Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach [Hardcover]

Curt R. Bartol (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0130918377 | ISBN-13: 978-0130918376 | Edition: 6

This volume uses a cognitive-behavioral and interactionist approach, integrating international theory and research and moving from broad, theoretical explanations and descriptions of crime toward empirical research on specific criminal offenses. Viewing the criminal offender as being embedded and continually influenced by multiple systems within the psychosocial environment, the book examines the causes, classification, prediction, prevention intervention, and treatment of criminal behavior from a social psychological perspective. The Sixth Edition presents the criminal offender as existing on a continuum, ranging from the serious, repetitive offender that begins his/her criminal career at a very young age to the adolescent-limited offender who usually begins offending during adolescence. This overview provides readers with an explanation of the elements of criminal behavior including juvenile delinquency, developmental factors, the origins of criminal behavior, biological factors, mentally disordered offender, human aggression and violence, criminal homicide and assault, offenses, economic issues, drugs and correctional psychology. For individuals interested in criminal behavior, criminology and the psychology of crime.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Balanced, comprehensive, and research-based, this text explores the psychological factors -- dispositional and environmental -- affecting criminal behavior. Using a cognitive-behavioral and interactionist approach, it integrates international theory and research, and moves from broad, theoretical explanations and descriptions of crime toward empirical research on specific criminal offenses. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

This volume uses a cognitive-behavioral and interactionist approach, integrating international theory and research and moving from broad, theoretical explanations and descriptions of crime toward empirical research on specific criminal offenses. Viewing the criminal offender as being embedded and continually influenced by multiple systems within the psychosocial environment, the book examines the causes, classification, prediction, prevention intervention, and treatment of criminal behavior from a social psychological perspective. The Sixth Edition presents the criminal offender as existing on a continuum, ranging from the serious, repetitive offender that begins his/her criminal career at a very young age to the adolescent-limited offender who usually begins offending during adolescence. This overview provides readers with an explanation of the elements of criminal behavior including juvenile delinquency, developmental factors, the origins of criminal behavior, biological factors, mentally disordered offender, human aggression and violence, criminal homicide and assault, offenses, economic issues, drugs and correctional psychology. For individuals interested in criminal behavior, criminology and the psychology of crime.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 516 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 6 edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130918377
• ISBN-13: 978-0130918376
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,379,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a Bad Book, May 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach (5th Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is pretty good as a first text in a criminal psychology class. It has a lot of information about current and old research in the field. The only thing that keeps this book from being 4 or 5 stars, is the fact that it's pretty dry, and a little difficult to read.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Text!, November 23, 2008

By 

L. Bartel "education generation" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach (8th Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is absolutely awesome and comprehensive. I am working on my Master's in Forensic Psychology in an online forum, and this text is detailed and would actually be perfect for those working on an undergrad, but in the junior or senior level courses. The authors are excellent at addressing concepts and tying them back to previously mentioned areas of relevance.

Laura B.
Houston, Texas

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Prepare to be... meh., September 2, 2009

By 

Mr Smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach (8th Edition) (Hardcover)

This was required for a graduate course for me. It's a decent text, very similar to the two or three other texts by the same authors I've had to read for my course of study. There are some concepts which are particular to this text which I did not see in their others, but overall it was just kind of "meh" to me.

Some topics are glossed over, in particular I was disappointed in their discussion of profiling. While there is a reference to the work of Turvey in that section, the context implied the authors were not very familiar with his work, or chose to focus on more "popular" realms of thought on the topic.

For the undergraduate student I might recommend this text, or to someone just beginning to enter the field of psychology, criminal psychology, or forensic psychology, but to the seasoned graduate student or practitioner I would not.