When considering the application of social psychology to criminal behavior, we can look at two distinct approaches: upstream interventions and downstream interventions. Upstream interventions seek to address a potential issue, while downstream interventions seek to address the consequences of an issue that has come to fruition. Downstream interventions could be things like rehabilitation of people who served a prison sentence. The crime has already taken place, it cannot be undone. Upstream intervention could be addressing the origins or risk factors of criminal behavior and taking action before the crime takes place. The following narrative will use a local news story for the application of relevant social psychological theory.
The story in question comes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., where two separate groups of children reported attempts of luring them into adults’ vehicle with the promise of candy. This of course is a serious offense but was determined to be an incredibly misinformed teenage prank. Allegedly, the suspects are teens who offered the children candy to get in their van as their idea of a joke, and consequences for the joke have yet to be determined (Yorgey, 2023).
Technically, since the teens are not being charged there has been no crime. However, it is reasonable to question if the actions can be chalked up to a victimless prank (that is if the children who thought they were being lured are not traumatized from the incident) or if there is something more deviant at hand. Day and Marion (2017) discuss a developmental lens to risk factors for criminal behavior, originally proposed by Andrews and Bonta (2016), could be applied to the teens in question if their information was made public knowledge which it has not. The eight risk factors are as follows:
An early age of onset for antisocial behavior, temperamental and personal characteristics that are conducive to criminal activity …, antisocial attitudes, values, and beliefs, association with procriminal peers and isolation from noncriminal associates, negative parenting and family experiences …, low levels of school or vocational achievement, poor use of leisure time and low levels of involvement in prosocial leisure pursuits and recreational activities, and/or abuse of drugs and/or alcohol (p. 292)
Presence of multiple risk factors, coupled with the presence of a criminal-adjacent act, could make the teens candidates for intervention targeting the risk factors and optimally decreasing the likelihood of escalations in behaviors.
Perhaps the application of a model of criminal behavior to a teenage prank blows the incident out of proportion, but the atypical hybrid nature of the crime-not-crime creates an interesting paradigm where interventions could be considered up or downstream. Regarding intervention, the stance of the writer is that it is almost always better to be safe than sorry. At the very least, the teens could benefit from taking accountability for their actions issuing an apology to the children who were victims of their prank. Some sort of intervention focused on risk factors and increasing awareness of consequences could also prove beneficial to the development of the teens who, objectively, had a vast number of options for better pranks.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). In Day, D. M. & Marion, S. B. (Eds.) Applying Social Psychology to the Criminal Justice System (pp. 287-320). SAGE Publications, Inc, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071800591
Yorgey, T. (2023, October 12). Police: Teens behind prank of attempted child luring in O’Hara township. WTAE. https://www.wtae.com/article/police-teens-behind-prank-of-attempted-child-luring-in-ohara-township/45516814
The story you’ve mentioned in Pennsylvania and your analysis of criminal behavior is compelling! I haven’t thought about this with criminal behavior. It focuses on upstream interventions, which address the origins or risk factors of criminal behavior and act before the crime occurs. In downstream interventions, it could be like rehabilitation, as you’ve mentioned. As you’ve stated, teens are not being charged as there was technically no crime being committed. The story of the joke is that teens were attempting to lure children into a van. In my eyes, that is concerning (Yorgey, 2023). Interestingly, the teen’s actions could become more harsh if not acted on.
I think that the accountability and intervention aspect is essential not to have a repeat of these kinds of behaviors among teenagers and to show adolescents that these behaviors are not tolerated in society.
You touched on the early age of onset for antisocial behavior. And I would agree with that, as I mentioned antisocial behavior and its association with pro-criminal individuals in my post. The deeply rooted and inflexible dysfunctional mindset underlying antisocial tendencies can cause people to act criminally or delinquently without regret (Fisher & Hany, 2023). I, too, see that teens who display certain behaviors can be candidates for intervention. Targeting the risk factors and optimally decreasing the likelihood of that can lessen the escalations with those behaviors and prevent them from going down that unjust pathway. You’ve said it is always better to be safe than sorry, and I agree that it is better to be safe always. The intervention focused on those risk factors you’ve stated, and increasing awareness of consequences can help decrease the chances of having teens going into a troubling road.
Resources:
– Fisher, K. A., & Hany, M. (2023, May 8). Antisocial Personality Disorder. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from Nih.gov website: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546673/#:~:text=Antisocial%20personality%20disorder%20(ASPD)%20is,criminal%20behavior%20with%20no%20remorse.
– Yorgey, T. (2023, October 12). Police: Teens behind prank of attempted child luring in O’Hara township. WTAE. https://www.wtae.com/article/police-teens-behind-prank-of-attempted-child-luring
Hi there!
This was an insane story, but I am not all that surprised. A couple of years ago, when the new IT movie was set for release, my city had its flavor of “teen pranks gone wrong.” People were dressing up as demented clowns and harassing townsfolk with dangerous stunts such as riding on the back of their vehicles and hiding in unlocked cars. My example may actually be criminal, but, regardless, I think you’ve highlighted the importance of proactive measures to prevent future criminal acts and promote healthy development in young individuals. Even for innocent pranks, these learned behaviors generate positive consequences, like as peer approval, such that they be more willing to involve themselves in worse criminal activity (Gruman et al., 2016).
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. SAGE Publications.