The idea that criminal behavior is a function of the offender's personality, also called the Homology hypothesis, has a long history in forensic psychology and criminology. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The idea that criminal behavior is a function of the offender's personality, also called the Homology hypothesis, has a long history in forensic psychology and criminology. This assumption, however, has been decried as lacking empirical support. In spite of much social concern relative to sexual offenses, there is virtually no research looking at the stability of offending pattern in sex offenders of adult women. This paper aims to fill some of the gaps.
Design/methodology/approach
Latent structure analyses were conducted on a secondary dataset including 145 serial rapists. A cross‐sectional, discrete time‐series design was used including a sequence of three offenses.
Findings
Moderate support was found for the three main assumptions underlying the Homology hypothesis. Offenses tended to share a relatively similar underlying structure, with the victimology and aggression components being more prominent than the sexual dimension. The three primary profiles identified, labeled “Passive”, “Stranger‐aggressive”, and “Antisocial”, were found to be about 50 percent stable across the sequence. Finally, the presence of significant dysfunction in the family of origin predicted membership in the “Antisocial” class, as well as increased the specificity and stability of this profile. The presence of early maladjustment was not related to any of the states.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the results, it is proposed that future research incorporates contextual‐environmental elements in order to increase the validity of the findings.
Originality/value
This study represents a unique attempt at documenting patterns of stability and variations across incidents of rape, using an institutional sample. Furthermore, it illustrates the use and potential benefits of latent structure models in criminological research.
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In September 1978 the Government, through the Manpower Services Commission (MSC), launched the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP). The programme was introduced to offset growing…
Abstract
In September 1978 the Government, through the Manpower Services Commission (MSC), launched the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP). The programme was introduced to offset growing unemployment among the young, and aimed at providing them with good quality training and work experience. One of its major objectives was to improve their prospects of permanent employment.
Mark Cook, Alison Young, Dean Taylor, Amanda O’Shea, Marina Chitashvili, Virgis Lepeska, Gintaras Choumentauskas, Oleg Ventskovsky, Sonja Hermochova and Pavel Uhlar
The research investigates the possibility that people in managerial positions in organisations in the former Soviet Union may not match western models of management, and may not…
Abstract
The research investigates the possibility that people in managerial positions in organisations in the former Soviet Union may not match western models of management, and may not be well suited to the new environment. The research finds many differences in psychological profile between FSU managers and western managers, and finds a common Soviet manager profile, which is a poor match to western models of management. The implications of this difference are discussed, and suggestions for coping with the difference, by management development, and by improved selection, are made.
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This chapter focuses on the early history of feminist explorations in criminology in the UK in particular, but with reference to developments elsewhere. The chapter discusses the…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the early history of feminist explorations in criminology in the UK in particular, but with reference to developments elsewhere. The chapter discusses the achievements of early feminist perspectives in criminology and assesses their impact in terms of ‘transforming and transgressing’ the criminological enterprise. In particular, the author focuses on the case for transformations in traditional research methodologies and looks at the different ways in which feminist writers in criminology grappled with the question of how to produce good quality knowledge. The chapter takes a chronological approach, identifying developments pre-1960s in a phase which might be described as an ‘awakening’ and then describing initiatives in the 1960s and 1970s. The discovery that ‘woman’ was a conceptual term which could be incorporated into the criminological framework really took off in the 1970s with the publication of Carol Smart’s pioneering work. Notwithstanding faster developments in other disciplines, slowly, mainstream criminology took stock of feminism’s early claims.