The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, Sixth 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 knowledge base of the psychology of criminal conduct, discuss the eight major risk/need factors of criminal conduct, examine the prediction and classification of criminal behavior along with prevention and rehabilitation, and summarize the major issues in understanding criminal conduct. This book also offers the Risk/Need/Responsivity (RNR) model of offender assessment and treatment that has guided developments in the subject throughout the world.
In this edition, the first since Andrews' death, Bonta carefully maintains the book's original contributions while presenting these core concepts succinctly, clearly, and elegantly. Appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students as well as for scholars, researchers, and practitioners, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, Sixth Edition, further extends and refines the authors' body of work.
Preface to the Sixth Edition
Part 1: The Theoretical Context and Knowledge Base
to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct
Chapter 1
An Overview of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct
Definition of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct
Values at the Base of PCC
Objectives of PCC
Definitions of Criminal Behavior
Variation in Criminal Conduct
A Look Ahead
Worth Remembering
Chapter 2
The Empirical Basis to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct
The Research Designs
1. The Correlates of Crime and the Cross-Sectional Research Designs
2. Predictor Variables and the Longitudinal Design
3. Dynamic Predictors and the Multiwave Longitudinal Design
4. Causal Variables and the Randomized Experimental Design
Some Commonly Used Statistics
1. Statistical Significance: p < .05 and Confidence Intervals
2. Statistical Measures of the Magnitude of Covariation
Meta-Analyses
Moderator Variables
A Comment on Aggregated Crime Rates
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 3
From Criminology Theories to a Psychological Perspective of Criminal Conduct x
Criminological Theories
Strain Theory
Subcultural Perspectives
Labeling and Marxist/Conflict Theories
Control Theories
Differential Association Theory
Summary of Criminological Theories
A General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Theory of Criminal Conduct
The Learning of Criminal Behavior
A Glimpse at the Evidence Supporting GPCSL and the Central Eight
Summary
Worth Remembering
Part 2: The Major Risk/Need Factors of Criminal Conduct
Chapter 4
The Biological Basis of Criminal Behavior
Heredity and Crime
The Search for a Crime Gene
Intergenerational Crime
What Twin and Adoption Studies Tell Us about Nature and Nurture
Twin Studies
Adoption Studies
The Nature-Nurture Interaction
Neurophysiological Factors and Crime
The Difficult, Impulsive, Sensation-Seeking Temperament
Crime: A Failure or Success of Evolution?
A Failure in Evolution: The Caveman Awakened
Criminal Behavior as an Evolutionary Adaptation
Three Closing Comments
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 5
Antisocial Personality Pattern
Psychology’s View of Personality
The Super Trait Perspectives of Personality
Is Personality Just a Matter of Traits?
Criminology’s View of Personality
Then . . .
And Now . . .
Antisocial Personality as Pathology
Psychiatry and Antisocial Personality Disorder
Psychopathy
The Assessment of Psychopathy: Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist
(PCL-R)
Are There Noncriminal Psychopaths?
The Etiology of Psychopathy
The Treatment of Psychopaths
Can Children Be Psychopaths?
A General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Perspective: APP
Poor Self-Control: A Facet of Antisocial Personality
Antisocial Personality Pattern: Risk and Treatment
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 6
The Role of Procriminal Associates and Attitudes
in Criminal Conduct
When Parents Lose Control: The Path to Procriminal Associates
Psychological Perspectives on Delinquent Associates
Delinquent Associates: Training in Criminal Behavior
Gangs
Cognitions Supportive of Crime: Procriminal Attitudes
Development of Procriminal Attitudes
The Attitude-Behavior Link
Classifying Procriminal Attitudes
Assessment of Procriminal Attitudes
Targeting Procriminal Attitudes in Treatment
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 7
The Person in Social Context: Family, Marital, School, Work,
Leisure/Recreation, and Neighborhood
Family of Origin
Learning to Care: The Parent-Child Relationship and the Development
of Social Bonds
Parenting Practices and Delinquency
Family Interventions and the Reduction of Delinquent Behavior
Primary Prevention
Secondary Prevention Family Programs
Summary
Marital Attachments
School
Work
Leisure/Recreation
Neighborhood
Summary
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 8
Substance Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Definition and Prevalence
Alcohol Abuse and Crime
Treating Alcohol Abuse
Drug Abuse
Prevalence
Treating Drug Abuse
Relapse Prevention
Summary
Dealing with Resistance to Treatment
Motivational Interviewing
Mandated Treatment and Drug Courts
A Final Comment on Substance Abuse
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Part 3: Applications
Chapter 9
The Risk-Need-Responsivity Model of Offender Assessment and Treatment
The Overarching Principles
The Core RNR Principles and Key Clinical Issues
Organizational Principles
Summary
Chapter 10
Prediction of Criminal Behavior and Classification of Offenders
Assessing Predictive Accuracy
PCC and Prediction
Offender Assessment and the Principles of Risk, Need, and Responsivity
Risk Principle: Match the Level of Service to the Level of Risk
Need Principle: Target criminogenic needs
Responsivity Principle: Use cognitive-behavioral interventions with attention to personal learning styles
Approaches to the Assessment and Prediction of Criminal Behavior
First-Generation Risk Assessment: Professional Judgment
Second-Generation Risk Assessment: Actuarial, Static Risk Scales
Third-Generation Assessment: Risk/Need Scales
The Level of Service Inventory-Revised
Criminogenic Needs and the Dynamic Validity of the LSI-R
Summary of the LSI-R
Fourth-Generation Risk Assessment: The Integration of Case Management
with Risk/Need Assessment
The General Applicability of Theory-Based Offender Assessment
LS Risk Assessment Across Different Populations
Age
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Summary
LS Risk and Violence Outcomes
Obstacles to Using Empirically Based Risk Assessment for Offender Rehabilitation
The Future of Offender Assessment
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 11
Offender Rehabilitation
The How and Why of "Nothing Works"
The Birth of "What Works"
Further results from the Expanded Meta-Analysis
Independent Meta-Analytic Summaries of the Effects of RNR Programming
GPCSL and Intervention
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 12
Creating and Maintaining RNR Adherence: A Real World Challenge
Fidelity in Offender Risk/Need Assessment
Enhancing the Integrity of Correctional Treatment
Some Major Barriers to RNR Adherence
Assessment of Programs and Agencies
The Components of Effective Correctional Supervision and Treatment
The Dimensions of Effective Correctional Counseling: 1. Relationship
The Dimensions of Effective Correctional Counseling: 2. Structuring
a) The Effective Model
b) Effective Reinforcement
c) Effective Disapproval
d) Cognitive Restructuring x
Training Correctional Staff to Apply the RNR Model
Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS)
Training Issues
The Evaluation of STICS
Results
Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Re-arrest (STARR)
Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS)
Summary
Cost-Benefit Evaluations of Offender Treatment
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 13
The Failed Experiment: Getting Tough on Crime
Criminal Justice Sanctions and Just Deserts
The Effects of Imprisonment on Crime and the Community
1. Incapacitation Effect: Taking the Bad Off the Streets
2. Restoring Faith in the Criminal Justice System
3. Deterrence
Evaluations of Intermediate Sanctions
The Unfulfilled Promise of Fairness
Summary
The Psychology of Punishment
Why Doesn’t Punishment Work?
Conditions for Effective Punishment
The Side Effects of Punishment
Summary on Punishment
An Alternative to Retribution: Restorative Justice
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Chapter 14
Criminal Subtypes: Intimate Partner Violence, the Mentally Disordered and Sex Offenders
Intimate Partner Violence
Men Who Batter: How Different are They from Regular Criminals?
Risk Factors from Surveys
Risk Factors from the Study of Conflictual Relationships
Actuarial Risk Scales for Intimate Partner Abuse
Treatment of Male Batterers
The Mentally Disordered Offender (MDO)
Estimating the Prevalence of Mental Disorders
Dangerousness and the Psychiatric Patient
Threat/Control-Override Symptomatology
Dangerous and the MDO
Risk Factors for MDOs
Treatment of the MDO
The Sex Offender
How Unique are Sex Offenders?
Risk Factors for Sexual Offending
The Treatment of Sex Offenders
A Few Closing Comments
Worth Remembering
Recommended Readings
Part 4: Summary and Conclusions
Chapter 15
A General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Perspective
of Criminal Conduct: Summary and Conclusions
A. Empirical Understanding
Incidence and Prevalence of Criminal Activity
The Correlates of Criminal Activity
The Central Eight
Wide Applicability
The Ability to Influence Crime
B. A Theoretical Understanding and Challenges to GPCSL
Desistance
Good Lives Model (GLM)
C. An Understanding of Practical Value
Prediction Instruments
Effective Prevention and Treatment
Specific Responsivity
The Impact of a Psychology of Criminal Conduct
Conclusion and Final Comments
References
Index to Selected Acronyms
Subject Index
Name Index
Biography
James Bonta served as Director of Corrections Research at Public Safety Canada from 1990 until 2015. He received his Ph.D. 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 and was a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Behavior. 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 criminologist 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. He received numerous awards for his work in the criminal justice field, including those from the American Probation and Parole Association, Correctional Service Canada, the International Community Corrections Association, and the American Society of Criminology. After his retirement, he remained active in the criminal justice field as a Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor.
The 6th edition is the most concise and well written edition of The Psychology of Criminal Conduct to date. The tone of the book—its enthusiasm and balance in the way issues are presented—is welcome. Besides the topics contained in past editions, the authors’ discussion of research issues, social contexts, biology, punishment, and prediction and treatment integrity are excellent contributions to this important text.
– Paul E. Gendreau, Professor Emeritus, the University of New Brunswick, Canada
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, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Now in its 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, University of Cincinnati, College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, USA
It is a real pleasure to welcome a new and fully updated edition of the leading textbook on psychologically informed approaches to understanding and reducing criminal behaviour. For over twenty years its successive editions have explained the theory and evidence behind the Risk-Need-Responsivity model of offender rehabilitation, which has influenced policy and practice in many countries throughout the world and continues to be the most productive source of evidence-based methods. Its influence and importance can hardly be overstated. This latest edition will be an invaluable resource not only for students of criminology and criminal justice but also for practitioners in probation and prisons, and for the managers and leaders of correctional services who have a responsibility, both to the general public and to offenders themselves, to promote and use the most effective practices. Perhaps even some politicians might take a look at this book – they would certainly benefit.
– Peter Raynor, Research Professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Swansea University, Wales, UK
This book should be essential reading for criminologists and psychologists and anyone who is interested in the assessment, prevention, and treatment of offending. Its reviews of key biological, family, school, neighborhood, and other predictors of crime, and the practical application of this knowledge in the Risk-Need-Responsivity model of effective correctional treatment, are very well-researched, extremely informative, and highly readable.
– David P. Farrington, Emeritus Professor of Psychological Criminology, Cambridge University, UK
When I read the first edition of The Psychology of Criminal Conduct in 1994 I thought it was the best book on its topic. The book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview on up-to-date research and theory on the origins, prediction, prevention and treatment of offending behavior. 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 of the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University (UK) and Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Words like ‘classic’ and ‘seminal’ are all too frequently used to describe scholarly work. The fact is that The Psychology of Criminal Conduct by Bonta and Andrews is a seminal work that has become a classic since it was first published 22 years ago. The sixth edition continues the tradition by including an abundance of up-to-date research studies that address current issues. Bonta has not rested on his laurels but has produced a current work that will continue to set the standard in the field of forensic and correctional psychology.
–James R. P. Ogloff, Director, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University and Forensicare, Melbourne, Australia
