume has stretched
the boundaries of what is often regarded as ‘psychological’. The methodologies for the
studies described are also often a long way from the ethereal purity to which many
academic psychologists aspire. In the present volume, for example, there has been
virtually no mention of ‘control groups’, or ‘dependent’ variables; hardly a single analysis
of variance has been mentioned. Some may see this as indicating the weakness of the
field because it lacks what they regard as scientific rigour. But, the rapid expansion of
criminal psychology indicates otherwise. It suggests that by harnessing and developing
research tools and approaches that are relevant to the questions to be answered, rather
than shaping the questions to fit the tools available, that a fruitful discipline is emerging.
A discipline that very many people find to be extremely valuable. It is still too early to
determine how this discipline will unfold, but the considerable interest in it from the
current generation of students does show that it certainly has a vibrant future.
Crime psychology is still very much part of the broader science and profession of
psychology. It is very likely to continue to influence its parent discipline. It can be seen to
be leading to a rather different sort of psychology from what is often considered
mainstream. The study of crime requires psychologists to consider very carefully not only
the more obvious ethical and professional implications of what they do, but also the
consequences of their growing involvement with the many and various agencies that deal
with crime and criminals. There may be a general message here for the way in which the
practice of psychology changes when it engages with real-world issues.
Psychologists are also faced with the question of whether those who offend today
are likely to be the same sorts of people as they would have been in the past, but are
now acting in different ways, or whether new sorts of people are becoming criminal.
This raises the fundamental question of whether the types of explanations and
categorisations of crime and criminals, which have been such a dominant part of the
present volume, will still be relevant in the future. Will some rather different approaches
to the psychology of crime be necessary in coming years?
• Evolution of crime • Role of • Crime prevention

• Social developments psychologists
SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES
You will certainly need to consider this book as a whole in answering these
questions, not just the details in the present chapter.
• Which do you think is most likely to change in the future, the types of crimes that are
committed or the sorts of people who commit crimes?
• How might psychologists contribute to crime prevention?
• What roles do you see for crime psychologists?
• Is there any difference between criminal psychology and criminology?
• Can crime be studied in a laboratory?
• Does the study of criminal psychology have relevance to understanding non-criminal

behaviour?
TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION
What influence may these developing technologies have on psychological aspects of

criminality and criminals? How may they influence criminal psychology research?
• Drones
• Apps that use a person’s location
• Live streaming
• Ready access to virtual reality
• Street views of places
• Augmented reality gaming
• Bio-engineered body parts
• Rapid DNA identification
• Genetic markers of physique or character
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The following website gives an overview of the ways in which psychology can be applied to
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www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/criminal.aspx
The following website gives a definition and outline of investigative psychology as well as
outlining the practical applications:
www.ia-ip.org/index.php?page=origins
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Zhou, L., Burgoon, J. K., Nunamaker, J. F., & Twitchell, D. (2004). Automating linguistics-
based cues for detecting deception in text-based asynchronous computer-mediated
communications. Group Decision and Negotiation, 13(1), 81–106.
Zimmerman, L., Compo, N. S., & Carlucci, M. E. (2013). Lie detection during high-stakes
truths and lies. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 18(2), 314–23.
Zuckerman, M., DePaulo, B. M., & Rosenthal, R. (1981). Verbal and nonverbal communi-
cation of deception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology vol. 14
(pp. 1–57). New York: Academic Press.
Index
acquisitive crime 63, 64, 69–70, 245; Bull, R. 187, 192

burglaries 4, 5, 54, 63, 64–7, 68, 71, 72, Burgess, A. W. 91
232; fraud 2, 5, 6, 63, 64, 69, 147, 155; burglaries 4, 5, 54, 63, 64–7, 68, 71, 72, 232
online fraud 155, 241–2; theft 6, 16, 63,
64, 68–9 Canter, D. V. 10, 14, 30, 45, 112, 167, 170,
actuarial prediction tool 201, 206 173, 200; arson 68; geographical profiling
adolescent-limited antisocial behaviour 57–8 171; groups 118; homicides 105; indirect
adoptees 27 influence 137; offender profiling 163, 164,
advance fee fraud 155, 242 165, 166; rape 95, 96, 97
ADVOKATE 134–5 capital cases 201, 203
age characteristics 42–3 CBCA (criteria-based content analysis) 152,
aggression 29, 30, 77–8; homicides 105, 109; 153
rape 93, 96 CBT see Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Agnew, R. 24, 41, 52–3 Chappell, A. T. 49, 64
Akers, R. L. 49, 50, 58 Charlton, K. 155
Alison, E. 112, 143, 173 Chester, J. 200
Alison, L. J. 10, 95, 112, 143, 173, 191 child abuse 88, 98–9, 228–9, 243
antisocial behaviour 28, 29, 30, 51, 52 child-rearing styles 24, 51–2, 56–7
antisocial personality disorder 30, 36, 79 Christiansen, P. 143
Arseneault, L. 24 Chromis 223
arson 2, 4, 5, 67–8, 168 chromosomal abnormality 28
attractiveness bias 150 civil disputes 200
attrition rates (rape) 92 Clarke, R. V. 69, 247
Aumiller, G. S. 180 clinical psychologists 7, 15
clinical studies 7, 12–13
Baldwin, J. 142, 143 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 214,
Bandura, A. 50 215, 216
batterers 78–9, 82 cognitive interview (CI) 131, 140, 144
behavioural classification systems 97–8 cognitive load 154, 170
Bennell, C. 95 cognitive self-change programme (CSCP) 221
biological explanations 2, 21–5, 26–31, 33 cognitive skills booster programme 218
biosocial explanations 30–1 Cohen, L. E. 69
bipolar affective disorder 37 common couple violence (CCV) 77–8
Blackburn, R. 7, 29–30 computer-aided criminal psychology 246–7
bonding 53–4 confessions 142–3
Bond Jr, C. F. 148, 149 conflict theories 58–9
Booth, R. J. 153 consent 4, 6, 88, 89
Boulerice, B. 24 constitutional theories 23–4
Bowlby, J. 51, 95 content analysis 155
brain activity 29–30 contingency destabilisation effect 166–7
brain damage 30 contract killing 105
Brezina, T. 41 controlling anger and learning to manage it
Buckley, J. P. 142, 148 (CALM) programme 218, 220
284 INDEX
Control Question Technique (CQT) 157–8 delinquency 7, 23–4, 27, 40, 42, 43, 44, 49,
Cooper, H. 155 50; families 50–1; female offenders 56;
Corey, D. 180 gangs 52–3; parenting styles 24, 51–2; self-
Cornish, D. B. 69 identity 55
courts 4, 13–14, 15, 16, 195, 196, 203; DePaulo, B. M. 148, 149, 155
experiment evidence 198–9; expert destructive organisational psychology 125
witnesses 15, 195–6, 248; fitness to plead deterministic explanations 22–3
196–7; insanity defence 34, 36, 197–8; deterrence theory 54
psychological syndromes 198, 199, 248 deviance 53, 55–6
CQT see Control Question Technique Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) 216
crime 1–6, 7–9, 24, 243–4, 246, 249; differential association theory 48–9
see also criminality differential reinforcement 50
crime prevention 246, 247–8 diminished responsibility 199, 202
crime psychologists 3, 14, 15, 16, 247–8, disfigurement 23–4
250 dissociative amnesia 199
crime psychology 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15–16, distortions 132, 134, 136
249, 250 Dodd, M. J. 69
criminal actions 4, 5–6, 241 Doley, R. 67
criminal activity 3–4, 5–6, 49, 54 domestic violence 74–5, 76, 77–9, 81–5, 86;
criminal behaviour 6, 15, 48, 49 psychological intervention 78, 83–5; risk
criminal development 56–8, 167–8 assessment 82–3; risk factors 81–2, 83, 86;
criminal families 24–5; see also families stalking 79–80, 81
criminality 1–6, 15–16, 240, 242–3, 249; domestic violence units (DVUs) 85
biological explanations 2, 21–5, 26–31, Doucette, N. L. 153
33; evolutionary explanations 22–3, Dragnet 71, 171, 246
243–4, 246; gangs 52–3, 56, 57, 116–17; drugs 71
gender differences 55–6, 59; mental dysphoric/borderline batterers 78–9
disorders 7, 33, 34, 35–6, 37, 45–6;
personality disorders 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, Earle, J. 153
199; psychological explanations 5, 7, Eck, J. 247
33–4, 35–9, 40–6; social explanations Ekman, P. 148, 152
48–52, 53–5, 56–9, 94 Ellis, H. H. 211
criminal learning processes 48–50 Elntib, S. 143
criminal networks 116, 118, 119, 120 emotional bias 150–1
criminal process 3, 4 emotional/psychological violence 75, 76
criminal psychology see crime psychology employee theft 68–9
criminals see crime; criminality enhanced thinking skills (ETS) 218, 219–20
criminologists 7, 247–8 evidence-based policing 249
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) evolutionary explanations 22–3, 92–3, 243–4
191, 192 expectancy effects 133, 135, 137
crowd behaviour 191–2 experiment evidence 198–9
Crowe, R. R. 27 expert testimony 15, 195–6, 248
Cullen, F. T. 41 expert witnesses 15, 195–6, 248
cybercrime 243, 245 eyewitness identification 136–7, 145
eyewitness testimony 131, 132, 133–6, 145
DBT see Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Eysenck, H. J. 40, 54
death penalty 201, 203 false allegations 89, 91, 95
deception 2, 9–10, 16, 147–9, 151, 152–4, false confessions 142–3
155–6, 159 false memories 138
deception detectors 156–7; polygraphs 156, families 24–5, 50–51; parenting styles 24,
157–9; voice stress analysis 159 51–2, 56–7
defendants 4, 15 family-only batterers 78
INDEX 285
fear of crime 226–7 Holmes, S. T. 112

Felson, M. 69 Holmes, T. H. 189–90
female offenders 55–6, 57 Holmstrom, L. L. 91
Fesbach, S. 105 Holtzworth-Munroe, A. 78
financial/economic violence 75, 76 homicides 4, 101–4, 105–7, 109, 113–14,
Finkelhor, D. 99 248; mass murder 103–4; serial killing 5,
fitness to plead 196–7 16, 101, 103, 108, 109–12, 113; spree
five-factor model 40 killings 103, 245
forensic anthropology 22–3 honour killing 105
forensic psychologists 1, 4, 195–6, 198–9, Horgan, J. 122, 124

200, 205, 222–3; capital cases 201, 203; Horncastle, P. 187, 192
fitness to plead 196–7; insanity defence hostage negotiators 188–9
197–8; reoffending 200–1; victims 231 human awareness training (HAT) 187, 192
forensic traces 6 Hutchings, B. 27
Francis, M. E. 153
fraud 2, 5, 6, 63, 64, 69, 147, 155; online imitation 50
155, 241–2 imprisonment 210, 211, 212–13, 223;
Fritzon, K. 67, 68, 69 see also prisons
Inbau, F. E. 142, 148
Gabrielli, W. F. 27 indirect influence 137
gangs 52–3, 56, 57, 116–17 information collection 10, 11–12
gender differences 55–6, 59 insanity defence 34, 36, 197–8
genetic explanations 21–2, 24–8 Internet 241–2, 243, 244, 245
genetic inheritance 24–5, 26, 27–8 interviews 2, 10, 131, 135, 136, 139–41, 143;
geographical profiling 71, 171–2 children 141; confessions 142–3; joint
GKT see Guilty Knowledge Test 153–4, 155; suspect interrogations 9, 142,
Glicksohn, J. 149 143; witnesses 134, 139–40, 141
Glueck, E. 23 intimate partner violence see domestic
Glueck, S. 23 violence
Goffman, E. 212 intimate terrorism (IT) 77
Gottfredson, M. R. 42, 54 investigations 3, 162–3, 168–71, 172, 173,
Granhag, P. A. 148, 149, 151, 153, 154 174
Groth, A. N. 93, 94 investigative information 172, 173, 174
groups 43, 55, 118–19; gangs 52–3, 56, 57, investigative psychology 2, 4, 14–15, 95,
116–17; organised crime 116, 119, 120, 162–4, 173, 174, 205, 247
124–5; terrorism 2, 16, 49, 116, 119, investigators 15, 16
121–5, 126, 243 Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) 181
Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) 157, 158–9 iOPS (interactive offender profiling system)
171
Hammond, L. 137
Haney, C. 212–13 Jayne, B. C. 142, 148
Hare, R. D. 38, 39 Johnson, M. P. 77
Harris, G. T. 67 joint interviews 153–4, 155
Harsent, L. 65, 67 Jonsson A. C. 154
Hartwig, M. 149 jury decisions 201, 203–5
Haward, L. R. C. 195, 198, 200 Kapardis, A. 198–9
healthy relationships programme (HRP) Kelly, l. 89, 92
223 Kohlberg, L. 43, 44
Heritage, R. 95, 96, 97
Hirschi, T. 42, 53, 54 labelling theory 54–5
Hoffman, M. L. 51 Larkin, P. 171
Holmes, R. M. 112 law enforcement 3, 9, 16
286 INDEX
lawyers 16 murder see homicides

learned criminality 48–9 mutual violent control (MVC) 78
learning disabilities 37–8
legal definitions 2, 5, 6, 9 Nachson, I. 149
legal sanctions see prisons; punishment Nahari, G. 149
legal systems 15, 75, 107, 201 narrative plausibility 154, 155
Leonard, R. 191 narrative roles 45
Lewis, H. 67 nature 21, 22, 24, 26
lie detection 147, 148–9, 150, 151, 153–4, neurological explanations 29–30
155–6, 159 Noone, G. 143

lie detectors 9, 149, 156–7, 159; polygraphs nurture 21, 22, 24, 26
156, 157–9; voice stress analysis 159
life-course persistent antisocial behaviour offender characteristics 42–4
56–7, 58 offender interviews see suspect interrogations
Lindsay, J. J. 155 offender profiling 14, 162, 163–7, 174
Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) offender rehabilitation 16
system 153 offenders 1–2, 4–5, 8–9, 10, 15, 16
Loftus, E. F. 132, 138, 199 offending behaviour programmes 216–18
Lombroso, C. 22–3, 50 official records 10, 11
Lovett, J. 89, 92 official statistics 9, 10
low intelligence 43–4, 46 O.J. Simpson case 79
online fraud 155, 241–2
Machiavelianism 42 operant conditioning 49
McNaughton rules 34, 36 organised crime 116, 119, 120, 124–5
MacNeil, B. 153 organised/disorganised dichotomy 111–12,
male victims 228 113
Malone, B. E. 155
Mann, S. 151, 153 parental alienation syndrome 199
manslaughter 104, 105, 199 parenting styles 24, 51–2, 56–7
Mars, G. 119 Paternoster, R. 55, 56
mass murder 103–4 PEACE 116, 140
mass suicide 104 peer influences 49, 50, 52, 58
media reports 11, 14 Pennebaker, J. W. 153
Mednick, S. A. 27 personality disorders 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, 199;
Megargee, E. I. 42, 109 antisocial 30, 36, 79; psychopathy 35, 37,
memory retrieval 132, 134, 136 38–9, 46
mental disorders 7, 33, 34, 35–6, 37, 45–6 personality theories 39–42
mental illness 2, 7, 33, 35, 46, 110–11, personal narratives 44–5, 46
212; bipolar affective disorder 37; phrenology 22
personality disorders 36, 37, 38; physical violence 75, 76
schizophrenia 36, 37 physiognomy 22
Merari, A. 122, 123 Piquero, A. R. 49
Merry, S. 65, 67 plausibility 150–1, 154, 204
micro-expressions theory 152 police culture 182, 192
minor physical anomalies (MPAS) 23–4 police data 10, 11–12
MMPI (Minnesota multiphasic personality police officers 4, 179–82, 184–7, 192–3,
inventory) 181 246–7, 248–9; police training 187–8, 192,
Moffitt, T. E. 56, 58 193; psychometric testing 180–2, 185–6,
Moghaddam, F. M. 122, 123, 124 187, 192; public order policing 191–2;
moral development 43, 44 stress 188, 190, 192; stress management
motives 6, 106 190–1
Muhlenbruck, L. 155 police psychology 180, 183–4
INDEX 287
police training 187–8, 192, 193 Reddy, S. 95

polygraphs 156, 157–9 reductionist explanations 22
Porter, S. 148, 153 Regan, L. 89, 92
posttraumatic stress disorder 199 Reid, J. E 142, 148
prison addressing substance-related offending remembering 10, 139–40; eyewitness
(PASRO) 223 testimony 131, 132, 133–6, 145; false
prison psychologists 4–5, 15, 209, 211, 222, memories 138; memory retrieval 132, 134,
224 136
prisons 4–5, 209–10, 211–12, 214; reoffending 200–1, 206, 209, 210–11, 247
psychological intervention 214–18, restorative justice 43, 236–7

219–21, 222, 223–4 Rhee, S. H., 27
probation services 4 Rice, M. E. 67
profiling equations 164, 166, 174 risk assessment 246; domestic violence 82–3;
property acquisition see acquisitive crime reoffending 200–1, 206
property crime 63, 64, 69–70, 71, 72, 241–2, risk factors: domestic violence 81–2, 83, 86;
245; arson 2, 4, 5, 67–8, 168; burglaries 4, reoffending 201
5, 54, 63, 64–7, 68, 71, 72, 232 Robertson, A. 68–9
psychological autopsy 163, 173 routine activities theory 69, 70–1
psychological explanations 5, 7, 33–4, 35–9,
40–6; mental disorders 7, 33, 34, 35–6, 37, Salfati, G. 105–6
45–6; moral development 43, 44; SARA (spousal assault risk assessment) 83
personality disorders 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, Saucier, J. F. 24
199; psychopathy 35, 37, 38–9, 46 SCAN (scientific content analysis) 153
psychological intervention 247; domestic schizophrenia 36, 37
violence 78, 83–5; prisons 214–18, Seguin, J. R. 24
219–21, 222, 223–4 self-control 42, 53, 54
psychological syndromes 198, 199, 248 self-harm 214
psychometric testing (police officers) 180–2, self-identity 54–5
185–6, 187, 192 self-reports 8–9, 10
psychopathic rapists 38–9 Sellers, C. S. 58
psychopaths 33, 38–9, 110–11 serial killing 5, 16, 101, 103, 108, 109–12,
psychopathy 35, 37, 38–9, 46 113
public order policing 191–2 sex offender treatment programme (SOTP)
punishment 50, 54, 209–10 221
sexual abuse (children) 88, 98–9
racial profiling 247 sexual assault 4, 89–91, 95; see also rape
Rahe, R. H. 189–90 sexual violence 75, 76, 88
rape 4, 6, 9, 38–9, 88, 89–91, 99, 248; sex workers 234–5
attrition rates 92; behavioural model 95–6, Sheldon, W. H. 23
97, 98; consent 4, 6, 88, 89; Silverman, A. 49
developmental models 95; evolutionary single-parent families 51–2
explanations 92–3; false allegations 89, 91, Smith, A. D. 36, 42
95; psychological explanations 93–4; rape Smith, D. A. 55, 56
trauma syndrome 91, 199, 227–8; social SNA see social network analysis
explanations 94 social change 242–3
rape myths 88, 89, 91 social control 53, 54
rape trauma syndrome 91, 199, 227–8 social explanations 48–52, 53–5, 56–9, 94;
rapists 4, 6, 23, 38–9, 88, 93, 95, 99; families 50–1; gangs 52–3, 56, 57, 116–17;
behavioural model 95–6, 97, 98 parenting styles 24, 51–2, 56–7
Rashomon effect 132 social learning theory 49–50
rational choice theory 69, 70 social network analysis (SNA) 125, 126, 127
recidivism 200–1, 210–11 social networks 116, 125, 126, 127
288 INDEX
social processes 26, 43, 48 Tremblay, R. E. 24

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) truthfulness 152–3; see also deception
189–90 twins 25, 26, 27
social skills 43, 46
sociological theories 58–9 unfit to plead 196–7
special hospitals 35, 210
spree killings 103, 245 victimisation 10, 226, 227, 235–6
stalking 79–80, 81, 242, 248 victims 2, 3, 12–13, 15, 226–7, 230–1, 233–4,
statement validity analysis (SVA) 152–3 237; burglaries 232; child abuse 88, 98–9,
Static-99 206 228–9, 243; rape trauma syndrome 91,

statistical evidence 200 199, 227–8; restorative justice 43, 236–7
stress 188, 189–90, 192, 227 victim surveys 8, 9, 10, 12
stress management 190–1 violent/antisocial batterers 79
Stromwall, L. A. 148, 149, 154 violent crime 2, 7, 12, 28, 29, 30, 42, 233;
structured professional judgment (SPJ) 201 see also domestic violence; homicides;
Stuart, G. L. 78 rape
substance abuse disorders 38 violent resistance (VR) 77
suicide 214 voice stress analysis (VSA) 159
suicide bombers 122, 123, 124, 244 volume crime 7, 63
suspect interrogations 9, 142, 143 Vrij, A. 143, 148, 149, 151, 153, 155
Sutherland, E. H. 48–9 vulnerable witnesses 141
symbolic interactionism 55
Waldman, I. D. 27
teams 118; see also groups Waring, S. 143
terrorism 2, 16, 49, 116, 119, 121–5, 126, Wentink, N. 112, 173
243 West, D. J. 24, 51
Terry, W. C. 190 witnesses 2, 3, 231; eyewitness identification
testimony 10, 131–2, 145; expert 15, 136–7, 145; interviews 134, 139–40, 141;
195–6, 248; eyewitness 131, 132, 133–6, testimony 131, 132, 133–6, 145
145 Woodworth, M. 153
testosterone levels 29 workplace crime 68–9
theft 6, 16, 63, 64, 68–9 Wright, J. P. 41
thinking patterns 41
three-factor model 40–1 Yokota, K. 189
total institutions 212 Youngs, D. 14, 45, 112, 124, 137, 167, 170;
traumatic brain injury 229–30 offender profiling 164, 165, 166

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David Canter is Emeritus Professor at The University of Liverpool, UK, and

Work and Organizational Psychology

Sport and Exercise Psychology

ISBN: 978-0-415-71479-2 (hbk)

Typeset in Bembo and Univers

Preface to the series’ second edition vii

Chapter 1 Psychology and the criminal process 1

SECTION 1 Explanation of criminality 19

Chapter 3 Psychological explanations of crime 33

Chapter 4 Social explanations of crime 48

SECTION 2 Psychological differences between crimes 61

Chapter 6 Domestic violence 74

Chapter 7 Sexual offences 88

Chapter 8 Homicide and serial killing 101

Chapter 9 Gangs, organised crime and terrorism 116

SECTION 3 Interacting with criminals 129

Chapter 11 Deception and fraud 147

Chapter 12 Psychology and investigations 162

SECTION 4 Areas of application 177

Chapter 14 Psychology in court 195

Chapter 15 Psychology in prison 209

Chapter 16 Concerning victims 226

Chapter 17 The future of psychology and crime 240

David Canter is Professor of Psychology at the University of Huddersﬁeld and

THIS BOOK IS ORGANISED INTO FOUR SECTIONS

Section 1 – Explanation of criminality

Section 2 – Psychological differences between crimes

Section 3 – Interacting with criminals

Section 4 – Areas of application

THE CRIMINAL PROCESS

To put subsequent chapters in context, it is useful to think of criminal activity as being

THE CHALLENGES OF CRIME PSYCHOLOGY

Different crimes provide different forms of challenges to understanding what

FIGURE 1.1 There is a great deal of information collected in any investigation.

Gee Ofﬁcer Krupke

Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,

Gee, Ofﬁcer Krupke, we’re very upset;

Do any other explanations of criminality implicitly exonerate offenders? What are

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT CRIMES AND

Problems of remembering and deception

However, accounts that may be suspicious may be a product of what people

Victimisation surveys and ofﬁcial statistics

Victimisation surveys entail interviews with community samples concerning their

Reports in the media

Data and methods used in crime psychology research

(Farrington, Snyder & Finnegan, 1988).

Clinical studies of victims

• Only those crimes that come to court will be available.

Published open sources in the mass media

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS

• Classiﬁcation of • Sources of data • Forensic

SAMPLE ESSAY TITLES

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER READING

In a concise volume, such as the present one, it is impossible to provide detailed

1 Understand the major neurobiological approaches to explaining crime.

BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE CAUSES OF CRIME

different types of offenders.