Forensic psychology has been a term which has not found a definition which all can agree on, however, a definition in Hess & Weiner (1999) states forensic psychology is based on judicial elements such as evidence collection, analysis and presentation. The British Psychological Society website also goes on to highlight that this area is useful in investigations, criminal behaviour, and treatment of offenders (“Forensic | Careers”, 2018).
Psychopathology is also without an agreed definition. Kolb (as cited by Raine, 1993) defined it as “abnormal personality functioning”, but it has been argued that what is meant by ‘abnormal’ has not been made clear, but this has not been disputed any further (Raine, 1993).
Psychopathy has several theories, but the main focuses will be the arousal theory, neurobiological theory, social learning theory and modern reasoning deficits.
There are many theories, both biological and developmental, which are able to provide possible explanations about why psychopaths behave the way they do, and in the future could also help develop treatments which could minimise the deficits and therefore reduce the psychopathic traits and behaviour.
The arousal theory look into naturalistic reasons why people carry out crime or have psychopathic tendencies. Low-arousal means that in theory people with lower arousal levels are more likely to commit criminal acts or show more psychopathy tendencies as they will need a more intense stimuli to reach their optimum arousal level (Ellis, 1987). Lorber (as cited in Vien & Beech, 2006) also found that low arousal could be due to low electrodermal activity. This theory could help explain why criminals carry out crimes. If they have a higher arousal level, they need a bigger ‘thrill’ to reach their optimum arousal level, and one way to achieve a bigger thrill could be to carry out a crime due to the adrenaline rush and the risk-taking element creating arousal.
Neurobiological theory is based on the areas of the brain. Indications of impairments in the brain structure within specific areas such as the amygdala, hippocampus and corpus callosum, could contribute to psychopathic emotional behaviours (Gao, Glenn, Schug, Yang & Raine, 2009). Herpertz & Sass (2000) found that there could be a link between poor functioning of the prefrontal cortex, and how emotions are processed. For example if there was an issue with the structure of the amygdala, this could create issues in emotional processing and how to handle situations (Yang, Raine, Narr, Colletti & Toga, 2009), which could lead to bad emotional control about the situation and may in turn lead to a violent reaction. This theory could also help explain criminal behaviour as there is a biological issue, whether it be structural or chemical, and therefore could consequently affect how the brain works and how it processes situations.
Social learning theory looks into the nurturing side of why criminals could behave as they do. Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961) looked at how aggressive behaviour modelled by adults could be imitated by children. If bad behaviour is not seen to have consequences or punishment then that behaviour may be interpreted by children as acceptable. This means for children with violent childhoods or a lack of punishment or even with relations who are criminals, they will not see the criminal behaviour as being wrong and therefore may imitate behaviours they observe, and develop violent behaviours and attitudes as part of who they are.
Moral deficits within psychopaths can cause a lot of their behaviour. It has been found that individuals who display more psychotic traits could be more willing to attempt to deceive others (Edens, Huffington & Tomicic, 2000). If there are issues with moral reasoning, then a psychopaths approach to certain situations may go against the society expectations of normal behaviour or morality. This could help explain criminal behaviour as these problem behaviours will cause issues between psychopaths and non-psychopaths, which could result in violence, for example, towards the non-psychopaths due to issues with controlling emotions and problems with assessing situations.
By looking at the causes of criminal behaviour and the research which develops the understanding of why and the theories they suggest, this helps identify true cases of people pleading not guilty by reasons of insanity (Nestor & Haycock, 1999). Psychopaths are very manipulative and are good liars, therefore it is possible they could succeed in receiving a shorter sentence.
Future research could look into ways to assess offenders pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. If a method for assessing offenders mental state, biological deformities and imbalances can be developed and is found to be reliable, this could help identify offenders who acted due to psychological issues, and those who are lying in order to receive a shorter or more lenient sentence. The problem is this still would not filter out psychopaths, as it is known psychopaths are good liars and also charming and manipulative. With these traits they are able to pull off lies about anything and due to their inability to feel guilty (Vien & Beech, 2006).
Rice, Harris & Cormier (1992) looked at a programme within a maximum security prison, which provided group therapy with other prisoners. Some prisoners that participated were psychopaths, some were not. Psychopaths who were part of the programme showed higher violent reoffending rates than the psychopaths who didn’t. Non-psychopaths found lower levels of violent reoffending after the programme and higher without the programme. Overall it was found that programmes such as this did not reduce reoffending. This supports the suggestion of on how psychopaths are manipulative and therefore can seem to progress on programmes such as this but then once released they reoffend, but tend to use the manipulative skills they developed on the programme (Seto & Barbaree, 1999).
Within an article, inmates comment on what happens to them inside prisons, at the hands of the guards. It was said that gang leaders were allowed to pass around other inmates to be sold as sex slaves, and guards knew of this happening but allowed it to continue. Inmates also claimed that guards make the effort to humiliate them, and also abused them physically (Butterfield, 2004). Looking at this article and how people within a role of authority use their power over inmates show how inmates are mistreated. Also within Butterfield’s article, there is mention of the Abu Ghraib prison, which also faced issues similar to those stated in the article, such as problems with guards using too much force and led to injuries and even in some cases death and creating humiliation for inmates (Bennett, Lawrence & Livingston, 2006).
It is evident within prisons that staff are not aware or have little to no understanding of psychopathology, therefore the behaviour of psychopaths may just be seen as fighting the rules, and therefore punishments will be put into place for the individual. If psychopaths endure punishments due to the behaviour they show, this could cause issues for staff if they react negatively (Millon, Simonsen, Birket-Smith & Davis 2003). Therefore further research within this area could lead to psychotic behaviours being understood and controlled without unnecessary punishment, which could lower the chance if issues for staff with these inmates.
Overall we can see that by looking at psychopathology and the research within this theory does help develop the understanding of forensic psychology. There are many theories which could help explain why psychopaths are biologically predetermined to turn to crime, due to biological issues. There are also theories which consider the influence of the environment an individual learns from, and when these theories are considered together it could create a logical contribution to why psychopaths are how they are, and could support developments of treatments for psychopathy. There are concerns about psychopaths receiving a reduced sentence due to pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, but if a reliable and efficient method can be created to assess offenders making this plea, only criminals with serious mental issues will receive this leniency. Future research may be able to find a theory which considers both biological factors and environmental influences which could contribute to psychopathy. Future research may also help reduce mistreatment of inmates, and develop knowledge about psychopathy to staff within environments it is required. Future research may also be beneficial in programme development for psychopaths that will reduce the chance of reoffending, and to also decrease their use of manipulation for when they are released.