Nobody is born knowing how to shoplift. So who teaches it?

Learning by watching

• Social learning theory (Bandura, 1977): behaviour, including crime, is learned by watching others.
• A role model is someone we look up to, such as a parent, older sibling, friend or celebrity.
• Identification: we copy people we feel similar to or want to be like.
• Observational learning: we watch how the role model behaves. Modelling (imitation): we later copy that behaviour.

Consequences you see, and consequences you get

• Vicarious reinforcement: seeing a role model rewarded for a behaviour makes us more likely to imitate it. Seeing them punished makes imitation less likely.
• Example: an older friend steals trainers and is admired by the group.

Operant conditioning

• Skinner (1948): behaviour followed by a pleasant consequence is repeated; behaviour followed by an unpleasant one is not.
• Primary reinforcers meet biological needs, such as food or warmth. Secondary reinforcers gain value from association with primary ones, such as money or status.

Could a personality test predict who ends up in court?

Three dimensions of personality

• Eysenck measured personality with a questionnaire, scoring people along dimensions.
• Extraversion: sociable, lively, seeks excitement. At the other end, introversion: quiet, reserved, avoids stimulation.
• Neuroticism: anxious, moody, emotionally unstable. The other end is emotional stability.
• Psychoticism: cold, aggressive, lacking empathy.

The criminal personality

• Eysenck (1964, adding psychoticism later) proposed that offenders tend to score high on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
• High extraversion: seeks thrills and takes risks.
• High neuroticism: reacts strongly and unpredictably to stress.
• High psychoticism: cold and aggressive, with little guilt about hurting others.
• A stable introvert (low on all three) is the least likely to offend.

Born with it, shaped by childhood

• Eysenck said personality is largely inherited: it comes from the nervous system we are born with, making this a biological explanation.
• Extraverts have an under-aroused nervous system, so they seek extra stimulation.
• High E and high N children are harder to condition, so they learn less from punishment.
• Poor socialisation follows: they don't learn to link wrongdoing with anxiety, so they develop a weaker conscience.

Many people leave prison and offend again. What might work better?

Recidivism and the aims of punishment

• Recidivism means reoffending after being punished for a crime.
• Punishment aims to deter (put the offender and others off), incapacitate (stop them offending, e.g. prison), give retribution (deserved payback) and rehabilitate (help the person change).
• The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) measures proven reoffending: a new offence within a year that leads to a conviction or caution.

Prison

• Prison removes freedom: it incapacitates offenders and is meant to deter.
• Reoffending within a year: 40.6% of adults released from custody (MoJ, 2026), and much higher after sentences under 12 months.
• Strength: protects the public; time for education and treatment.
• Weakness: offenders may learn crime from other prisoners, and lose jobs, homes and family links.

Punishment in the community

• A community sentence is served outside prison: unpaid work, a curfew, or drug or alcohol treatment.
• Strength: the offender keeps a job and family. A MoJ study (2019) found similar offenders reoffended less after a court order than after a short prison sentence.
• Weakness: may be seen as a soft option that fails to deter.

Restorative justice

• In restorative justice, a trained facilitator brings the offender and victim together (or they exchange letters). The offender hears the harm caused and makes amends.
• Strength: in UK trials most victims who took part were satisfied, and reoffending fell slightly.
• Weakness: both sides must agree; offenders may fake remorse to look good.

Rewarding prisoners with tokens: bribery, or psychology that works?

How a token economy works

• A token economy is a treatment based on operant conditioning.
• Staff set clear target behaviours, such as attending education, keeping a cell tidy or not fighting.
• Each time the behaviour happens, the offender earns a token: a secondary reinforcer with no value of its own.
• Tokens are exchanged for rewards, such as snacks (a primary reinforcer), phone calls or gym time. Breaking rules can lose tokens.

Do token economies work?

• Strength: easy to run; staff can be trained quickly.
• Strength: behaviour inside the institution often improves, making it safer.
• Weakness: improvements may not last after release, because nobody hands out tokens in everyday life.
• Weakness: it changes behaviour but not the causes of offending.
• Weakness: ethics: offenders must never be denied basic rights, such as food or family visits, if they don't earn tokens.

Anger management

• Anger management is a cognitive-behavioural programme: offenders learn to recognise and control the thoughts and feelings that lead to aggression.
• Novaco's (1975) three stages:
  • Cognitive preparation: identify your triggers and notice anger building.
  • Skill acquisition: learn coping skills, such as calming self-talk, slow breathing and walking away.
  • Application practice: use the skills in role-plays of trigger situations.

Big ideas

• Social learning theory: crime is learned by observing and imitating role models we identify with, especially when we see them rewarded (vicarious reinforcement).
• Operant conditioning: behaviour is shaped by reinforcement (positive and negative) and punishment (positive and negative), using primary and secondary reinforcers. Key question: why do people become criminals? Partly because crime is learned.
• Eysenck: personality varies on extraversion–introversion, neuroticism and psychoticism; the "criminal personality" scores high on all three.
• Personality is largely inherited through the nervous system; under-arousal and poor conditioning lead to weak socialisation. Key question: why do people become criminals? Partly because of the personality they are born with.
• Offenders often score higher, but many high scorers never offend, so the theory explains only part of criminal behaviour.
• Recidivism is reoffending; prison, community sentences and restorative justice each have strengths and weaknesses.
• Short prison sentences have very high reoffending rates; community sentences and restorative justice are linked to less reoffending for similar offenders.
• Key question: why do people become criminals, and can punishment stop them reoffending? The evidence suggests changing behaviour works better than punishment alone.
• Token economies use operant conditioning: tokens (secondary reinforcers) for target behaviours, exchanged for rewards; behaviour improves inside but may not last outside.
• Anger management is cognitive-behavioural: cognitive preparation, skill acquisition and application practice; the skills can be used after release, but only help anger-driven offending.
• Key question: why do people become criminals? If offending is learned, treatments based on learning and thinking can help reduce it.