- Greetings, let's focus our attention on
Chapter Six: Biological
and Psychological Theories,
where we'll look at postivistic theory,
biological theories,
psychological theories,
and the theory policy connection.
First, if we look at positivist theory,
positivism is based
according to your author.
It's based on the idea that we can use
empirical or scientific investigation
for the improvement or
the betterment of society.
And your author points out that the basic
premises of positivism or measurement
or being able to quantify
crime and social behavior.
And objectivity, or being
neutral in our observations.
And causality, or determinism.
In other words, being able to
determine that one thing
causes another thing to occur.
That a certain,
characteristic causes crime.
Or certain characteristics,
I should say, cause crime.
The Positivistic Approach, again,
is popular in criminology and we'll
see that throughout the course.
In some of the earlier
positivistic theories,
focused on areas like
astrology or phenology,
or looking at the shape of the head,
or looking at palm reading
or looking at atavism.
For example, Lombroso believed that
there were genetic throwbacks
and they were also criminals.
And we also saw ideas related to
what was called feeblemindedness.
And also, the whole area of eugenics.
Where we saw some horrific
criminal behaviors conducted
by physicians and hospitals
in forced sterilization.
We saw the eugenics,
carried out in Nazi Germany
in many of the medical
experiments and of the
scientific endeavors
that were very criminal
in nature, but a lot of that was
based on the idea of the eugenic theories.
So, the earlier biological theories
suggested that there was a genetic source
for social behavior,
for criminal behavior.
And we saw that that led to all
kinds of problems in societies.
Now, more recent biological theories focus
on the nature versus nurture controversy.
But really, what we're seeing
today is nature and nurture.
That both the biological and the social
really can be used together.
And to separate them is creating
a false duality that
doesn't really help us much.
But some of the biological theories
look at situations like brain disorders
or particular genetic problems.
Or looking at certain characteristics
of the structure of the brain
and also how the brain functions in terms
of neurotransmission processes
and also possible links
between certain types of
mental disorders and crime.
And also looking at dietary factors
and environmental factors, as
well as hormonal imbalances.
So, you really get a lot of
different areas there, you know.
And there's been case studies, you know.
For example, there's one
case that's often discussed
about this man who
basically led a non-deviant,
non-criminal life for
years, and years, and years.
And all of a sudden, he
started acting out sexually.
He was evaluated, found
he had a brain tumor,
the tumor was treated, then he went back
to his non-criminal, non-deviant behavior.
And then, several years later, again.
It started up again and again the tumor
had come back so they treated that tumor.
And so, you get the idea there.
And we're seeing, really,
more of the neurological,
biological connections,
starting to be made
in the courtroom, you know.
For example, using, fMRIs
to look at brain scans
and looking at what may be deficiencies
in certain part of the brains.
It's explanations for
certain criminal behaviors,
often violent criminal behaviors,
when presented in the court.
And we also know that
the biological theories
have been linked to a variety of policies.
Some of the earlier biological theories
led to lobotomies or you know, removing,
severing certain parts of the brain
from communication with other parts.
And this whole psychosurgery situation
has a long history in the United States.
We also have seen the increase
in use of pharmacology,
specifically using certain
medications to treat
not only certain types of
mental disorders, but also,
to treat certain types of
violent behaviors, as well.
Although, you may not see a lot
of that in the literature right now.
I can tell you from working in the field,
that psychiatric medications have been
used to try to reduce violent
impulses and behavior.
Whether or not, the medication was created
for that purpose or not and there
is a whole lot of debate about that.
A lot of the neuro biological theories
are criticized because they are often
based on small samples and often
it creates this dualistic fallacy,
that it's all, you know,
in the head basically.
When it could be, you
know, I think that many
scientists argue that
there may be, clearly,
you know, biological and environmental
connections in that situation.
And often, we have an over reliance,
as you author points out on
incarcerated populations.
So we're looking at brains
of prisoners, in that sense.
And again, this area has really been
becoming more prominent in
criminology based research.
Now, the psychological theories
focus more on personality
theories and behavioral theories.
One of the earlier ones that probably
everyone has heard about
is Freudian Theory,
the psychoanalytic perspective.
And Freud believed that there
were three basic components
of the personality.
The id, the superego, and the ego.
The id are those impulses when
I open up my refrigerator door
and I see that quart of double chunk,
mint chip, brownie pieces, Ben & Jerry's;
The id says: Eat it, get it.
The superego is really the morals
and values of society, you know.
So, the superego in my head is saying
"No, you should not eat
that because it's not yours.
"That would be wrong to take
someone else's ice cream."
And the ego kinda mediates between
those impulses from id and the superego,
the morals and values of society,
and says "Well, what can
we do to satisfy that."
And so maybe I go ahead and I go to
the store and buy my own ice cream.
Okay, so the Freudian
theory still is used a lot.
Especially, with defense mechanisms in
discussions about crimes such as
some of the defense mechanisms.
For example, denial,
projection, repression.
And there's a lot of
use of Freudian theory
in books, in movies, and Freudian theory
still is practiced today but I don't
believe that it is, it
doesn't have the following
that it did during Freud's time
and the late 1800s, early 1900s.
Social learning theory is based
on the idea that people learn how
to commit crimes just as they
learn how to engage in
non criminal behavior.
And so there's a whole lot of different
social learning theories.
But in general, kind of to summarize
the idea here is that people learn
because they're rewarded
for pro-social behavior,
and punished for delinquent behavior.
But also the opposite can occur.
That kids, for example, can be rewarded
for delinquent behavior and punished
by their peers for pro-social behavior.
And so people learn by observing others
and looking at what happens when
others engage in certain behaviors.
They also learn how to think about
what would be considered criminal
and non criminal and how to behave.
And so, we have a lot
of those ideas as well.
We also have some research out
on IQ or intelligence in crime.
And really, a lot of the thought
on that seems to be that,
what seems to be the big
factor in the looking at the intelligence
in crime connection is really
what happens in school.
And if students fail in school
and are labeled in negative ways,
that really can lead to the increased
risk of juvenile delinquency.
And so there's a lot of
things operating here.
We also have the, mental disorder,
antisocial personality disorder.
And then also, two conditions which
are really not formal
diagnostic categories,
the psychopath and sociopath.
And so there's a lot more of research
out there and looking at
the connection between
antisocial personality
disorder and criminal behavior.
And also, looking at
psychopathy and also looking
at sociopaths and the differences.
'Cause there certainly are differences
between the diagnostic category
Antisocial Personality
Disorder and also Psychopathy.
Although, there are some
similarities, as well.
And then, thinking about the
theory policy connection.
Your author points out that there's
a shift from why do have crime
to why is this individual a criminal?
And positivism really moved,
toward rehabilitation,
helping the person, the individual,
lead a crime free or crime reduced life
through counseling, and social support,
and exposure to pro-social
peers and the like.
So, this is really a paradigm shift
from punishment to rehabilitation.
And of course, today, we can begin
to think about how, you know,
as a society, explanations
of crime is presented.
And then, how that leads
to certain policies
and procedures in criminal justice.
And there's that tension, often between
rehabilitation and punishment, you know.
And what do we do in certain cases.
I can remember years ago, a state attorney
asked me for some assistance
with a case that he had.
Where he had a case where a person
engaged in illegal behavior
but it was very bizarre
and he didn't want to
bring it into a trial
and he was trying to
think of other things.
And he thought that if it did go to trial,
it would lead to a very
short sentence in jail.
But he thought that the individual had
some serious mental health issues.
So, we worked out appropriate
referral to counseling
and they were able to go ahead
and set up agreements to,
you know, with a plea bargain
for counseling rather than,
you know, spending three months in jail.
And so there's a lot of debate
about that and some would argue,
"Well, the person should get
counseling while in jail."
And others say, "No, they shouldn't."
And so, I think really,
from the criminal justice
perspective, what is useful is to think
about how our theories support
certain policies and what would be,
you know, some of the best options
that we have based on the research.
So, we know some things that work
and we know some things that do not work.
And what I will say, without getting into
all the politics behind that is,
clearly we still have policies out there,
as well as programs that
have been shown not to work.
And there's also some
debate whether or not
they actually create more problems.
So that's why it's very important
to bring in the research and to
analyze all these theory
policy connections.
And how these all lead to helping us
decrease crime versus you know,
either having very little or no effect.
Or even worse, having an
increase in criminal behavior.
So, obviously the theory policy connection
also has politics operating
very closely, as well.
And this wraps up this video, thank you.
