Chapter 6 Chapter Synopses

Chapter 6: Psychology and crime: understanding the interface

Many students new to academic criminology are often confused by exactly what role psychology plays in the contemporary criminological enterprise. Very often they have visions of a discipline preoccupied with offender profiling, forensic crime analysis and the study of psychopathic serial killers. This chapter aims to set the record straight, by providing students with an introduction to the exact nature of the current relationship between psychology and criminology. To that end it combines a general introduction to some of the more prominent psychological explanations of criminal behaviour, with examples of how this work has come to be employed in criminological theory and practice. These examples include – but are not limited to – the role of psychology in contemporary police work, and the ways in which psychological studies are being incorporated into crime prevention strategies.