Psychology Of Crimes

• Many people have their own theories on what makes

a criminal
• there are several Psychological theories of crim, most
of which have been shown to have a sound scientific
basis
• Psychology of crim plays significant role in the
criminal justice system
• The conduct of psychological criminal profiling that
aim to determine likely suspects through a mix of
crime-scene are oftern made by the forensic
psychologist or criminak anthropologist.
 Psychology Of Crimes?
• Psychology of crimes is usually used to mean the
study of people's mind or spirit, to reason out why an
individual person become criminal

• Psychology of crime is the study of individual

characteristics or qualities such as personality,
reasoning, thought, intelligence, learning,
perception, imagination, memory and creativity.
 Cognitive theory places the study of
psychology in the mind;

• They see human action as the result of driving or

compelling mental forces or to be the result of menta
reasoning and beliefs.
• They see that internal mental processes can be
affected and even altered by certain factors in the
environment which either reinforce or discourage
the behavior.
• Clearly there is no strong dividing
line between these two.

A degree of overlap is likely, While some

psychological theoriess may not fit near
into either school of thought.
 Psychoanalysis of Criminality
• A number of different ideas are drawn together under
psychoanalysis, but the general stand-point is that
inner, dynamic forces are used to explain human
behavior.

The Constituent of Personality

• Freud split the personality into three parts, that
is, the "id" the "ego," and the "super-ego."
• The "id" is an unconscious area of the mind; it is the
most primitive portion of the personality,for example, to
eat, drink, excrete, to be warm and comfortable, and to
obtain sexual pleasure.
• The "ego" does not exist at birth, but is something
the individual learns. It tempers the desirous longings
of the "id" with the reality of what might happen if it
is not controlled,

• The super-ego" is largely a part of the unconscious

personality. It may contain conscious in its operation. It
is the conscience which exists in the unconscious area
of the mind.
FORMATION OF THE SUPER EGO

* The super-ego is often seen as the internalized

rules and admonitions of the parents, and trough
them,of society.

* The '' id " demands pleasures: the 'super-

ego ' demand control and repression.

* The ''super-ego' of many children were

underdeveloped and rendered them
latent deliquents, psychologically
prepared for a life of crime.
* Parental neglect was not seen as the
only reason for the super-ego to be
underdeveloped.

* Onother variable which some argue and that has

a profound effect upon the development of the
super-ego, and one the ideas most commonly
associate with Sigmund Freud ( 1856 - 1939), is the "
Oedipus complex " and the Electra complex .
 Who are Normal Criminals?
* So fa, most of the criminal tendencies referred to
on psychoanalysis have been those of "abnormal
criminals" who behavioral problems arise from inner
conflict. Psychoanalysis may also be used to explain
some "normal criminals.

* The main trait of "normal criminals" are that the

whole personality, including the super-ego, is
criminal. As there is no conflict between "super-ego"
and the rest of personality, there is no personality
problem and so they are "normal criminals."
* This means that, presumably because
of their environment and upbringing,
these people regard crime as normal and
acceptable and they suffer no qualms
about their criminal conduct.
 Extroversion V.S Neuroticism

* Personality is then based upon a combination of these

biological and social factors. There are two main
dimensions to each personality which affected the
individual's learning ability; extroversion which runs
from extroversion to introversion and is often referred to
as the "E-Scale;" and neuroticism, which runs from
neurotic or unstable to stable and is often referred to
"N-Scale." These dimensions are continuous and most
people fall in the middle range, but with some of the
extremes of each of the personalities.
 Normal Criminal Personality

* The line between normality and abnormality is

impossible to dra exactly. It is usually negatively
described as the state of mind o personality that cannot
be classified as having mental abnormality, tha is, which
cannot be classed as mentally defective, psychopathic
neurotic, psychotic, or compulsive. The mere fact that
something is numerically common does not make it
normal, and similarly the bare facts that something is
uncommon does not make it abnormal.
• The activity is portrayed as something which
may "normal" person would find abhorrent
and would not commit. Since most studies
are ested against what society considers
acceptable and normal, this is in effect the
reality of the situation, and it is clear that as
values in society change, so too with ideas of
normality.
• This schism causes problems, i.e., it is
confusing for the professional concerned;
it may provide sentences with ambiguous
information; and it may relieve the
offender of any feeling of responsibility.
Despite these problems, it has been the
psychiatric and psychological field of
criminal explanation which have generally
carried more weight than the biological
field.
 Assessments of Dangerousness
• The criminal justice system includes some form of
assessing the danger posed by individuals who have
been convicted of violent or other serious crimes.
Such assessments help to decide how long these
people should be removed from society.

• In some societies, such removal is possible and

occurs without any crime having been committed
in the form of civil committal to mental
institutions.
• This is only possible where the individual's
mental stability has been questioned, and rather
than just the dangerousness which is the
deciding factor.

• the basic concept is that of the

protection of society rather than of
dangerousness. Individuals have
their own perceptions of danger and
or unacceptable danger, often
related to their sex, culture, social
class, etc., and some are deeply
personal.
• are deeply personal. Therefore, certain frequently
accepted boundaries are applied. For most people, any
assessment of dangerousness such as to justify an
individual having already committed a serious crime,
one they regard as involving danger or the potential
for danger.

• the powers being proposed seem to ignore this

element. Most would agree that crimes involving
personal injury are the most serious and the most
dangerous type of conduct, but other factors need
to be taken into account in the assessment of
danger.
"APPROACHES TO PREDICT VIOLENT BEHAVIOR"

* For many years, theorists have been trying to

predict who will offend and reoffend.
Psychoanalysts have, indeed, used a number of
different approaches and theories to predict
violent behavior. Several of these are briefly
discussed here under:
1. INSTINCT THEORY-Instinct theory assumes there is an
inner force which desired aggression and
violence.Freud called it the "DEATH FORCE AND
THANATOS" The life instinct, "Eros " or Greek God of
Love and Thanatos or demon personification of death
are in conflict and the aggression needs to be allowed
to vent itself.

2. DRIVE THEORY -it is also assumes that there is an

inner force which desires and aggresion and violence, but
in drive theory the inner force is acquired through
experience and it is not innate. the basic assertion is that
when individuals are prevented from getting what they
want,they becime frustrated.
3. PERSONALITY AND VIOLENCE -there are a number of
different ideas about personality and violence. The first
claim is that people with psychopathic tendencies,
sometimes known as sociopaths or anti- social
personalities, are more likely than other to commit
frequent acts of violence.

4. RISK and MENTAL DISORDER- It was concluded that

there were five central factors to an assessment of risk of
dangerousness. The factors are that is ,the level and type of
social support available to person; how impulsive the
individual is; reactions, such as anger, to provocation; the
level of ability to empathize with others ; and nature of any
delusions and hallucination.
5. Q-SORT and MULTIPLE TESTS- The Q-Sort test was
aimed to get round the subjective problems noted in the
previous test. The clinician has to score a person on a
scale of 1-7 for each 200 question on issues such as
"tendency to act impulsively" however, it may prove
promising in the future but there are still problems with
the subjective and uncomplimentary assessments.

6. HARE PSYCHOPATHY CHECKLIST- this tries to isolate

an anti-social personality disorder, or severe
personality disorder, without reference to criminal
behavior. It is this type of test that is most likely to be
used in the assessment under the government new
proposals if they ever become law.
7. MACHO PERSONALITY- The macho personality
views violence as manly, danger as intrinsically
exciting, callous sexual activity aimed at women as
acceptable ,and interprets being tough as a form of
self control. This personality is connected with
inter-male violence, callousness, violence and
sexual attacks on women ,gang violence and abuse
of women and their children
 PERSPECTIVE ON PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIMES

• -Most people would accept that every

individual has a personality which is special to
them. What is far more difficult to accept is
that certain personalities will always or
usually be criminal. It is pressumed that one
cannot predict criminal behavior by studying
personality.
• Accordingly, all human behavior, criminal or
otherwise, is a product of psychological
mechanisms combined with environmental input
that activates them or inhibits their activation.
Therefore, criminal behaviors such as robbery,
assault, rape, and murder comprise a subset of
human behavior.

• They occur at non- trivial rates in all known cultures

in predictable patterns.
• In every culture, criminal behavior such as rape and
homicide show cross-culturally predictable age and
sex distribution, and increase dramatically when
males enter reproductive competition.
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