From Individual to Social Defences in Psychosocial Criminology

Abstract

A psychosocial strand of criminology has emerged in recent years, which explores concepts such as fear of crime through analysis of individual biographies, and Freudian perspectives on punitive responses to offenders. It is possible to develop this psychosocial perspective further through an exploration of other central concepts such as conscience and reparation, and of a broader range of psychodynamic perspectives on the origins of anti-social tendencies. Inevitably, this leads beyond the intra-psychic to the interpersonal, with consequences for our view of conventional and restorative justice systems and penal institutions.

The Automaton Self: Defensive organisation, psychodynamics and treatment approaches

“…He argued that the offences themselves represent attempts to defend against potentially overwhelming sensations of despair/internal annihilation. Brown (2003), in reviewing the contribution made by Winnicott to the furtherance of our understanding of persistent offenders, suggests:…”

Punishment, Justice, and Emotions

“…For instance, psychosocial studies show how punitive attitudes can surface as a defence mechanism which fashions and targets specific threats and fears in order to cope with deeper, more generalised feelings of insecurity and anxiety (Brown 2003, Marsh 1996. Freud (2010Freud ( [1930) had already suggested that the need for punishment experienced by an individual arises from a sense of guilt generated by an ambivalence felt towards sources of authority.…”

“…Instead, a phenomenological perspective might point to the need to see punishment more as a symptom of than as a remedy for injustice, and to seek other pathways to justice, such as distributive or restorative practices. On the other hand, since the urge to punish is linked to conditions of insecurity and anxiety that are inherent to late modern societies, it may be possible that any effort to pursue alternative forms of justice is bound to be met with significant resistance (Brown 2003), until these underlying conditions are properly examined and dealt with (Carvalho 2012). The question of why we punish is therefore, under these circumstances, one which we cannot afford to avoid.…”

The Thrill of the Chase: Punishment, Hostility and the Prison Crisis

“…First, as mentioned above, hostile solidarity can be conceptualised as illusory because it does not contribute to a persistent, concrete condition of social solidarity. Instead, what it does is to serve as a social defence mechanism (Brown, 2003) through which people can cope with deeper, generalised feelings of insecurity by channelling them towards specific threats and fears (Marsh, 1996;King and Maruna, 2009;Carvalho and Chamberlen, 2016). As Janet Ainsworth (2009) has observed, punitive attitudes are intimately related to certain cognitive biases which individuals commonly develop in order to deal with the many anxieties and perceived sources of danger which affect their sense of safety and wellbeing.…”