Police Foundations SOC225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Test Validity, Trait Theory
4 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
These theories try to avoid shortcomings of single-factor theories single-factor theories tend to classify people as criminals or non-criminals with that status being stable for life. Developmental criminology view of nature of crime that is interested in the natural history of a criminal career. Two groups of integrated theories: latent trait theories, developmental theories. Latent trait a stable feature/characteristic that makes a person crime-prone over their life course: e. g. defective intelligence, impulsive personality, genetic abnormality. If a person has the trait, are in danger of becoming a career criminal: if a person does not have the trait, they are at much lower risk of this. Therefore, the propensity to commit crime is stable but the opportunity to commit crime changes over time. Criminal act illegal event or deed that people engage in when seen as advantageous. Criminal offender individuals predisposed to commit crimes. Stable differences in people"s propensity to commit crime.
