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Understanding Criminal Behaviour: Psychosocial Approaches to Criminality

NCJ Number
223012
Author(s)
David W. Jones
Date Published
2008
Length
334 pages
Annotation
This book sets out to integrate psychological and criminological perspectives in order to better understand the nature of criminal behavior, and explores the range of psychological approaches that seek to understand the significance of the emotions that surround criminal behavior.
Abstract
The world’s understanding of criminal behavior and its causes has been too long damaged by the failure to integrate fully the emotional, psychological, social, and cultural influences on the way people behave. The premise of this book is that integration of psychological approaches within mainstream criminology is now an important task. The book presents the case for the closer integration of psychological approaches with mainstream criminological investigation of the causes of criminal behavior; in particular, a psychological approach has been proposed that enables the consideration of the internal and emotional worlds of individuals alongside the social dynamics more traditionally studied by mainstreamed criminology. The case is set forth for the closer integration of psychological perspectives and criminological theory on criminal behavior. In summation, it is argued that there is sufficient evidence here to suggest that the theoretical impasse that criminology has reached can be resolved by integrating these psychological perspectives. This integration is put forth and presented in eight chapters which include: (1) the relationship of psychology and sociology in the study of crime; (2) mental disorder; (3) contribution of criminal career research; (4) family and parental influence; (5) youth crime; (6) gender and crime; (7) understanding violence; and (8) intimate violence and sexual crime. References and indexes

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