Psychological criminology : an integrative approach

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Title:

Author:

Wortley, Richard (Richard K.)

ISBN:

9781843928065

9781843928058

9781843928072

Personal Author:

Wortley, Richard (Richard K.)

Publication Information:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2011.

Physical Description:

xi, 271 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Series:

Crime science series ; v. 9

Contents:

1. Introduction -- What is psychological criminology? -- Defining crime and criminals -- Debates about the nature of crime and criminality -- Psychological theories of crime and criminality: an integrated model -- 2. Human nature -- The principles of evolution -- Evolution and behavior -- Crime-focused evolutionary approaches -- Offender-focused evolutionary approaches -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 3. Heredity -- A primer in behavioural genetics -- Heritability of criminality -- Variations in the heritability of criminality -- Beyond behavioral genetics: molecular genetics -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 4. The brain -- Basic brain structures and functions -- Psychophysiology and crime -- Biochemistry and crime -- Neuroanatomy and crime -- Neuro-environmental factors and crime -- Putting it together: neuropsychological theories of crime -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 5. Personality -- Trait approaches to personality -- The single-trait approach and crime -- The super-trait approach: Eysenck's three-factor theory of crime -- Antisocial personality disorder (APD) -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 6. Development -- The biological and environmental foundations of human development -- Developmental risk and protective factors for crime -- Psychosocial development and crime -- Criminal careers -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 7. Learning -- The science of behaviour -- Classical conditioning -- Operant conditioning -- Social learning -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 8. Cognition -- The cognitive revolution -- Social cognitive theory -- Offender decision-making -- Schemas and scripts -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 9. Situations -- What is a situation? -- Social psychology -- Environmental psychology -- Opportunity theories -- The person-situation interaction (again) -- Conclusion and evaluation -- 10. Conclusion -- The argument in a nutshell -- The strengths and limits of integration -- Implications for practice.

Subject Term:

Criminal psychology.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025755402	364.3 W935P 2011	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Psychological Criminology addresses the question: what is it about individuals and their experiences that cause them to commit crime and/or to become criminal?

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of psychological theories of crime and criminality, exploring theories focusing on factors present at birth (human nature, heredity); theories that focus on factors that influence the offender over the lifespan (learning, development); and theories focusing on factors present at the crime scene. It emphasizes the connections among the different approaches, and demonstrates how, taken together rather than as rival explanations, they provide a more complete picture of crime and criminality than each provides individually.

Theories are arranged throughout the book in a temporal sequence, from distal to proximal causes of crime. The analysis spans 100,000 years, from the evolutionary roots of criminal behaviour in the ancestral environments of early humans on the African savana, to the decision to engage in a specific criminal act.

Key features of the book include:

a focus on theory - 'explaining' crime and criminality, an integrative approach, accessible to readers who do not have a background in psychology.

Psychological Criminology highlights the contributions that psychological theory can make to the broader field of criminology; it will be of interest to students, academics, researchers and practitioners in both criminology and forensic psychology.