Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach

This volume uses a cognitive-behavioral and interactionist approach, integrating international theory and research and moving from broad, theoretical explanations and descriptions of crime toward empirical research on specific criminal offenses. Viewing the criminal offender as being embedded and continually influenced by multiple systems within the psychosocial environment, the book examines the causes, classification, prediction, prevention intervention, and treatment of criminal behavior from a social psychological perspective. The Sixth Edition presents the criminal offender as existing on a continuum, ranging from the serious, repetitive offender that begins his/her criminal career at a very young age to the adolescent-limited offender who usually begins offending during adolescence. This overview provides readers with an explanation of the elements of criminal behavior including juvenile delinquency, developmental factors, the origins of criminal behavior, biological factors, mentally disordered offender, human aggression and violence, criminal homicide and assault, offenses, economic issues, drugs and correctional psychology. For individuals interested in criminal behavior, criminology and the psychology of crime.