This criminal psychology course is suitable for anyone who works within criminal justice, such as police, social workers, court workers, solicitors, lawyers, probation workers or anyone with an interest in the psychology of crime. This professional development criminology course is offered online and is designed to give you the background knowledge and skills needed to start or improve your career in criminology.

Use this course as a stepping stone to a degree in Psychology or to enhance your existing qualifications in law, psychology, policing and more. This online criminal psychology course will introduce you to psychology approaches to understanding crime, mental disorders and their relationship to crime as well as example gender and youth in relation to crime, psychology and the police, the courtroom and psychology and crime prevention.

As with all Careerline’s courses you are assigned your own tutor as soon as you enrol, so you will have expert support before you submit your first assignment and the whole way through your studies.

Criminal Psychology Course Aims:

• Define crime and criminal psychology.
• Discuss psychological theories and approaches to understanding crime.
• Define serious crimes and explain the involvement of psychology.
• Discuss the relationship between a person having a learning disability and committing crime.
• Define psychopathy and discuss psychological theories relating to psychopathy.
• Discuss gender differences associated with crime.
• Discuss the psychological theories relating to youth and crime.
• Discuss how psychology is used by the police.
• Discuss how psychology is used in the court room.
• Discuss the use of psychology in crime prevention.

Detailed Course Outline:

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Criminal Psychology

• • Definitions of Crime
  • Consensus View of what Crime is
  • Conflict View of Crime
  • Interactionist View of Crime
  • Scope of Criminal Psychology
  • What Criminal Psychologists do
  • Case Study
  • Profiling
  • Courts
  • Correctional System

2. Psychological Approaches to Understanding Crime

• • Biological explanations of Crime
  • Phrenology
  • Eugenics
  • XYY Chromosome Model
  • Genetics
  • Twin Studies
  • Adoption Studies
  • Nature, Nurture
  • Environmental Explanations of Crime
  • Family Influence
  • Agency Explanations; Rational Choice Theory

3. Psychology and Understanding Serious Crimes

• • Aggression
  • Different Types of Aggression
  • Terminology
  • Drive Theories
  • Freudian Theories
  • Social Learning Theories
  • Biological and Evolutionary Theories
  • Types of Aggression
  • Aggression an against Outsiders
  • Aggression in Species
  • Aggression in Humans
  • Environmental Influences on Human Aggression
  • Imitation or Modelling
  • Familiarity
  • Reinforcement
  • Aggression and Culture
  • Other Factors in Aggression; Alcohol, Pain, Frustration
  • Murder
  • Sexual Assault
  • Stalking
  • Pursuit Behaviour
  • False Stalking Syndrome

4. Mental Disorder and Crime 1 – Learning Disabilities and Crime

• • Meaning of Learning Disabilities
  • IQ Testing
  • Crime and Intelligence
  • Modern Intelligence Testing
  • Learning Disabilities and Crime in General
  • Sex Offences and People with Learning Disabilities
  • Courts

5. Mental Disorder and Crime 2 – Psychopathy

• • Scope and Nature of Psychopathology
  • Personality Disorder
  • Psychopath
  • Heartless? Emotionless?
  • How do People become Psychopaths
  • Treatment

6. Gender and Crime

• • Scope and Nature of Gender and Crime studies
  • Rates of Crime
  • Murder and Violence
  • Prostitution
  • Case Study –Women Offenders
  • Victims
  • Murder
  • Domestic Violence
  • Sexual Abuse

7. Youth and Crime

• • Age of Criminal Responsibility
  • Risk Factors
  • Mental Health Risk
  • Conduct Disorders
  • ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
  • Cumulative Affect of Risk Factors
  • Prevalence and Offending
  • Case Studies
  • Young People as Victims

8. Psychology and the Police

• • Social Construction of Reported Crime
  • Eyewitness Testimony
  • Early Research
  • Schemas and EWT
  • Police Line Ups
  • Every day Uses of Psychology by Police

9. Psychology in the Courtroom

• • Social Cognition
  • Behaviour
  • Appearance
  • Expectations
  • The Primacy Effect
  • Attribution
  • Schemas and Social Perception
  • Central Traits
  • Stereotypes
  • Social Inference and Decision Making
  • Psychology and the Law
  • Guilt Bias
  • Media Effect
  • Defendant Attributes
  • Attorney Attributes

10. Psychology and Crime Prevention

• • Punishment
  • Types of Punishment
  • History of Punishment
  • Reasons for Punishment
  • Deterrents
  • Punishment and Impartiality