Theories of crime
One such influential psychological theory of crime is by Bowlby (1969), who emphasized that crime is the product of attachment insecurity with the mother. Bowlby identified that the type of attachment relationship in childhood leads to the development of a cognitive framework known as the internal working model which consists of mental representations for understanding the world, self and others. A person’s actions and interactions are guided by this internal working model and influences their contact with others (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999) and their understanding of the world (Schore, 2000)
This impairment in their internal working model as a result of deprivation could result in conditions such as a cold affectionless character and delinquency (Bowlby, 1951). This is related to future criminal behaviour by causing the inability to show affection or concern for others and little regard for the consequences of their actions and their impact on others. This notion was heavily influenced by his study of 44 juvenile thieves and 44 control children. Through interviewing parents, it was found that 40% of the juvenile thieves (compared to 2% of controls) had been separated from their mother for 6 months or more during childhood. A third of the juvenile thieves had an affectionless character compared with none of the controls and this meant that Bowlby concluded that the thieves stole because of their lack of concern for others. This provided strong evidence for Bowlby’s theory as it indicated that prolonged separation increased the risk of showing affectionless psychopathy and juvenile behaviour.
This research used case studies which provide thoroughly comprehensive and rich data. However, it must be noted that we should be wary to generalize as the findings concern the specific subject alone. Furthermore, the research was correlational and non-experimental. Due to ethical reasons, deprivation could not be manipulated as the independent variable so cause and
This impairment in their internal working model as a result of deprivation could result in conditions such as a cold affectionless character and delinquency (Bowlby, 1951). This is related to future criminal behaviour by causing the inability to show affection or concern for others and little regard for the consequences of their actions and their impact on others. This notion was heavily influenced by his study of 44 juvenile thieves and 44 control children. Through interviewing parents, it was found that 40% of the juvenile thieves (compared to 2% of controls) had been separated from their mother for 6 months or more during childhood. A third of the juvenile thieves had an affectionless character compared with none of the controls and this meant that Bowlby concluded that the thieves stole because of their lack of concern for others. This provided strong evidence for Bowlby’s theory as it indicated that prolonged separation increased the risk of showing affectionless psychopathy and juvenile behaviour.
This research used case studies which provide thoroughly comprehensive and rich data. However, it must be noted that we should be wary to generalize as the findings concern the specific subject alone. Furthermore, the research was correlational and non-experimental. Due to ethical reasons, deprivation could not be manipulated as the independent variable so cause and