Download Chapter 3

Chapter 3
TYPOLOGIES OF CRIME AND MENTAL DISORDERS
Short Answer/Essay
1. What is the difference between a theory and a typology?
2. Provide three examples of a typology used in the criminal justice system
3. What is the difference between an ideal and an empirical type? Explain.
4. Describe the Massachusetts Treatment Center Rapist and Child Molester
Typologies and explain how they were constructed.
5. List and explain the different “types” of criminal typologies discussed in the
chapter and provide an example of each.
6. What is the purpose of a criminal typology? Explain.
7. In evaluating the theoretical and practical utility of a criminal typology, what are
the essential features of a good typology? List, describe, and discuss these
features. What are the six questions highlighted in the chapter that should be
asked in evaluating a criminal typology?
Essay
1. Many researchers believe that it is more appropriate to view human types from a
dimensional rather than categorical or taxonomic perspective. Explain what this
means? What are the strengths and weaknesses of viewing human types from a
dimensional versus a categorical perspective?
2. Typologies scholars use conceptual frameworks to categorize and theorize about
crime. Provide an example of a conceptual framework that might guide a criminal
typology? If you were to construct a comprehensive typology of crime, what
conceptual framework would guide your classification?
3. Much has been made historically about the huge divide between theory and
practice in criminology and criminal justice. What do criminal typologies offer to
criminal justice practitioners? How useful are typologies of crime in the criminal
justice system in law enforcement, courts, corrections, and victim services? What
are the practical costs and benefits of the typologies approach to criminal
behavior?
4. Scholars agree that informal social control efforts have the potential to pay far
greater dividend than formal social control efforts. Choose a form of crime and
formulate three community-based initiatives that might help to reduce the
incidence of this behavior. In thinking about this question, what do you need to
know about the nature of the type of crime you have chosen for this exercise in
order to make recommendations?
5. Review the DSM-IV TR Classification of mental disorders on the BehaveNet
website: http://www.behavenet.com/. Evaluate the DSM-IV TR classification
system with respect to the essential features of a good typology discussed in the
readings and in class.
6. Concepts like “career criminal,” “psychopath,” serial murderer,” “sexual
homicide offender,“ ”psychotic,” pedophile,” sexual predator,” and “paraphiliac”
get thrown around in popular culture and the criminal justice system as if all of
these concepts represent some similar entity. Discuss the importance of
understanding the differences and similarities between these concepts in terms of
implications for mental health and criminal justice systems.
7. A critical issue that arises when typologies are used in the criminal justice system
is that more often than not the “types” upon which many policies and practices are
based (e.g., “habitual offender,” “sexually violent predator,” “psychopath” are
heterogeneous with respect to essential features relevant to offense behavior,
treatment amenability, future dangerousness. Discuss the implications of this
problem and what can be done to improve and make better use of typologies in
the criminal justice system.
8. Choose a typology discussed in this chapter or other typology and evaluate it.
Discuss its strengths and weaknesses with attention to the features of a good
typology.