Altruistic offending: from mercy killers to animal liberators

Abstract

Altruism can be defined as an action directed at increasing another’s welfare without expectation of personal gain or the expectation of engaging in an exchange relationship. Altruism is claimed to be universal. Altruistic behaviour is often not an attempt to gain social approval and thus, is not generated by egoistic motives. Offending or criminal behaviour, on the other hand, is often perceived to be egoistically motivated and selfish. The combination of both altruism and offending or “altruistic offending” can be conceptualised as different forms of criminal behaviours which are not motivated by selfish or egotistical reasons. The combination of selfless motivations with criminal behaviour, which is often perceived as egotistical, challenges common perceptions of criminal behaviour. Altruistic offending is an under-researched yet extremely important area in psychology. The study of altruistic offending can contribute to our understanding of the motivational systems involved and investigate the theory of an independent altruistic motive system. Moreover, the personal experience of altruistic high-risk (offending) behaviour can provide an in-depth, detailed account and can serve to inform psychological theory through the analytic process. The present thesis sought to examine and investigate the phenomenon of altruistic offending. Firstly, a review of all relevant literature on the topic of human altruism in social psychology including both quantitative and qualitative research was undertaken. This was done in order to identify gaps in knowledge and research, and inform the direction of the thesis as well as future research. Following the systematic review, quantitative research in the form of a public survey was conducted. The survey provided an overview of public opinion as it related to criminal behaviour in different contexts which was selfishly or selflessly motivated. It also provided an insight into which factors influence judgements of appropriate punishment. Subsequent to the survey study, it was felt that in order to gain a thorough understanding of altruistic offending, qualitative research needed to be carried out examining the personal experience of the phenomenon from the offender’s perspective. Qualitative research provided an in-depth look into the personal experiences and meaning-making of individuals intimately involved in altruistic offending. Two separate qualitative studies examined two distinct forms of altruistic offending. These were individuals who performed euthanasia/assisted suicide on a loved one, and individuals who had engaged in high-risk animal liberation/activism.