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Item Exploring public opinion : the discursive constructions of crime and punishment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2007) Ashwood, Catherine MaryCrime has been positioned as a serious social problem within New Zealand society over the last decade. Continual claims that ordinary citizens are under threat from a growing population of predatory people has become the norm. Such claims call for harsher and more punitive forms of punishment which are evidenced in the increased use of incarceration as a treatment for criminal offenders. The result is that a punitive, get-tough movement has come to dominate the justice system resulting in the overpopulating of the nation's prisons. Frequently cited as the impetus for current penal practices is public opinion which is determined by presenting forced choice questions through surveys, polls and referenda. Present understandings of public opinion are that it is fixed, static and punitively orientated. Yet people's opinions are subjective, contextually arranged and show a great deal of variability and inconsistency when explored discursively. The present study, developed from within a qualitative and social constructionist framework, explores public opinion in reference to crime and punishment and the punitiveness of current penal practices. Twelve people were engaged in conversation and produced a complex but uncomplicated understanding on this topic. Two broad discourses were identified as emerging from people's talk: punitively orientated discourses of crime and punishment, and alternative non-punitive discourses. Discourses of punitiveness were drawn upon to construct an understanding of crime and punishment that was contextual and conditional. Participants also engaged with alternative discourses to construct a non-punitive point of view that drew on notions of offender rehabilitation, crime prevention and humanitarian ideals in the treatment of criminal offenders.Item Testing and extending self-control theory of crime : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2007) Williams, Mei WahSelf-control theory of crime has had considerable impact on mainstream criminology since it was first published in 1990 by Gottfredson and Hirschi. It is regarded as the most parsimonious criminological theory currently available and has been empirically tested across diverse populations and behaviours. Considerable empirical evidence supports the generality of self-control in predicting crime and analogous behaviours, with low self-control ranked as one of the strongest risk factors for crime. Of substantive concern however is a lack of explanatory power in the theory, a problem that besets criminological theorising in general. This study attempted to integrate self-control theory with theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Whilst self-control provides a stable-dispositional explanation for propensity to crime, TPB is interested in the decision-making processes related to involvement in crime. As such, the study examined the relationship between time-stable self-control and the mediating role of situational-specific factors in the causation of crime. The purpose of the study is twofold. Firstly to investigate the underlying mechanism by which a person with low self-control may have greater propensity to crime and secondly to increase the explanatory value of self-control theory. Three disparate groups were used to explore the single theories and the integrated theory; female students, male students, and prison inmates. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were conducted to examine the sufficiency of the theories to explain intention to commit crime across three groups. Low self-control was unable to explain behavioural intentions for students but was successful in explaining intentions to do crime in a prison population. The motivational elements of TPB, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, were shown to exert considerable influence on intention to do crime across the three samples but not attitude. The integrated theory increased the explanatory value of self-control theory for prison inmates over and above its constituent theories. These findings were not replicated with male and female students, raising questions about the generality of self-control theory. Implications for self-control theory are discussed, especially the need to include significant others and behavioural control variables in understanding the causes of crime