The Psychology of Criminal Conduct

James Bonta served as Director of Corrections Research at Public Safety Canada from 1990 until 2015. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Ottawa in 1979. Bonta was a psychologist, and later Chief Psychologist, at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, a maximum-security remand facility for adults and young offenders. Throughout his career, Bonta has held various academic appointments and professional posts and was a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Behavior. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association, a recipient of the Association’s Criminal Justice Section’s Career Contribution Award for 2009, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012, the Maud Booth Correctional Services Award, 2015, and the 2015 Community Corrections Award from the International Corrections and Prisons Association. The late D.A. Andrews was a noted criminologist affiliated with Carleton University throughout his academic career. His work on the psychology of criminal conduct produced what became known as the "theory of correctional intervention," which set the standard for successful intervention practices throughout the field of corrections worldwide. He was a founding member of Carleton’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Program and a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. He received numerous awards for his work in the criminal justice field, including those from the American Probation and Parole Association, Correctional Service Canada, the International Community Corrections Association, and the American Society of Criminology. After his retirement, he remained active in the criminal justice field as a Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor.

Preface to the Sixth Edition

Part 1: The Theoretical Context and Knowledge Base to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Psychology of Criminal Conduct

Chapter 2 The Empirical Basis to the Psychology of Criminal Conduct

Chapter 3 From Criminology Theories to a Psychological Perspective of Criminal Conduct

Part 2: The Major Risk/Need Factors of Criminal Conduct

Chapter 4 The Biological Basis of Criminal Behavior

Chapter 5 Antisocial Personality Pattern

Chapter 6 The Role of Procriminal Associates and Attitudes in Criminal Conduct

Chapter 7 The Person in Social Context: Family, Marital, School, Work, Leisure/Recreation, and Neighborhood

Chapter 8 Substance Abuse

Part 3: Applications

Chapter 9 The Risk-Need-Responsivity Model of Offender Assessment and Treatment

Chapter 10 Prediction of Criminal Behavior and Classification of Offenders

Chapter 11 Offender Rehabilitation

Chapter 12 Creating and Maintaining RNR Adherence: A Real World Challenge

Chapter 13 The Failed Experiment: Getting Tough on Crime

Chapter 14 Criminal Subtypes: Intimate Partner Violence, the Mentally Disordered, and Sex Offenders

Part 4: Summary and Conclusions

Chapter 15 A General Personality and Cognitive Social Learning Perspective of Criminal Conduct: Summary and Conclusions