Ronald Blackburn, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct

The Psychology of Criminal Conduct: Theory, Research and Practice is written by a respectable author who has a good command over the use of crystal clear English. However, although this book serves as a good introductory guide to those interested in the psychology of criminals; it is not thorough enough for use by undergraduate students.

The majority of chapters focus on the criminal behaviours as explained through the biological perspective. Thus, although there are passing references to behaviourism, humanism, and freudian theories on the mind and actions of the criminal, it does not offer a detailed account of how these come into play. It is apparent that there is a combination of factors at work; however this book leans towards the biological explanations, and how (for example) a suicidal father may contribute towards criminal offspring directly because of the same "malformed genes".

All in all, this book offers minimal explanation about criminal behaviour as reflected in all theories. It is selective in focusing on the biology of the criminal; however some of the comments are derogatory towards family members because of assumptions that the criminal behaviour is determined by genes, and that free will is not relevant whatsoever. Nature not Nurture is the dominant theme here...