NCJ Number
142631
Date Published
1978
Length
197 pages
Annotation
This colloquium, sponsored by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration's National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, focused on promising trends in basic work on criminal justice and identified data needs and future research directions.
Abstract
Four papers presented at the colloquium focused on various aspects of psychophysiology including the relationship between psychopathy and crime, physiological determinants of human aggression, and episodic dyscontrol in criminals. Participant recommendations for research in this area stressed the need for further longitudinal and interdisciplinary studies on subjects including detection of high-risk individuals, the relationship of left-right hemispheric differences and criminality, and determination of the characteristics of differing criminal populations in multi- dimensional classifications. The second group of papers dealt with the relationship between drug use and criminal behavior; two studies on delinquents and veterans were summarized. The participants recommended focusing on antecedent and correlated variables for distinguishing deviant paths and studying the impact of the social environment and experiences on the development of deviant behavior. The final group of papers discussed the contribution of biosocial factors -- prison overcrowding, conflict-motivated crimes in families, and early deprivation -- to the development of criminal behavior. Specific areas for future work should include the relationship between pulse rate and housing in the prison environment and family dynamics within the home in terms of the development of intervention strategies and coping mechanisms.