PERSONALITY & CRIME: LINKED?

A PROFESSIONAL’S PERSPECTIVE

Erica Micallef Filletti

A dissertation presented to the Department of Criminology, Faculty for

Social Wellbeing, in part fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of

Bachelor’s in Criminology at the University of Malta

July 2021
 ABSTRACT
This research is a qualitative study exploring the relationship between personality
and crime from the perspective of professionals. A qualitative research approach
utilising the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach to analyse the data was
adopted. Six semi structured interviews were conducted with psychologists
involved in the criminal justice system. The analysis concluded that occurrence of
crime mainly depends upon the type of exposure a person gets in their life which
could ultimately affect the development of personality. They can go through
desistence by getting appropriate therapy, but crime can re-occur if the conditions
become unfavourable again or if therapy has been inadequate or short-lasted.

KEYWORDS: PERSONALITY, CRIME, PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT,

DESISTENCE, THERAPY

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 DEDICATION

To my grandmother Paula, and my grandfather Louis.

Thank you for all your support, love, and kindness.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express gratitude towards my supervisor, Dr Kevin Sammut
Henwood, for his perpetual assistance and support during the course of my
dissertation.

Furthermore, my heartfelt thanks goes to the professionals who contributed to this

dissertation.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. ii

DEDICATION ......................................................................................................... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... iv

ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................. ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1

1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1

1.2 The Role of Personality Characteristics in Crime and Criminal Behaviour ........ 1

1.3 Crime ................................................................................................................ 3

1.4 An Introduction to the Research Questions....................................................... 3

1.5 Overview of the Dissertation ............................................................................. 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 5

2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 5

2.2 The Links Between Personality and Crime ....................................................... 5

2.3 Personality Influences, But Does Not Determine, Criminal Conduct ................. 6

2.4 Determinants of Crime: Theoretical Frameworks and Empirical Results .......... 7

2.5 Theories of Personality ..................................................................................... 8

2.5.1 The Trait Approach ........................................................................................ 8

2.5.2 Eysenck’s Personality Theory ........................................................................ 9

2.5.2.1 Extraversion / Introversion ........................................................................ 10

2.5.2.2 Neuroticism / Stability................................................................................ 10

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2.5.2.3 Psychoticism ............................................................................................. 11

2.5.3 Critical Evaluation of Eysenck’s Personality Theory .................................... 11

2.6 The Social Constructionist Approach to Personality ....................................... 12

2.7 The Development of Personality ..................................................................... 13

2.7.1 The Nature versus Nurture Debate .............................................................. 13

2.7.2 Evidence for Nature: The Biological Approach............................................. 13

2.7.3 The Biological Approach: Study of Inheritance ............................................ 13

2.7.4 Evidence for Nurture: Attachment Styles ..................................................... 14

2.7.5 The Strange Situation: Attachment Styles ................................................... 16

2.7.5.1 Secure Attachment ................................................................................... 16

2.7.5.2 Insecure Avoidant ..................................................................................... 16

2.7.5.3 Insecure Ambivalent / Resistant ................................................................ 17

2.8 The Age-Crime Curve and Its Influence on Crime .......................................... 17

2.9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 19

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY............................................................................ 20

3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 20

3.2 Research Method Used .................................................................................. 20

3.3 Data Collection Method ................................................................................... 20

3.4 Sampling and Recruitment of Participants ...................................................... 21

3.5 Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 22

3.6 Ethical Clearance ............................................................................................ 22

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3.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION ............................................................ 23

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 23

4.1.1 Table 1: Identification of Themes ................................................................. 23

4.2 Theme 1: The Impact of Personality on Crime ................................................ 23

4.2.1 Vulnerability Due to Personality ................................................................... 23

4.2.2 Ordinary and Proto Criminal Types .............................................................. 25

4.3 Theme 2: Nature versus Nurture..................................................................... 26

4.3.1 Development of Antisocial Attitudes ............................................................. 26

4.3.2 The Role of The Environment ...................................................................... 27

4.4 Theme 3: Typology of Crime ........................................................................... 28

4.4.1 Situational Crime versus Planned Crime ..................................................... 28

4.4.2 Violent Offending: Do Particular Crimes Have Particular Traits? ................. 29

4.5 Theme 4: Maturation ....................................................................................... 30

4.5.1 Personality Change Over Time .................................................................... 30

4.5.2 Personality Change Over Intervention ......................................................... 31

4.6 Theme 5: The Impact of Changed Behaviour on Crime .................................. 31

4.6.1 The Effects of Rehabilitation ........................................................................ 31

4.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 32

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 33

5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 33

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5.2 Highlights of the Findings ................................................................................ 33

5.3 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................... 33

5.4 Suggestions for Future Research ................................................................... 33

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 34

APPENDIX ............................................................................................................ 39

Appendix 1 – Participants’ Information Letter and Consent Form ......................... 39

Appendix 2 – Research Questions Presented to the Participants ......................... 41

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 ABBREVIATIONS
CSA: Correctional Services Agency
DPP: Department of Probation and Parole
EPQ: Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
EPI: Eysenck Personality Inventory
IPA: Interpretative Phenomenological Approach

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
The purpose of this dissertation is to qualitatively analyse and explore the link
between personality and offending behaviours. Criminology, as a body of
knowledge, tends to focus on macro theories to explain crime; thus, this possible
link within criminology might be largely overlooked since this focus seems to be
more idiosyncratic.

Through this research, the author attempts to seek universal personality models
and narrow down distinct attributes to cognize personality correlation to antisocial
behaviour and crime.

1.2 The Role of Personality Characteristics in Crime and Criminal

Behaviour
Criminologists and psychologists have always been fascinated and interested in
the possible link between personality characteristics and crime.

Whilst the correlations between personality and crime have been broadly explored
and empirically endorsed in psychological writing, fairly limited attempts to study
this link have emerged in conventional criminology. This is regrettable because
common character attributes have been noticed to be vigorously associated to a
wide-ranging array of externalizing and or antisocial behaviours comprising of
criminal misconduct (Miller & Lynam, 2001). The link between the personality one
has and the link it might have to criminal behaviour depends on whether said
person has a healthy personality or not. A healthy personality usually entails
adapting between the needs of the self and external demands of the environment
– thus it is able to tolerate frustration. On the other hand, an unhealthy personality,
which is usually a product of dysfunctional attachments, is unable to attend to
these efficiently resulting in difficulties emerging.

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Personality matters for criminology for the reason that at its most essential level,
personality describes comparatively coherent models of belief, emotion, and acting
demonstrated by people. A person's core personality characteristics may help
explicate why some people respond to strain by participating in externalizing
actions rather than internalizing behaviour.

Moreover, numerous studies have found that imprudent persons are more prone
to reside in criminogenic neighbourhoods (Jones & Lynam, 2009). This not only
enables one’s knowledge of peer group structure and formation, but similarly
provides comprehensions into the ways by which rebellious peers have an impact
on other's actions.

Psychologists have suggested several theories linking personality to crime and

additional antisocial behaviour. Antisocial behaviour can be described as
actions by an individual which produce, or is prone to produce, provocation,
distress, trouble, harassment and or chaos. Eysenck (1977) correlates criminality
with one’s sociability and their level of extrovert characteristics, psychoticism, and
neuroticism.

Recent studies have combined proof noting the cross-situational uniformity and
the longitudinal constancy (Caspi and Bem, 1990) of behaviours and traits. In the
last few years, psychologists have seen behaviours and traits as vital personality
concepts (Kenrick and Funder, 1988; Tellegen, 1991) because they signify
coherent qualities of people who are related to various behavioural realms,
criminality being one of them (Eysenck, 1991).

One’s ability to be self-disciplined, together with their degree of willpower,

influences them to lean towards engaging in criminal actions or not (Gottfredson
and Hirschi, 1990). This personal and subjective ability is understood to identify a
predisposition or proneness to crime. Nevertheless, it is reasoned that being
susceptible to criminal activity and or criminal behaviour is not simply illustrated by
one tendency, such as impulsivity. There are several psychological and

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sociological factors in relation to crime which will be explored throughout this
dissertation, from professionals’ perspectives.

1.3 Crime
Further to the understanding between the links amongst personality and crime,
one is to fully understand the term ‘crime’. There are two central meanings for
‘crime’. From a sociological standpoint, crime is the breach of social norms which
end in a punishment on that certain individual. The definition from the legal aspect
states that an individual who infringes the criminal law faces a penalty for the
breach of that specific criminal law statute.

Additionally, from the legal perspective, there are two sections of crime which are
Actus Reus and Mens Rea. Actus Reus implies that an external and physical
forbidden act, behaviour, or an illegal absence occurred. Mens Rea signifies the
internal and mental aspect of an offence; the state of a guilty mind or the liability of
the mind.

1.4 An Introduction to the Research Questions

For the research purposes of this study and to increase local knowledge regarding
the potential link between personality and criminal behaviour, six qualitative IPA
interviews were organized. The questions were formulated by extensive research
about personality theories and crime.

1.5 Overview of the Dissertation

Subsequent to this chapter, four more chapters are encompassed in this
dissertation. Chapter 2, the Literature Review, presents an evaluation of prevailing
specialists investigating the aspects of the links between genetic personality (Jang
et al., 1996, Reimann et al., 1997) and the possibility of heritable antisocial
behaviour (Mason and Frick, 1994). After Chapter 2, the Methodology in Chapter 3
provides a thorough description of the approach used in this dissertation, in what
manner data was gathered, alongside any ethical issues faced. In Chapter 4, the
Findings and Discussion offers the results and their exploration in connection with

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prior literature. To conclude, Chapter 5 gives a summation of the study, the
limitations faced, along with proposals and recommendations for forthcoming
research and application.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
Criminology has taken many steps to find factors associated with offending
behaviour. As per McGloin and O'Neill Shermer (2009) and Warr (2002), said
factors comprise of concoction of deviant contacts, nurture and the parenting
received (Wright & Cullen, 2001; Jones, Cauffman, & Piquero, 2007), and self-
control (Pratt & Cullen, 2000), to mention a few.

This chapter focuses on understanding the role of personality in criminal

behaviour.

2.2 The Links Between Personality and Crime

Personality is a notable factor in criminal behaviour. Since there is a relationship
between these concepts, it became pertinent to verify this connection and the
extent to which crime can be predicted by personality traits. As the criminal
population is a heterogeneous population that differs in terms of crimes, people,
and behaviour, there was a concern to restrict this population to three large
groups, which for us are the most common today. There seems to be unanimity on
the importance that certain personality traits can influence the subject's criminal
behaviour. It is in this sense that researchers prepared a study, comparing
previous results, with those of the prison population. The study aimed to analyse in
subjects convicted of crimes of murder, those convicted of crimes against property
and in subjects convicted of violent and dangerous crimes, the personality traits of
Eysenck's theory and Zuckerman's theory of sensation seeking, as well as factors
in the subjects' life history that are related to their criminal career (Logan, &
Johnstone, 2010). The sample consisted of 78 inmates, all of whom are adults and
male. To carry out this study, a questionnaire composed of three parts was used:
i) socio-demographic data; ii) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Short Version
(EPQ-SS); iii) Zuckerman's Form V Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS-V). The results
obtained revealed differences between the three groups under study (Mokros, &
Alison, 2002).

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Homicides are characterized by low levels of psychoticism and neuroticism, have
fewer deviant behaviours over time and a lesser criminal career and have less
history of drug and alcohol consumption compared to violent subjects and property
subjects. Violent and dangerous subjects and patrimonial subjects have high
levels of psychoticism and neuroticism and are more likely to commit crime under
the influence of drugs than homicides. In effect, violent and dangerous offenders
have higher values in the search for feelings and are more intolerant of boredom
than homicidal subjects, as well as starting their criminal career earlier, at a
younger age, in relation to the two groups. Relating personality traits to deviant
behaviour, the more psychoticism and neuroticism, the more one is unstable at
work - thus the sooner one begins to commit crimes and the more one is in contact
with the formal control system. On the other hand, the more extroversion and
sensation seeking the more precocious the practice of deviant behaviours and
crimes is. It was also found that the sensation seeking trait is positively related to
extroversion and negatively to lies (Mishra, & Lalumière, 2011).

2.3 Personality Influences, But Does Not Determine, Criminal

Conduct
Nobody is born a criminal, what can exist is a relationship between personality,
which is something that, in part, is born with the person and is formed during the
individual's experience, with a set of factors and momentum that propel the person
to act in a certain way. Egan (2000) postulates that personality, by itself, does not
lead anyone to crime, not least because everyone can have an impulsive action,
but not to the point of committing a crime. A person does not rob a bank just
because they are aggressive, but if they lack particular characteristics, he will
certainly not rob the bank. One’s critical engagement within society also plays a
role. This implies that personality factors might act as an overall driving force
which might be seen in some circumstances as facilitating criminal behaviour.

According to Blonigen (2010), the emotional deprivation that a child suffers has a
major influence on the development of criminal conduct, as a child deprived of
attention is vulnerable in social relationships and has greater difficulties in
adapting to the world and its demands, being a delinquency exit. Of course, the

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social factor alone is not enough for the realization of a criminal action. The critical
model, added Blonigen, leaves aside the crime itself and is more interested in
analysing the process by which the authorities are used to select the conduct
considered as criminal and which individuals should be prosecuted.

2.4 Determinants of Crime: Theoretical Frameworks and Empirical

Results
Understanding what drives people to commit crimes is an arduous task. After all,
there is no consensus on a universal truth. Yet how does one explain that in a
community where there are two twin brothers, one of them embarks on the drug
trafficking route, while the other prefers to follow the path of legality?

Criminologists who, mainly from the beginning of the 20th century, studied the
subject, identified a series of criminogenic factors that, combined in specific
proportions and situations, could explain the cause of the crime. This led to the
development of many models each with a different focus to explain the aetiology of
crime. Therefore, better than perceiving each model as a panacea that explains
such disparate situations, or even as models that account for the generality of the
criminal world, it would be less naive to interpret them as nuances that can help
compose a picture (Howard et al., 2008).

Theories of causation of crime, by shedding light on certain variables and their

epidemiology, allow the State planner to choose from numerous variables those
that are supposed to be the most important (Reid, 2011). The empirical models,
when detailing the measurement methodology, make it possible to centralize
attention and scarce public resources in a few variables, which may not explain a
universal truth, but which decisively (most likely) interfere in the criminal dynamics
of that region where one wants to intervene (Moore, 2011). In this way, the public
planner who strongly believes in a single model of criminal causation to make his
decisions and guide his actions and resources will be doomed to use a
‘Procrustean bed’, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, depending on the
‘customer’ or the particular situation. Hence the need for multidisciplinarity: a

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means of increasing the set of instruments of analysis and public intervention for
an extremely complex object (Graham, & West, 2001).

To elaborate an exhaustive study on the innumerable models and works in the

field of criminal etiology would be a proposal that is too pretentious, not to say
impossible, in the scarce space of an article. Therefore, researchers recognize
that there are certain omissions in the present work, mainly in the field of research
with anthropological orientations, which cover a very rich spectrum of possibilities
and objects of analysis. Such gaps still derive from the strongly empirical
perspective, adopted by us, of trying to understand some important elements that
cause crime and the possibility of its empirical measurement in certain realities,
emphasizing, whenever possible, the limitations and the reach of the results,
especially as tools for the elaboration of State regulatory intervention policies
(Jokela et al., 2015).

2.5 Theories of Personality

2.5.1 The Trait Approach
The Trait Approach is one of the key approaches to the analysis of individual
personality. This approach believes that behaviour is defined by comparatively
durable traits which are the underlying elements of one’s personality. Traits can be
seen as predisposing an individual to behave in a particular manner, irrespective
of the situation. This suggests that traits should stay constant throughout
circumstances and over time, but then again could fluctuate amongst people. It is
believed that people vary in their traits because of hereditary variations. These
hypotheses are known as psychometric theories since they draw attention to
assessing personality by employing psychometric tests. Trait results are
quantitative. An individual receives a numeric mark to imply the possession or not
of a particular trait.

The British psychologist Hans Eysenck formed a categorized model of personality

that comprises of three aspects; those of extraversion / introversion, neuroticism /
stability, and psychoticism. Eysenck applied factor evaluation with orthogonal
sequence, implying that the characteristics are uncorrelated. Eysenck established

8
the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and the Eysenck Personality
Questionnaire (EPQ), designed for evaluating these characteristics. The Eysenck
Personality Profiler delves into distinct qualities of every characteristic. Eysenck
indicated that personality traits are results of the brain, and the outcome of
hereditary considerations.

2.5.2 Eysenck’s Personality Theory

Eysenck was an advocate of the notion that the major aspects of personality ought
to be linked with bodily or genetic discrepancies among people.

The modified Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991)

encompasses seven hundred elements to assess the personality aspects of
extraversion / introversion, neuroticism / stability, and psychoticism. It also
includes a lie scale. A dichotomous answer layout is utilized with respondents
marking ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Caruso, Witkiewitz, Belcourt-Dittlof and Gottlieb (2007)
performed a trustworthiness overview study on data from sixty-nine tests obtained
in forty-four studies applying the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. They found
that the dependability of the extraversion and neuroticism results are sufficient,
whereas the trustworthiness of the psychoticism scale frequently drops below what
would typically be deemed as adequate.

Like the modified Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Eysenck Personality

Profiler calculates the three central personality aspects of extraversion /
introversion, neuroticism / stability, and psychoticism. It also maintains a lie scale
to guarantee that publicly desired answering is regulated. The answer layout is
extended to contain a third viable reply of ‘Can’t Decide’ alongside ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.
However, the Eysenck Personality Profiler is a deviation from the questionnaire
because it additionally utilizes characteristic scales to further assess the three
main personality aspects. The main aspects and their characteristics are explained
further on in this chapter.

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2.5.2.1 Extraversion / Introversion
Extraverts are friendly and yearn for thrill, and consequently can be bored quickly.
They are inclined to be untroubled, enthusiastic, and spontaneous. They are more
prone to partake in risks. Eysenck claims that this is due to the fact that they have
an under stimulated nervous system and subsequently pursue stimulation to
rebuild the degree of ideal stimulus. Eysenck viewed the genetic foundation for
extraversion to be linked to the ability of stimulation of the central nervous system
(Eysenck, 1967). An individual who has a lesser degree of ability of stimulation will
need more amounts of external stimulation to stimulate them to the ideal amount –
therefore, a lesser ability of stimulation is linked with extravert behaviour - for
example, pursuing social stimulation.

Introverts are at the other end of this scale, being reserved and quiet. They are
already over-stimulated and avoid stimulation. Introverts plan ahead and manage
emotions. They are likely to be serious-minded, trustworthy, and unenthusiastic.
An individual with a high degree of ability of stimulation will find outer stimulation to
be over-stimulating. They will be adequately stimulated with calmer situations.

Concerning extroverted individuals, Eysenck insinuates that they are more prone
to be embroiled in criminal activity because of their dampened reticular activating
system.

2.5.2.2 Neuroticism / Stability

An individual's level of neuroticism is decided by the responsiveness of their
sensitive nervous system. A stable individual's nervous system will usually be less
responsive to tense situations, staying level-headed. An individual high in
neuroticism in contrast will be much more unpredictable, and susceptible to
overreacting, worrying, becoming angry or feared. They are excessively emotional
and find it challenging to calm down. Neuroticism is believed to have its foundation
in autonomic nervous system lability. The autonomic nervous system of individuals
who are elevated in neuroticism is more vigorous, and hence reacts more fervently
to hectic and anxiety provoking occurrences.

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Neuroticism means the stability of personality, and an elevated neuroticism score
would correspond to somebody who is more reactive and unpredictable and
conceivably more prone to participate in offending conduct.

2.5.2.3 Psychoticism
Psychoticism was the final feature to be included to the Eysenckian personality
structure and has the feeblest theory relating it to any biological foundations.
Psychoticism is tightly linked to thrill pursuing and impulsivity (Zuckerman
Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta & Kraft, 1994). Characteristics consist of absent in
empathy, spiteful, a loner, belligerent and problematic. This has been correlated to
high amounts of testosterone. The greater the testosterone, the greater the
amount of psychoticism, with low concentrations associated to more regular and
stable behaviour. Elevated levels of this trait were deemed by Eysenck to be
linked to heightened vulnerability to psychosis, for instance schizophrenia.

As stated by Eysenck, the two aspects of neuroticism / stability and extroversion /

introversion blend to create a range of personality types.

2.5.3 Critical Evaluation of Eysenck’s Personality Theory

Eysenck’s theory firmly claims that genetic inclinations towards specific personality
characteristics merged with conditioning and socialization throughout upbringing
build our personality.

Studies on twins was applied to tell if personality is hereditary, but the results are
inconsistent and non-certain. Shields (1976) discovered that identical twins were
considerably more similar on the extroversion / introversion and psychoticism
components than non-identical twins. Loehlin, Willerman, and Horn (1988)
observed that only fifty percent of the differences of results on personality aspects
are due to genetic characteristics. This indicates that societal considerations are
also essential.

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A good facet of Eysenck’s theory is that it considers nature and nurture. This
interactionist tactic may, as a result, be more rational than either a genetic or
environmental theory alone.

2.6 The Social Constructionist Approach to Personality

Most theoretic propositions describe criminality, deviancy, as well
as criminal conduct from the sociological, psychological, and biological viewpoints.
However, social constructionism rationalizes crime by concentrating on
interpretative meanings and opinions that individuals generate in their psyches,
making it a social reality.

Embedded in symbolic interactionism, criminal actions are judged criminal

because individuals, via their social interactions, give significance to those
behaviours and actions. The categorization or definition of crimes is the outcome
of individuals' knowledge, collective understandings, and regularly the power of the
media.

A number of disciplines have been greatly influenced in latest years by

constructionism, a methodology that evaluates the procedures by which social
information is created, dispersed, validated, and disconfirmed. Criminal justice too
has established a constructionist tradition, albeit mostly by way of appealing to
academics from other fields into its terrain.

A crucial inkling in the sociology of crime and nonconformity is that crime is

socially constructed which means that whether a conduct is criminal or not is
decided by social processes. In the case of crime, the introduction of new Acts of
Parliament which change the law continually change the nature of crime.

Therefore, there are numerous things that were not unlawful in the past which are
criminal and consequently illegal nowadays.

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2.7 The Development of Personality
2.7.1 The Nature versus Nurture Debate
The nature versus nurture debate entails the degree to which specific traits of
behaviour are a result of either hereditary or learned influences. Nature is what we
think of as pre-wiring and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological
factors. Nurture is normally the impact of outward considerations after conception,
such as life encounters and learning on a person.

Behavioural inheritances has allowed psychology to measure the involvement of

nature and nurture with attention to certain psychological characteristics.
Alternative to supporting intense nativistic or nurturist stances, many psychological
researchers are attentive at exploring in what way nature and nurture work
together in a multitude of qualitatively methods.

2.7.2 Evidence for Nature: The Biological Approach

The biological approach considers people to be as a result of our inheritances and
bodily processes. It is the only methodology in psychology that assesses emotions
and behaviours from a genetic, and hence physical, standpoint. A biological
standpoint is essential to psychology due to the aspects of the comparative
method, physiology, and the study of inheritance.

The comparative method entails various species of animals being examined and
contrasted. This can assist in the pursuit to comprehend human conduct.
Physiology, on the other hand, focuses on how the nervous system, brain, and
hormones operate, and how alterations in composition can alter conduct. The
study of inheritance concentrates on what an animal gets genetically from its
parents - for instance, whether high-level intellect is passed on from generations.

2.7.3 The Biological Approach: Study of Inheritance

Studies on twins offer geneticists with a natural test wherein the behavioural
resemblance of identical twins can be contrasted with non-identical twins. If

13
inheritances have an effect on behaviour, then identical twins ought to
demonstrate a larger resemblance for that attribute.

Identical twins have equal inherited make-up, and non-identical twins have fifty
percent of their genetic material in common. Therefore, if concordance ratios are
considerably greater for identical twins, then this is proof that genetics has a key
role in the manifestation of that certain behaviour.

Bouchard and McGue (1981) performed an analysis of 111 global experiments

which evaluated the intelligence of people within the same family. The following
numbers signify the median amount of resemblance among the individuals; the
greater the resemblance, the more akin the intelligence results;

Identical twins who were raised together had .86 correlation whilst identical twins
who were raised separately resulted to have .72 correlation. Non-identical twins
raised together resulted in .60. Siblings raised together had a correlation of .47
and siblings raised separately equalled to .24, whilst cousins had a correlation of
.15.

The human brain is a very complex chunk of genetic apparatus. Researchers have
just arrived at the tip of the iceberg of knowing the numerous roles and functions of
the mechanisms of the brain. The human brain can affect countless forms of
behaviour.

2.7.4 Evidence for Nurture: Attachment Styles

Studies have indicated that there are particular variations in attachment.
Undeniably, one of the main concepts in attachment theory is that of the safety,
protection, and security of a person's attachment (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970).

Mary Ainsworth, a psychologist, developed an evaluation method known as The

Strange Situation Classification to explore in what way attachments may differ
amongst kids.

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The reassurance of attachment in one- to two-year-olds were explored applying
The Strange Situation model, to clarify the type of attachment manners and types
of attachment. Ainsworth created a tentative method to examine the range of
attachment types displayed amongst mums and children.

The research was done in a room with one-way glass so the conduct of the child
can be noted secretly. The process was performed by examining the actions of the
child in a sequence of eight instalments, each taking roughly three minutes. Said
instalments consisted of firstly the mother, the child, and experimenter, then the
mum and child, and after that, a stranger enters and joins them. Following that, the
mum then leaves the child alone with said stranger. The fifth instalment requires
the mum to return, and the stranger exists. The mum then leaves the child totally
alone, until the stranger returns. Finally, the stranger leaves and the mum is
reunited with her child.

The attachment styles as per The Strange Situation’s groupings are centred
mostly on four communication behaviours targeted towards the mum in the fifth
and final instalments, when the mum and child are reunited. The child’s vicinity
and contacting seeking is observed, as well as the interaction sustaining. On the
other hand, the avoidance of the child’s vicinity and contact is also observed
alongside their resistance to make contact and soothing.

Additional behaviours studied encompassed tentative behaviours; such as playing

with toys, pursuit behaviours; like going after the mum, and whether the child’s
affects displayed negatively; for instance weeping or cheerful.

Ainsworth (1970) recognized three major attachment types; secure, insecure

avoidant and insecure ambivalent/resistant. It was determined that these
attachment types were the consequence of contacts early on with the mum.

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2.7.5 The Strange Situation: Attachment Styles
The attachment styles have been used to rationalize the inner processes of the
offender, which can be useful in the risk assessment and treatment of sexual and /
or violent offenders, attempting to make sense of external actions.

2.7.5.1 Secure Attachment

Securely attached kids encompassed the bulk of the sample in Ainsworth’s (1971,
1978) findings. Such kids feel assured that the attachment figure will be accessible
to meet their requirements, desires and needs. They utilize the attachment figure
as a reliable basis to investigate the atmosphere and pursue the attachment figure
in moments of stress (Main, & Cassidy, 1988).

Securely attached kids are effortlessly calmed by the attachment figure when
dismayed. Kids cultivate a secure bond when the caregiver is receptive to their
gestures and reacts suitably to their wants. As per Bowlby (1980), a person who
has undergone a secure attachment “is likely to possess a representational model
of attachment figures(s) as being available, responsive, and helpful” (Bowlby,
1980).

Securely attached kids build a constructive and positive working model of

themselves and have psychological interpretations of others as being supportive
and helpful whilst seeing themselves as deserving of respect (Jacobsen, &
Hoffman, 1997).

2.7.5.2 Insecure Avoidant

Insecure avoidant kids do not adjust to their attachment figure whilst exploring the
atmosphere. They are extremely emotionally and physically self-reliant from the
attachment figure (Behrens, Hesse, & Main, 2007).

They do not pursue interaction with the attachment figure when distraught. Such
kids are prone to have a carer who is unsympathetic and discarding of their
requirements (Ainsworth, 1979). The attachment figure may pull away from aiding

16
in tough duties (Stevenson-Hinde, & Verschueren, 2002) and is regularly absent
throughout times of emotional stress.

2.7.5.3 Insecure Ambivalent / Resistant

The third attachment style detected by Ainsworth (1970) was insecure ambivalent /
resistant. Here, kids implement an uncertain interactive approach to the
attachment figure. The kid will regularly display insecure and reliant actions but will
be denying the attachment figure when they take part in interaction.

The kid neglects to cultivate any emotions of safety from the attachment figure.
Also, they display complexity shifting away from the attachment figure to discover
new settings. When anxious, they are tough to ease and are not consoled by
contact with the attachment figure. This conduct is a result from an unbalanced
amount of reaction to their requirements from the primary carer.

Insecure attachment types are linked with an enhanced probability of societal and
emotional developmental and behaviour challenges through the inner working
model.

2.8 The Age-Crime Curve and Its Influence on Crime

The structure of the link and union amongst age and crime has been noted to be
curved (Quetelet, 1831). When age is charted by criminality levels, the gradient of
the association rises quickly throughout teenage years, crests in initial adulthood
years and then plummets after that. While the age-crime curve is well recognized
and is considered as “one of the brute facts of criminology” (Hirschi and
Gottfredson, 1983:552), the underlying factors causing this link remains in
question.

One leading stance declares that a specific unchangeable element causes the full
array of processes of unlawful conduct (Hirschi and Gottfredson, 1983). The
tendency stance argues that the root of criminality pivots on a particular persistent
characteristic of the person instead of specific situations that change over the
person's life path. This enduring or underlying characteristic is regarded as self-

17
control and is devised as the predisposition to evade actions whose long-term
negative consequences surpass their temporary benefits (Gottfredson and Hirschi,
1990). The antisocial characteristic of low self-control is moulded early on in
upbringing by ineffective childcare methods and lingers with a person during the
course of their life course.

Proof of this unchanging characteristic is supported by a person's inclination to

take part in illicit activity and other imprudent, risk-taking actions such as
unrestrained sexual conduct with hardly any concern for the potential negative
outcomes of their behaviours. Fairly little division amid illicit action and other kinds
of unsafe actions is hypothesized by the tendency theory (Tittle and Grasmick,
1998). Nevertheless, an individual's incapability to accept satisfaction is not
viewed as the only definitive of whether one participates in criminal actions. The
vital facet for the existence of a given offense is the collaboration among a
person's degree of self-control and the prospect for a crime to arise.

Another and perhaps more universally given justification for the upturned U-
shaped link amongst age and crime is that theoretically distinctive underlying
considerations bring about various rates of offending over a person's life course
(Brandt, 2006; Greenberg, 1983). This standpoint concentrates on disparities in
the societal encounters and situations of persons, along with differences in
important individual and societal assets that are associated to wrongdoing and that
fluctuate analytically throughout the life course. Variations in criminal behaviour
patterns are considered to happen as an individual develops from infancy all
through older age with him or her undergoing an array of main life-changing
encounters such as full-time work, marriage, and paternity. These encounters
assist desistance from crime due to heightened exposure to social capital.

Greenberg (1977,1983) for instance stressed the responsibility of monetary

considerations in explaining the age-crime curve. Since youths are omitted from
the job market or constrained to part-time employments which are feebly
reimbursed, they have inadequate funds from genuine resources to pay for their
preferred degree of social pursuits. Youths are consequently driven to execute

18
offenses so as to realize their perceived societal requirements. The absence of
parent guardianship at home generated from the absenteeism of employed
parents additionally makes youths less prone to the limitations of informal social
control. Once youths grow into adults, full-time work facilitates to satisfy these
resources of criminogenic annoyance whilst concurrently improving informal social
control.

Warr (2002) has conveyed the notion that the curved link between age and crime
is embedded in the societal nature of youth criminal behaviour. As per what is
universally referred to as the companion crime hypothesis, the age dissemination
of crime is speculated to curb from age-related shifts in friend relationships. The
basic assumption is that people experience a shift in their contact to criminal
friends throughout teenage years, and that this increased exposure to criminal
friends acts to magnify group involvement in illicit conduct. As people age, though,
the relationships with unlawfully motivated friends are reduced or removed
completely by new life-course changes. The deterioration or removing of these
friend relationships is hypothesized to affect a decrease in criminal offending,
notably co-offending, that starts to reveal itself in the first part of adulthood and
that persists into old age.

2.9 Conclusion
This chapter explained how personality is a foremost factor in many types of
actions, including criminal actions. The next chapter will review the approach
employed to gather the data for this dissertation, the enlistment of the participants,
and ethical concerns.

19
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction
This chapter will explain the sort of research method and the measures selected to
gather data. It additionally clarifies further information, for instance; selection and
enlistment of the contributors, data analysis and ethical factors.

3.2 Research Method Used

This research is a qualitative exploration of professionals working with offenders.
Through the use of IPA interviews conducted by the author, the different themes
and subthemes associated with the role of personality in offending behaviour that
emerged were analysed and compared to other literature in the field.

A qualitative method was considered suitable as it gives a better chance for a

detailed investigation concerning this subject. Qualitative research concentrates
more on how individuals can view their own personal truths. It therefore
concentrates on encounters instead of statistical figures (Hancock, 2001).

Prior to the interviews, a thorough search for practical studies concerning the link
between personality and crime was conducted. To do so, significant databases
were searched for studies preferably issued from the year 2000 onwards.
Keywords used whilst searching included; crime and personality, personality traits,
attachment styles, nature versus nurture and the age-crime curve.

3.3 Data Collection Method

The data for this particular study was accumulated via comprehensive IPA
interviews. The purpose of detailed interviews is to investigate the thoughts of
participants about a certain matter or topic. It lets investigators get hold of
exhaustive information regarding what others consider and feel, and their
behaviour.

20
The researcher opted for IPA interviews due to the fact that they are semi-
structured, therefore offering the chance for the participants to discuss in great
detail. IPA interviews make use of open-ended questions, hence provided the
flexibility to follow up on any answers given with additional questions which were
not necessarily on the initial plan. With that in mind, each IPA interview made use
of a structured outline to safeguard that crucial matters were tackled.

Before the interviews, the interview questions were forwarded to the participants
via email. Prior to the interviews, the researcher provided the participants with time
to question and tackle any doubts about the study and the questions. The
interviews were conducted online via Zoom and Skype. Each interview was
recorded, with the participants’ permission, and transliterated at a later phase.

3.4 Sampling and Recruitment of Participants

In qualitative studies, researchers select individuals who they believe are
experienced in the specific area being researched.

For this precise reason, selective sampling was employed. Selective sampling is a
non-probability sampling method. The researcher selects contributors by trusting
their own intelligence. The key purpose of this kind of selection is to concentrate
on specific attributes of the populace that are significant to the researcher. This
requires that the researcher elects contributors that are knowledgeable on the
study subject (Palys, 2008). In this study, the designated contributors have a
rapport and operate in the field of offender rehabilitation and reintegration.

The chosen participants were psychologists. All contributors had immediate

experience with offenders. Each participant was recruited from the DPP and the
CSA, two Maltese governmental entities that deal with offenders and offer some
form of therapeutic programmes to offenders. All participants requested to remain
anonymous.

21
3.5 Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was applied to study the accumulated interviews data. As
stated by Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic analysis is a technique that pinpoints,
assesses, and reports themes and sub-themes in the data gathered. A theme
signifies a connotation inside the data. It furthermore detects critical facets of the
data that correlate to the research question.

3.6 Ethical Clearance

This study has been endorsed by the Research Ethics Department of The
University of Malta in 2020 as the author abides by all the guidelines for the liable
conduct of the research. Apart from this research being overseen with high ethical
standards on the whole, specific ethical principals have been maintained all the
way through. Said principles consist of truthfully registered data, findings, methods
and procedures, and publication status alongside acknowledging impartiality.
Integrity has also been highly deemed together with respecting rights, copyrights,
and other types of academic property coupled with a zero-tolerance stance
towards plagiarism.

The author also safeguarded classified communications, such as persons records,

and social accountability as well as lawfulness.

3.7 Conclusion
All through this section, a framework of how data was gathered was reviewed. The
following chapter will scrutinize the evaluation of the data gathered from the
interviews and link it to earlier research.

22
 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction
This chapter will concentrate on the evaluation of data that emerged from the
interviews done. Five themes have been obtained, and every theme was
additionally split up into sub-themes. Table 1 (see subsection 4.1.1) delivers an
outline of the themes. Furthermore, in this section, aside from the evaluation of the
candidates’ responses, linkage to prior research is done.

4.1.1 Table 1: Identification of Themes

Main Themes Sub-themes
4.2 Theme 1: The Impact of 4.2.1 Vulnerability due to personality
Personality on Crime 4.2.2 Ordinary and proto criminal types

4.3 Theme 2: Nature versus Nurture 4.3.1 Development of antisocial

attitudes
4.3.2 The role of the environment

4.4 Theme 3: Typology of Offence 4.4.1 Situational crime versus planned

crime
4.4.2 Violent offending: do particular
crimes have particular traits?

4.5 Theme 4: Maturation 4.5.1 Personality change over time

4.5.2 Personality change over
intervention

4.6 Theme 5: The Impact of Changed 4.6.1 The effects of rehabilitation

Behaviour on Crime

4.2 Theme 1: The Impact of Personality on Crime

4.2.1 Vulnerability Due to Personality
The participants were asked whether personality traits may predispose a person
towards crime. Three of the six participants believed this to be so.

“Antisocial behaviour, being sadistic, narcissism, being paranoid […] It is linked to

learning and experiencing as a child. Another example is borderline personality in
females. [When there’s a] difficulty in one’s personality, they adjust in self-

23
destructive behaviour such as drug use which leads to crime such as stealing.” –
Participant 1

One’s personality defines one’s behavioural inclinations, tendencies of thought

and methods of relating to the world. For example, some find it a lot tougher to
maintain their negative emotions in check, which is quantified by the Big Five
personality trait of neuroticism (or ‘emotional instability’). It appears plausible that
individuals with this type of disposition may be more susceptible to forming mental
health problems akin to anxiety and depression, and in fact many studies indicate
this to be the case. This is further supported through the findings of Logan and
Johnstone (2010) and Mishra and Lalumière (2011) explained in Chapter 2,
section 2.2.

A vital study in European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience (2008)

proposes that some individuals have a personality profile that inclines them to
mental health problems, to more sombre mental health problems when they occur,
and even to more adverse life events, such as committing crime.

Having said that, the other half of the participants claimed that personality
influences, but does not determine, crime.

“In certain crimes you can identity a pattern of traits – for example paedophiles are
socially anxious – domestic violent people are controlling. Certain crimes are
associated with certain traits. Whether personality traits predispose a person to
crime is questionable; rather they facilitate for a person to end up in certain
situations - because not everyone who is socially anxious is a paedophile – which
is a sign that instead of predisposing, they facilitate. This suggests that there are
other factors like attachment and behavioural habits and emotional regulation
skills. Personality traits are something brought up with an individual. They are
genetic tendencies, but the bulk is with what the person grows up to learn.” -
Participant 6

Egan (2000) asserts that personality alone does not steer anyone towards crime.
Adding to that, Blonigen (2010) stated that the emotional scarcity that a child
endures also has a big impact on the development of criminal behaviour. Blonigen
explained that a child lacking attention is in danger in social relationships and has
tougher struggles in adjusting to the world and its requirements.

24
4.2.2 Ordinary and Proto Criminal Types
All six participants concurred that numerous forms of crime exist. Criminologists
generally group crimes into plentiful key grouping such as; violent, property, white-
collar, or organized crime. Within each general typology there might be more
specific subcategories - for instance, violent crime incorporates murder,
aggravated and simple assault; sexual offences might include rape, sexual assault
and child sexual abuse, whilst property crime contains burglary, shoplifting, vehicle
theft, as well as arson.

Information of the types of individuals who commit criminalities is subject to one

superseding limitation; it is usually based on studies of those who have been
detained, impeached, and imprisoned, and those people—which signify only failed
offenders—are not necessarily typical of the whole range of criminals. In spite of
that limitation, some rudimentary truths arise that give a relatively precise
description of those who execute crimes. In fact, another subtheme that emerged
from the data collected focused on the whether there are personality styles that
are associated with specific offending. All of the six participants answered by
saying that whilst particular personalities seem to habitually emerge in particular
types of offenders and offenses, it does not automatically mean that any person
with a specific personality trait will engage in a specific type of crime – or any type
of crime, for that matter.

“Personality can lead to particular disorders or tendencies, but I would not say it
determines anything. For example, there are many narcissists who are not
involved in criminal behaviour.” – Participant 5

Eysenck’s Personality Theory (Eysenck, 1952) determinedly asserts that

hereditary leanings in the direction of specific personality characteristics melded
with conditioning and socialization throughout upbringing build our personality.
This theory is explained in great detail in Chapter 2, section 2.5; subsections 2.5.1
until 2.5.3.

25
4.3 Theme 2: Nature versus Nurture
4.3.1 Development of Antisocial Attitudes
The respondents identified three types of antisocial attitudes.

With a general, abstract, and antisocial attitude, a person can commit, depending
on specific conditions, any crime or any of a fairly wide range of crimes of various
kinds. This is perhaps the most dangerous type of installation or the most difficult
from the point of view of its depreciation. The carriers of such an antisocial attitude
are highly characterized by a pronounced situational behaviour, the absence of an
internal moral core, and any solid moral and ethical foundations.

There is then a narrower antisocial attitude that can generate an intention to

commit a crime of a certain type, for example property crime, but not crimes
against the person. Finally, the content of the antisocial attitude may be such that
a person is capable of committing only a certain crime, for example, rape (Blickle
et al., 2006).

With regards to how an antisocial attitude is developed, all of the six participants
agreed that both nature and nurture influence the individual. Nature is described
as a person’s pre-wiring and is shaped by hereditary inheritance and
supplementary natural considerations. Nurture is generally the influence of
external factors after conception, like experiences throughout one’s life.

Yet, whilst all agreed that both facets play a role, participants 1, 2, 4, and 5
emphasised a lot on the impact of nurture and the attachments formed throughout
one’s childhood.

“Twin studies show us that [twins] can still be very different. Nurture makes a huge
difference. Attachment impacts our personality because of the interpretation that a
child shapes. Personality develops until a person is fully mature until
approximately 27 years old and early childhood plays a role. Also, brain injuries
have caused personality changes.” – Participant 5

26
Attachment styles in childhood and youthhood have been employed to explain the
inner procedures of a criminal. Understanding different attachment styles is
beneficial when trying to comprehend illicit external behaviours. Ainsworth (1970)
distinguished three key attachment types; secure, insecure avoidant and insecure
ambivalent / resistant. A thorough explanation of these attachment types and their
possible links to potential future criminality can be found in Chapter 2, section 2.7;
subsections 2.7.4 and 2.7.5 (including its subsubsections 2.7.5.1 until 2.7.5.3).
Participant 4 added to this by stating that “Three or four generations of criminals
can give birth to a noncriminal. Genetics can only do so much.”

4.3.2 The Role of The Environment

Through the participants’ responses, it was agreed amongst them that a lot usually
keeps a person away from crime. The general way of life and the circle of life
goals pursued by a person tend to keep a person away from crime because crime
often causes great and irreparable harm to these, since it undermines the well-
being of the family and the relationships that the subject has with many other
people.

In general, a healthy and positive upbringing and vital interests of the individual
usually force a person to maintain a certain moral level and create a certain moral
tone in them - for instance moral tension, due to which one tries to eliminate the
difficulties encountered on their way by means that do not harm the achievement
of their main life goals. Usually, a person keeps away from criminal ways and
methods of action because they threaten one’s good relations with other people,
public censure and mistrust, separation from the family, and trial and punishment.
That being said, participants 2 and 6 highlighted the fact that starting off from
childhood all the way into adulthood, an individual may model the behaviour of
those around them, generally of people that have a certain degree of influence on
them; such as that of parents or peers.

“Situational factors come into play. For example, if you are working with a drug
addict and are addressing reducing drug use, but then he is at a drug induced
party, he will relapse. Another example is when you have a family of criminals, and
the kids are involved.” – Participant 6

27
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) put a lot of importance on one’s ability of self-
control to avoid criminal conduct. The antisocial trait of low self-control is shaped
throughout a child’s upbringing through futile care practices and remains for the
duration of one’s life.

4.4 Theme 3: Typology of Crime

4.4.1 Situational Crime versus Planned Crime
One of the questions asked the participants if the situation around a person can
mould their thinking and force them to commit crimes. Participants 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
responded with a direct ‘yes’ as a situation can change a person into anything and
make one commit crimes. “Personality is persuasive – stressful situations can
push to change the attitude badly.” – Participant 3.

“Yes, in dire situations, the element of impulsivity takes over. A person is usually
consistent with their personality, but anyone is capable of offending if pushed
towards the edge.” – Participant 1

Situational crime concentrates on the environment and atmosphere for illicit

actions instead of on the traits of wrongdoers.

Whilst participant 6 stated that she too agrees that a situation can affect an
individual, she added that situational factors do not act alone. She discussed that
the criminal type is not just the sum of the known mental properties of a person,
but a certain personality structure, a known combination of its mental properties,
which creates, so to speak, a bias of this person towards crime, prompting them to
either directly look for an opportunity to commit a crime, not to miss an opportunity,
or cannot resist the temptations of crime prompted by certain sensual impulses.

“A small percentage never offend, and a small percentage always offend. The
majority sit in the middle and vary in the types of crime committing. Peer group,
control and one’s behaviours, plus attachment styles, influence committing or
averting crime. Yes, some situations make a person act in an atypical way, but
even if the situation calls for a particular way of acting, for some it is unlikely to
give into crime, even if they have the opportunity - as opposed to someone who
generally commits crimes – it is related to their ‘normal’ way of behaving. It is not
‘just’ the situations, there are other variables such as feelings on a personal

28
temporary level such as stress. In fact, research shows that 50% of crimes by
women are committed during the menstrual cycle in women. Criminals are
versatile, and it’s likely to find other types of crime on one record.” – Participant 6

According to Eck and Clarke (2019), criminality is the outcome of a collaboration

amongst temperament and situation. Criminals opt to perpetrate a crime
depending on their assessments of obtainable opportunities. The criminal type is a
kind of mental constitution in which a person develops and receives the realization
of the desire for a certain crime under such circumstances in which the vast
majority of people do not have such a desire, or at least the latter does not receive
sufficient development for its implementation. Subsequently, situational
components could promote crime and tackling these components can reduce
crime.

4.4.2 Violent Offending: Do Particular Crimes Have Particular

Traits?
All six participants disclosed that, regularly, experts do find certain personality
patterns in particular crimes. They also all added that should an individual have a
particular set of traits, this does not automatically mean that they will engage in
illicit behaviour.

“There is a link but not a definite predisposition. Personality is set by age 23, and
some are more prone to particular behaviour than others. Early trauma and
attachment play a role, but having said that, it does not mean that everyone will
engage in crime, for example people with impulsivity.” – Participant 2

In the general set of features, signs, and relationships that characterize the overall
personality of the offender, first of all, one should be interested in the complex of
negative views, beliefs, habits, and properties of a given person, which, refracted
through the conditions of life, can cause a crime and which, surviving, it can re-
launch the mechanism of criminal behaviour in the future (Alison et al., 2002). This
complex is usually called the antisocial attitude of the individual. The latter is part
of the social and moral attitude of the individual, precisely that part of it, which
should be subject to destruction and/or replacement by a new attitude in the
process of re-education of convicts. In practice, it is not enough to state the very

29
fact of the existence of an antisocial attitude in the mind of a criminal. It is valuable
to understand the conditions.

“Behaviour is separated from personality. Behaviour is how a person acts,

personality is what makes a person. Research proves that criminals are different
from the general population.” – Participant 3

It should be noted that many persons who have committed, for example, reckless
crimes, may lack the traits typical of criminals. The identity of the offender should
be a label for the most dangerous and worst offenders. The personality of a
criminal can be defined as a certain model, social and psychological, with specific
features. This is a kind of abstraction, a set of scientific ideas about those who
commit crimes (Romero et al., 2003). Criminals are characterized by antisocial
views, a negative attitude towards moral values and the choice of a socially
dangerous path to meet their needs or failure to show the necessary activity to
prevent a negative result. This definition also covers those who have committed a
crime intentionally or recklessly.

4.5 Theme 4: Maturation

4.5.1 Personality Change Over Time
The six interviewed professionals all assented that personality does not actually
change over time. It is more one’s perspectives and priorities that change, and
they all stated that age, stamina, and interest play vital roles in one’s decision to
lean to or away from crime. The participants highlighted the importance of therapy
but explained that therapy does not change personality – it modifies personality for
one to function in a more sociably acceptable manner.

“Personality issues require time and usually do not change. A good therapeutic
relationship is important. With constant therapy, one could in theory change the
way one looks at and tackles situations. Personality does not change but
awareness and adjustments do happen. Personality is static and age is dynamic.
The older you get, the less chance of crime. Family, jobs, age, they usually calm
personality down.” – Participant 1

Brandt (2006) and Greenberg (1983) both state that certain factors bring about
different amounts and degrees of criminal action during one’s life span.

30
Differences in one’s social encounters and situations as they grow up, in
conjunction with changes in vital personal and social priorities, vary systematically.
These changes throughout life aid desistance from crime because of increased
contact to social capital, maturity, commitments, and added value to one’s life. In
Chapter 2, section 2.8, more insight regarding the age-crime curve and its
influence on crime is provided.

4.5.2 Personality Change Over Intervention

All six respondents believed that interventions could impact criminal behaviour –
yet they also all stated that it is not personality that changes over intervention but
rather negative behaviour. “It is not about personality change, it is about
modification of personality tendencies and toning down.” – Participant 6.

“Through interventions, one abides to more pro-social ways of achieving the same
goals. Traits can change slightly because, once personality is formed as an adult,
it is usually uniform. Through interventions we could change how a person thinks;
different shades of the personas.” – Participant 2

Roberts and Del Vecchio (2000) disclose the fact that personality is somewhat
uniform during the course of one’s life, possibly justifying the stability of one’s
antisocial behaviour (Loeber, 1982).

4.6 Theme 5: The Impact of Changed Behaviour on Crime

4.6.1 The Effects of Rehabilitation
When queried on the effects of rehabilitation and the impact of changed behaviour
on crime, the six respondents explained that criminal rehabilitation is
fundamentally the procedure of aiding criminals mature and shift psychologically,
letting them detached themselves from the environmental elements that made
them execute a crime in the first place.

The six participants had quite a positive outlook on the effects of rehabilitation.

“[The difference] is just a drop in the ocean, but every difference makes a
difference. The desistance of one criminal is going to have an impact. At a

31
microlevel, the impact is going to be huge especially looking at the victims
effected. At a macro perspective, not many differences may appear. Therapists
work one client at a time, and on a personal level the work is very important. With
each criminal there are many people effected and suffering; the criminals’ families,
the victims’ families, and the direct victims.” – Participant 6

“If self-concept is challenged, if negative beliefs are decreased and self-control is

increased, there is less chance of a person of recommitting. Also, consider
generational crimes; [rehabilitation] stops the link from generation to generation
and criminality in general can be reduced.” – Participant 3

Everyone will benefit if wrongdoers go back into society trained and prepared to
start a self-supportive and rule-abiding life. Delivering education, training and
employment chances might be the most direct means of helping such persons to
leave criminality behind. Nowadays, many prisons provide classroom
environments whereby prisoners can be taught various subjects. To further
rehabilitate, several detention centres have started working with therapists to
assist with inmates’ mental conditions and emotional problems. These
rehabilitation practices are recognized to have a constructive influence on inmates
and wrongdoers. Once released, those who would have stuck with rehabilitation
programmes are granted a better chance to thrive and to grow into law obeying
people (UNODC, 2017).

4.7 Conclusion
In this chapter, the data collected from the interviews was analysed. The central
themes discovered were the impact of personality on crime, nature versus nurture,
typology of offence, maturation, and the impact of changed behaviour on crime.

32
 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Introduction
This chapter encapsulates this research’s findings and delves into limitations that
may have impeded the research procedure. It additionally presents suggestions
for potential research on the link between personality and crime.

5.2 Highlights of the Findings

From the data analysis, it emerged that it is difficult to surmise exactly what
psychological traits are pertinent only to criminal populations, with a number of
respondents claiming that certain psychological traits that would make up the
criminal personality are also found in non-delinquent populations. Thus, although
reference was made to a criminal prototype of personality with particular
psychological characteristics, it was difficult to attribute this personality style only
to criminal populations. A common definition of the criteria of a criminal
personality seemed to imply a capability of inflicting suffering and a devoid of
morality. Despite this definition that was put forward by the participants, it was also
acknowledged by the same participants that this definition, especially the element
of sadistic tendencies and amorality, does not apply for all individuals involved in
criminality.

5.3 Limitations of the Study

Discovering the viewpoints of specialists was one of the objectives of this study.
Nevertheless, additional knowledge could have been collected had the research
centred on the investigation of the viewpoints and encounters of offenders.

5.4 Suggestions for Future Research

Most of the present research concentrates on the triggers and typologies of crime
from the perspectives of professionals. It therefore appears that the main risk
factors identified are more consensuses-based than analytically driven. It would be
interesting if future research were conducted by examining the perspectives of the
victims and offenders. This would allow for better knowledge and understanding of
criminal personality.

33
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 APPENDIX
Appendix 1 – Participants’ Information Letter and Consent Form

University of Malta
Department of Criminology
Faculty for Social Wellbeing
Friday 1st May 2020

Information About the Study

My name is Erica Micallef Filletti, and I am a student at the University of Malta,

reading for a BA (Hons) in criminology. I am presently conducting research as part
of my dissertation titled ‘Personality & Crime: Linked? A Professional’s
Perspective’. This is being supervised by Dr Kevin Sammut Henwood;
[email protected].

The aim of my study is to clarify why some people respond to strain circumstances
via externalizing behaviours instead of internalizing manners; and why people in
identical criminogenic circumstances might react otherwise. Furthermore, I will
strive to provide a comprehensible grasp of the nature vs nurture debate for a
better insight on whether personality traits predispose an individual to commit
crimes.

Your Participation

Any data collected from this research will be used solely for purposes of this study.
Should you choose to participate, you will be asked to discuss and extrapolate any
themes and sub themes associated with the role of personality in offending
behaviour.

Data collected will be gathered through use of an IPA interview. The interview will
consist of six (6) questions and will last between 45 minutes to 1 hour at most.

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary; in other words, you are free to
accept or refuse to participate, without needing to give a reason.

You are also free to withdraw from the study at any time, without needing to
provide any explanation and without any negative repercussions for you. Should
you choose to withdraw, any data collected from your interview will be stored
anonymously.

If you choose to participate, please note that there are no direct benefits to you.

Your participation entails the risk of your name being exposed within the
dissertation; however you may opt to remain completely anonymous throughout
and no personal referencing will be made.

39
Data Management

The data collected will be treated confidentially. Any personal data and research
data will be stored in my personal laptop in which only I have access to.
Additionally, I intend to record the interview, with your go ahead. Your identity will
be revealed/attributed only with your consent.

Please also note that, as a participant, you have the right under the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national legislation to access, rectify and where
applicable ask for the data concerning you to be erased.

All recordings, personal data and research data will be deleted permanently once
my dissertation is finalized. The deletion will occur three (3) months after the
completion of the study.

Participant’s Consent

I hereby declare to have read the information about the nature of the study, my
involvement and data management.
I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the study and my questions
have been satisfactorily answered.
I declare that I am 18 years or older.
I understand that should I have any further queries, I can contact;

Student researcher: Erica Micallef Filletti

Email: [email protected]

Supervisor: Dr Kevin Sammut Henwood

Email: [email protected]

I agree to participate in this research study.

Mark Only If Applicable

I agree to be identified in the research records.

I agree to be identified in the research publications.

______________________________________ERICA MICALLEF FILLETTI

Participant’s name (in block) Researcher’s name (in block)

_____________________________________ ______________________
Participant’s signature Researcher’s signature

_______________________
Date

40
Appendix 2 – Research Questions Presented to the Participants

University of Malta
Department of Criminology
Faculty for Social Wellbeing

Dissertation IPA Interview Questions

Student researcher: Erica Micallef Filletti Student ID #: 0340095M

Supervisor: Dr Kevin Sammut Henwood

Personality & Crime: Linked?

A Professional’s Perspective

1. Do personality traits predispose an individual to commit crimes?

2. Nature, nurture, or both?

3. Can situational decisions go against a person's personality and values in

that current moment resulting in them committing a crime (even though it is
against their norm)?

4. Can one's expected personality change, which happens over time, lead
them to or away from crime?

5. As a professional in the field working with offenders, do you have any

expectations of personality change through their interventions?

6. Would the above-mentioned personality change of an offender have an

impact on crime itself?

41