PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM

2 waves
 ASSOCIATED READINGS

 Rob White, Fiona Haines and Lauren Eisler. 2013. Crime and Criminology: Chapter 3:
Biological and Psychological Positivism
 Rimke, Heidi. “Chapter 5: The Pathological Approach to Crime: Individually Based
Theories, Criminology: Critical Canadian Perspectives, Kirsten Kramer, ed., 1st edition,
p. 79-92.
 1. WAVE: PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM (19TH CENTURY)

Violence is seen as a condition of mental illness

Mental illness takes over reason
Internal factors: mental illness, low intelligence
and causal thinking is reduced
 PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM

 Mental ill people are seen as genetically:

 Unpredictable
 Dangerous
 Prone to violence
 Threats to others
 19th century: Can not be treated: warehousing and eugenics
 MAKING NORMAL/MAKING DEVIANCE

 Psychological positivism determined what/who is normal

 ‘The average man’ and ‘the normal man’ was normalized as the white middle
class, heterosexual man
 ‘The abnormal and criminal man’ was considered everybody who does not fit
‘the established norm’ such as
 Non-white men
 Homosexuals: Psychiatrization of people who are considered morally, sexual
deviant (Foucault) such as homosexuals
 Poor people: vagabonds, vagrants, = “inferior moral stock” (Quetelets)
RESPECTABLE WHITE, MIDDLE-CLASS HETERO-SEXUAL
MEN

 The white middle class, heterosexual men’s (violent) behaviour became

institutionalized as normal, desirable and respectable in the 19 th century
 And became the universal measuring stick for normality
 ‘Hegemonic masculinity’ was institutionalized:
 The white, middle class, heterosexual, able bodied male as
 Strong, tough, protective, assertive, aggressive, muscular, dominant, in
power and control of and over ‘the other’: women, racialized, poor,
homosexual, ….men
 HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY: WHITE, MIDDLE-CLASS
HETERO-SEXUAL MEN

 Hegemonic masculinity became the socially acceptable norm and

measuring stick to construct and judge ‘the other’ and
 the justification for labelling ‘the other’ as deviant, outcast, non-
conforming and also their
 Incarceration in prisons or in mental health facilities
 Genetic screenings, risk assessments and pre-emptive interventions
e.g. brain rewiring
 EXAMPLE: HOMOSEXUALITY
 19th century (first wave) homosexuality was constructed as :
 abnormal and deviant behaviour
 Mental illness
 Disease
 Treatment: Hospitalization and incarceration, experimentation, eugenics
 20th century (second wave) treatment:
 Rewiring: Operations to exchange testicals
 electroshock therapy
 Conversion therapy
 EXAMPLE: HOMOSEXUALITY

 Watch
 “The Dark History about Conversion Therapy”
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3ujZmHyfP8

 “Boy Erased” “What Gay Conversion Therapy Is Really Like”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRGARTeLng (this is a short clip but you can watch the full
movie if you like)

 Recommended: Look up LGBTQ rights in Canada

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/timeline-same-sex-rights-in-canada-1.1147516
 ONGOING ISSUES IN THE LGBT2Q COMMUNITIES

 Discrimination, Exclusion in all spheres

 Poverty
 (Youth) Homelessness
 All forms of violence
 Hate crimes
 Over policing of this community and under policing of crimes against this
community
 See bathhouse riots and the Bruce McArthur case
 2. WAVE: PSYCHOLOGICAL POSITIVISM

 During the 20 and 21th century a shift took place in psychological positivist
theories:
 Psychiatrists and psychologist started to think that mental illness was not
only based on genetics and internal factors such as brain function but also
 External factors: trauma, stress, PTSD
 mental illness can be treated through medication and therapy
 Solution to violence and crime: Combination punishment and treatment
 Treatment programs in mental hospitals and prisons
 SIGMUND FREUD: PSYCHANALYTIC THEORY

 Criminal/ violent conduct stems from unconscious and unresolved (e.g.

childhood or other trauma) conflicts, trauma to the psyche
 Disturbances in the ego (reality) and superego(conscience) allow the id
(primitive instincts)to satisfy urges.
 Medication, psychoanalysis and behaviour adjustment
 PSYCHOPATH

 Personality disorder
 Unusual cruel crimes
 anti-social behaviour
 Lack of empathy and remorse
 SOCIOPATH

 Anti-social personality disorder (ASPD)

 Don’t understand peoples’ feelings
 Impulsive: overstep social boundaries and laws
 Manipulative and controlling: charming, deception, lies, use others
 Lack of following up with responsibilities
 Aggression
 Lack of guilt
 Lack of empathy and remorse
 QUESTION

 In what ways have both waves of psychological positivism entered the

Criminal Justice System?
MENTAL HEALTH AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

 The Mental Disorder Defense

 THE MENTAL DISORDER DEFENSE

 Mental disorder has become an acknowledged reason to mediate

criminal responsibility and reduce sentencing
 In cases of a medically or court recognized mental illness
 Cognitive testing and psychiatric evidence has to show that
 The accused ability to understand the (violent/criminal) act and its
consequences has been destroyed and has effected his/her rational
choices
 CRIMINAL CODE SECTION 16(1)

 “No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an

omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the
person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or
omission or of knowing that it was wrong.”
 EXAMPLES

 “THE GREYHOUND BUS KILLER”

 July 30, 2008
 22 year old man, Tim McLean, was stabbed and beheaded on Greyhound
bus travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg
 Vince Weiguang Li was arrested at the scene
 Diagnosed with schizophrenia
 Was found not responsible/ culpable for his actions
 Treatment: Mental health hospital and medication
 ETHAN COUCH CASE 2013

 U.S. Texas
 Driving while under the influence
 4 people were killed, 5 others injured
 Charges: Reckless driving, four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of
intoxication assault
 Defense: “Affluenza” Rehabilitation instead of prison
 Punishment: 10 years of probation, long-term in patient therapy
 DISCUSS THE ETHAN COUCH CASE (2013)

 What makes this event to a startling and controversial ruling?

 Analyse this quote by Jeffrey Reichman “Rich White Kids
Have ‘Affluenca’; Black Kids go to Prison”.
 Relate this quote to the context of biological and
psychological positivist understandings of crime
 And the (ab) use of mens rea
 SYSTEMIC ISSUES IN CANADIAN POLICING

Equation of mental illness with criminality and unpredictable violence

Responses in policing: excessive use of force
Violence: shooting to death
Recommended Watch:
Documentary: “Hold Your Fire”
https://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/hold-your-fire