NCJ Number
136464
Date Published
1992
Length
482 pages
Annotation
This book provides a comprehensive psychological paradigm that fits across various species of crime while meeting the requirements of science and the needs of law enforcement and the administration of justice in the control of crime.
Abstract
The text opens with the outline of a model for criminal behavior based on the tenets of social learning theory. These tenets explain the processes by which criminal behavior begins and is repeated including personal constructs, stimulus determinants, and behavioral repertoires. They define four process elements that interact in the precipitation of criminal behavior: inclination, opportunity, expectation of reward, and expectation of impunity. The discussion describes how these process elements are regulated and confined by a series of complex and variable boundary conditions in specific criminal offenses. Conceptual, methodological, and operational constraints on the study of criminal behavior are defined. Statistical and behavioral science data that bear on larceny and homicide are examined in detail. Overall, the book explains how individual actors self-select psychosocial environments that facilitate or at least do not impede the commission of crime. Chapter summaries, 1,032 references, a glossary, and name and subject indexes