ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one form of deviance — criminality — and discusses it from each of the several perspectives on personality. It draws on criminality, which is generally considered to be a form of antisocial deviance, although it has been argued that it has beneficial effects. The personality theorist’s perspective emphasises the role of person variables at the expense of situational variables in the determination of behaviour, and in theories of criminal personality this bias is strongly apparent. The inevitable consequence of acknowledging cultural relativism is that no behaviour or person may be regarded as inherently deviant in the pro- or antisocial sense. The personality theorist’s perspective emphasises the role of person variables at the expense of situational variables in the determination of behaviour, and in theories of criminal personality this bias is strongly apparent. The most striking source of heterogeneity within the criminal population is the variety of offences for which criminals have been convicted.
