Psychologists have studied the individual psychology of illegal behaviour ad nauseam, but really, it should primarily be the province of sociology and politics. The vast majority of people prosecuted for theft, for instance, are unemployed or have a low income, are young, and are often funding a drugs habit. In economic downturns, stealing increases. But that does not mean the affluent classes are any less criminal; it all depends on definitions.
Radical criminologists point out that the rules are made by the rich. Anyone familiar with Tolstoy's fabulous novel Resurrection will know there has long been a strong case for saying that the law exists to a large extent to protect the rich from the poor. More recently, the late Steven Box documented the extent to which law enforcement 'operates in such a way as to conceal crimes of the powerful against the powerless ... to reveal and exaggerate crimes of the powerless against "everyone".'
I used to attend regular meetings at the Home Office and, on one occasion, pointed to the psychological harm it does to our culture for the likes of the manifestly criminal Jeffrey Archer to walk free. They smiled, because only a few days later his prosecution was announced.
However, they could not get Archer for the Anglian Television share-dealing farrago (they did him for perjury). And I have often overheard people working in the City freely admit to insider-trading in shares. How often do you hear of convictions or even prosecutions for this posh-people's offence?
The investigation of murders costs huge sums, but very little is spent on looking into corporate or government-related deaths. To take some random examples: air-hostesses have twice the average rate of breast cancer (due to radiation exposure); the premature death of millions of Americans has been increased by Bush's unequal economic policies (40m now have no health insurance).
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Philip Green's record dividend of £1.2bn - tax free - is unlikely to result in higher pay for his shop staff. Being paid a relative pittance to fund your boss's new yacht does no one any favours. Life expectancy drops a year for every stop you travel east from Oxford Circus on London Underground's Central line - where doubtless many of Green's shop assistants work.
Furthermore, poor people are not only much more likely to be imprisoned, they have twice as much mental illness. Still, the rich don't escape here: studies suggest Green's pot of money will do nothing to improve his mental health, and may even impair it.
We do need police and a judicial system, but to protect the weak (children, the elderly, beaten wives) from the powerful, not the other way round. No amount of psychologising about the individual characteristics of criminals can conceal the unlikelihood of presidents or corporate bosses being prosecuted for their crimes.
