Personality is a term used to address a person’s characteristics which controls their consistent thinking, behaviours and thoughts (Pervin, Cervone and John, 2005). Most of what makes a person different to others isn’t by their looks but their fingerprint personality, no two people are the same in the way they think, feel and behave, unless rehearsed to do so.
Personality plays a key role in understanding why criminals chose to commit crimes. Whilst a majority of people are able to conform to societal norms and laws, a minority offend and some even then go onto reoffending. Eysenck’s (1967) proposed that personality is arbitrated by environmental and genetic factors which can influence criminal behaviour. Through numerous cross-cultural studies, Eysenck produced three dimensions of personality: Extraversion-introversion (interactions socially), Neuroticism (emotions) and Psychoticism (Psychotic or egocentric impulses). Those individuals who are closer to the psychoticism dimension would be most likely to commit crimes due to ego-centric and aggressive desires, mixed with cold-hearted emotions (Clarke and Wilson, 2013). In a study by Eysenck and Eysenck 1977, he found that male prisoners tended to have higher levels of neuroticism, extroversion and psychoticism compared to non-offenders (Crighton and Towl, 2015). Eysenck expanded his research finding that classical conditioning plays a key role in developing personality as a child. Increased isolation and punishment inflicted on a child can lead to them becoming criminal (Howett, 2005).
However, Eysenck’s theory and research has been criticised due to its simplicity. The personality is incredibly complex and it is very generalised to split the personality into only four categories (Howitt, 2005). Another criticism is that Eysenck did not establish individual differences between criminals and the type of crime. Farrington (2002) used Eysenck’s Personality Inventory on offenders and found that “levels of impulsivity mediated the relationship between crime and and extraversion.” (Clarke and Wilson, 2013). Thus suggesting that higher levels of impulsivity is the key factor in why an offender committed a crime, not certain personality traits.
Yochelson amd Samenow’s (1976) suggested in their criminal personality theory that people with ‘faulty’ thinking patterns are more likely to commit crimes than people who don’t. They found 52 thinking patterns considered as ‘errors’ that separates criminals from non-criminals and suggests they are at increased risk of becoming criminal if they have these thinking errors (Reid, 2003). However, their theory has been flawed due to generalisability as their sample of offenders were mainly black male.
In conclusion, with the vast amount of research and evidence supporting Eysenck’s theory, it has made a great impact on criminal profiling. Although, more recently individual differences are taken into account and personality traits are not used as much in criminal profiling, it is near impossible to find a specific personality trait which would guarantee a person to become criminal (Alison, Almond and Barrett, 2011). Modern criminal profiling has become more detailed, offenders are being considered individual in their behaviour, thinking and also in the crimes they have committed as each crime is a different situation.
Counselling began as a form of therapy in the United States as a result from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after World War Two, and quickly became a trend in the UK due to it’s success in the US. There are many forms of counselling such as psychoanalysis (no longer used), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and family therapy. These can be used to treat a number of issues, CBT can be used for children, adolescents and adults experiencing depression, eating disorders, bi-polar etc. Family therapy is mainly used when there are ongoing conflicts within the family home, and can also be used if one member of the family is experiencing mental health issues.
In October 2015, the BBC programme Panorama broadcasted a 30minute episode which focused on the funding cuts for the NHS mental health services. According to Panorama, one in four people will suffer a mental health problem this year. Last year over 53,000 people were detained under the mental health act. Cuts to the mental health services have been higher than any other acute NHS service. The programme focused on the daily work load of Barnett, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust in North London which helps nearly 1,000,000 people with mental health issues. The trust deals with patients suffering depression, bi-polar, anxiety, schizophrenia, self-harm and patients who are on suicide watch.
In the short documentary, one of the nurses at the trust explains how mental health hospitals are much more complex than conventional hospitals. Patients can be admitted for anything from days to months depending on their psychological stability. Not like someone with a broken leg who will have a time frame of recovery and the doctors will know roughly when that bed will be free.
The increased demand for mental health services and the premium on beds means that more and more very ill people have to be looked after in the community. In the episode, Panorama follow a nurse who visits mentally ill people at their homes and the nurse describes how she may have up to 100 patients at a time and needs to see around 8 to 9 of them a day. This doesn’t give her enough time to carry out affective enough therapy due to the work load.
However, in March 2015, just 7 months before the release of Panorama’s documentary, The British Psychological Society (BPS) reported that an extra £1.25bn would be funded towards the mental health services. Even though this funding was given, it hasn’t been enough to improve the services with the Barnett, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust confirming that they and many other trusts they associate with need more funding or they will be paying for private sector beds which cost up to £1000 per night.