NCJ Number
240710
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2012 Pages: 523-526
Date Published
December 2012
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This literature review examines the argument for an integration of evolutionary theory with theory in the multi-disciplinary field of criminology.
Abstract
In disagreement with the explanatory utility of niche-construction in crime - culture interaction, this article reviews a variety of evidence for non-cultural domain specificity in criminal behavior. However, this review does subscribe to Durrant and Ward's integrative framework for evolutionary theory in criminology. Moralistic self-deception is implied in Black's self-help theory of social control, and is argued to facilitate victimization while maintaining social norms. Strong empirical evidence of social control in reliable criminal responses to cues of economic conditions, policing and community relatedness is clearly related to domain-specific theories of criminal behavior in evolutionary forensic psychology. Domain-specific interaction between individual differences and socioeconomic complexity can possibly be mistaken for cultural processes, where game-theoretic and information-theoretic interpretations of social interaction provide insight into evolutionary-recurrent features of complex socioeconomic processes in human society. The review concludes that there is indeed support for a productive integration of theory between evolutionary forensic psychology and the interdisciplinary field of criminology. (Published Abstract)