Over the course of five years, the Jodi Arias capital murder case and trial captivated a country. The salacious nature of the case, the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, simultaneously mesmerized and repulsed the public, and attracted intense media coverage. The details of the actual crime are grisly; the physical evidence and crime scene photos make several facts perfectly clear; this murder was intense, brutal, and vicious. The level of violence in the commission of the crime was mercilessly cruel and excessive. The sensationalism of the case, revived the debate about intimate partner violence (IPV), and the media portrayals and public perceptions of female perpetrators. The curiosity surrounding this case, left one
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A psychological theory can be defined as “a coherent set of ideas or constructs used to explain some phenomenon. A construct is the concept or “thing” that the theorist asserts is fundamentally involved in explaining the outcome of interest” (DeLisi, 2013). Psychological theories of crime causation focus on the influence of individual and family factors. Individual factors include personality traits, anti-social tendencies, lack of self-regulation (impulse/self-control), sex/gender and neuropsychological functioning deficiencies. In contrast, sociological theories of crime focus on shared factors that influence offenders rather than factors that are unique to individuals. Major crime theories include; Temperament and Trait Biology theory, Personality and Trait Psychological theory, Psychoanalytic theory, Behaviorist theory, Social Learning theory, Cognitive theory, Social-Cognitive theory, and the Humanist/Interactionist theory. All criminologists, regardless of theoretical orientation, agree on some factors. First, they all recognize the importance of psychological development factors. Second, they are interested in the ways in which aggression and violence are learned through modeling and direct experience. Third, they explore the personality characteristics of criminals and acknowledge that criminals do tend to be more impulsive, intolerant, and irresponsible than non-criminals. Lastly, they investigate the relation of criminality to such mental disorders as psychosis and
A psychological theory can be defined as “a coherent set of ideas or constructs used to explain some phenomenon. A construct is the concept or “thing” that the theorist asserts is fundamentally involved in explaining the outcome of interest” (DeLisi, 2013). Psychological theories of crime causation focus on the influence of individual and family factors. Individual factors include personality traits, anti-social tendencies, lack of self-regulation (impulse/self-control), sex/gender and neuropsychological functioning deficiencies. In contrast, sociological theories of crime focus on shared factors that influence offenders rather than factors that are unique to individuals. Major crime theories include; Temperament and Trait Biology theory, Personality and Trait Psychological theory, Psychoanalytic theory, Behaviorist theory, Social Learning theory, Cognitive theory, Social-Cognitive theory, and the Humanist/Interactionist theory. All criminologists, regardless of theoretical orientation, agree on some factors. First, they all recognize the importance of psychological development factors. Second, they are interested in the ways in which aggression and violence are learned through modeling and direct experience. Third, they explore the personality characteristics of criminals and acknowledge that criminals do tend to be more impulsive, intolerant, and irresponsible than non-criminals. Lastly, they investigate the relation of criminality to such mental disorders as psychosis and