The Psychology of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior

The Psychology of Criminal and Antisocial Behavior: Victim and Offenders Perspectives is not just another formulaic book on forensic psychology. Rather, it opens up new areas of enquiry to busy practitioners and academics alike, exploring topics using a practical approach to social deviance that is underpinned by frontier research findings, policy, and international trends.

From the relationship between psychopathology and crime, and the characteristics of catathymia, compulsive homicide, sadistic violence, and homicide victimology, to adult sexual grooming, domestic violence, and honor killings, experts in the field provide insight into the areas of homicide, violent crime, and sexual predation. In all, more than 20 internationally recognized experts in their fields explore these and other topic, also including discussing youth offending, love scams, the psychology of hate, public threat assessment, querulence, stalking, arson, and cults.

This edited work is an essential reference for academics and practitioners working in any capacity that intersects with offenders and victims of crime, public policy, and roles involving the assessment, mitigation, and investigation of criminal and antisocial behavior. It is particularly ideal for those working in criminology, psychology, law and law enforcement, public policy, and for social science students seeking to explore the nature and character of criminal social deviance.

• Includes twenty chapters across a diverse range of criminal and antisocial subject areas
• Authored by an international panel of experts in their respective fields that provide a multi-cultural perspective on the issues of crime and antisocial behavior
• Explores topics from both victim and offender perspectives
• Includes chapters covering research, practice, policy, mitigation, and prevention
• Provides an easy to read and consistent framework, making the text user-friendly as a ready-reference desktop guide

Practitioners in the fields of forensic criminology, criminology and criminal justice, forensic mental health, psychology and psychiatry. Graduate and undergraduate students in the above mentioned areas, along with police training academies

Chapter 1. Psychopathology as a Mediator of Antisocial and Criminal Behavior

• Introduction
• What Is Psychopathology?
• Mental Illness and Criminality
• Personality Disorders and Criminality
• Psychotic Disorders and Criminality
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 2. Catathymia and Compulsive Homicide: A Psychological Perspective

• Introduction
• Catathymic Crisis
• Compulsive Homicide
• Sadistic Aggression
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 3. Victimology and Predicting Victims of Personal Violence

• Introduction
• The Emergence of Victimology and Its Pioneers
• The Concepts of Victim Precipitation and Victim Blaming
• Contemporary Concepts
• Victim Characteristics and Motivations
• Victims of Interpersonal Violence: Explaining Victim Characteristics and Motivations
• Understanding Victim Motivations and Behavior Through Typologies
• Empirical Evidence of a Seven-Factor Victim Typology
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 4. Threat and Violence Intervention: Influenced by Victim and Offender Perspectives

• Introduction
• The Construct of Human Violent Behavior and Its Assessment and Link to Interventions
• Interventions
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 5. Profiling in Violent Crimes: The Perpetrator and the Victim in Cases of Filicide

• Introduction
• Background History
• Definition of Filicide
• The Legal Concept of Filicide
• Classification Systems of Filicide
• Incidence, Prevalence and Statistical Problems
• Criminal and Forensic Characteristics of Filicide
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 6. Risk Assessment in Youth Justice: A Child-Centered Approach to Managing Interventions

• Introduction
• Risk Assessment: How Does It Work?
• Consequences of Risk Assessment: The False-Positive/False-Negative Paradox
• Risk in Youth Justice: What Are We Assessing and What Do We Do With It?
• Toward a More-Inclusive System of Youth Justice: Risk Assessment and Restorative Approaches
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 7. Reciprocity and Exchange: Perspectives of Male Victims of Family Violence

• Introduction
• Defining Violence in Families
• The Gender Paradigm and Gender Symmetry
• Forms of Violence Against Men
• Precipitating Factors in Family Violence
• Reportability
• Impacts of Domestic Violence
• Repercussions of Gender Bias
• Victim Precipitation
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 8. Stalking

• Introduction
• What is Stalking?
• Stalking Behaviors
• A Brief History of Stalking and Stalking Legislation
• Incidence and Prevalence of Stalking
• Stalking Typologies and Stalking Risk Assessment
• Physical and Psychological Effects of Stalking
• Stalking Among Subpopulations
• Serial Stalking and Recidivism
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 9. Stalking Public Figures: The Fixated Loner

• Introduction
• The Stalking of Private Citizens and Public Figures
• Structured Risk Assessment in Stalking
• The Convergence of Stalking and Public Figure Threat Assessment
• Key Concepts From the Fixated Research
• Threat Assessment and Management Services for Fixated Persons
• The Fixated Threat Assessment Center – United Kingdom
• Queensland Fixated Threat Assessment Center – Queensland, Australia
• The Effectiveness of Fixated Threat Assessment Agencies
• Fixated Persons at Major Events
• The Fixated Model in Other Areas of Targeted Violence
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 10. Circumscribing Cyberbullying: Toward a Mutual Definition and Characterizations of Aggression, Assault, and Recklessness via Telecommunications Technology

• Introduction
• Background
• Reaching Consensus: The Importance of First Things First
• Cyberbullying? Online Aggression? Internet Harassment? It’s All in the Name
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 11. Domestic Violence: Psychological Issues Related to the Victim and Offender

• Introductory Aspects: Framework of a Social Scourge Named Domestic Violence
• The Offender, Victim, and Context: Risk Factors Identification
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 12. Honor Killings and Domestic Violence: The Same or Different?

• Introduction
• Domestic Violence
• Honor Killings
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 13. Homicide in Australia

• Introduction
• Impact of Homicide in Australia
• Why People Kill
• Changes in Homicide Trends
• Australian Data
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 14. Victims of Child Sexual Abuse: The Psychology of Victims

• Introduction
• Difficulties Defining and Conceptualizing Child Sexual Abuse
• Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse
• Common Characteristics of Child Sexual Abuse Victims
• Misconceptions of Child Sexual Abuse
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 15. Child Sexual Offenders: The Psychology of Offending

• Introduction
• Misconceptions of Child Sexual Offenders
• Female Child Sexual Offenders
• How and Why Individuals Offend
• Crime Scripts
• Online Child Predators
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 16. The Psychology of Adult Sexual Grooming: Sinnamon’s Seven-Stage Model of Adult Sexual Grooming

• Introduction
• The Grooming Process
• Stages of the Grooming Process
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 17. Searching for the Spectrum of the Querulous

• The Querulous Spectrum
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 18. A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Internet Love Scams: Implications for Law Enforcement

• A Multidisciplinary Approach
• Behavioral Characteristics Pertaining to Internet Love Scam
• Recommendations
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 19. Firesetters: A Review of Theory, Facts, and Treatment

• Costs
• Prevalence and Clearance Rates
• Explanatory Theories
• Firesetter Profiles
• Programs Designed to Reduce Recidivism
• Future Directions in Firesetter Research
• Summary
• Questions

Chapter 20. Cults

• Introduction
• What is a Cult?
• What is the Attraction to Cults?
• Conclusions
• Summary
• Questions