Psychology and Crime

1. Psychology and Crime

2. Crime Times • http://www.crimetimes.org/

3. Criminal Mind

4. Brain Prefrontal cortex-Provides ability to plan, reason, concentrate, and adjust behavior, Left cerebral hemisphere-Together with right cerebral hemisphere, controls most conscious and mental activities

5. Brain tumor leads to pedophilia • An egg-sized brain tumor caused a man with no history of pedophilia to begin molesting children • When he began visiting child pornography websites, visiting prostitutes, and making sexual advances to young children, his wife left him

6. Brain tumor leads to pedophilia • Eventually he was convicted of child molestation, and entered a treatment program for pedophiles

7. Brain tumor leads to pedophilia • At this point, doctors ordered an MRI scan that showed a large tumor in the right orbitofrontal cortex

8. Experts say…. • We're dealing with the neurology of morality here," says Swerdlow • The tumor caused few physical symptoms, he says, "It's one of those areas where you could have a lot of damage and a doctor would never suspect something's wrong."

9. Structural brain abnormalities detected in pedophiles • Researchers found that compared to the controls, pedophiles showed reduced gray matter volume in • the orbitofrontal cortex • the cerebellum

10. Statistics • More than half of all prison and jail inmates have a mental health problem: • Federal prisoners (45%) • State prisoners (56%) • Jail inmates (64%) 11% of the U.S. population age 18 or older met criteria for mental health disorders, based on data in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, 2008 that uses a modified Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

11. The most frequently reported problems • Major depressive or mania symptoms • Psychotic disorder symptoms • Delusions • Hallucinations • Ever attempted suicide • Persistent anger or irritability • Insomnia or hypersomnia

13. What does it mean? • Individuals with mental problems are more likely to commit crimes • Individuals with mental problems are more likely to be caught • Mentally healthy individuals develop mental problems in prison • Individuals with mental problems are locked up due to closing of mental health hospitals across the US

14. Personality and Crime • Many criminological theories use personality traits to explain between individual differences in criminal behavior

15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Re_Fl_L4 • True story about Beth Thomas

16. Psychopath • Images from movies like "Silence of The Lambs” • Serial killers are rare, but psychopathic behavior is more common than you might think

17. Psychopath • Can learn the rules, but has no sense of conscience and guilt • "People know when something is wrong because it feels wrong. I have to remember or be reminded that stealing from someone is wrong. I don’t feel bad if I take something."

18. Psychopath • Children with this condition are "emotionally blind“ • They are prone to have problems with society, rules, expectations and relationships

19. superficial charm self-centered & self-important need for stimulation & prone to boredom deceptive behavior & lying little remorse or guilt shallow emotional response poor self-control promiscuous sexual behavior lack of realistic long term goals impulsive lifestyle irresponsible behavior blaming others for their actions short term relationships juvenile delinquency breaking parole or probation varied criminal activity Warning signs (Robert Hare, the leading expert on the Psychopathic Personality)

20. Psychopath • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qyCR9tPDgM

21. What to do with psychopath • So what happens to kids if they don’t learn right from wrong? • Many parents resort to punishment • But what these children need is intensive guidance, instruction, training, choices, consequences and supervision • Severe and repeated punishment alone is the worst thing parents can do

22. Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud) • All humans have criminal tendencies • Criminal tendencies are normal • Through the process of socialization these tendencies are curbed by the development of inner controls that are learned through childhood experience

23. Structure of Mind • Id, ego, superego • We are born with Id • Id is based on our pleasure principle( if it feels good, do it) • The id contains all of our most basic animal and primitive impulses that demand satisfaction

24. EGO • The ego is based on the reality principle • The ego understands that other people have needs • The ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.  

25. Superego • By five, the Superego develops • This is the moral part of us • Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong

28. Conscious • Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious • Most of what we are is buried and inaccessible.

29. Preconscious • This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious • Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it

30. Unconscious • Majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level • Oedipus and Electra Complex are pushed down into the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused • While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically

31. Electra Complex • According to Freud, during the phallic stage (3-5 years) the daughter becomes attached to her father and more hostile towards her mother • This is due mostly to the idea that the girl is "envious" of her father's penis and wants to possess it so strongly that she dreams of bearing his children, thus the term "penis-envy“ • This leads to resentment towards her mother

32. Freudian slip • Slips of the tongue and the pen, misreadings, mishearings are due to repressed wishes, conflicts, or traumas. • For example: • He: What would you like—bread and butter, or cake? • She: Bed and butter... Whoops!

33. Healthy balance • We can think of the id as the 'devil on our shoulder' and the superego as the 'angel on our shoulder.‘ • We don't want either one to get too strong • Role of ego is critical

34. Delinquent behavior • Is a result of defective superego • Inability to feel guilt, to learn from experience, or to feel affection to others

35. Delinquent Behavior • Is a result of overdeveloped superego • Represses the id so harshly that pressure builds up in the id and there is an explosion of acting-out behavior

36. The New Asylums - FRONTLINE 1: Therapy Inside a Prison • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CKHesC2Yw&feature=related