The second WJEC Criminology offering – I’m taking an educated guess that it’s by Janis Griffiths – focuses on Individualistic theories of criminality and, in partic
ular, the assumption that criminal behaviour is related to particular types of criminal personality.
This is illustrated by short Notes on three different theories and their major proponents:
1. Eysenck (personality theory).
2. Sigmund Freud (psychodynamic theory).
3. Albert Bandura (social learning theory).
In addition to some simple discussion questions the Presentation also includes a “Scenario” section in which students are presented with a specific situation – in this instance, abusive partners – and asked to apply and evaluate an individualistic theory in this particular context.
If your students need some guidance in this task there’s a further PowerPoint Presentation designed to take them through the basic steps.
Additionally, if you want to develop the question of whether killers are “born or made” Professor Jim Fallon’s neuroscientific research will prove very helpful in this context.