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WJEC Criminology UNIT 2 AC2.2+3.2: Describe/ evaluate individualistic theories of criminality
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AC 2.2+3.2:Describe/evaluate individualistic theories ofcriminality.
Psychodynamic theories – our personality that contains active forces such as
powerful urges and conflicts within the unconscious mind.
Psychoanalysis- Sigmund Freud:
- Childhood experiences determine our personality and behaviour. Traumatic
experiences in childhood leave a mark on the individual. Our mind is
unconscious and is made up of 3 elements: id, ego and superego.
- Id= selfish, animalistic urges, seeking basic need such as food, sleep, sex.
- Superego= moral conscience. Developed through our early experiences and
interactions with parents, it overtime takes control of the ‘nagging parent’.
- Ego= seeks rational control. Strikes a balance between the id and superego.
Satisfies the urges of the id in a moral way.
- If id is dominant, this is when criminality can occur as the mind is unable to
control their urges.
Strengths:
- Researchers have identified the importance of childhood experiences and
parent- child relationships as influence on offending.
- Helped to develop many other explanations of criminality. Have had an
influence on policies for dealing with crime and deviance on a practice level.
Limitations:
- No longer widely accepted as it relies on the unconscious mind which is hard if
not impossible to prove is real or not. Therefore they are unscientific and too
subjective.
- Only explain behaviour after it has happened meaning that it has limited
usefulness in helping to prevent crime before it has occurred.
Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory:
- Argued that there is a link between maternal deprivation and anti-social
behaviours.
- Child needs close and continuous relationship with its primary career from
birth to the age of 5. If the attachment is broken, it can lead to ‘affectionless
psychopathy’ and to criminal behaviour.
- Study of 44 juvenile thieves who had been referred to a child guidance clinic.
Found 33% of them had suffered maternal deprivation before the age of 5,
compared to 5% of a control group of non-delinquents.
Strengths:
- Researchers have identified the importance of childhood experiences and
parent- child relationships as influence on offending.
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