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Criminal Behavior
Theories, Typologies, and Criminal Justice
J.B. Helfgott
Seattle University

CHAPTER 3

Typologies of Crime and Criminals


Typologies of Crime and
Criminals
“There are two types of people in this world, good and
bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy
the waking hours much more.”
-- Woody Allen


What is a Typology?
 A systematic grouping of entities that have characteristics or

traits in common to classes of a particular system.
 An abstract category or class consisting of characteristics

organized around a common principle relevant to a particular
analysis.


Typologies in Everyday Life,
Science, and Policy and Practice
 Typology construction is a fundamental component of human

cognition and scientific investigation.

Examples of typologies we all use in everyday life?
Examples of scientific typologies?
How are typologies used at the institutional level in
schools, hospitals, and the criminal justice system?


Criminological Theories and
Criminal Typologies
A CRIMINAL TYPOLOGY is
criminological theory made manageable
in a way that can be practically applied to
organize, classify, and make sense of a
range of behaviors that violate the law.
Examples?


Examples of Comprehensive
Criminal Typologies
 Clinard, Quinney, & Wildeman’s (1994)Criminal Behavior

Systems
 Dabney’s (2004) Crime Types
 Miethe, McCorkle, & Listwan’s (2006) Crime Profiles


Mental Disorders and Criminal Behavior
 Mental illness is just one factor that may play a role in

some incidents and types of criminal behavior.
 Mental disorder and criminal behavior are distinct

concepts that sometimes overlap.
 Some mental disorders have been empirically

associated with criminal behavior (antisocial
personality disorder and psychopathy).


Defining “Mental Disorder”
 When people speak of “mental disorder” this term encompasses

an enormous range of human behavioral symptoms and
conditions ranging from everyday problems in living to severe
psychopathological disturbances.
 “No definition adequately specifies precise boundaries for the

concept of ‘mental disorder’ (APA, 2000, p. xxx).


Conflicting Goals of the Mental Health
and Criminal Justice Systems
 Conflicting goals of the mental health and criminal justice

systems make it difficult to understand and respond to mentally
ill offenders and to understand the relationship between mental
illness and crime.
 According to Blackburn (1993, p. 246), “concerns about the

‘psychiatrisation’ of crime … have been paralleled by concerns
over the ‘criminalisation’ of mental disorder.”


Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM)
 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders, published since 1952 by the American
Psychiatric Association, is a categorical system for
classification of mental disorders for the purpose of
communication, diagnoses, education, research,
and treatment.
 Editions of the DSM:
-1952/DSM
-1980/DSM III
-1994/DSM-IV

-1968/DSM II
-1987/DSM-III-R
-2000/DSM-IV-TR


DSM Multiaxial System
 The DSM is organized around a multiaxial system that involves

assessment on several axes:







Axis I: Major clinical syndromes
Axis II: Personality disorders
Axis III: Physical disorders
Axis IV: Psychosocial stressors
Axis V: Global level of functioning


The Macarthur Study of Mental
Disorder and Violence
 The Macarthur

Study of Mental Disorder and Violence

(Monahan et al, 2001) has been described as the best designed
study ever done on violence risk assessment involving over 1000
psychiatric patients examining the relationship between 134
potential risk factors and subsequent violence.
 The study concluded that, “… the propensity for violence is the

result of the accumulation of risk factors, no one of which is either
necessary or sufficient for a person to behave aggressively
toward others. People will be violent by virtue of the presence or
absence of different sets of risk factors. There is no single path in
a person’s life that leads to an act of violence” (p. 142).

Criminal Typologies:
Theory and Purpose

 Criminal typologies are necessary to understand, identify, and

respond to crime.
 The criminal justice system cannot respond to crime with a “one

size fits all” approach. Sanctions, management strategies,
treatment approaches, and public safety policies and practices
are highly dependent on differentiation of types of crimes and
criminals.
 The question, “What type of person are we dealing with?” is of

central importance at every stage in the criminal justice process.


Types of Criminal Typologies
 TYPES






Legalistic
Sociological
Psychological
Biological
Multi-trait

 PURPOSES





Sanctions
Management
Treatment
Understanding


Scientific Typologies
 Classifying events or people into types is a necessary function of

science, theory development, and professional practice.
 Some typologies are rooted in stereotypes, not science (e.g. racial

profiling).
 Scientific typologies originated with the Linnaen classification of

plants.
 In the social sciences individuals are grouped into types based on

shared characteristics


How are Typologies Constructed?
 Typologies are constructed in two general ways.

1)

2)

IDEAL TYPES are inductively constructed based on
a subjective clinical impression (“armchair”
theorizing).
EMPIRICAL TYPES are deductively constructed
describing patterns that exist in the real world
through multivariate statistical methods


Categorical v Dimensional Models
 Human types may be more appropriately viewed along a

continuum or dimension rather than as a discrete category or
taxon.
 Categories or types that are not inherently taxonomic (no clear

boundaries) are often formed by empirically grouping those who
share features on several dimensions using statistical methods
such as cluster analysis


Knight & Prentky (1990) Typology of
Sexual Offenders: An Example
 One of the most sophisticated and complex typologies of sex

offenders developed to date used in criminal justice
decisionmaking in treatment and management of sex offenders.

 Empirical typology of rapists and child molesters based on

inductive and deductive research strategies now in its 3rd
version (MTC:R3 and MTC:CM3).


J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice
Seattle University CRJS 515 Typologies of Crime
& Criminal Behavior


J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice
Seattle University CRJS 515 Typologies of Crime
& Criminal Behavior


J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice
Seattle University CRJS 515 Typologies of Crime
& Criminal Behavior


J.B. Helfgott, PhD Department of Criminal Justice
Seattle University CRJS 515 Typologies of Crime
& Criminal Behavior


Stages of Knight and Prentky’s Rapist and
Child Molester Typology Development
 STAGE 1 - THEORY FORMULATION
Comparison of available typologies to determine whether consensus exists

regarding specific types of sex offenders.

 STAGE 2 – IMPLEMENTATION
Definition of types/dimensions, assessment of interrater reliability, and
determination of coverage/degree to which typology is exhaustive.

 STAGE 3 – VALIDATION
Look to research literature to determine whether the constructed types
could be shown to have distinctive and theoretically coherent
developmental roots

 STAGE 4 – INTEGRATION
Responding to the analyses of construct validity to determine which
dimensions of the typologies needed modification


Evaluating Typologies
 A criminal typology is only useful to the extent that it describes

homogeneous categories of offending, is comprehensive/exhaustive with
respect to the stated purpose, contains categories that are mutually
exclusive, is complex enough to have explanatory value, and simple
enough to be applied in criminal justice policy and practice.
 In evaluating offender typologies, it is important to ask the following

questions:


Is the typology and the categories it includes homogeneous?



Is the typology and the categories it includes heterogeneous?



Is the typology and the categories it includes exhaustive?



Are the categories included in the typology mutually exclusive?



Is the typology too simple?



Is the typology too complex?


Evaluating Typologies
 Homogeneity/Heterogeneity
 Exhaustiveness/Exclusiveness
 Simplicity/Complexity