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CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Criminal Behavior
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Intentional behavior that violates a criminal code,
intentional in that it did not occur accidentally or
without justification or excuse
Vastly complex
 No all-encompassing psychological explanation for crime

THE STUDY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
 Should
we restrict ourselves to a legal
definition and study only those individuals who
have been convicted of behaviors legally defined
as crime?
 Should we include individuals who indulge in
antisocial behaviors but have not been detected
by the criminal justice system?
 Should we include persons predisposed to be
criminal?
THEORIES OF CRIME
Provide a general explanation of crime that
encompasses and systematically connects many
different social, economic and psychological variables
to criminal behavior
 Supported by well-executed research

TWO THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON
CRIME

Classical Theory



Free will
Decision to violate law is choice
Positivist Theory


Determinism
Criminal behavior is result of social, psychological, biological
influences
THREE PERSPECTIVES
ON
HUMAN NATURE
Perspective
Assumption
Conformity
Humans want to do
right thing
Nonconformist
Humans undisciplined
Learning
Humans neutral
PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN NATURE
CONFORMITY PERSPECTIVE
Humans basically good and want to live up to their
potential, influenced by society’s attitudes and values
 Strain theory


Crime occurs when there is perceived discrepancy between
materialistic values and goals and available means to reach
goals
PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN NATURE
NONCOMFORMIST PERSPECTIVE
Humans unruly and undisciplined, need rules and
regulations to keep them in check
 Social control theory


Crime occurs when one’s ties to standards are weak or
nonexistent
PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN NATURE
LEARNING PERSPECTIVE
Humans learn all behavior and beliefs from the
environment
 Social learning theory



Rotter, Bandura
Differential association

Sutherland
CRIMINOLOGY
Psychology
Psychiatry
Sociology
SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
Examines relationships of demographic and group
variables to crime
 Focuses on groups and society as a whole and how they
influence criminal activity

Racial disparity
 Unemployment
 Poverty

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
The science of the behavior and mental processes of the
person who commits a crime
 Focuses on how individual criminal behavior is
acquired, evoked, maintained and modified

Offender personality
 Offender behavior

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY
DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
Trajectory of Criminal
Behavior
Risk Factors
Protective
Factors
Dispositions or Traits
PSYCHIATRIC CRIMINOLOGY
Traditionally followed psychoanalytic tradition
 Contemporary is more diverse and research based
 Education differences


MD or DO as opposed to Ph.D. Psy.D. or Ed.D
MEASURING CRIME

Official police reports
UCR
 NIBRS


Self-report studies
ADAM
 MFS
 NHSDA


Victimization studies

NCVS
MEASURING CRIME
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING SYSTEM (UCR)
Compiled by the FBI
 Most cited source of U.S. crime statistics
 Federal agencies do not report
 Part I and Part II crimes

UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING
COMMON PART I CRIMES
 Murder
and nonnegligent manslaughter
 Forcible rape
 Robbery
 Aggravated assault
 Burglary
 Larceny-theft
 Arson
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING
COMMON PART II CRIMES
 Simple
assaults
 Forgery and
counterfeiting
 Fraud
 Embezzlement
 Stolen Property
 Offenses
against
the family and
children
 Sex offenses
 Drug abuse
violations
 Gambling
 Vandalism
MEASURING CRIME
UCR PROBLEMS
Hierarchy rule
 Reliance on agencies to report crime
 Dark figure
 Missing information

MEASURING CRIME
NATIONAL INCIDENT-BASED REPORTING
SYSTEM (NIBRS)

All federal law enforcement agencies must collect and
report data on two categories
Group A offenses
 Group B offenses

MEASURING CRIME
NIBRS

Group A offenses


The crime is viewed along with detailed data about aspects
of the crime
Group B offenses

Information about the arrestee and circumstances of the
arrest
HATE CRIMES

The FBI definition

A criminal offense committed against a person, property, or
society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the
offender’s bias against race, religion, disability, sexual
orientation, or ethnicity/national origin
HATE CRIME LEGISLATION
1990 Hate Crime Statistics Act
1994 Violent Crime Control and
Law Enforcement Act
1996 Church Arson Prevention Act
2009 Matthew Shepard Act
MEASURING CRIME
SELF-REPORT STUDIES
Interviews or questionnaires
 Most individuals admit to violating criminal law
 Large dark figure
 Majority of self-reported crime is minor

MEASURING CRIME
DRUG ABUSE SELF-REPORT SURVEYS
Survey
NHSDA
Data Collection
Computer interviews of
individuals over age 12
MFS
Survey of U.S. high
schoolers
ADAM
Urinalysis
MEASURING CRIME
VICTIMIZATION SURVEYS
Extent to which individuals are victim of various crimes
 Victims able to describe the impact of crime and
characteristics of offenders

MEASURING CRIME
NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY
(NCVS)
Households interviewed every six months for three
years
 Designed to supplement the UCR
 Provides detail about crime and victim
 Relationship patterns



Intimate partner violence (IPV)
Homeless not represented
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Status offenses


Data Imperfect


Behavior not against the criminal code but forbidden to
juveniles because of age
Nature and extent unknown
Behavior may be regarded as “rite of passage” that
stops with maturity
ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Habitual actions that violate personal rights, laws,
and/or widely held social norms
Legal delinquency and criminal behavior
 Actions that violate standards of society but undetected by
law enforcement

FOCUS OF THE TEXT

The persistent and repetitive offender

Detected or undetected
The individual who has frequently committed serious
crimes or antisocial acts over an extended period of
time
 The one-time serious offender

CHAPTER 1
KEY CONCEPTS
 Antisocial
behavior
 Classical theory
 Clearance rate
 Cognitions
 Conformity
perspective
 Criminal
profiling
 Criminology
 Dark
figure
 Developmental
approach
 Differential association
theory
 Dispositions
 Hate Crime Statistics
Act
 Hierarchy rule
CHAPTER 1
KEY CONCEPTS
 Index
crimes
 Intimate partner violence
 Just-world hypothesis
 Learning perspective
 National Crime
Victimization Survey
 National
IncidentBased Reporting
System
 Nonconformist
perspective
 Nonindex crimes
 Part I crime
 Part II crime
CHAPTER 1
KEY CONCEPTS
 Positivist
theory
 Psychiatric
criminology
 Psychological
criminology
 Social control theory
 Social learning theory
 Sociological
criminology
 Status offenses
 Strain theory
 Theory verification
 Traits
 Uniform Crime
Reporting