NCJ Number
145716
Date Published
1994
Length
271 pages
Annotation
The authors advocate a criminological approach called the psychology of criminal conduct.
Abstract
The term "criminal conduct," more strongly implies the violation of human values than does the more conventional "criminal behavior." The authors refute much of mainstream sociological criminology, particularly as it involves a denial of individual differences in criminality. They discuss four sources of "antipsychological" sociocriminological thinking: historical/professional roots, moral roots, the political crisis of the 1960's and 1970's, and the death of positivism and the rise of theoreticism. A major characteristic of theoreticism is the disregard of empirical evidence. "Moral roots" in mainstream sociological criminology refers to an overemphasis on social locators such as geography and race as an excuse for deviant behavior. The psychology of criminal conduct, then, is an approach to understanding the criminal behavior of individuals through the ethical and humane application of systematic empirical methods of investigation, and the construction of rational explanatory systems.