Chapter 15 - A General Personality and Social Psychology of Criminal Conduct: Summary and Conclusions

Abstract

This chapter outlines the concise summary and evaluation of the key elements of psychology of criminal conduct (PCC). Three types of understanding are set for PCC. These are an empirical understanding, a theoretical understanding, and an understanding of practical value. A distinct preference for general understandings is stated within each of the domains of research, theory, and applications. Important differences between girls and boys, women and men, the young and the older, and the rich and the poor are so easily visible to rule out important differences in the domains of risk, need, and responsivity. The differences among and within community corrections, halfway houses, jails, and prisons are so obvious and so great that serious understandings of assessment and intervention must make some setting-specific accommodations. Gains from consideration of specificity city are ruled out and to some extent are expected. Specificity is not denied by a preference for general understandings. The PCC and risk-need-responsivity (RNR)-based understandings are coming into close contact with other approaches to understanding criminal activity.