Discuss some of the contributions that psychology has made to our understanding of criminal behaviour.
Francois Vidoq has been credited historically to have used questioning of criminals in custody to ascertain reasons for their crime, as far back as 1820. Vold and Bernard state that “it is the underlying theory of criminality that guides criminologists in their search for the facts that ultimately will have to be explained by theories of crime.” (Vold and Bernard 1986) Here, it shall be demonstrated that even if the evidence is empirically valid, it may not necessarily be used effectively.
Historically, science has enquired as to what makes one person commit a series of criminal acts, whilst others with seemingly similar backgrounds, chose to live their lives within the bounds of legality. McGuire asserts that the psychologist is the best placed to delve into the individual behaviours of criminals and to understand the underlying reasoning to their behaviour, “criminal psychology is the study of behaviours, by analysing it, understanding and sometimes controlling it.” (McGuire 2004) The study of forensic and investigative psychology are devoted to an individual’s behaviour and to the effects that crime and individual criminals have upon the community, not that which involves the law and it’s process. (Popper 1968)
James Cattell (1895) chose to experiment on the validity of giving, and the accuracy of testimony, which gave arguably the first empirical data. From this initial study others followed and discovered that witnesses could be greatly influenced by the conditions and suggestibility of the interrogators who took their statements. Both Binet (1900) and Stern (1910) demonstrated that eye witness reports were not infallible and could be influenced. (Gisili and Gudjonsson 1991) Criminal psychologists are significant in eyewitness testimony;