Understanding Psychology and Crime: Perspectives on Theory and Action

Understanding Psychology and Crime is an introductory text which provides an overview of the field of psychology and examines its relevance to the study of crime and to how society can respond to it.

The book first clarifies some misconceptions concerning the basic ideas that underpin psychology as a form of inquiry. It locates psychological theories of the origins and continuation of criminal acts alongside other approaches within the social sciences. However important environmental, social and structural factors may be in crime, they are still mediated through individual experience and action, and psychological models highlight the processes that influence and shape such events. Successive chapters of the book provide overviews of research on the developmental backgrounds that are associated with risk of involvement in delinquency, of factors that are involved in specific types of offending behaviour, and of the nature of the most serious types of crime including personal and sexual violence. Later chapters summarise the steadily expanding research base on interventions that have been shown to reduce repeated offending, comparing these findings with the failure of deterrence and allied strategies as criminal justice policies. The book concludes with a series of illustrations of the expanding application of psychology in the criminal justice system.

This book is an extended and updated edition of the previous best-selling volume. It will be vital introductory reading and a valuable resource for students in criminology, sociology, and related fields including psychology itself. While many criminologists still regard psychology with some hesitation, Understanding Psychology and Crime serves to dispel the myths surrounding it, and shows that an appreciation of psychological processes is essential for a comprehensive picture of the behaviour we call crime.