Appraising, researching and conceptualizing criminal thinking: a personal view.
BACKGROUND
It is argued that current interest in the concept of criminal thinking has its roots in traditional theories of criminology and criminal justice such as Sutherland's differential association model, neutralization theory, and Yochelson and Samenow's criminal personality.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this paper is to briefly review and summarize theory, research, and practice on criminal thinking as it relates to the author's work in this area.


CONCLUSIONS
Three self-report inventories--the Criminal Sentiments Scale (CSS), the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), and the Measures of Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA); three principal areas of research--criminal thinking as a predictor of criminal behaviour, offence as a moderator of criminal thinking, and changes in criminal thinking leading to changes in criminal behaviour; and a general theory of criminal thinking are briefly reviewed in this paper.
Walters
Glenn D
GD
Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania 17957-0700, USA. gwalters@bop.gov
D001290:Attitude; D003415:Crime; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D011584:Psychology / Q000379:methods; D012107:Research Design; D013850:Thinking