Are we born bad or Does life make

Are we born bad or Does life make us bad?

How? Does this turn into a murderer?

Ted Bundy Serial killer, rapist, kidnapper. Confessed to 30 homicides.

Ian Huntley School caretaker. Kidnapped two young girls who were missing for 13 days. He killed both.

The Kray Twins 1960’s gangsters and sadists in London. Involved in torture, arson, armed robbery, murder.

James Bulger Murder Two ten year old boys kidnapped, tortured and then killed a two year old.

Robert Thompson One of the two ten year old boys who kidnapped, tortured and killed a two year old child.

The Wests Fred & Rosemary West kidnapped, tortured and murdered at least 12 young girls.

Peter Sutcliffe Known as the Yorkshire Ripper. Murdered 13 women, attacked 7 others.

Moira Hindley and Ian Brady Known as The Moors Murderers. Kidnapped, abused and murdered children and hid their bodies on the moors. Some bodies still missing.

Lesson Objectives • To be able to define ‘criminal behaviour’ and explain types of criminal behaviour • To know the broad categories of crime and the types of crime that fit • To be able to describe how crime and criminals are socially constructed.

The characteristics of Criminal Behaviour • Crime and criminal behaviour definition • Defining crime is easy – It is any action which breaks the written laws of a society. • However defining criminal behaviour is not so easy as there are many different types. For example you wouldn’t put a teenager shoplifting and an adult serial killer in the same category for the purposes of explaining the behaviour. So we have to separate types of criminal behaviour. • Furthermore serial killers are quite rare whereas theft is very common so which is more of a concern for research purposes? • Look at the case studies on pg 89 and decide which type of crime is worse

Types of crime Two broad categories • Victim-based • Crimes against society Read ‘Types of Crime’ on pg 88 and consider which category they fit with

The measurement of Crime • Because crime is of importance the government have developed different ways of measuring its prevalence in society. • This tells us something about it’s characteristics such as types of crimes committed and who commits it etc • Look on p. 88 find out how crime is measured in the UK

The Social Construction of crime • Crime is a socially constructed category – that means something is only ‘criminal’ if it breaks the written laws of society and what is defined as crime changes over time and between places. Some actions are wrong, but not criminal, some actions are criminal but not wrong ! • Look at the picture on page 88 and read the text below. Can you think of other examples of how the perceptions of criminal behaviour have changed

Essay Plan ‘Describe the characteristics of criminal behaviour) 10 marks AO 1 • Clearly define crime • Briefly explain how crime statistics are collected and briefly state what this tell us e. g how much, types and who ! • Explain categories and some types of criminal behaviour with examples e. g burglary is a victim based, property predatory crime according to Farr and Gibbons (1990) , which type is of greatest concern? • Explain the problem of crime being a social construct i. e it’s hard to explain something that changes all the time. Give examples of the problem with perceptions of crime changing e. g homosexuality was once illegal and so was defined as a ‘sociopathic’ criminal disorder by psychologists. Furthermore some crimes are not necessarily immoral e. g Nelson Mandela

Lesson Objectives • To understand two biological explanations of ‘criminal behaviour’ • To be able to evaluate the Genetic explanation • To be able to evaluate the Amygdala explanation.

Inherited Criminality (Genes) • To understand two biological explanations of ‘criminal behaviour’ • To understand what we mean by a concordance rate. • To be able to evaluate the Genetic explanation • To be able to evaluate the Amygdala explanation.

Concordance rate • Identical (Monozygotic- “one egg” twins share 100% of their Genes • Non-Identical/Fraternal (Dizygotic- “two egg” twins share 50% of their Genes • If a behaviour was completely caused by genes – which type of twins would be most likely to BOTH perform the behaviour? Why?

Concordance rate • So if we had two pairs of MZ Twins and both people in each pair were criminals we would have 100% concordance rate for criminal behaviour. • What if one pair were both criminals, and in the other pair there was only one criminal – what would the concordance rate be? • Draw 4 pairs of twins and label them to show a 75% concordance rate

Genes connected with Criminality • MAOA – Brunner et al (93) 28 male members of a highly violent family all shared a gene leading to low levels of MAOA • Any other possible explanations? • CDH 13 - Tilhonen et al (2015) studied 900 offenders and found low levels of MAOA and CDH 13.

Diathesis Stress • Modern thinking is that genes don’t create behaviour by themselves – there needs to be something to trigger them in the environment. • Diathesis – a genetic tendency • Stress – an environmental trigger. • Eg low MAOA and maltreatment as a child.

Differences in the Brain • Raine suggested that genes lead to reduced functioning in the frontal cortex • Seo suggested that low levels of serotonin may also have an effect • High levels of dopamine can also make things worse.

The role of the Amygdala • Amygdala – a dense collection of “grey matter” in the brain, part of the limbic system. • Connected to many parts of the brain especially – hippocampus, hypothalamus and the prefrontal cortex. • This means it has a big influence on emotion, motivation and social interaction. • So if it’s not working properly it could lead to criminal behaviour.

The role of the Amygdala • Aggression: Coccaro (2007) • Found people with IED showed high levels of amygdala activity when shown a picture of an angry face. • Fear Conditioning • Amygdala involved in understanding when someone is angry. If it doesn’t work, children will not read social cues about unacceptable behaviour, and so seem fearless.