NCJ Number
169100
Date Published
1997
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This paper advances the view that attachment to a significant other person as a child may protect the individual from criminal behavior by reducing vulnerability to high-risk environments.
Abstract
A review of relevant studies demonstrates that secure attachment facilitates the development of mental capacities that both reduce the motivation for criminal behavior and inhibit the individual's potential to commit acts of aggression. If attachment is linked to criminality, a substantial overlap between long-term predictors of criminal behavior and determinants of infant security might be predicted. The aim of this literature review is to explore the extent of this overlap. Although the review is not exhaustive, the trends identified do support the assumption of a link, even if the pattern of association is somewhat more complex than classical attachment theory had assumed. The discussion addresses three areas that relate to attachment: disruptive behavior, delinquent or criminal behavior, and parenting in attachment and disruptive behaviors. Based on the literature review, the authors propose a model of violence and criminal behavior. It proposes that crimes, at least in adolescence, are often committed by individuals with inadequate mentalizing capacities as part of their pathological attempt at adaptation to a social environment in which mentalization is essential. The model assumes that these individuals did not have access to meaningful attachment relationships that would have provided them with the "intersubjective basis for developing a metacognitive capacity capable of organizing and coordinating their internal working models of relationships." 160 references