THE FACETS OF CRIMINALITY: A CROSS-MODAL AND CROSS-GENDER VALIDATION

Abstract

In order to establish if criminals carried out distinct sub-sets of criminal activity as opposed to being widely versatile in the type of crime that they committed, 54 female and 49 male offenders completed a self-report questionnaire that asked about their criminality in two modes: Convictions and actual commission. MDS analysis of the resulting data supported the hypothesis that there is a subset of general criminal activities that most offenders have been involved in, but that there is also a tendency for offenders to evince thematic foci to their activities that relate to dishonesty, violence or antisocial crimes. These three core themes are present both in male and female offenders and across data modalities, emerging in the crimes for which the offender has been convicted as well as those to which s/he admits.