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Equifinality, multifinality, and immorality in a life of crime.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | DeLisi, Matt |
| Copyright Year | 2014 |
| Abstract | Although more commonly used in the developmental psychopathology literature (see Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996), equifinality and multifinality are also important concepts for criminology and criminal justice. Equifinality captures the notion that various background risk factors can eventuate in the same outcome, such as arrest, conviction, or criminal career. An assortment of initial conditions, processes, and constructs produce the same general end result. Multifinality is a concept that shows how a specific condition, process, construct, or risk factor can have multiple manifestations later in life. Often, a negative construct causes harm in multiple contexts and in multiple ways. This is self-evident in the study of antisocial behavior because criminal behavior is often comorbid with other negative and maladaptive behaviors. The articles in this issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology are an eclectic mix of exciting studies that illustrate the concepts of equifinality and multifinality as they relate to the development of various antisocial conditions and aspects of a criminal career. Utilizing data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care, May and Beaver examined the associations between neuropsychological functioning and psychopathic personality traits across four phases of development. They found significant effects whereby children with greater impairments in neuropsychological functioning were more psychopathic in adolescence. Moreover, neuropsychological deficits were also predictive of extreme scores (set at the 95th percentile) in psychopathic personality traits. The neurocognitive problems thus not only cause problems in terms of school functioning but also influence affective, interpersonal, and behavioral displays. Based on data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, Piquero, Theobald, and Farrington investigated the interplay between offending, violence, and the more specific intimate partner violence. They found dramatic differences in use of violence by offender type. By age 50, for example, just 3.4% of nonoffenders were violent. Among high-rate chronic offenders, the prevalence of violence was 87.5%. Intimate partner violence also figures prominently in two other studies in this issue. Relying on data from the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies, Minieri and her colleagues reveal that incarcerated women frequently have domestic histories characterized by violent victimization, low relationship power, and |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1177/0306624X13512787 |
| PubMed reference number | 24441308 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 58 |
| Issue Number | 3 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.safetylit.org/citations/ild_request_form.php?article_id=citjournalarticle_430743_37 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X13512787 |
| Journal | International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
