7th Edition

The Psychology of Criminal Conduct

By James Bonta, D. A. Andrews Copyright 2024
502 Pages 33 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

502 Pages 33 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

502 Pages 33 Color Illustrations
by Routledge

The Psychology of Criminal Conduct , Seventh Edition, provides a psychological and evidence-informed perspective of criminal behavior that sets it apart from many criminological and mental health explanations of criminal behavior. Drawing upon the General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning theory, James Bonta and Donald Andrews provide an overview of the theoretical context and major... Read more

Part 1: The Theoretical Context and Knowledge Base to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct 

Chapter 1: An Overview of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct 

Chapter 2: The Empirical Basis to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct 

Chapter 3: From Criminology Theories to a Psychological Perspective of Criminal Conduct 

Part 2: The Major Risk/Need Factors of Criminal Conduct 

Chapter 4: The Biological Basis of Criminal Behavior 

Chapter 5: Antisocial Personality Pattern 

Chapter 6: The Role of Procriminal Associates and Attitudes in Criminal Conduct 

Chapter 7: The Person in Social Context: Family, Marital, School, Work, Leisure/Recreation, and Neighborhood 

Chapter 8: Substance Misuse   

Part 3: Applications 

Chapter 9: The Risk-Need-Responsivity Model of Assessment and Treatment 

Chapter 10: Prediction and Classification of Criminal Behavior 

Chapter 11: Rehabilitation 

Chapter 12: Creating and Maintaining RNR Adherence: A Real-World Challenge 

Chapter 13: The Failed Experiment: Getting Tough on Crime 

Chapter 14: Criminal Subtypes: Intimate Partner Violence, the Mentally Disordered, and Sexual Offenders 

Part 4: Summary and Conclusions 

Chapter 15: A General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Perspective of Criminal Conduct: Summary and Conclusions 

 

 

Biography

James Bonta served as Director of Corrections Research at Public Safety Canada from 1990 until 2015. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa in 1979. Bonta was a psychologist, and later Chief Psychologist, at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, a maximum-security remand facility for adults and young offenders. Throughout his career, Bonta has held various academic appointments and professional posts. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association, a recipient of the Association’s Criminal Justice Section’s Career Contribution Award for 2009, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012, the Maud Booth Correctional Services Award, 2015, and the 2015 Community Corrections Award from the International Corrections and Prisons Association.

The late D.A. Andrews was a noted psychologist affiliated with Carleton University throughout his academic career. His work on the psychology of criminal conduct produced what became known as the "theory of correctional intervention," which set the standard for successful intervention practices throughout the field of corrections worldwide. He was a founding member of Carleton’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Program and a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association.

Praise for the Sixth Edition:

"…The Psychology of Criminal Conduct is the most important book ever written in criminology. A scientific tour de force, it outlines the evidence-based RNR paradigm for understanding why people break the law and how to affect their rehabilitation. This paradigm has been used across and beyond North America to save countless offenders from a life in crime and thus countless citizens from victimization. To be literate in criminology and in correctional treatment, all scholars, students, and practitioners should read this book—and then, as I do, keep it close by and consult it often.

– Francis T. Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Recipient of the 2022 Stockholm Prize in Criminology

No other single book has so transformed the field of correctional intervention. For more than 20 years this volume has been essential reading for everyone: from students of criminal psychology to correctional professionals, including prison officers, probation officers, case managers, and experienced psychologists.

--Devon Polaschek, PhD DipClinPsyc, Professor, Criminal Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington

The book shows how to explain, predict, and treat sexual, violent, acquisitive, and other offending and puts the findings in a convincing theoretical and practice-oriented framework. It is essential reading not only for students in the fields of criminology, psychology and law, forensic psychology and psychiatry, sociology, social work and other crime-related disciplines, but also for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in these areas.

–Friedrich Lösel, Professor and Director Emeritus, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University (UK), and Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg