Deviant And Criminal Behaviour In The Special Educational Process
Abstract
The aim of the paper is to spot the important role of basic sociologic and psychologic theories in the special education of deviant and delinquent individuals or group of individuals. Diachronically, delinquency was first interpreted by a demonological conception that evil spirits urged people to commit deviant acts. Later, in the Enlightenment, the first secular interpretations of criminal behaviour appeared. This type of education addresses the groups of individuals identified with the same particularities and tendencies towards deviant behaviour, even going as far as to calibrate the educational method at the level of an individual with deviant behaviour. In order to accurately determine the deviationist tendencies of the individual / individuals who will be the subjects of such a special form of education we must take into account and make a complex analysis to fit the typology of the individual or group of individuals with similar deviationist tendencies. Basically, in the following we will present the theoretical and practical tools that sociologists and psychologists have in hand to frame the type of deviant behaviour of the individual / individuals, its degree and approaches suitable to be used for socializing or re-socializing as appropriate this category of people.
Keywords: Behaviour, deviant, delinquent, deviationist
Introduction
To correct deviant behaviour a special educational process is needed to socialize or re-socialize the individual / individuals with such a behaviour. This type of education addresses the groups of individuals identified with the same particularities and tendencies towards deviant behaviour, even going as far as to calibrate the educational method at the level of an individual with deviant behaviour. In order to accurately determine the deviationist tendencies of the individual / individuals who will be the subjects of such a special form of education we must take into account and make a complex analysis to fit the typology of the individual or group of individuals with similar deviationist tendencies. Basically, in the following we will present the theoretical and practical tools that sociologists and psychologists have at hand to frame the type of deviant behaviour of the individual / individuals, its degree and approaches suitable to be used for socializing or re-socializing as appropriate this category of people.
Emile Durkheim (1964) tries to distinguish the normal from the pathological in order to isolate these phenomena, since the second phenomenon is a deviation from the usual order of things, and the symptom of the appearance of such a state is anomie. For him, a normal social fact is distinguished by its generality and constancy. For this, any normal behaviour becomes anomalous as soon as an abnormal increase or decrease in its average incidence is observed. Therefore, he believes that crime can take anomalous forms: for example, in times of war, famine or siege. Thus, the normal and the pathological are two sides of a functional complex, which explains the process of social change. Finally, Durkheim concludes that there can be no society in which individuals do not deviate more or less from the general, collective type of manifestation.
Max Weber (1949), a contemporary German sociologist with Durkheim, does not look at the existence of society from such a clearly functionalist perspective. For Max Weber, the principle that governs the formation of human groups is a small number of individuals who occupy a position of leadership, and therefore of domination. To the extent that both theories consider illegal or illegitimate forms of behaviour to be part of normal social life, crime is conceived as an epiphenomenon.
Problem Statement
We must remind ourselves the roots and the fundamental theories which stays at the foundation of deviant behaviour in order to better understand the present and the tendencies in these directions – biological theories, psychological theories, sociological and cultural theories.
The theories mentioned are part of a larger category called sociological theories. I will present below, very synthetically, the biological, psychological and socio-cultural theories and I must specify that there is no miracle theory of deviance or crime, whatever its nature, but only particular situations in which a certain theory or a sum of them brings us closer to the truth. Psychological theories, but especially biological ones, must be viewed with great caution because they can lead to discrimination based on racial, hereditary, etc., criteria. Diachronically, delinquency was first interpreted by a demonological conception that evil spirits urged people to commit deviant acts. Later, in the Enlightenment, the first secular interpretations of criminal behaviour appeared.
In the 18th century, Beccaria C. (2007) founded the classical school of criminology. He argued that delinquency is not divinely determined, but rational, that it is the individual's responsibility and freedom of choice. He also said that the sanctions must be appropriate to the seriousness of the crime committed. Later, some of Beccaria's ideas are taken over, but the importance and role of the state as well as of society in the formation of the individual are also introduced. The classical school of criminology attached great importance to crime and sanctions, but did not focus on man as part of the crime situation. Biological interpretations of delinquency are important in this direction. Biological or anthropological-biological interpretations generate informational horizons that bring together theories focused on hereditary factors in the genesis of crime. Given the analysis of hereditary biological factors to identify the genesis of delinquency, several theories have emerged over time.
Biological theories
Cesare Lombroso (1992) is the best known and most representative theorist of biological orientation in theories of causality in criminology. His theory holds that, in essence, the physical characteristics of the individual are the basic indicators of social degeneration and maladaptation.
Lombroso, in his theory, started from Comte's positivism, Darwin's evolutionism, but also from other studies of his time, such as the phrenology works of the Viennese physician Frederik Joseph Gall on the correlation between skull abnormalities and brain functions and other features of the individual, the physiognomic studies of J. R. Lavater and concepts on the degeneration of the human species by Charles Morel.
For Lombroso, without excluding the influence of social and physical factors, heredity, from the point of view of its influence on crime, was of great importance because he considered the criminal act as a hereditary fatality. These characteristics, which were thought to indicate the atavistic type for a person who could become a murderer, were: deviations in head size or shape; asymmetry of the face; excessive size of the jaws and cheekbones; particular eye defects; abnormal dentition; prominent or excessively long, short or flattened chin like monkeys; excessive arm length; several fingers or toes; skull asymmetry etc.
In support of his theory, Lombroso has provided eloquent clinical evidence for the influence of genetic dowry on crime. The transmission of structural characters is mainly due to the father, due to the structural variety of men compared to women, who, on the contrary, have a greater stability in their composition. Morbid inheritance depends mainly on two factors: the sex of the sick parent and the severity of his or her morbid condition. Males take a higher dose of abnormal genes from their parents and manifest it more easily in the phenotype, while girls show the opposite tendency, or they can even largely annihilate the organic manifestation of this morbid inheritance. The murderous woman, according to Lombroso, is different from the murderous man. He added two categories to the criminal-born criminal Lombroso: insane criminals and criminologists. Crazy criminals are not born, but they become criminals as a result of changes that take place in their minds - the inability to distinguish between good and evil. Criminologists form an ambiguous group that includes: ordinary, passionate and other miscellaneous criminals. Most scientists did not share his enthusiasm or point of view.
Enrico Ferri (1907) was an Italian criminologist, sociologist and socialist disciple of Cesare Lombroso. Unlike Lombroso, who emphasized the psychological side of the minds of criminals, Ferri focused on studying economic and social factors. Ferri was the author of the classic book Sociology of Crime, published in 1884. An ardent supporter of socialism, Ferri was also one of the editors of the Avanti! a socialist newspaper of the time. His entire work served in the drafting of the Argentine Penal Code of 1921. His arguments, richly documented by social and economic studies, in favour of extending crime prevention instead of punishment were publicly and practically disproved by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini after the conquest of power - although Mussolini himself had once been a socialist and editor of the same socialist newspaper Avanti. Enrico Ferri's law of criminal saturation is a parallel to the theses of the cartographic school and argues that crime is related to environmental conditions and will fluctuate constantly depending on the changes that occur within it (Stănoiu, 1996). Biological theories establish the following predisposing factors: constitutional type, glandular dysfunction, chromosomal irregularities, abnormal brain activity, and genetic factors. Analysing the implications of genetic factors, it must be said from the beginning that they do not determine a criminal behaviour but can predispose to it. The problem of researching these implications is difficult to solve because in the social universe there can be no laboratory conditions in which these factors are isolated from other variables: education, experience, etc. Investigating two groups, one of delinquents and one of non-delinquents, it was found (Glueck, 1957) that compared to the group of non-delinquents, delinquents came from families with a criminal history, the best predictor being father's crime. Christiansen studied at the end of the last century a number of nearly 4,000 twins regarding the incidence of criminal behaviour, and the conclusion was that if a twin is involved in a criminal act, his twin brother (from identical twins – natural clones), will be a criminal with a probability of 35% and only with a probability of 12% if they are not identical twins.
Psychological theories
Both in the past and in the present, theories have emerged that criminal acts are committed primarily by mentally deficient individuals, that is, by behavioural and personality disorders. Sigmund Freud's theory is the most important contribution in the field, as he is the one who spreads the psychiatric model of deviance. Freud postulates the existence of three instances in the structure of personality: the self, the self, and the superego.
The self is the place where instinctual impulses are born and is the energy reservoir of the psyche. It is a complex of repressed instincts and tendencies (repressed, driven away) that have an impersonal character and are not lived consciously. The self, Freud appreciates, is the instinctual pole of the personality, the repository of the predominantly sexual and aggressive instinctive tendencies that put the body in tension.
The ego or ego is the conscious system of conducting and controlling behaviour. The self represents self-awareness, the core of the personality that makes up the knowledge and image of oneself and the conscious attitude about the most important interests and values.
The superego is the psychic court with a prohibitive role. It is the delimitation of the self from the external world. It represents the moral conscience and expresses the existence of the individual in the social environment. It is considered to be a recent acquisition of the individual, an acquisition that is developed under the influence of social norms and the socio-cultural level of the community in which the individual is positioned. In relation to this conception, deviance is appreciated as the result of a weak superego, which is why the deviant cannot control his unconscious impulses. It turns out that both the representatives of the Freudian school and the neo-Freudians consider crime to be based on internal conflicts, feelings of insecurity, inadequacy and inferiority. Freud's (1996) psychoanalysis offers an explanation only for psychotic, neurotic, and sociopathic behaviour, and removes the explanation of criminal acts produced by so-called normal deviants. Psychological theories have many elements in common with biological ones. Most of these designate as factors of the crime defects or incapacities of the individual. These can be grouped according to the factors on which they focus: mental capacity, personality structure and personality development.
Intellectual abilities
Goddard sensed the importance of low intelligence in criminal behaviour. He considers intelligence hereditary and unchangeable. A lack of intelligence can lead to an inability to anticipate the consequences of certain acts, to a narrowing of opinions and to a stereotypical and rigid cognitive style.
Personality structure
The explanations focused on the personality structure of delinquent people have a psychodynamic orientation, considering the criminal behaviour as a symptom of conscious or unconscious mental conflicts. These explanations are usually the subject of clinical psychologists who, in addition to intelligence tests, also use other categories of tests (eg California Psychological Inventory) to describe the psychological profile. These tests have been used extensively to determine if there is a specific personality structure for offenders. The results were contradictory: the conclusions of the Rorschach test showed differences between criminals and non-criminals in the sense that the former seemed more extroverted, impulsive, against authority, aggressive and hostile. However, other tests were not able to distinguish between the two categories.
Personality development
Piaget proposes a succession of stages of development to the point where it is possible to assess moral judgments. The conclusions of Sullivan and Grant were that until maturity the individual goes through 7 stages and at each "threshold" there are crises and interpersonal problems. The perpetrators, in their opinion, are those who have failed to reach the higher level of maturity and are therefore unable to understand the social rules and control their behaviour. This theory is useful in practice, as it is taken from the model of social development (Piaget, 1971). As a principle of behavioural action, the moments of the transit areas from one stage to another are recommended for intervention.
Sociological and cultural theories
The literature contains an overwhelming number of theories, some of which have become classics, have endured over time, created real schools around them and have been continuously enriched, others attract attention through their impeccable architectural beauty without much help to practitioners. Criminological theories are par excellence eclectic and we must specify that the closest provider of ideas to criminology is sociology. Almost all the important theories in sociology are found in a certain form in criminology, but influences also come from other fields such as: law, social statistics, psychology, psychiatry, etc. A classic example of successfully mixing the contribution of various sciences to a criminological theory is the approach of Stan Cohen and Jack Young (1973) who capitalized on the symbolic interactionism of Edwin Lemert and Howard Becker with the statistical theories of Leslie Wilkins. Today, after tempering the enthusiasm of the pioneer of this relatively new science, it is obvious to all scholars that there is no royal way to study the sociology of crime. We can identify a certain coagulation of some theories depending on the political inclination - liberal, conservative, radical, etc., the importance given to gender, the supposed metaphysical bases of the social world (classical, positivist), or their own history. If we were to make a complete analysis of the theories and doctrines that can say something about the phenomenon of drug use and the criminal acts incident to this phenomenon, then we should not miss: Durkheim and Merton's theory of anomie, theories of social control, choice theory rational, the theory of routine activities, the Chicago School theory, the study of the relationship between control and space, radical criminology, functionalist criminology, the theory of labelling, the analysis of delinquent subcultures, behaviourist theories. One of the most important theoretical constructions on the genesis of deviance contained in theories of social control (Reckless, 1939). The basic assumption of this theory is that a positive self-image of a young person gives him the ability to resist the pressure and influences that lead to deviance regardless of the social class he belongs to or other environmental conditions. From the perspective of this theory, human behaviour is the result of confrontations between pressures, impulses, influences on the one hand and the psychological mechanisms of control and repression. The most important factor in controlling behaviour is self-awareness. The significance of this concept is that of the image that a person has about himself, about his personal value and his value in the eyes of other members of society. Therefore, from the point of view of restraint theory, in order to avoid deviant behaviours, it is necessary that the natural impulses and tendencies of the individual towards deviance be restrained, supervised or controlled. In the 60's of the twentieth century, Travis Hirschi, looking for the most important factor that explains the conformation, extended the explanation of the restraint of the deviant tendencies from the level of the personality characteristics to the level of the society. The theory he developed in the second half of the twentieth century became the best-known theory of social control and is identified today as such. According to this author, deviance results from the weakening or breaking of the individual's ties with society. The key concept of the Social Control Theory is that of social connection. It refers to the connection between the individual and society that is made through social institutions. According to Travis Hirschi, this connection is made up of four elements: attachment, involvement, commitment, and faith. The theory of social attachment is represented by Travis Hirschi (2002) with a reference book - Causes of Delinquency - which outlines the central idea that delinquency occurs when an individual's attachment to society is weakened or broken, leading to a reduction of compliance. In general, individuals choose compliance so as not to destroy their relationships with family, friends, friends, work, school, etc.
Research Questions
According to published prison population numbers, the total worldwide prison population stands at 10.77 million as indicated in Figure 2. However, the total may well be in excess of 11.5 million if numbers estimated to be held in detention centres in China and in prisons camps in North Korea are included. As of July 2021, the United States had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with almost 2.1 million people in prison. The U.S. was followed by China, Brazil, India, and the Russian Federation. At least 410,000 children are detained in remand centres and prisons every year as pointed in Figure 1.
In the majority of the recent studies regarding deviant and criminal behaviour the interest is focused on differences between urban and rural communities in committing crimes (Krohn, 2016), theoretical and policy implications of this contradictory behaviour and what it means for prison administrators (Ingel et al., 2022), differences in levels of deviant behaviour - minor and severe infractions among sexes (Dullas, 2021) or the processes need to be considered when examining how offenders are sanctioned (Keith & Scheuerman, 2022), etc., but not too many studies approaching the root causes of such behaviour acts.
What can we do or what we can propose to correct what is wrong?
Total worldwide prison population stands at 10.77 million. Is this, ok?
How we correct deviant and criminal behaviour?
Which are the magic tools to reduce these numbers of people in detention regime in the world?
Purpose of the Study
The actual methodology to prevent deviant behaviour or to reintegrate delinquents back in society does not always start with the beginning, with the basic theories about human deviant behaviour and its typology. A lot of approaches used in the present are missing the fundaments and the determinant factors and causes that make some individuals to become delinquents and to commit criminal acts. A lot of practitioners are missing or ignore the basic theories of individual social and psychologic behaviour and the present article is a signal for them to go back to the roots in order to be able recompose the panoramic view of all elements that make the complex picture of the special educational process in the field of deviant human behaviour. And in this context looks valid more than ever what said George Santayana - professor in philosophy at Harvard - “”.
Research Methods
In developing the present article, the main research method used was identifying and studying the main theories regarding deviant human behaviour, the factors that determine and how to classify each category by external and internal factors that might be the cause for it. The theoretical research went beyond in order to identify the tools needed to appreciate in what degree is affecting the society such behaviour of individuals or group of individuals and the main tools that can be used for a proper special educational methodology to be applied to the deviant problems identified at the level of the individuals or groups of individuals with such a behaviour. Before all other research methods in tackling special education for deviant behaviour individuals I firmly believe that identifying the theories in this field and acquiring a good level of their knowledge is the first step in designing the special education process to prevent deviant behaviour of individuals or to reintegrate them in the society.
Findings
Education is constantly evolving, with educators and educational theorists involved in ongoing research for innovative and effective methods and teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of each student. This approach is perhaps most essential in special education and the inclusive classroom. The inclusive classroom relies on the simultaneous use of differentiated instruction and assessment techniques for maximizing a student’s learning potential by tailoring the teaching to every student. There is also a must to consider cultural differences, gender, geographical area and believes back grounds when assessing the impact of the teaching practices on delinquency, or when applying the research findings to delinquency prevention programs.
While management in most organisations have shown no interest in managing deviant behaviour, research has shown that minor deviant behaviours may extend to high profile scandals that have a negative impact on organisations hence also the importance of managing deviant behaviour from early beginning at workplace. Ignoring fundamental theories in the research of combating deviant and criminal behaviour is also costly to both the organizations and individuals.
Sociological theories and research on crime and delinquency, as well as theories of social and moral development provide useful bases for studying relationships between specific variables in the context of socialization to deviant individuals’ behaviour.
The main responsibility (causal factor) for deviance lies in the ways in which society (through its socialization agents) has socialized the person and also most important is that the society can treat deviance through resocialization, using techniques in line with the reasons for behaviour.
Where ignorance is the cause, education; where lack of ability is the difficulty, improved training; where motivation is the problem, a planned and deliberately executed program of manipulation of rewards and punishments to reorient the individual to appropriate goals and behaviour (Brim, 1966).
Conclusions
The special educational process to correct deviant behaviour has to take in account in order to fine tune the pedagogic style and approach and to find and use the most adequate tools given to us by the pioneers of sociological and psychological theories regarding the human behaviour in different social environments and especially the deviant human behaviour and factors that influence it. Studying carefully the biological, psychological, social and cultural theories leads the practitioner in teaching individuals or groups of individuals with deviant behaviour to obtain expected result in his work on the prevention side and on the social reinsertion process of such categories of people. In each special education teaching module of people with deviant behaviour in our present days is a must to acquire a good level of knowledge of the theories exposed in this article.
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10 April 2023
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Cite this article as:
Bogdan, M. (2023). Deviant And Criminal Behaviour In The Special Educational Process. In E. Soare, & C. Langa (Eds.), Education Facing Contemporary World Issues - EDU WORLD 2022, vol 5. European Proceedings of Educational Sciences (pp. 653-662). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.23045.66