Developmental psychology focuses on how we grow and change over the lifespan (Gillibrand et al., Developmental psychology, Pearson Education, 2016; Harris & Butterworth, Developmental psychology: A student’s handbook, 1st ed., Psychology Press, 2002). This includes child development, from birth through to adolescence and early adulthood (18–25 years), as well as how we mature, adapt and face key life changes throughout middle and elder adulthood (e.g. Baltes et al., Handbook of child psychology, 6th ed., pp. 569–664, Wiley, 2006). Associated topics of interest range from investigating differences between age groups, understanding environmental influences on development, behaviour and personality and outlining the impact that childhood trauma has on life trajectories. As such, you will see overlap between the different paradigms discussed throughout Part I of this book, but the focus here is on development. For example, developmental psychologists are interested in the construct of memory, not purely in terms of its structures and processes, but in how memory develops and/or degrades over the lifespan. Utilising a selection of theoretical perspectives and research evidence, this chapter examines several key aspects of child development with a focus on the role of attachment in fostering development alongside the acquisition of language and moral reasoning abilities. In reviewing each of these developmental areas, particular attention will be given to the important role of caregivers and social interaction in shaping development. We will also explore how these aspects of development enable us to understand offending behaviour and its broader applications within the criminal justice system. Going beyond the caregiving context, the final section of the chapter will briefly review two key developmental and life-course theories of crime, namely the Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control (Sampson & Laub, Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life, Harvard University Press, 1993) and the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential Theory (ICAP; see Farrington, Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 6, 172–187, 2020). These theories account for the dynamic interplay of risk and protective factors alongside the influence of life events in explaining the evolution of criminality across the lifespan. The overall aim of this chapter, therefore, is to highlight some of the important theoretical contributions that developmental psychology has made for our understanding of offending behaviour and how people may experience the criminal justice system.

Developmental Perspectives of Forensic Psychology

章节
发表日期：

2026年

查看全文

Tom Page,
Dean Fido

摘要

Developmental psychology focuses on how we grow and change over the lifespan (Gillibrand et al., Developmental psychology, Pearson Education, 2016; Harris & Butterworth, Developmental psychology: A student’s handbook, 1st ed., Psychology Press, 2002). This includes child development, from birth through to adolescence and early adulthood (18–25 years), as well as how we mature, adapt and face key life changes throughout middle and elder adulthood (e.g. Baltes et al., Handbook of child psychology, 6th ed., pp. 569–664, Wiley, 2006). Associated topics of interest range from investigating differences between age groups, understanding environmental influences on development, behaviour and personality and outlining the impact that childhood trauma has on life trajectories. As such, you will see overlap between the different paradigms discussed throughout Part I of this book, but the focus here is on development. For example, developmental psychologists are interested in the construct of memory, not purely in terms of its structures and processes, but in how memory develops and/or degrades over the lifespan. Utilising a selection of theoretical perspectives and research evidence, this chapter examines several key aspects of child development with a focus on the role of attachment in fostering development alongside the acquisition of language and moral reasoning abilities. In reviewing each of these developmental areas, particular attention will be given to the important role of caregivers and social interaction in shaping development. We will also explore how these aspects of development enable us to understand offending behaviour and its broader applications within the criminal justice system. Going beyond the caregiving context, the final section of the chapter will briefly review two key developmental and life-course theories of crime, namely the Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control (Sampson & Laub, Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life, Harvard University Press, 1993) and the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential Theory (ICAP; see Farrington, Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 6, 172–187, 2020). These theories account for the dynamic interplay of risk and protective factors alongside the influence of life events in explaining the evolution of criminality across the lifespan. The overall aim of this chapter, therefore, is to highlight some of the important theoretical contributions that developmental psychology has made for our understanding of offending behaviour and how people may experience the criminal justice system.