Glossary - Part J, L, M, O, P, R

This is the third installment of the Psychology for Crime glossary and covers letters J - R. Remember, you can download the entire file from here.

J

Juror Bias Scale -
A technique for measuring the degree of prejudice and bias in potential jurors.

Just World Hypothesis -
The belief, held by some people, that the world is a fair and just place in which people deserve the things that happen to them.

L

Labelling Theory -
The view that the label that is applied to an individual by others (e.g. 'criminal') can influence their behaviour.

Locus of Control -
The extent to which a person feels they are in charge of their own destiny.

M

Marauder -
An offender who operates from a home base.

Maternal Deprivation Theory -
The view, associated with the work of John Bowlby, that deviant behaviour in adulthood is the result of separation from the attachment figure early in life.

Model -
In social learning theory (SLT), a person whose behaviour is observed in order to learn it.

Monozygotic Twins -
Identical twins, who share 100% of their genetic information.

O

Offender Profiling -
The use of crime scene evidence to make educated guesses about the likely characteristics of an offender.

P

Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) -
An act of Parliament passed in 1984 that, amongst other things, limited the ways in which police interrogations can be carried out.

Prevalence of Crime -
The number of people in the population involved in committing crimes. Variations in the crime rate can be the result of variations in prevalence (e.g. more people committing crimes) or incidence (e.g. the same number of people committing more crimes).

Psycho-legal Studies -
A branch of forensic psychology concerned with lagal processses such as jury decision making.

Psychological Autopsy -
The use of crime scenes and psychological evidence to work out possible causes of death.

Psychometric Testing -
The measurement of psychological characteristics, usually through the use of questionnaires or inventories. Such tests may concern intelligence (IQ) or personailty and generally yieldnumerical measurements of the attribute being investigated.

Psychopath -
An individual who appears to lack anxiety and guilt and is typically prone to impulsive and aggressive behaviour. Such individuals are likely to became involed in crimes although it should be stressed that not all psychopaths become criminals.

R

Rational Choice Theory (RCT) -
An approach to understanding criminality that emphasises the role of rational processes in the decision to commit a crime.

Reconstructive Memory -
The view that memories, rather than being accurate accounts of events, are 'imaginative reconstructions' based on schematic knowledge.