Biological Theories

1
Biological Theories

• Genetic and inherited traits
• Genetic mutation (not inherited)
• Environmentally induced biological causes (head
  injury)

2
Goring

• The English Convict (1913) A challenge to
  Lombroso. Using new statistical methods, Goring
  attempted to demonstrate that crime was the
  product of inherited mental deficiency, not
  phrenology, physiognomy as Lombroso contended.

3
Twin and Adoption Studies

• Twin studies show greater similarity in criminal
  behavior among identical vs. fraternal twins
• Christiansen (Danish Twins Register)
• Adoption
• Hutchings and Mednick (biological fathers
  criminal behavior predicts adopted child crime)

4
Other Biological Mechanisms

• Neurotransmitters
• e.g., Serotonin (see todays supplementary
  reading)
• Hormones
• Testosterone (Booth and Osgood 1993)
• Central Nervous System
• Temporal lobe emotional expression (sexual
  offending?)
• Frontal lobe neuropsychological performance
  (violent offending?)

5
Autonomic Nervous System Eysenck

• ANS Fight or flightanxiety reaction in
  anticipation of punishment
• Introverts rapid excitation, slow inhibition
• stimulus avoidance
• heightened threat of punishment
• Extroverts slow excitation, rapid inhibition
• stimulus hunger
• less anxiety experienced in anticipating crime
• psychopaths extreme extroverts/conscienceless

6
PersonalityThe Gluecks

• Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency
• The delinquent personality as a constellation of
  related characteristics
• delinquents are more extroverted, vivacious,
  impulsive, and less self-controlledmore hostile,
  resentful, defiant, suspicious, and
  destructiveless fearful of failure or
  defeatless concerned about meeting conventional
  expectationsless submissive to authoritymore
  socially assertive

7
Psychological ApproachesIQ and Delinquency

• why is there an association? If IQ measures
  actual cognitive ability
• Low IQ children have low IQ parents with poor
  parenting skills (Gordon)
• Low IQ children perform poorly in school, leading
  to school rejection and truancy, which then leads
  to delinquency (Hirschi and Hindelang).
• Low IQ children seek short-term gratification,
  leading, in some cases, to criminal behavior.

8
Psychological Approaches IQ and Delinquency

• If IQ measures qualities that are related to the
  dominant culture
• Low IQ children are those children who are not
  socialized to the dominant culture (for instance,
  some minorities). These groups may also be more
  criminal because of different cultural
  backgrounds, discrimination, etc.

9
Psychological approaches IQ and Delinquency

• IQ measures socially determined ability
• IQ is malleable e.g., discrepancies between
  African American poor and middle class children
  emerge across childhood
• Doug Downey (OSU) African American and White
  children learn at the same rate during the school
  year, but drop off more during the summer.