Assessing criminal thinking: attitudes and orientations influence behavior.

Summary

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Research shows that attitudes and orientations are strong predictors of criminal behavior. Don Andrews and James Bonta, in their 1994 book 'The Psychology of Criminal Conduct,' link criminal thinking to anti-social attitudes and sentiments. Meta-analyses also have revealed high correlations between criminal behavior and negative attitudes. Hence, psychometric properties can be used as a basis to determine whether a certain individual has a criminal mind. The psychological profile of offenders can also be utilized to devise a classification system and to better allocate scarce resources.

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Extract

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Assessing criminal thinking: attitudes and orientations influence behavior.

Social science research on attitudes predicting behavior has been progressing rapidly in recent decades. Attitudes and thinking patterns have proved predictive of voting behavior and purchasing behavior, as well as positive and negative social behavior. Specifically, anti-social attitudes have been shown to be highly predictive of criminal and/or antisocial behavior. In their 1994 book, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, researchers Don Andrews and James Bonta identify thinking patterns, in the form of anti-social attitudes and sentiments, as one of the "big four" in predicting criminal behavior. Thus, when examining what predicts antisocial/criminal behavior, research from the recent past and present consistently shows that thinking is important. An individual...

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