Title: Criminal Behavior Theories, Typologies, and Criminal Justice J.B. Helfgott Seattle University
1Criminal Behavior Theories, Typologies, and
Criminal JusticeJ.B. HelfgottSeattle University
- CHAPTER 3
- Typologies of Crime and Criminals
2Typologies of Crime and Criminals
There are two types of people in this world,
good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad
seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.
-- Woody Allen
3What is a Typology?
- A systematic grouping of entities that have
characteristics or traits in common to classes of
a particular system. - An abstract category or class consisting of
characteristics organized around a common
principle relevant to a particular analysis.
4Typologies in Everyday Life, Science, and Policy
and Practice
- Typology construction is a fundamental component
of human cognition and scientific investigation. - Examples of typologies we all use in everyday
life? - Examples of scientific typologies?
- How are typologies used at the institutional
level in schools, hospitals, and the criminal
justice system?
5Criminological Theories and Criminal Typologies
A CRIMINAL TYPOLOGY is criminological theory made
manageable in a way that can be practically
applied to organize, classify, and make sense of
a range of behaviors that violate the law.
6Examples of Comprehensive Criminal Typologies
- Clinard, Quinney, Wildemans (1994)Criminal
Behavior Systems - Dabneys (2004) Crime Types
- Miethe, McCorkle, Listwans (2006) Crime
Profiles
7Mental Disorders and Criminal Behavior
- Mental illness is just one factor that may play a
role in some incidents and types of criminal
behavior. - Mental disorder and criminal behavior are
distinct concepts that sometimes overlap. - Some mental disorders have been empirically
associated with criminal behavior (antisocial
personality disorder and psychopathy).
8Defining Mental Disorder
- When people speak of mental disorder this term
encompasses an enormous range of human behavioral
symptoms and conditions ranging from everyday
problems in living to severe psychopathological
disturbances. - No definition adequately specifies precise
boundaries for the concept of mental disorder
(APA, 2000, p. xxx).
9Conflicting Goals of the Mental Health and
Criminal Justice Systems
- Conflicting goals of the mental health and
criminal justice systems make it difficult to
understand and respond to mentally ill offenders
and to understand the relationship between mental
illness and crime. - According to Blackburn (1993, p. 246), concerns
about the psychiatrisation of crime have been
paralleled by concerns over the criminalisation
of mental disorder.
10Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental
Disorders (DSM)
- The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, published since 1952 by the American
Psychiatric Association, is a categorical system
for classification of mental disorders for the
purpose of communication, diagnoses, education,
research, and treatment. - Editions of the DSM
- -1952/DSM -1968/DSM II
- -1980/DSM III -1987/DSM-III-R
- -1994/DSM-IV -2000/DSM-IV-TR
11DSM Multiaxial System
- The DSM is organized around a multiaxial system
that involves assessment on several axes - Axis I Major clinical syndromes
- Axis II Personality disorders
- Axis III Physical disorders
- Axis IV Psychosocial stressors
- Axis V Global level of functioning
12The Macarthur Study of Mental Disorder and
Violence
- The Macarthur Study of Mental Disorder and
Violence (Monahan et al, 2001) has been described
as the best designed study ever done on violence
risk assessment involving over 1000 psychiatric
patients examining the relationship between 134
potential risk factors and subsequent violence. - The study concluded that, the propensity for
violence is the result of the accumulation of
risk factors, no one of which is either necessary
or sufficient for a person to behave aggressively
toward others. People will be violent by virtue
of the presence or absence of different sets of
risk factors. There is no single path in a
persons life that leads to an act of violence
(p. 142).
13Criminal Typologies Theory and Purpose
- Criminal typologies are necessary to understand,
identify, and respond to crime. - The criminal justice system cannot respond to
crime with a one size fits all approach.
Sanctions, management strategies, treatment
approaches, and public safety policies and
practices are highly dependent on differentiation
of types of crimes and criminals. - The question, What type of person are we dealing
with? is of central importance at every stage in
the criminal justice process.
14Types of Criminal Typologies
- TYPES
- Legalistic
- Sociological
- Psychological
- Biological
- Multi-trait
- PURPOSES
- Sanctions
- Management
- Treatment
- Understanding
15Scientific Typologies
- Classifying events or people into types is a
necessary function of science, theory
development, and professional practice. - Some typologies are rooted in stereotypes, not
science (e.g. racial profiling). - Scientific typologies originated with the
Linnaen classification of plants. - In the social sciences individuals are grouped
into types based on shared characteristics
16How are Typologies Constructed?
- Typologies are constructed in two general ways.
- IDEAL TYPES are inductively constructed based on
a subjective clinical impression (armchair
theorizing). - EMPIRICAL TYPES are deductively constructed
describing patterns that exist in the real world
through multivariate statistical methods
17Categorical v Dimensional Models
- Human types may be more appropriately viewed
along a continuum or dimension rather than as a
discrete category or taxon. - Categories or types that are not inherently
taxonomic (no clear boundaries) are often formed
by empirically grouping those who share features
on several dimensions using statistical methods
such as cluster analysis
18Knight Prentky (1990) Typology of Sexual
Offenders An Example
- One of the most sophisticated and complex
typologies of sex offenders developed to date
used in criminal justice decisionmaking in
treatment and management of sex offenders. - Empirical typology of rapists and child molesters
based on inductive and deductive research
strategies now in its 3rd version (MTCR3 and
MTCCM3).
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23Stages of Knight and Prentkys Rapist and Child
Molester Typology Development
- STAGE 1 - THEORY FORMULATION
Comparison of available typologies to determine
whether consensus exists regarding specific types
of sex offenders. - STAGE 2 IMPLEMENTATION
Definition of types/dimensions, assessment
of interrater reliability, and determination of
coverage/degree to which typology is exhaustive. - STAGE 3 VALIDATION
Look to research literature to
determine whether the constructed types could be
shown to have distinctive and theoretically
coherent developmental roots - STAGE 4 INTEGRATION
Responding to the analyses of construct
validity to determine which dimensions of the
typologies needed modification
24Evaluating Typologies
- A criminal typology is only useful to the extent
that it describes homogeneous categories of
offending, is comprehensive/exhaustive with
respect to the stated purpose, contains
categories that are mutually exclusive, is
complex enough to have explanatory value, and
simple enough to be applied in criminal justice
policy and practice. - In evaluating offender typologies, it is
important to ask the following questions - Is the typology and the categories it includes
homogeneous? - Is the typology and the categories it includes
heterogeneous? - Is the typology and the categories it includes
exhaustive? - Are the categories included in the typology
mutually exclusive? - Is the typology too simple?
- Is the typology too complex?
25Evaluating Typologies
- Homogeneity/Heterogeneity
- Exhaustiveness/Exclusiveness
- Simplicity/Complexity
26The Use of Typologies in the Criminal Justice
System
27 Meloys Sexual Homicide TypologyMeloy, J.R.
(2000). The nature and dynamics of sexual
homicide An integrative review. Aggression and
Violent Behavior, 5, 1-22.
COMPULSIVE CATATHYMIC
Nature of sexual homicide Organized Disorganized
Axis I diagnosis Sexual sadism Mood disorder
Axis II diagnosis APD/NPD Various traits PDs
Psychopathy Severe (primary) Mild-moderate
Attachment pathology Chronically detached Attachment hunger
ANS Hyporeactive Hyperreactive
Early Trauma Often absent Often present
28Summary
- Typology construction is a fundamental component
of human cognition and scientific investigation.
One way to think of a typology is that it is
theory made manageable. - Typologies differ with respect to theoretical
foundation and purpose. - Typologies of crime and criminals provide
information with which to make decisions,
policies, practices, and laws. Typologies are
used at all stages of the criminal justice
process. - A criminal typology is only useful to the extent
that it describes homogeneous categories of
offending, is comprehensive/exhaustive with
respect to the stated purpose, its categories are
mutually exclusive, is complex enough to have
explanatory value, and simple enough to be
applied in criminal justice policy and practice.