Criminal Behavior

1. What would Terrie Moffitt have to say about selective incarceration of habitual criminals? What would be the basis of their argument and what treatment programs (if any) would they recommend for these offenders?

What would Dr. Moffitt say about juvenile delinquents and the potential treatment programs (if any) that should be recommended for both hardcore and minor offenders?

What would this same theorist say about “at-risk” youth in preschool and early elementary school and what types of treatment considerations would likely be given to children in this age-range to prevent potential criminality in their later years?

Lastly, explain how longitudinal research could assess the validity of these programs in their ability to detect likely career criminals and in their ability to reduce the number of habitual offenders in America’s future prison systems
2. Summarize the research on the relationship between delinquency and any one of the following: a) gender; b) psychometric intelligence; c) family background and parental disciplinary practices
3. Design a study that tests the ability of Social Learning theory to aid in reforming offenders. Be sure to use the classical experimental design, clearly state your independent and dependent variables, and explain how you will collect data to determine the effectiveness of your program. Be sure to tell me the specific type of data that you will collect (i.e. nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio) and how this might affect your overall study.

4. First, describe the process of operant conditioning and give an example of how criminal behavior is acquired. Be sure to go into detail in explaining operant conditioning, include in your answer a discussion on reinforcement (positive and negative), punishment, and extinction. Next, explain the difference between differential association theory and differential association-reinforcement theory.