1. Introduction
– We shall consider the proposition in two distinct aspects.
– Firstly, we look into the key psychological theories in explaining individuals’ differences
in offending.
– Secondly, we examine a few types of offending. The selected specific types of crime
are interpersonal violence, sexual offending, serious violence, offenders with mental
illness and juvenile offending.
– We attempt to look into evidence, research findings as well as some other theories in
order to assess the different types of crime.

2. Background and setting (optional)
– Brief discussion of nature of crime, crime justice system and offending
3. Key theories explaining offending
(a) Moral reasoning theory
(b) Social information-processing approach
(c) Limitations and shortcoming of the theories (e.g. gender biased, culture biased
towards western societies)
(Only two key theories are discussed in details as the psychological framework while other
theories shall be discussed as part of the examination of specific offending below)

4. Examination/Analysis of specific offending
– Interpersonal violence
– Sexual offending
– Serious violence
– Offending with mental illness
– Juvenile offending

From perspectives of:
(with arguments generally for the proposition, but also some drawing to the limitation
or exceptions to the extent research findings indicate otherwise)
– Genetics
– Family, growing up and parenting
– Peers
– Education
– Culture
– psychological theories
– Empirical evidence
– Research findings
– Case studies (where available)
– Others

5. Conclusion