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THEORIES OF CRIME CAUSATION

HANNAH VHIE DIANNE C. DACILLO Rcrim

Criminology Instructor

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FOUNDATION OF CRIME CAUSATION

INTRODUCTION

This module will give students an understanding of the theories that form the
basis for crime causation, including the classical school of thought, the neoclassical
school of thought, and the positivist school of thought, in relation to the role that
law enforcement plays in figuring out why a particular person commits crimes or
breaks the law.

I. CRIMINAL ETIOLOGY
Criminal Etiology, to put it simply, is the study of the reasons why crimes
occur. The behavioral definition of crime emphasizes on criminality, a certain
personality profile that leads to the most alarming types of crime, whereas the
legal definition of crime refers to unlawful acts or omissions that are punishable
by jail or a fine. It is difficult to determine the reasons why crimes were done or
their causes since there are so many variables and events to take into account.

Theories aid in our understanding of the individuals in the judicial system from a
criminological standpoint. It implies that things are as they are, not as they should
be. They can be utilized for good or negative purposes, but they are not
intrinsically good or harmful.

II. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CRIMINOLOGY

1. DEMONOLOGICAL THEORY

- A person's bad behavior is a result of being possessed by demons.

- It is the study of behavior based on the idea that paranormal spirits may affect
people's behavior.

2. CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY

- Developed as a response to the existing, barbaric system of law, punishment, and
justice.
- This school of thinking works under the premise that people decides to commit
crimes after carefully considering the consequences of their choices.
- Traditional criminologists believe that people have free will. They can use legal
or illegal methods to achieve their goals, they can choose to refrain from
committing crimes out of fear of penalty, and society can regulate conduct by
making the pain of punishment higher than the pleasure of the benefits from
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crime. However, this view makes no distinction in terms of free will between an
adult and a minor or a mentally disabled person.

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FOUNDERS:

Cesare Beccaria (Cesare Bonesana Marchese di Beccaria)

(1738- 1794)
- Best known for his essay, “On Crimes and Punishment”
which presented key ideas on the abolition of torture
as legitimate means of extracting confession.
- He believed that:
a. People want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain.
b. Crime provides some pleasure to the criminal.
c. To deter crime, he believed that one must
administer pain in an appropriate amount to
counterbalance the pleasure obtain from crime.
d. Famous in sayings ― Let the punishment fit the crime”

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

- His contribution to classical school of criminology
is the concept of utilitarianism and the felicific
calculus.
- Proposed ―Utilitarian Hedonism‖ which explains
that person always acts in such a way to seek
pleasure and avoid pain.
- founded the concept of UTILITARIANISM –
assumes that all our actions are calculated in
accordance with their likelihood of bringing
pleasure and pain
- devised the pseudo-mathematical formula called
―felicific calculus‖ which states that individuals
are human calculators who put all the factors into
an equation in order to decide whether a
particular crime is worth committing or not
- he reasoned that in order to deter individuals from committing crimes, the
punishment, or pain, must be greater than the satisfaction, or
pleasure, he would gain from committing the crime

UTILITARIANISM
- is a school of thought that claims that what is morally correct is whatever
will benefit the most people overall.
- Others call it the utility principle or the maxim of highest enjoyment.
- Bentham developed the "felicific calculus" based on this idea.

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Felicific Calculus
- -also known as the pleasure-and-pain principle, is a theory that contends that
people should weigh the pleasure (gain) and the pain (suffering) they would
experience as a result of taking a certain action when calculating the effects
of that action.

3. NEOCLASSICAL CRIMINOLOGY
- This theory modified the doctrine of free will by stating that free will of men
may be affected by other factors and crime is committed due to some
compelling reasons that prevail. These causes are pathology, incompetence,
insanity or any condition that will make it impossible for the individual to exercise free
will entirely. In the study of legal provisions, this is termed as either mitigating
or exempting circumstances.

4. POSITIVIST SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY

- The term "positivism" describes an analytical approach based on the
accumulation of verifiable scientific data.
- Positivists contend that it is possible to quantify and see the reasons of
behavior.
- It calls for facts and scientific evidence, transforming the investigation of
crimes and offenders into a scientific endeavor.
- The first to stress the significance of examining individual differences among
offenders were positive theorists. These theories, who focused on a person's
particular structures, claimed that humans are passive and under control,
and that biological and environmental variables dictate their activities.

FOUNDERS:
August Comte

- He was a French philosopher and sociologist and is believed to be the one

who reinvented the French term sociologie.
- He was recognized as the “Father of Sociology and Positivism”

THE HOLY THREE (3) OF CRIMINOLOGY

A. Cesare Lombroso
- He was recognized as the ―Father of Modern and Empirical Criminology‖ due
to his application of modern scientific methods to trace criminal behavior,
however, most of his ideas are now discredited.
- He was known for the concept of atavistic stigmata (the physical features of
creatures at an earlier stage of development).

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- He also claimed that criminals are distinguishable from non-criminals due to

the presence of atavistic stigmata and crimes committed by those who are
born with certain recognizable heredity traits.

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- According to his theory, criminals are usually in possession of huge jaws and
strong canine teeth, the arm span of criminals is often greater than their
height, just like that of apes who use their forearms to push themselves
along the ground.
- And other physical stigmata include;
o deviation in head size and shape,
o asymmetry of the face,
o excessive dimensions of the jaw and cheekbones,
o eye defects and peculiarities,
o ears of unusual size,
o nose twisted,
o upturned or flattened in thieves, or
o aquiline or beaklike in murderers,
o fleshy lips, swollen and protruding, and
o pouches in the cheek like those of animal’s toes

- Lombroso’s work supported the idea that the criminal was a biologically
and physically inferior person. And according to him, there are three (3)
classes of criminals:

1. BORN CRIMINALS – individuals with at least five (5) atavistic stigmata

2. INSANE CRIMINALS – those who became criminals because of
some brain defect which affected their ability to understand and
differentiate what is right from what is wrong.
3. CRIMINALOIDS - those with makeup of an ambiguous group that
includes habitual criminals, criminals by passion and other diverse
types

B. Enricco Ferri
- He focused his study on the influences of psychological factors and
sociological factors such as economics, on crimes.
- He believed that criminals could not be held morally responsible because
they did not choose to commit crimes, but rather were driven to commit
crimes by conditions in their lives.
- In the 19th century, this was considered the cutting edge of criminology.
Criminologists were trying to find out how to measure criminal behavior in a
quantitative and scientific way. Their effort was called positivism. While some
positivists believed that criminals were born, not made, Enrico Ferri, an
Italian criminologist, was ahead of his time. Ferri rejected these beliefs,
known as biological determinism, in favor of examining the role of social and
environmental factors in crime. This is an example of the ''nature versus
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nurture'' debate; i.e., the debate over whether an individual's behavior or

character is innate or a result of experience. Ferri focused much more on the
''nurture'' side of the debate.

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C. Raffaelle Garofallo
- He treated the roots of the criminals’ behavior not to physical features but to
their psychology equivalent, which he referred to as moral anomalies.
- He rejected the doctrine of freewill.
- Classified criminals as Murderers, Violent Criminals, Deficient Criminals, and
Lascivious Criminals.
- He tried to come up with a social definition of crime that would identify
actions that might be suppressed by punishment. These were considered
"Natural Crimes" and offenses against the two fundamental altruistic
sentiments shared by all people: probity and piety.

III. BIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF CRIME

- Biological explanations of crime assume that some people are born criminals
who are physiologically distinct from non-criminals.
- Biological theories of criminality basically purport that criminal behavior is
the result of some flaw in the biological make-up of the individual this
physical flaw could be due to different factors or circumstances.
- The biological theories supposed that something is happening inside the
person, often beyond his control to cause criminal behavior, and that
criminals may be born, not made.

1. PHYSIOGNOMY
- Physiognomy is the study of facial features of a person in relation to his
criminal behavior. This is done to determine whether the shape of the ears,
nose and eyes, and the distances between them were associated with anti-
social behavior.
- The first to use this approach was Beccaria in his Crime and Punishment. It was
later revived by Swiss theologian Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801).

2. PHRENOLOGY OR CRANIOLOGY
Greek word phren means mind and logos means knowledge.
Phrenology or craniology is the study of the external formation of the skull
indicating the conformation of the brain and the development of its various
parts in relation to the behavior of the criminal.
A pseudoscience that claim to determine personality and intelligence on the
basis of the size and shape of a person’s skull.
Based on the belief that human behavior originated in the brain.

FOUR HUMORS

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1. Sanguine (blood), seated in the liver and associated with courage and love.

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2. Choleric (yellow bile), seated in the gall bladder and associated with
anger and bad temper.
3. Melancholic (black bile), seated in the spleen and associated with
depression, sadness and irritability; and
4. Phlegmatic (phlegm), seated in the brain and lungs and associated with
calmness and lack of excitability.

Phrenologist

Franz Joseph Gall

- A bump or depression in a particular area of the skull would indicate a
strength or weakness in the particular area.
- He thought that three major regions of the brain each govern one type
of behavior and personality characteristics; intellectual, moral and
lower. The lower type was associated with criminal behavior and would
be largest in criminals.

Johann Spurzheim
- He is a student of Gall who actually coined the term phrenology to
replace
―cranioscopy‖.
- He also expanded the map of the brain organs, developed a
hierarchical system of the organs and created a model ―phrenology
bust‖ that depicted the location of the brain organs

4. PHYSIQUE THEORY
- This approach was originated by Ernst Kretschmer.
- Kretschmer presented the relationship between physique and mental illness.
- He classified the body build into three distinct types:

1. Asthenic type- thin with long narrow arms, delicate bone structure and
appearance; could also be muscular and athletic. This body type is
associated with schizophrenia and tends to be idealistic, introverted,
withdrawn, and prone to commit larceny and fraud cases.
2. Pyknic type- round, fat and fleshy body; associated with manic-
depressiveness. Persons with this built tend to be moody, extrovert, jolly
and realistic. They are prone to commit deception, fraud and violence.
3. Dysplastic type- partly asthenic and partly pyknic with no identifiable
mental illness. Their offenses are against decency and morality.

5. SOMATOTYPING THOERY
- Sheldon defined three body types and their corresponding temperaments:
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Body Type Physical Temperament

Attributes
1.Ectomorph tall, thin, Cerebrotonic – full of complaints, insomniac with
bony, chronic fatigue and sensitive skin, nervous and
droopy self-conscious, an introvert
shoulders
2.Endomorph round, fat, Viscerotonic – relaxed, jolly, last, comfortable,
short, tapering loves luxury, an extrovert
limbs, and small
bones
3.Mesomorph muscular Somotonic – active, dynamic; walks, talks, and
gestures assertively; behaves aggressively;
with athletic dominant; more prone to criminal activity than the
built ectomorphs and endomorphs

HEREDITY AND CRIMES

- Early biological theorists believed that criminality was an inherited trait
passed on in the genes. Although this view has long lost popularity, many
modern criminologists are still interested in the role of genetics.
- The methods employed to test the proposition that criminality was inherited
are the following:

A. Family Studies
- In this method, the family known to have many criminals was
compared with a family free of criminals.
- Some studies were conducted to prove that children of criminal
parents are more likely to become law violators than children of
conventional parents. They are as follows:

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1. The Study of the Juke Family (Richard Dugdale)

- The Juke family consisted of 6 girls, some of

whom were illegitimate.One of them, Ada Juke,
was known as ―The Mother of Criminals.‖
Dugdale traced the 1,200 descendants for 75
years and found 280 paupers, 60 thieves, 7
murderers, 40 other criminals, 40 with sexual
diseases, 300 infants prematurely born, 50
prostitutes, and 30 who were prosecuted for
bastardy.

2. The Study of the Kallikak Family (Henry Goddard)

- Martin Kallikak was an American Revolutionary war soldier. While

stationed in a small village, he met a feeble-minded girl and had illicit
relations with her. About 489 descendants from this lineage were traced
which included 143 feeble-minded and 46 normal. Thirty-six were
illegitimate, 3 epileptics, 3 criminals, 8 kept brothels, and 82 died in
infancy.

3. The Study of Sir Jonathan Edward’s Family

- Sir Jonathan Edwards was a famous preacher during the colonial period.
When his family tree wa s traced, none of the descendants was found to
be criminal. Rather, many became presidents of the United States,
governors, members of the Supreme Court, famous writers, preachers,
and teachers.

Contemporary sociologists also had their share in analyzing heredity and

criminality.
Some of their studies are as follows:

A study led by David Farrington revealed that a significant number of

delinquent youths had criminal fathers. In his other study, he found that one type
of parental deviance, bullying, may be both inter- and intra-generational. Bullies
have children who bully others, and these
―second generation bullies‖ grow up to become the fathers of children who are
also bullies, in a never-ending cycle.

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B. Twin Behavior Studies

- The logic of this method is that if there is greater

similarity in behavior between identical twins than between
fraternal twins, the behavior must be due to heredity.

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- In the 1920s, Lange studied 30 pairs of same-sex twins – 13 identical and

17 fraternal twins. He found out that one member of each pair was a
known criminal. Moreover, both twins in 10 of the 13 pairs of identical
twins were criminal; 2 of the 17 pairs of fraternal twins were both
criminal. This showed a significant relationship between the criminal
activities of identical twins and a much lower association between those
of fraternal twins.
- A famous study of twin behavior is the Minnesota study of twins reared
apart. Experts’ conclusion was that twins are alike in personality
regardless of how they are reared, that environment induces little or no
personality resemblance on twin pairs.

C. Adoption Studies

This method compared the criminal records of adopted children who

were adopted at relatively early age with the criminal records of adopted
parents. Several studies indicate that some relationship exists between
biological parents’ behavior and the behavior of their children. In the most
significant study, Hutchings and Mednick found that the criminality of the
biological father was a strong predictor of the child’s criminal behavior. An
analysis of Swedish adoptees also found that genetic factors are highly
significant accounting for 59 percent of the variation in their petty crime
rates. Boys who had criminal parents were significantly more likely to violate
the law.

D. The XYY “Supermale” Studies

- The role of chromosomes in crime causation

has been analyzed in recent studies on
human genetics. The first well-known study
of this type was undertaken by Patricia A.
Jacobs, a British researcher who examined
197 Scottish prisoners for chromosomal
abnormalities through a relatively simple
blood test known karyotyping. Twelve of the
group displayed chromosomes which were
unusual, and 7 were found to have an XYY
chromosome. ―Normal‖ males possess an
XY chromosome structure while ―normal‖
females are
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XX. Some other unusual combinations might

be XXX, wherein a female’s genetic makeup
contains an extra X or female chromosome.
Klinefelter’s males (with an extra X
chromosome) often are possessed of male
genitalia, but are frequently sterile and
with evident breast enlargement and

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intellectual retardation. The XYY male, however, whose incidence in

the prison population was placed at around 3.5% by Jacobs, was
quickly identified as potentially violent and termed a supermale.

Studies of XYY males tend to show that supermales:

 Are taller than the average male, often standing 6’1‖ or more.
 Suffer from acne or skin disorder.
 Are of less than average intelligence.
 Are overrepresented in prisons and mental hospitals.
 Come from families with less history of crime or mental illness.

BODY CHEMISTRY AND CRIMES

E. DIETARY FACTORS

- Many people discount the importance of nutritional and dietary factors on

human behavior but others, however, are very much aware of the impact
one’s diet has on behavior including delinquency or criminal behavior.
- For example, the skinny one’s or the ectomorph by Sheldon. Their situation
affects their behavior, that is why they can commit crimes like petty theft.

F. HYPOGLYCEMIA

- A condition characterized by low blood sugar produced by too much insulin

in the blood or by near-starvation diets.
- This occurs when glucose (sugar) in the blood falls below levels necessary for
normal and efficient brain functioning.
- Symptoms include irritability, anxiety, depression, crying spells, headaches
and confusion. For example, in depression, the depressed person can
commit crime via suicide (killing him or herself).

G. PREMENSTRUAL CYCLE (PMS)

- In some women, hormonal changes in the days before menstruation appear
to be linked to increased stress, tension, lethargy and other problems.
- Katharina Dalton attributes criminality to the emotional condition and
increased lethargy (laziness) and clumsiness; their emotional condition
prompted them to commit crimes and their lethargy and clumsiness made it
more difficult for them to avoid detection and arrest.

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F. ALLERGIES

- An unusual or excessive reaction of the body to foreign substances.

- Cerebral allergies cause an excessive reaction in the brain.
- Neuro allergies affect the nervous system.
- Research indicates a connection between allergies and hyper
emotionality, depression, aggressiveness and violent behavior.

SOCIOBIOLOGY

Edward O. Wilson defined systematic study of the biological basis of all social
behavior; sociobiology tells us that certain traits such as territoriality are
common to both animals and humans.
- Wilson focused on altruism (selfless, helping behavior), his major
focus was to show that the primary determinants of behavior
including human behavior was the need to ensure the survival and
continuity of genetic material from one generation to the next.
- Corollary to this, Siegel (2019) stressed that the view that human
behavior is motivated by inborn biological urges to survive and
preserve the species.
- Reciprocal altruism, people are motivated by the belief that their
actions will be reciprocated and that their gene survival capability
will be enhanced.

BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

- (Walsh and Hemmen) Siegel (2019) defined as an approach to criminology

that focuses on the interaction between biological and social factors as they
relate to crime.
- John Paul Wrigt and Francis Cullen (2012) claiming that ―biosocial
criminology can lead to a criminology rooted more in science and empirical
observations than an ideology and can link to a diverse array of other
disciplines and research methodologies.
- According to Walsh humans have brains, genes, hormones and an
evolutionary history, they should integrate insights from the disciplines that
study these things into their theories and dismiss naïve nature versus
nurture arguments in favor of nature via nurture.
- Biosocial criminology is starting to uncover the various ways in which genes,
physiology and environment combine to produce behavior. Recent findings
have reaffirmed the importance of this approach based on the following:
First, the role of the prefrontal cortex in antisocial behavior has been
supported across a wide variety of study.

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Second, physiological factors such as heart rate and skin conductance

have proven to be important in the etiology of antisocial behavior.
Third, genes by environment interaction predict certain behaviors that
are important to criminologists.

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IV. PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANNATIONS OF CRIMINALITY

Psychologists and psychiatrists, same with biologists and chemists, also attempted
to explain behavior. They tried to find out whether criminal behavior is caused by
such personality factors as emotional problems, mental disorders, sociopathy, and
thinking patterns. The psychological and psychiatric theories have the common
assumption that there is something wrong with the mind of the offender, which
causes him to commit crime.

Three Major Psychological Theories of Crime Causation

1. Psychodynamic Theory. It is centered on the notion that an individual’s

early childhood experience influences his/her likelihood for committing
future crimes. Delinquent behavior is caused by imbalances between the
id, ego and superego. Conflict between the three personality components
forces an individual to develop defense mechanisms to cope with the
conflict. As a result, problematic behavior and delinquency can result.
2. Behavioral Theory. Behavioral theorists have expanded the work of Gabriel
Tarde through behavior modelling and social learning. Behavioral theory
argues that behavior is learned. Also referred to as social learning theory,
behavioral theory holds that actions are determined largely by life
experiences.
3. Cognitive Theory. Cognitive theory is based on the idea that cognitive
processes are at the center of behavior, thoughts and emotions. It
suggests that an individual’s perception and how it is manifested affect
his or her potential to commit crime.

 Cognitive Approach
- This approach refers to the attitudes, beliefs, values and thoughts that
people hold about the social environment, interrelations, human nature, and
themselves.
- In serious criminal offenders, these cognitions are often distorted. Beliefs
that children must severely physically disciplined or that victims are not
really hurt by fraud or burglary are good examples of cognitions that may
lead to criminal activity.
- Prejudice is also a cognition that involves distortion of social reality. They
include erroneous generalizations and over implication about others.

 Biological or Neurological Approach

- According to Wright and Boisvert in 2009 (as cited in Bartol & Bartol, 2017),
criminologists who identify themselves as psychologists and sociologists

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recognized that the advances in the broad biological sciences are finding
links between biology, including neuropsychology, and human behavior.

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 Developmental Approach
- This approach examines the changes and influences across a person’s
lifetime that may contribute to the formation of antisocial and criminal
behavior. These are usually called risk factors.
- Examples are poor nutrition, the loss of a parent, early school failure, or
substandard housing. However, the developmental approach also searches
for protective factors, or influence that provides individuals with a defense
against the risk factors. A caring adult mentor and good social skills are
examples of protective factors. (Bartol & Bartol, 2017).
- It was emphasized by Gavin (2019) that when applied to crime,
psychodynamic theory suggests that the internal structure of personality,
coupled with environmental influences, can lead to unconscious conflict that
causes damage, resulting in a weakened superego.
- Psychologists have long linked criminality to abnormal mental states
produced by early childhood trauma. For example, Alfred Adler, the founder
of individual psychology, coined the term inferiority complex to describe
persons who have feelings of inferiority and compensate for reduce personal
inadequacy. While Erik Erickson described the identity crisis as a period of
serious personal questioning people undertake in an effort to determine their
own values and sense of direction. Adolescents undergoing an identity crisis
might exhibit out of control behavior and experiment with drugs and other
forms of deviance (cited in Siegel, 2018). As further stressed by Erickson
(Gavin, 2019), identity crisis results from the inner imbalance.
- It was concluded that psychodynamic model of criminal offender depicts an
aggressive, frustrated person dominated by events that occurred early in
childhood. Perhaps they may have suffered unhappy experience in childhood
or had families that could not provide proper love and care, criminals suffer
from weak or damaged egos that make them unable to cope with
conventional society.

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC FOUNDATIONS OF CRIMINAL

BEHAVIOR PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

- This theory blames criminal or delinquent behavior to a conscience that is
either so overbearing that is arouses feelings of guilt, or so weak that it
cannot control the individual’s impulses and leads to a need for immediate
gratification.

SIGMUND FREUD
- The founder of psychoanalysis, viewed criminality as a result of too much
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guilt feelings. He noticed that those suffering from unbearable guilt

committed crimes in order to be apprehended and punished. Once they had
been punished, their feelings of guilt were relieved.

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- Freud attributed these feelings to man’s personality structure: the id, ego
and the super- ego, as follows:

The Id – It is the impulsive part of the personality and unconscious. It

represents the unconscious biological drives for sex, food and other life-
sustaining necessities. The id impulses require instant gratification without
concern for the rights of others. Hence, they must be repressed. It
operates according to ―pleasure principle.‖
The Ego – This is the objective, rational part of personality, the reality
component. Hence, it considers sensibility and responsibility to others.
The ego compensates for the demands of the id by helping the individual
guide his actions to remain within the boundaries of righteousness and
fairness. It operates according to ―reality principle.‖ The Superego – The
superego is the ―conscience” of a person. It is the moral aspect of
personality. It allows a person to feel pride, shame and guilt. Thus, it is
largely responsible for making a person follow the moral codes of society.
It helps a person weigh his thoughts and actions. Freud believed that
some people are criminal due to an overdeveloped superego which leads to
guilt, anxiety and a desire for punishment.

Figure 9. Freud’s Structure of the mind.

(Source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/12682613/)

Types of Offenders in Psychoanalytic Theory

1. The Weak Superego is described by Hervey Cleckley to have the following
characteristics: superficial charm, good intelligence, absence of delusions and
other signs of irrational thinking, absence of nervousness, unreliability,
untruthfulness and insincerity, lack of remorse or shame, inadequately
motivated antisocial behavior, poor judgment and failure to learn from

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experience, pathological egocentricity and incapability for love, and general

poverty in major affective reasons. This type is also determined by the
following indicators:

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 Reckless disregard for conventional rules and procedures;

 Antisocial cognitions/pro criminal sentiments (lack of conscience);
 Little evidence of a life plan and weak conventional ambition (lack of ego-
ideal);
 Little evidence of guilt;
 The early appearance of persistent and generalized conduct problems
(the ego is supposedly formed by age 8);
 Expression of bravado, flirtatiousness and exhibitionism;
 Conflict with authority figures; and
 Basic separateness from other people that reflects essential isolation,
loveliness and a desperate loneliness.

2. The Weak Ego Type implies immaturity, poorly developed social skills, poor
reality testing, gullibility and excessive dependence. In psychoanalytic terms,
the weak ego types are less under the control of superego than of the id and
the immediate environment. For weak ego types, criminal behavior may
represent stumbling into trouble misreading the external environment, having
a temper tantrum.
3. The Normal Antisocial Offenders have progressed through the psychosexual
stages of development without any particular problems. Psychologically, they
match the ideal of the full-functioning mature adult. However, a mismatch with
the ego-ideal is evident. The superego is pro-criminal as a result of
identification with a criminal parent, and the ego has incorporated a mastery
of criminal skills.
4. The Neurotic Offenders. Freudian theory suggests a number of ways in which
neurotic conflicts may translate into criminal behavior. The ―criminal from a
sense of guilt‖ is the most interesting, though perhaps not the most frequent.
This type is driven by an unconscious desire to be punished for past crimes. An
overactive superego may be seeking punishment for prior sins that, even if not
actually committed, were either contemplated or the focus of a wish-fulfilling
fantasy. Frequently represented in samples of neurotic offenders are people
who use criminal acts as a means of managing specific frustrations or
emotional disturbances, or as a way of impacting on family disturbed relations.
For example, some neurotics may use criminal activity to gain attention of, or
to punish their parents (See figure 10 ).

A pleasure-seeking person dominated by the ID

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A guilt-ridden or inferior-feeling person dominated by the

superego

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A psychological healthy person dominated by the ego

ID EGO SUPEREGO

Figure 10. Types of Offenders in Psychoanalytic Theory

PERSONALITY THEORISTS AND THEORIES

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY (SIGMUND FREUD)

- Psychodynamic perspective is largely based on the groundbreaking

ideas of Sigmund Freud based on his Psychoanalytic Theory.
- Freud thought that human behavior, including violent behavior, was the
product of
―unconscious‖ forces operating within a person’s mind.
- Freud also felt that early childhood experiences had a profound impact
on adolescent and adult behavior.
- Freud, for example, believe that conflicts that occur at various
psychosexual stages of development might impact an individual’s ability
to operate normally as an adult.

Freud’s Model of Personality Development (Psychosexual Stages)

a. Oral Stage (0-18 Months).

- This is the first psychosexual stage in which the infant’s source of id
gratification is the mouth. Infant gets pleasure from sucking and swallowing.
Later when he has teeth, infant enjoys the aggressive pleasure of biting and
chewing. A child who is frustrated at this stage may develop an adult
personality that is characterized by pessimism, envy, and suspicion. The
overindulged child may develop to be optimistic, gullible, and full of
admiration for others.

- Stage – Oral (0-18 Months)

- Focus – Pleasure centers on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing).

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b. Anal Stage (18 months – 3 Years).

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- When parents decide to toilet train their children during anal stage, the
children learn how much control they can exert over others with anal
sphincter muscles. Children can have the immediate pleasure of expelling
feces, but they may cause their parents to punish them.
- This represents the conflict between the id, which derives pleasure from
the expulsion of bodily wastes, and the super-ego which represents external
pressure to control bodily functions. If the parents are too lenient in this
conflict, it will result in formation of an anal expulsive character of the child
who is disorganized, reckless, and defiant. Conversely, a child may opt to
retain feces, thereby spiting his parents, and may develop an anal retentive
character which is neat, stingy, and obstinate.
- Stage – Anal (18-36 Months)
- Focus – Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with
demands for control.

c. Phallic Stage (3-5 Years).

- Genitals become the primary source of pleasure at this stage. The child’s
erotic pleasure focuses on masturbation, that is, on self-manipulation of the
genitals. He develops a sexual attraction to the parent of the opposite sex;
boys develop unconscious desires for their mother and become rivals with
their father for her affection. This reminiscent with Little Hans’ case study.
So, the boys develop a fear that their father will punish them for these
feelings (castration anxiety), so decide to identify with him rather than fight
with him. As a result, the boy develops masculine characteristics and
represses his sexual feelings towards his mother. This is known as:

1. Oedipus Complex. This refers to an instance where in boys build up

a warm and loving relationship with mothers (mommy’s boy).
2. Electra Complex. This refers to an occasion where in girls experience
an intense emotional attachment for their father’s (daddy’s girl)
Note: The Oedipus Complex is named for the king of Thebes who killed his
father and married his mother.

- Stage – Phallic (3-6 Years)

- Focus – Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings.

d. Latency Stage (6-11 Years).

- Sexual interest is relatively inactive in this stage. Sexual energy is going
through the process of sublimation and is being converted into interest in
schoolwork, riding bicycles, playing house and sports.
- Stage – Latency (6 Years-Puberty)
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- Focus – A phase for dormant sexual feelings.

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e. Genital Stage (11 Years On).

- This refers to the start of puberty and genital stage; there is renewed
interest in obtaining sexual pleasure through the genitals. Masturbation
often becomes frequent and leads to orgasm for the first time. Sexual and
romantic interests in others also become a central motive.
- Interest now turns to heterosexual relationships. The lesser fixation the child
has in earlier stages, the more chances of developing a ―normal‖
personality, and thus develops healthy meaningful relationships with those
of the opposite sex.
- Stage – Genital (Puberty On)
- Focus – Maturation of sexual interest.

PERSONALITY THEORY
- Personality can be defined as the reasonably stable pattern of behavior,
including thoughts and emotions that distinguish one person from another.
- The personality of persons reflects their characteristic way of adapting to
life’s demands and problems. The way they behave is a function of how their
personality enables them to interpret life events and make appropriate
behavioral choices.
- Personal feelings and emotions have been found to help shape behavior.
Take for instance feeling of regret. People who are remorseful and feel bad
about their prior undesirable acts are less likely to recidivate than those who
neither contrite nor apologetic (Siegel, 2019).
- In other words, personality is the totality of somebody’s behavioral patterns,
attitude, interest, emotional responses that endure over long period of times.
Psychologist Hans Eysenck (Siegel, 2018) linked personality to crime when
he identified two traits that he associated with antisocial behavior such as
extroversion-introversion and stability- instability.
Freud’s Levels of Awareness or Levels of Mental Life/Human Awareness (Topographical
Model)
 According to Cherry (2019), Freud’s greatest contribution to personality
theory is his exploration of the unconscious and his persistence that people
are motivated primarily by instinctual forces which they have little or no
awareness. To feud, mental life is divided into two levels, the unconscious
and the conscious. The unconscious, in turn has two different levels, the
unconscious proper and the preconscious.

a. The Conscious Level.

 It consists of whatever sensations and experiences you are aware of
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at a given moment of time.

 Consciousness, which plays a relatively minor role in psychoanalytic
theory, can be defined as those mental elements in awareness at any
given point in time.

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 It is the only level of mental life directly available to us.

b. The Preconscious Level.
 This domain is sometimes called available memory that encompasses all
experiences that are not conscious at the moment, but which can easily be
retrieved into awareness either spontaneously or with a minimum of effort.
 Examples might include memories of everything you did last Saturday
night, all the towns you ever lived in, your favorite books, or an argument
you had with a friend yesterday.
 The preconscious level of the mind contains all those elements that are
not conscious but can become so quite readily.
c. The Unconscious Level.
 It is the deepest and major stratum of the human mind. It is the
storehouse for primitive instinctual drives plus emotion and memories that
are so threatening to the conscious mind that they have been repressed,
or unconsciously pushed into the unconscious mind.
 Examples of material that might be found in your unconscious include a
forgotten trauma in childhood, hidden feelings of hostility toward a
present, and repressed sexual desires of which you are unaware.
 According to Freud, the unconscious is the explanation for the meaning
behind dreams, slips of the tongue, neurotic symptoms, and certain kinds
of forgetting, called repression.

Dynamics of Personality

 Levels of mental life and provinces of the mind refer to the structure or
composition of the personality; but personalities also do something.
According to Freud, people are motivated to seek pleasure and to reduce
tension and anxiety.
 This motivation is derived from physical and physical energy that spring from
the instincts.
 Freud is divided the instinct into two: life instinct, sometimes called ―Eros‖ or
sexual instinct; and death instinct, sometimes called destruction or aggression
instinct.

a. The Sexual Instinct

- The aim of the sexual instinct is to bring about pleasure within a person by
removing the state of sexual excitation. This pleasure, however, is not
limited to genital pleasure.
- Freud believed that the entire body is invested with libido. The ultimate
goal of the sexual instinct (reduction of sexual tension) cannot be changed,
but the path by which the aim is reached can be varied.
- It can take either an active or a passive form, or it can be temporarily or
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permanently inhibited.

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- Because the path is flexible and because sexual pleasure stems from
the organs other than the genitals, much behavior originally motivated by
―Eros‖ is difficult to recognize as sexual behavior. All pleasurable activity
is traceable to the sexual instinct.
- The sexual instinct can take many forms, including narcissism, love,
sadism, and masochism.

 Narcissism
- Narcissism refers to love of oneself or self-centeredness, with their libido
invested almost exclusively on their ego. This condition, which is
universal, is known as primary narcissism.
- As the ego develops, children usually give up much of their primary
narcissism and develop a greater interest in other people. In Freud’s
language, adolescent often redirect their libido back to the ego and
become preoccupied with personal appearance and other self-interests.
- This pronounces secondary narcissism is not universal, but a moderate
degree of self-love is common to nearly everyone.
 Love
- A second manifestation of ―Eros‖ is love, which develops when people
invest their libido on an object or person other than themselves.
- Children’s first sexual interest is the person who cares for them,
generally the mother. Overt sexual love for members of one’s family,
however, ordinarily is repressed, which brings a second type of love,
called aim-inhibited.
- Love aim-inhibited because the origin aim is reducing sexual tension is
inhibited or repressed. The kind of love people feel for their siblings or
parents is generally aim-inhibited.
- Obviously, love and narcissism are closely interrelated. Narcissism, of
course involves love of self, whereas love is often accompanied by
narcissistic tendencies, as when people love someone who serves as an
ideal model of what they would like to be.
 Sadism
- Sadism is the need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain and humiliation
on another person. Carried to an extreme, it is considered sexual
perversion, but in moderate, sadism is a common need and exists to
some extent in all sexual relationships.
- It is perverted when the sexual aim of erotic pleasure becomes
secondary to the destructive aim.
 Masochism
- Masochism is a condition characterized by the reception of sexual
pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation infected either by self or
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others.

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- Like sadism, masochism is a common need, but it becomes a perversion

when
―Eros‖ becomes subservient to the destructive instinct. Sadism and
masochism serve as cornerstone to the two-instinct theory.
- They demonstrate the working of the sexual instinct and the
destructive instinct in combination.

b. The Destructive Instinct

- According to Freud, the aim of the destructive instinct is to return the
organism to an inorganic state. Because the ultimate inorganic condition is
death, the final aim of the death instinct is self-destruction. As with the life
instinct, the death instinct is flexible and the object of destruction is
generally transformed from the self to others. It then goes under pseudonym
– aggression.
- The aggressive tendency is present in everyone and is the explanation for
wars, atrocities, religious persecution and murder as well as malicious
gossip, sarcasm and humiliation. The death instinct also explains the need
for the barriers that people have erected to check aggression. For example,
the commandments like ―love thy neighbor as thyself‖ are necessary, Freud
believed; to inhibit the strong, though usually unconscious, drive to inflict
injury to others. These percepts are actually ―reaction formations”. They
involve the repression of strong hostile impulses and the overt and obvious
expression of the opposite tendency.

Psychological Theories and Studies on Crime and Delinquency in Relations in Freud’s

Theory
a. August Aichorn. The work of Aichorn entitled, Wayward Youth in 1935 was
perhaps most closely associated with the study of criminality as compared to
Sigmund Freud. Aichorn felt that exposure to stressful social environments did
not automatically produce crime or violence. After all, most people are exposed
to extreme stress and do not engage in serious forms in criminality. Aichorn
felt that stress only produced crime in those who had a particular mental state
known as latent delinquency. Latent delinquency, according to Aichorn, results
from inadequate childhood socialization and manifests itself in the need for
immediate gratification (impulsivity), a lack of empathy for others, and the
inability to feel guilt. Since Aichorn’s early work, psychoanalysts have come to
view violent criminals as
―iddominated‖ individuals who are unable to control their impulsive, pleasure-
seeking drives. Often because of childhood neglect or abuse, violence-prone
individuals suffer from weak or damaged ―egos‖ that render them unable to
deal with stressful circumstances within conventional society. It is also argued
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that youth with weak egos are immature and easily led into crime and violence
by deviant peers. In their most extreme form, underdeveloped egos (or
superegos) can lead to ―psychosis‖ and the inability to feel sympathy for the
victims of crime. In sum, psychodynamic theories depict the violent offender as
an impulsive, easily frustrated person who is dominated by events or issues
that occurred in early childhood.

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Aichorn identified two further categories of criminal:

1. Those with fully developed consciences but identified with their criminal
patterns, and
2. Those who had been allowed to do whatever they like over-indulgent parents.

b. David Abrahamsen. Abrahamsen maintained that criminal behavior is a symptom

of a more complex personality distortions; there is a conflict between ego and
super ego, as well as the inability to control impulsive and pleasure-seeking
drives, because they influences are rooted in early childhood and later
reinforced through reactions to familiar and social stresses.

c. Cyril Burt. The study of Burt on Young Delinquent published in 1925 gives the
General Emotionality Theory. According to him, many offenses can be traced to
either in excess or a deficiency of a particular instinct which accounts for the
tendency of many criminals to be weak willed or easily led. Fear and absconding
may be due to the impulse of fear. Callous type of offenders may be due to the
impulse of fear. Callous type of offenders may be due to the deficiency in the
primitive emotion of love and an excuse of the instinct of hate.

d. William Healy. Healy in his Individual Delinquency study published in 1915

claimed that crime is an expression of the mental content of the individual.
Frustration of the individual causes emotional discomfort; personality demands
removal of pain, and pain is eliminated by substitute behavior, that is, crime
delinque9ncy of the individual.
Healy and Bonner (1936) conducted a study of 105 pairs of brothers where
one was a persistent offender and the other non-offender. It was found that only
19 of the offenders and 30 of the non-offenders had experienced good quality
family conditions. These findings suggested that circumstances within a
household may be favorable for one child but not the sibling. It then proposed
that the latter had not made an emotional attachment to a ―good parent‖,
hence impeding the development of superego.

e. Walter Bromberg. Bromberg in his study on Crime and the Mind, published in 1948
noted that criminality is the result of emotional immaturity. A person is
emotionally matured if he has learned to control his emotion effectively and
who he lives in peace with himself and harmony with the standards of conduct
which are acceptable to society. An emotionally mature person rebels against
rules and regulations, engages in usual activities and experiences a feeling of
guilt due to inferiority complex.

f. Hans Eysenck’s Theory of Crime and Personality or the Dimensions of Personality

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 Hans Eysenck a noted British psychologist has developed theory of how

personality characteristics are related to criminal behavior. Eysenck claimed
that children will naturally engage in such acts and only refrain from doing so
if they are punished. His theory is based on classical conditioning.
Accordingly, each time a child is punished, he

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or she may experience pain or fear. This pain and fear may be associated
with the act itself (Linden, 2020).
 His theory explains the criminal personality as resulting from the interaction
between three psychological traits or the personality dimensions such as
neuroticism (N), extroversion (E), and psychoticism (P).
 Eysenck suggests that personality is biologically based and that it has
personality traits dimensions, namely:

a. Extraversion. It refers to biological need individuals have for high or low

levels of environmental stimulation, determined by the level of arousal
in a person’s central and autonomic nervous system. This means that
people with high levels of extraversion have a low level of arousal,
meaning they require more environmental stimulation to fuel their
excitement. In the context of forensic psychology, this environmental
stimulation may include criminal behavior.

b. Neuroticism. It refers to the stability of personality and a high

neuroticism score would represent someone who is more reactive and
volatile and perhaps more likely to engage in offending behavior.

c. Psychoticism. It relates to the degree to which somebody is anti-social,

aggressive and uncaring.
Eysenck argued for there being a criminal personality, which would
characterize people who score highly on these three dimensions.

g. John Bowly’s Attachment Theory. Bowlby (1969), influenced by the Freud’s

Psychoanalytic Theory, hypothesized that both infants and mothers have
evolved a biological need to stay in contact with each other. He believed that
attachment behaviors (such as proximity seeking) are instinctive and will be
activated by any conditions that seems to threaten the achievement of
proximity, such as separation, insecurity, and fear. Bowlby said that the
relationship between the infant and its mother during the first five years of life
was most crucial to socialization. The disruption of this primary relationship
could lead to a higher incidence of juvenile delinquency, emotional difficulties,
and antisocial behavior.
Concepts of Attachment Theory

a. A child has an innate (i.e., inborn) need to attach to one main attachment
figure (usually, the child’s mother or parents).
b. A child should receive the continuous care of this single most important
attachment figure for approximately the first.
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c. The long-term consequences of maternal deprivation might include the

following:
1. Delinquency,

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2. Reduced intelligence,
3. Increased aggression,
4. Depression, and
5. Affectionate psychopathy

Affectionless Psychopathy

- According to Bowlby, it refers to the inability to show affection or concern for

others; a condition that involves lack of emotional development, lack of guilt
and inability to form meaningful and lasting relationships. Such individuals
act on impulse with little regard for the consequences of their actions.
- For example, showing no guilt for antisocial behavior.

h. Robertson and Bowlby (1952) believed that short-term separation from an

attachment figure leads to distress (i.e., the PDD model). The three
progressive stages of distress under PDD model are:

1. Protest. The child cries, screams, and protests angrily when the parent
leaves. They will try to cling on to the parent to stop them from leaving.
2. Despair. The child’s protesting begins to stop, and they appear to be
calmer although still upset. The child refuses others’ attempts for comfort
and often seems withdrawn and uninterested in anything.
3. Detachment. If separation continues, the child will start to engage with
other people again. They will reject the caregiver on their return and show
strong signs of anger.

 The child’s attachment relationship with their primary caregiver leads

to the development of an internal working model.

44 Thieves Study of Bowlby in 1944: Findings

1. More than half of the juvenile thieves had been separated from their
mothers for longer than six months during their first five years and
only two had had such a separation.
2. He also found 14 of the young thieves (32%) showed ―affectionless
psychopathy‖ (they were not able to care about or feel affection for
others).
3. He also found that 86% of the ―affectionless psychopaths‖ in the
group of thieves had experienced a long period of maternal separation
before the age of 5 years (they had spent most of their early years in
residential homes or hospitals and were not often visited by their
families).
4. Only 17% of the thieves not diagnosed as affectionless psychopaths
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had experienced maternal separation. Only 2 of the control group had

experienced a prolonged separation in their first 5 years.

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44 Thieves Study of Bowlby in 1944: Conclusions

1. Bowlby concluded that maternal separation/deprivation in the

child’s early life caused permanent emotional damage.
2. He diagnosed maternal separation/deprivation as a condition and called
it
Affectionless Psychopathy.
Evaluation of Bowlby’s Theory

Bifulco, Harris, and Brown (1992) supported the maternal

separation/deprivation hypothesis. They studied 250 women who had lost
mothers, through separation or death, before they were 17. They found
out that loss of their mother through separation or death doubles the risk
of depressive and anxiety disorders in adult women. The rate of
depression was the highest in women whose mothers had died before the
child reached the age of 6.

i. Sheldon Glueck’s Physique and Delinquency Study. Glueck’s study in 1956 of 500
delinquents and 500 non-delinquents extensively analyzed social background,
home-life, physical characteristics, intellectual ability, psychiatric states, emotions
and temperament of the respondents and identified socio-cultural, biological and
psychological factors in delinquency.

He concluded that while a host of different factors shows associations with

delinquency, the major causes of delinquency are ―problems in the home‖
(parental separation, parental drunkenness, physical or mental ailments, poor
home management lack of child supervision, little show of affection), and so
forth.

j. Erik Erikson. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development led to the emergence

of the term identity crisis and believed that it was one of the most important
conflicts people face in development. Erikson said that an identity crisis refers to a
time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.

The theory of Erikson focused on eight Stages; each stage plays a major role
in the development of personality and psychological skills. Erikson said there
are a series of eight stages, coinciding with infancy to late adulthood, in which
a person experiences different
―challenges‖. Each stage requires the successful completion of the prior stage
to move onto the next, otherwise incomplete stages may reappear in the future
and pose potential problems. However, absolute perfection or mastery of a
stage is not necessary.

Erickson’s Developmental Stages

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a. Hopes: Trust vs. Mistrust. From birth to 12 months of age, infants learn
that adults can be trusted. This occurs when adults meet a child’s basic
needs for survival. Infants are dependent upon their caregivers, so
caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help
their baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the

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world as a safe, predictable place. Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet

their baby’s needs can endanger feelings of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their
baby may see the world as unpredictable. If infants are treated cruelly or
their needs are not meet appropriately, they will likely grow up with a sense
of mistrust for people in the world.

b. Will: Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt. As toddlers (ages 1 to 3 years) begin to

explore their world, they learn that they can control their actions and act on
their environment to get results. They begin to show clear preferences for
certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and clothing. A
toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy vs. shame and doubt
by working to establish independence. This is the ―me do it‖ stage. For
example, we might observe a budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year old
child who wants to choose her clothes and dress herself. Although her outfits
might not be appropriate for the situation, her in such basic decision has
an effect on her sense of independence. If denied the opportunity to act
on her environment, she may begin to doubt her abilities, which could lead
to low self-esteem and feelings of shame.

c. Purpose: Initiative vs. guilt. Once the children reach the preschool stage (ages
3-6 years), they are capable of initiating activities and asserting control over
their world through social interactions and play. Preschool children must
resolve the task of initiative vs. guilt. By learning to plan and achieve goals
while interacting with others, preschool children can master this task.
Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents allow
a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. These
children will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who
are unsuccessful at this stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled by
over-controlling parents—may develop feelings of guilt.

d. Competence: Industry vs. Inferiority. During elementary school stage (ages 6

to 12 years), children face the task of industry vs. inferiority. Children begin
to compare themselves with their peers to see how they measure up. They
either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork,
sports, social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate
because they feel that they don’t measure up. If children do not learn to get
along with others or have negative experiences at home or with peers, an
inferiority complex might develop into adolescence and adulthood.

e. Fidelity: Identity vs. Role Confusion. In adolescence (ages 12 to 18 years),

children face the task of identity vs. role confusion. According to Erikson, an
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adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self. Adolescents struggle

with questions such as ―Who am I?‖ and ―What do I want to do with my
life?‖. Along the way, most adolescents try on many different selves to see
which ones fit; they explore various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt
to discover their ―adults‖ selves. Adolescents who are successful at

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this stage have a strong sense of identity and are able to remain true to their
beliefs and values in the face of problems and other people’s perspectives.
When adolescents are apathetic, do not make a conscious search for
identity, or are pressured to conform their parents’ ideas for the future, they
may develop a weak sense of self and experience role confusion. They will
be unsure of their identity and confused about the future. Teenagers who
struggle to adopt a positive role will likely struggle to ―find‖ themselves
(identity crisis) as adults.

f. Love: Intimacy vs. Isolation. People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s)
are concerned with intimacy vs. isolation. After we have developed a sense
of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others. However, if
other stages have not been successfully resolved, young adults may have
trouble developing and maintaining successful relationships with others.
Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self before we can
develop successful intimate relationships. Adults who do not develop a
positive self-concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness
and emotional isolation.

g. Care: Generativity vs. Stagnation. When people reach their 40s, they enter the
time known as middle adulthood, which extends to their mid-60s. The social
task of middles adulthood is generativity vs. stagnation. Generativity
involves in finding your life’s work and contributing to the development of
others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raiding
children. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the
next generation, often through childbirth and caring for others; they also
engage in meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to
society. Those who do not master this task may experience stagnation and
feel as though they are not leaving a mark on the world in a meaningful
way; they may have little connection with others and little interest in
productivity and self-improvement.

h. Wisdom: Integrity vs. Despair. From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in
period of development known as late adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage
is called integrity vs. despair. He said that people in late adulthood reflect in
their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People
who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they
can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not
successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They
focus on what ―would have‖, ―should have‖, and ―could have‖ been. They
face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, or despair.
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- Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development simply says that people who

developed mistrust, sham or doubt, guilt, inferiority, role confusion, isolation,
stagnation, and despair may exhibit inappropriate, abnormal, aggressive,
unlawful or criminal behavior.

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- While Freud’s theory had focused on the psychosexual stages or psychosexual

theory (5 stages) aspects of development, Erikson modified it with the addition
of other influences that helped to broaden (8 stages) and expand
psychoanalytic theory. He also contributed to our understanding of personality
as it is developed and shaped over the course of the lifespan.
Cognitive Theorists and Theories

 Cognitive theory is one of many psychological theories of criminal behavior.

Cognitive theories of crime explain criminal behavior as a defect in moral
thinking, thought processes, and mental development. Cognitive theories
also help us to understand how an individual’s personality and intelligence
level are linked to delinquency. Cognitive theories focus on how we perceive
the world around us, how we think, and the factors that influence our mental
development (family upbringing, parental modeling, personality,
intelligence).

a. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development.

- Theory of Moral Development made us understand that morality starts
from the early childhood years and can be affected by several factors.
- Kohlberg found out that children are faced with different moral issues,
and their judgments on whether they are to act positively or negatively
over each dilemma are heavily influence by several factors.
- In each scenario that Kohlberg related to the children, he was not really
asking whether or not the person in the situation is morally right or
wrong, but he wanted to find out reasons why these children think that
the character is morally right or not.
- Kohlberg applied the concept of moral development to the study of
criminal behavior. He argued that all people travel through six different
stages of moral development which is presented below.
Levels of Moral Development
Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality. The first level of morality, pre-conventional
morality, can be further divided into stages: obedience and punishment, and
individualism and exchange.

Stage 1: Punishment – Obedience Orientation. This stage includes the use

of punishment, so that the person refrains from doing the action and
continues to obey the rules. For example, we follow the law because
we do not want to go to jail.

Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation. In this stage, the person is

said to judge the morality of an action based on how it satisfies the
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individual needs of the doer. For instance, a person steals money from
another because he needs that money to buy food for his hungry
children. In Kohlberg’s theory, the children

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tend to say that this action is morally right because of the serious need
of the doer.

Level 2: Conventional Morality. The second level of morality involves the

stages 3 and 4 of moral development. Conventional morality includes the
society and societal roles in judging the morality of an action.

Stage 3: Good Boy – Nice Girl Orientation. In this stage, a person judges
an action based on the societal roles and social expectations before
him. This is also known as the ―interpersonal relationships‖ phase.
For example, a child gives away her lunch to a street peasant
because she thinks dong so means being nice.
Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation. This stage includes respecting the
authorities and following the rules, as well as doing a person’s duty.
The society is the main consideration of a person at this stage. For
instance, a policeman refuses the money offered to him under the
table (illegally) and arrests the offender because he believes this is his
duty as an officer of peace and order.
Level 3: Post-conventional Morality. The post-conventional morality
includes stage 5 and stage 6. This is mainly concerned with the universal
principles that relation to the action done.

Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation. In this stage, the person looks at

various options and values of different people before coming up with
the decision on the morality of the action.

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles Orientation. The final stage of moral

reasoning, this orientation is when a person considers universally
accepted ethical principles. The judgment may become innate and
may even violate the laws and rules as the person becomes attached
to his own principles of justice.

- Research of Kohlberg found out that violent youth were significantly lower in
their moral development than non-violent youth – even after controlling for
social background. Succeeding studies have consistently found out that
people who obey the law simply to avoid punishment (i.e., out of self-
interest) are more likely to commit acts of violence than people who
recognize and sympathize with the fundamental rights of others. Higher
levels of moral reasoning, on the other hand, even when presented with the
opportunity, people with higher levels of moral reasoning will refrain from
criminal behavior because they think it is wrong.

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b. Kenneth Dodge and Nicki Crick’s Social Information Processing Theory.

- The Social Information Processing (SIP) approach focuses on how children
who show aggressive behavior process information incorrectly and how
this may lead them to

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decide to behave aggressively. According to SIP Theory, the process that

children go through involves five steps from which they obtain and process
information that eventually leads to a decision on how they will behave in a
given situation.
Five Steps in Which Children Process Information

a. Encoding. The first step is called ―encoding‖, which means that people are
trying to read a situation. They try to get a sense of what is going on, such
as what other person is doing, and what the other person’s intention is. Say,
for example, that child is standing in the playground and is approached by
another child. Then the first child is trying to read the situation and what is
happening.
b. Making Attributions. In the second step, the child starts to interpret the
situation and the behavior of the other person. What does this situation
mean, and what is it that another person to behave the way he or she is
behaving? Is the other person trying to provoke you, or is he or she
perhaps trying to do something else? For example, are they bullying you
or are they actually simply asking you something?
c. Generating Potential Responses. As a next step, the child is searching for how
to respond to the situation. To do that, he or she researches through his or
her memory. What are the responses that could be used in this situation?
This is where children go back to behavior that they have learned, like
aggression. What type of response could be a solution to the problem that
the child is being faced with right now?
d. Decision Making. Now that there is a potential solution to the problem, the
child decides whether or not this situation is the best, or whether another
response might be better. For example, would aggression be the best
solution, or perhaps something else?
e. Enactment. In the final step, the child does what he or she has selected as
the best way to act in the situation.
 According to information processing theorists, violent individuals may be
using information incorrectly when they make their decisions.
 Violence-prone youth, for example, may see people as more threatening
or aggressive than they actually are. They may cause some youth to react
with the violence at the slightest provocation.
 According to this perspective, aggressive children are more vigilant and
suspicious than normal youth are – a factor that greatly increases their
likelihood of engaging in violent behavior.
Intelligence Quotient, Emotional Intelligence, and Mental Disorder Research Studies

A. Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The concept of IQ was developed by either the German
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psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Stern in 1912. However, in 1904,

psychologist Alfred Binet was commissioned by the French government to
create a testing system to differentiate intellectually normal children from those
who were inferior. From Binet’s work, the IQ called the ―Binet Scale‖, (and
later the ―Simon-Binet Scale‖) was developed. Lewis
M. Terman revised the Simon-Binet IQ Scale, and in 1916 published the Stanford
Revision

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of the Binet-Simon Scale of Intelligence (also known as the Stanford-Binet). The

following scale resulted for classifying IQ scores:

Intelligence Quotient Scale

1. Over 140 - Genius or almost genius
2. 120-140 - Very superior intelligence
3. 110-119 - Superior intelligence
4. 90-109 - Average or normal intelligence
5. 80-89 - Below average
6. 70-79 - Borderline deficiency in intelligence
7. Under 70 - Feeble-mindedness

- Scott Menard and Barbara Morse in 1984 studied 257 high school students in
San Diego, California, measuring both IQ and self-reported delinquency. IQ was
correlated with non- serious crime – such as petty theft, liquor violations,
vandalism, truancy, and running away. IQ was correlated with serious
crime – such as gang fights, auto theft, grand theft, and robbery.
Two Groups of Intelligence Quotient

1. High IQ and Genius IQ. Genius or near-genius IQ is considered to start around

140-145. Less than ¼ of 1% fall into this category. Here are some common
designations on the IQ scale:
a. 115-124 - above average
b. 125-132 - gifted
c. 135-144 - very gifted
d. 145-164 - genius
e. 165-179 - high genius
f. 180-200 - highest genius

2. Low IQ and Mental Retardation. An IQ under 70 is considered as ―mental

retardation‖ or limited mental ability. 2.27% of the population falls below 70
on IQ tests. The severity of mental retardation is commonly broken into 4
levels:
a. 50-70 - mild mental retardation
b. 35-50 - moderate mental retardation
c. 20-35 - severe mental retardation
d. IQ < 20 - profound mental retardation

Low IQ Studies on Criminality and Delinquency

 A body of research has also demonstrated that individuals with lower IQ levels
are more likely to commit more severe (and violent) offenses or clear links
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between lower intelligence and criminal behavior. This may be because of

deficits in the ―executive

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functions‖ of the brain, which are thought to be associated with abstract

reasoning and concept formation, as well as sustaining attention and
concentration. Additionally, evidence exists which demonstrates that criminal
offenders have lower IQ’s than non- offenders.
 Deborah Denno in 1990 analyzed data from 987 African American school
children in Philadelphia. Her data contained multiple measure of intelligence
collected at ages four, seven, and thirteen as well as officially recorded
criminal offenses. Chronic, violent offenders consistently had low IQ scores. For
example, female chronic offenders were almost four times less likely to be in
the top third of the verbal-IQ test scores than female non-offenders. Similarly,
male violent offenders scored 10 to 17 percentile points lower on measures of
vocabulary, reading, and language than non-offenders.
 Hirschi and Hindelang in 1997 found out that low IQ correlates more strongly
with arrests and imprisonment than with self-reported crime, which has been
taken as evidence for the detection hypothesis – that low-IQ criminals get
caught more easily. Similarly, they concluded that there is casual explanation
that links IQ to crime through school performance. Less intelligent students do
less well in school, which results in academic frustration. This frustration, in
turn, weakens their attachment and commitment to schooling, and a
weakened bond to school, as per social control theory, allows for more criminal
behavior. Alternatively, it may be expected that individuals with lower
intelligence are more vulnerable to engage in reactive-based offences, as they
have a reduced capacity to comprehend as well as communicate effectively,
particularly to possible interpersonal threats. In sum, studies have found out
that low-IQ offenders are more likely to be involved in crime over their life
course, that they are more likely to be involved in chronic property crime, and
that they are more likely commit to acts of violence.
High IQ Studies on Criminality and Delinquency

 The aforesaid researchers which revealed that people with low IQ is

associated to criminality does not mean that those of moderate to high IQ
do not commit crimes and do not exhibit any criminal behavior. It is worth to
note that among the notorious killers throughout history who could be
mentioned here are Charles Manson, Jack Unterweger, Ted Bundy, Albert
DeSalvo, Rodney Alcala, Charlene Gallego, Mark Hoffman, Nathan Leopold,
Richard Loeb and so on possessed an above average intelligence, with the
highest IQ of 210 being scored by Nathan Leopold.
 The presumption here is that those of higher IQ tend to commit crimes which
they are able to conceal or harder to detect for a host of reasons while
those of lower IQ are easily detected and arrested.
 This shows that being a criminal does not depend on the IQ (low or high) of a
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person. However, the level of IQ may somehow define or establish the kind of
crime a person may commit; such that a White Crime is usually committed by
a person with high IQ and simple bag snatching is ussua;;y committed by a
person with low IQ.

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B. Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI is also known as Emotional Leadership (EL),

Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ), is the capability
of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern
between feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to
guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to
environments or achieve one’s goal(s). It is the ability to perceive emotion,
integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions, and to regulate
emotions to promote personal growth.

Low IQ Studies on Criminality and Delinquency

 Garcia-Sancho, Salguero, Fernandez-Berrocal in 2014 found out that emotional

intelligence is deeply related to aggression and offending. Also, study of Henley
in 1999 revealed that individuals with low EI levels are more prone to risky
behavior. They also have a hard time understanding situations from the
perspective of others, and therefore, tend to be less empathetic. Similarly,
study of Om Prakash, Sengar, Chaudhury, and Singh in 2015 showed that the
offenders group had significantly lower EI in comparison to the normal group.
The offenders group was found to be impaired in dealing with the emotions,
whether they deal with their own emotions or dealing with other’s emotions.
High EI Studies on Criminality and Delinquency

 The study of Henley in 1999 showed that persons with high EI levels are more
able to moderate their emotions and are less impulsive. Also, research of
Abraham in 1999 revealed that individuals with higher EI levels have a better
ability to empathize, generally leading to their ability to conform better to
organizational requirements.
 A reduced capacity to regulate emotions could possibly maintain offending
pattern of behavior in criminals. Also, a reduced capability to regulate emotions
in young people with offending difficulties could also result in what is referred
to as emotions exerting their full
―motivational force‖. Similarly, a reduced capacity to regulate anger, desire,
and sexual arousal may result in an assault, theft, and sexual assault,
respectively.
 Some recent studies, consistently report EI deficits in criminals. In addition,
some studies indicate that offenders are deficient in subcomponents of EI such
as social problem-solving, empathy, social competency, flexibility, impulsive
control, and self-regard.
 Offenders also tend to generate fewer means for solving problems, adopt
aggressive problem-solving strategies, and precede impulsivity in problem-
solving. Interestingly, higher impulsivity relates to poorer social problem-solving
skills and the latter relates to greater aggression.
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C. Mental Disorder.
 A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a
behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of
personal functioning.
 According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV,
a mental disorder is a psychological syndrome or pattern which is associated
with distress (e.g. via

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a painful symptom), disability (impairment in one or more important areas of

functioning), increased risk of death, or causes aa significant loss of autonomy;
however it excludes normal responses such as grief from loss of a loved one,
and also exclude deviant behavior for political, religious, or societal reasons
not arising from a dysfunction in the individual.
 In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) redefined mental disorders
in the DSM-V as a ―syndrome characterized by clinically significant
disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that
reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental
processes underlying mental functioning.
Two Groups of Mental Disorders

1. Neurosis. Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorder involving distress but

neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially
accepted norms.
Neurosis is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those
suffering from it are said to be neurotic. It involves impaired social, intellectual
and/or vocational functioning without disorganization of personality or loss of
contact with reality.
2. Psychosis. Psychosis came from the word psyche, for mind/soul, and osis, for
abnormal condition. It means abnormal condition of the mind, and a generic
psychiatric term for a mental state often describe as involving a ―loss of
contact with reality‖. People suffering from psychosis are said to be psychotic.
Disorganization of personality marked by impaired vocational and social
functioning and intellectual deterioration. It has the following characteristics:
disorientation of time, place and/or person: delusion (false beliefs);
hallucination (false perception); bizarre behavior; inappropriate emotional
responses; distortion of thinking, association, and judgment.

Kinds of Mental Disorders Under Neurosis and Psychosis

a. Anxiety Disorder. Anxiety is a kind of neurosis; it’s psychological disorder that

involves excessive levels of negative emotions, such as nervousness, tension,
worry, fright, and anxiety. It is a generalized feeling of apprehension, fear, or
tension that may be associated with a particular object or situation or may be
free-floating, not associated with anything specific. Anxiety can cause such
distress that it interferes with a person’s ability to lead a normal life.
Anxiety Disorder and Criminality

Among offenders with Anti-Social Personality Disorder (APD), the presence of

anxiety disorders may increase behavior problems and limit participation in
offender rehabilitation programs and work training. People with APD and anxiety
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disorders have high rates of help- seeking behavior. An untreated anxiety disorder
may also increase the risk of substance misuse, which, in turn, increases the risk of
repeat offending.

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b. Delusional Disorder: False Belief. Delusional disorder is a kind of psychosis; it is

sometimes referred to as paranoia; delusions are false, sometimes even
preposterous, beliefs that are not part of the person’s culture. One might think
he is Jesus Christ; another Napoleon.
The concept ―delusional disorders‖ derives from the Greek word paranous
(paranoia). Para means besides, while nous means mind, or in other words it
refers to a mind besides itself. The term paranoia was delirium associated with
fever, delusional jealousy and being overly suspicious.

Delusion and Criminality

Delusional disorders may be uncommon but they are a reality. Those

suffering from delusional disorders may seem harmless or eccentric until they
commit a crime.

Criminal behavior is sometimes motivated by delusional thinking. For

example, individuals with persecutory delusions may act violently in pre-emptive
(perceived) self- defense. Those with erotomanic delusions may stalk the object of
their delusional affection, and those with jealous delusions may seek retribution
for perceived infidelity. Person with this disorder is observed more often in prison
that would be expected in a general community sample.
c. Mood Disorder. Mood disorder is a kind of psychosis; it is characterized by
extreme and unwanted disturbances in feeling or mood such as bipolar. These
are major disturbances in one’s condition or emotion, such as depression and
mania. It is otherwise known as affective disorder.

Mood Disorder and Criminality

Arrest and incarceration are potential complications of bipolar disorder,

which has a higher prevalence among incarcerated individuals than in the
community. Early onset of bipolar disorder is associated with juvenile antisocial
behavior and greater likelihood of arrest. Individuals with bipolar disorder who had
been arrested had more hospitalizations than those who had not and were more
likely to be experiencing manic symptoms.

Bipolar disorder is associated with a heightened risk of suicide compared

with the general population. A 15-fold increased risk of suicide in men and a 20-
fold increased risk in women. Similarly, in a single year approximately 0.017% of
the international population died by suicide, whereas for people with bipolar
disorder it was as high as 0.4%. More controversially, bipolar disorder has been
linked with aggressive and criminal behaviors such as robbery and assault,
especially during manic episodes. A systematic review found out with people with
bipolar disorder were more likely to have committed a violent crime than the

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general population.

d. Personality Disorder. Personality disorder is, in general, a kind of neurosis; it

displays chronic maladaptive cognitive-behavioral patterns that are
thoroughly integrated into the

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individual’s personality and that are troublesome to others or whose pleasure

sources are either harmful or illegal. Hans Eysenck believes that personality is
the main factor in criminal behavior, has a decisive role in crime, and their
study is the only systematic method through which criminal behavior can be
explained.
Personality Disorder and Criminality

The findings of the study on 440 prisoners in Tehran, Iran, showed that 88%
of prisoners were men. Moreover, 51.8%, 15.7%, 10.2%, 8.6%, 5.0%, 1.4%, 3.0%,
and 1.6% were imprisoned due to fraud, theft, blood money payment, infidelity,
denying, and failure to pay dowry, murder, and smuggling, respectively.
Furthermore, the prevalence of avoidant personality disorder (AvPD), Narcissistic
Personality Disorder (NPD), Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD), aggressive-
masochist personality disorder, passive-aggressive personality disorder, and self-
defeating personality disorder was higher than other disorders. A significant
relationship was observed between type of crime and schizoid personality disorder
(SPD).

The prevalence of criminal personality patterns among imprisoned women

was 61.2% and schizotypal personality disorder (STPD), paranoid personality
disorder (PPD), and borderline personality disorder (BPD) were, respectively, the
most prevalent among men, and PPD, SPD, and histrionic personality disorder
(BPD) were, respectively, the most prevalent among women.

In the study conducted on addicts in the prison of Kashan, Iran, the highest
prevalence was, respectively, observed in ASPD (12 individuals; 24%), MDD
(10 individuals; 20%),
hypomania (7 individuals; 14%), hypochondriasis (5 individuals; 10%), HPD (5
individuals;
10%), PPD (4 individuals; 8%), anxiety disorder (4 individuals; 8%), and SPD (3
individuals;
6%).

In a study on prisoners charged with narcotics-related crimes, 85.2% of the

studied individuals had personality disorders; the most prevalent disorders were
HPD (42.4%) and ASPD (40.4%) and the least prevalent disorder was SPD (14.6%).
Moreover, mixed personality disorder was observed in 52.6% of the subjects.
Furthermore, occupation, education, and marital status had a significant
correlation with drug trafficking.

Another study reported a 55.2% prevalence (112 individuals) of personality

disorders among prisoners. ASPD (18.2%) was the most prevalent disorder. SPD
(8.4%), dependent personality disorder (DPD) (8.4%), BPD (7.4%), mixed
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personality disorder (3.4%), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) (3.0%), HPD

(3.0%), PPD (2.5%), and other personality disorders (0.9%) were also observed.
The evaluation of the prevalence of personality disorders based on crime type
showed that the highest prevalence was related to theft (64.1%), drug addiction
(60.9%), iniquity and murder (55.6%), drug trafficking (55.0%), and financial
crimes (40.9%), respectively.

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Paranoid persons committing violent crimes and whose personality

characteristics are primarily paranoid belong to variety of subtypes. Some exhibit
pathological jealousy; others, extreme bigotry; still others, persecutory ideation
and grudge-holding. Within the latter category will be situated the majority of
persons committing mass murder (i.e., the murder of three or more in one
outburst). Almost all mass murderers are male.

A diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) has consistently been

linked to the criminal behavior, including violent offending, of prisoners.

Further evidence for a relationship between personality disorder and

violence has emerged from research investigating perpetrators of violence in the
community. A large number of cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that
individuals who engage in violent and non-violent offending, aggression, and
intimate partner violence, are more likely to meet diagnosis for a personality
disorder. Also, individuals diagnosed with a cluster A or B personality disorder, as
defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition,
had a threefold likelihood of committing violent acts in the future. A high
propensity for aggression has also been identified in individuals seeking treatment
for personality disorder.
c. Somatoform Disorder. Somatoform disorder is a kind of neurosis; it is a mental
disorder characterized by physical symptoms that mimic physical disease or
injury for which there is no identifiable physical cause. The symptoms that
result from a somatoform disorder are due to mental factors. In people who
have somatoform disorder, medical test results are either normal or don’t
explain the person’s symptoms.
People who have this disorder may undergo several medical evaluations and
tests to be sure that they do not have an illness related to a physical cause or
central lesion. Patients with this disorder often become very worried about their
health because the doctors are unable to find a cause for their health problems.
Somatoform Disorder and Criminality

Cloninger and colleagues have also found genetic links between somatization
disorder and antisocial personality and alcoholism. The biological fathers of
adopted-away women who were ―high-frequency somatizers‖ tended to have a
history of violent crime. Cloninger suggested that persons with somatization
disorder are characterized by distractibility impulsivity, and failure to habituate to
repetitive stimuli. It is possible that these traits contribute to the link between
somatization and antisocial personality disorder.

f. Dissociative Disorder. Dissociative disorder is a kind of psychosis, it refers to

disorders in which, under stress, one loses the integration of consciousness,
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identity, and memories of important personal events. This is formerly called as

multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder (DID).

Dissociative Disorder and Criminality

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Individuals may commit criminal acts while in a dissociated state. A study

that tracked 21 reported dissociated disorder (DID) cases found out that 47% of
men and 35% of women reported in engaging in criminal activity, including 19% of
men and 7% of women who committed homicide.

The concept of dissociation is relevant to forensic psychiatry, as illustrated

by the fact that amnesia and dissociation have frequently been associated with
violent crimes.

Moskowitz found out that higher levels of dissociation were associated with
increased violence in a diverse range of populations, including college students,
military veterans, psychiatric patients, and perpetrators of sexual/domestic
violence and homicide. Amnesia for the violent crime was reported in nearly one-
third (30%) of homicides. Several, studies found out an association between
amnesia, dissociation and crimes characterized by lack of planning and lack of
premeditation, heightened emotional states, emotional ties to the victim, and
alcohol use.

Evans et al. conducted a systematic and descriptive investigation of amnesia

in a group of 105 young offenders convicted of violent crimes (lethal and nonlethal
bodily harm). 20% reported either partial or complete amnesia for at least the
most violent part of the assault. All recalled the events preceding the violence and
most could identify a precise cut off by which they could not recall subsequent
events. Only one subject had complete amnesia, leading the authors to conclude
the complete amnesia is rare.

Patients with dissociative disorders have higher rates of suicidal ideation,

suicide attempts, and self-injurious behavior than do people with other disorders.
Moskowitz and Evans reported that a notable proportion of violent offender
experience Peritraumatic dissociation (PTD) and amnesia and that dissociative
experiences are more likely to occur when the violence is more extreme.

g. Impulse Control Disorder (ICD). ICD is a kind of neurosis; it is a psychiatric

condition in which affected individual typically report significant impairment in
social and occupational functioning, and may incur legal and financial
difficulties as well.

A simple definition of an impulse disorder is one where the individual cannot

resist an impulse to behave in a certain way or cannot stop repeated behavior,
even when they know that the behavior must stop. In some cases, the individual
has repeatedly tried and failed to stop the behavior.

Impulse Control Disorder and Criminality

Pathological Gambling is associated with impaired functioning; reduced

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quality of life; and higher rates of bankruptcy, or divorce, and incarceration.

Financial and marital problems are common. Many pathological gamblers engage
in illegal behavior, such a stealing, embezzlement, and writing bad checks to fund
their gambling or to attempt to fix past gambling losses. Suicide attempts have
been reported in 17% of individuals in treatment for PG.

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Although, kleptomania typically has its onset on late adolescents or early

adulthood, the disorder has been reported in children as young as 4 years and in
adults as old as 77 years. Intense guilt and shame are commonly reported by those
with kleptomania. Stolen items are typically hoarded, given away, returned to the
store, or thrown away. Many individuals with kleptomania (64% to 87%) have been
apprehended at some time as a result of their stealing behavior.
h. Sleep Disorders. A sleep disorder is a kind of neurosis; it is a condition that
frequently impacts your ability to get enough quality sleep. While it’s normal to
occasionally experience difficulties sleeping, it’s not normal to regularly have
problems getting sleep at night, to wake up feeling exhausted, or to feel sleepy
during the day. Symptoms can differ depending on the severity and type of
sleeping disorder. They may also vary when sleep disorders are a result of
another condition.
Sleep Disorder and Criminality

The question of whether sleep apnea can lead to homicide was recently
raised during a criminal trial when a man claimed that he fatally shot his wife
during his sleep as a result of his sleep apnea. While injurious behavior occurring
while sleep is well recognized, accidental homicide related to a sleep disorder is
considered rare. The most common sleep disorders that have been associated with
sleep-related injurious behavior include sleepwalking, REM sleep behavior disorder,
and confusional arousals. In contrast, there is little information regarding the
relationship between sleep apnea and sleep-related violence.

Sleepwalking, confusional arousals and sleep terrors – Disorder of Arousal –

have been reported to be associated with violent behavior against other
individuals for hundreds of years. Murders, attempted murders, assaults and
sexual assaults have been reported to occur during these disorders and have
occasionally resulted in criminal charges. Some defendants using sleepwalking
defenses have been acquitted, as sleepwalkers are not thought to have the
required conscious criminals or criminal intent to be judged guilt. The violent act
itself is most often described as the release of a primitive form of rage over which
the sleepwalker has no control.
i. Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a kind of psychosis; it is a group of disorders
characterized by loss of contact with reality, marked disturbances of thought
and perception, and bizarre behavior. At some phase delusions or hallucinations
almost always occur.
Emil Kraepelin first identified the illness in 1896 when he distinguished it
from the mood disorders. He called it dementia praecox, which means a
premature deterioration of the brain. Emil’s thoughts were later disputed by

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many psychiatrists. One of these was Eugene Bleuler, an eminent Swiss

psychiatrist, who in 1911 gave the term schizophrenia. He developed the word
by combining two Greek words schizein meaning to split and phren meaning
mind. This emphasized a splitting apart of the patients’

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affective and cognitive functioning, which are heavily affected by the disease.
Also, schizophrenia came from two Latin words schizo meaning split, and phrenia
meaning mind.

Schizophrenia and Criminality

The association between schizophrenia and committing violent acts or

different forms of crime is evident in literature, encompassing interpersonal attack
and murder. Compared to their healthy counterparts in the general population,
individuals diagnosed by schizophrenia are 4 to 6 times more likely to commit a
violent crime. In Western countries, 6% of the homicide perpetrators in the
populations were labeled schizophrenic. Existing research also indicates that the
prevalence of crime with patients with schizophrenia is significantly associated
with male sex, being single, refusing to accept treatment, substance abuse and
duration of illness.
Schizophrenia patients seem also to be overrepresented among mentally
disordered, seriously violent offenders, murderers, and murderers diagnosed as
mentally ill. Matricide seems to be highly specific to schizophrenia patients.

Population birth cohort study, men with a major mental disorder, including
schizophrenia, were found to be 2.6 times more likely to have been convicted of a
criminal offense than healthy men and were registered for more crimes of every
type.

 Self-Control Theory

According to Hagan (2017), self-control refers to a person’s ability to alter

his or her own states of responses. Many psychologists suggest that the
capacity to override and alter the self’s responses is a vital characteristic
that sets human beings apart from other species. Micheal R. Gottfredson
and Travis Hirschi introduced different perspective of self-control as part of
their general theory of crime. They defined self- control as degree to which a
person is vulnerable to temptations of the moment. They proposed that self-
control is required early in life and that low self-control is the premier
individual level cause of crime. According to them, self-control is developed
by the end of childhood and is fostered through parental emotional
investment in the child, which includes monitoring the child’s behavior,
recognizing deviance when it occurs and punishing the child.
Gottfredson and Hirschi recognized the sociological dimensions of
criminality by noting that the ―link between self-control and crime depends
substantially upon criminal opportunity, which in itself is a function of the
structural or situational circumstances encountered by the person. Thus, this

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theory suggests that the link between self-control and crime is not
deterministic but probabilistic, affected by opportunities and other
constraints. Recent research appears to show that low self-control tends to
lead to peer rejection and isolation especially among juveniles.
Consequently, young people with low

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self-control tend to associate with their deviant peers, meaning those with
low levels of self-control are essentially self-selected into groups of people
who share their characteristics‖ (Schmalleger, 2011).
 Attachment Theory

According to psychologists John Bowlby’s attachment theory, the

ability to form an emotional bond to another person has an important
psychological implication that follow people across the life span. Apparently,
attachments are formed soon after birth, with infants’ bond with their
mothers. Babies will become frantic, crying and clinging to prevent
separation or to re-establish contact a missing parent. Attachment figures,
especially the mother, must provide support and care, and without
attachment an infant would be helpless and could not survive. Failure to
develop proper attachment may result to any of the following (cited in
Siegel, 2019):
a. It may cause people to fall prey to a number of psychological
disorders, some of which resemble attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD).
b. Some individuals may be impulsive and may have difficulty
concentrating and consequently experience difficulty in school.
c. As adults, they often have difficulty initiating and sustaining
relationships with others and find it difficult to sustain romantic
relationships.

Accordingly, meta-analysis of existing research finds that lack of

attachment predicts involvement in a broad spectrum of criminal activity
(Ogilvie, Newman, Todd and Peck, 2014). Relative to this, criminologists
have linked people who have detachment problems with a variety of
antisocial behaviors, including social assaults and child abuse. It has been
suggested that boys disproportionately experience disrupted attachment
and these disruptions are casually related to disproportionate rates of male
offending (Fagan, Horn, Hawkins & Jaki, 2013).

According to John Bowlby, the early relationship between an infant and

a caregiver largely determines the quality of social relationship later in life.
Bowlby’s attachment theory has been discussed extensively in the
psychological aspect and may be extended to the study of criminal
behavior. Apparently, some infants when placed in a strange and unfamiliar
environment show secure attachment. They play comfortably in their
parents’ presence and demonstrate curiosity and their new and challenging
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environment. When the parents leave, the child become distressed but when
parents return, the child beams with delight. These infants use their parents
or caregiver as a secure base from which to explore. Other infants may show
an insecure attachment, which is often divided into two attachments styles:
anxious/ambivalent and avoidant (cited in Bartol & Bartol, 2017).

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