Criminal Psychology
Table of Contents
What is Crime and Criminology?
Criminal Justice System and Objectives of CJS
What is Criminal Psychology?
Purpose of Criminal Psychology
Brief history of schools of Criminology
History of Criminal Psychology
Theories of Criminal Psychology
Crime
Crime is an act which indicates maladjustment to a particular culture and a social
concern, which is legally considered as an act of violation of law
“an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law, committed without
defense or justification, and sanctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.” –
Paul Tappan
Therefore, crime is a deviant behaviour (Deviant is a behavior that violates social
norms and arouses negative social reactions); A non-conformist behaviour
Criminology
It was Raffaele Garofalo, an Italian criminologist and jurist, who first used the term
―criminologia (Latin crimen – ―accusation and Greek logia – to study).
 According to Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey, “Criminology is a body of
knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the
processes of making laws, of breaking of laws, and of reaction toward the breaking of
laws”.
The scientific study that looks into the nature, causes, consequences and prevention
of criminal behaviour, both on the individual and social levels is called criminology
Criminal Justice System
Criminal Justice refers to the agencies of government charged with enforcing
law, adjudicating crime, and correcting criminal conduct.
The criminal justice system is essentially an instrument of formal social control
Objectives of CJS
To prevent the occurrence of crime.
To punish the transgressors and the criminals.
To rehabilitate the transgressors and the criminals.
To compensate the victims as far as possible.
To maintain law and order in the society.
To deter the offenders from committing any criminal act in the future.
Criminal Psychology
It is the study of Criminal behaviour, where term behaviour includes
Personality, Attitude, Physiology, Learning, Motivation, Thinking and other
cognitive factors which contribute to the act of crime or criminal intentions.
Criminal psychology has emerged from the major branches of Psychology
1. Social Psychology
2. Clinical Psychology
Purpose of Criminal Psychology
to understand criminal Behaviour and to be able to control and modify such behaviour.
to assist police and legal authorities during investigation of a case by developing
Psychological profile of frequent offenders and investigating reasons as to what led
and resulted such behaviour.
to help investigators to deal with cases of mental illness and individuals who are
involved in crime.
to draw and develop effective interventions to maintain and improve mental health of
professionals and also to provide counseling to offenders and victims.
to check and verify the Mental stability of criminals.
Schools of Criminology
Classical School- Cesare Beccaria- Free will- Hedonism
Positivist School- Cesare Lombroso- Atavism- Criminal Classification- Born,
Insane and Occasional Criminals
Sociological School (Social Learning)- Sub-culture of Violence- DA
Major Historical Developments in
Criminal Psychology
Early research in the field of criminal psychology was more focused and related to
witnesses of the crime and victims.
The explanation of what happened was the major center of attention for criminal
psychology researchers as eyewitness Testimony was a significant source of information
1893: first experiment conducted by James McKeen Cattell to understand Psychology
of testimony
1908: Munsterberg released his first book on the Witness Stand. Who is also considered as
father of Forensic Psychology.
1964: Hans J. Eysenck Published his book on Crime and Personality. This was the first
comprehensive book on application of Psychology to understand crimes and criminal
behaviour
1964: Hans J. Eysenck Published his book on Crime and Personality. This was
the first comprehensive book on application of Psychology to understand crimes
and criminal behaviour
Biologically based-personality traits includes extraversion and neuroticismextraversion-low levels of environmental stimulation-seek stimulation through
criminal behaviour-neuroticism-more reactive and volatile and engage in violent
behaviour-psychoticism-anti-social, aggressive and uncaring
In 1974, the FBI formed its Behavioral Science Unit to investigate serial rape and homicide
cases. From 1976 to 1979, several FBI agents--most famously John Douglas and Robert Ressler-interviewed 36 serial murderers to develop theories and categories of different types of offenders.
Most notably, they developed the idea of the "organized/disorganized dichotomy"
Theories in Criminal Psychology
Biological Perspective
 Sociological Perspective
 Psychological Perspective
Biological Perspective
Sheldon’s “Constitutional Theory” (1949)
Earliest theory of personality
Sheldon tried to explain personality with respect to the body type of the individual
According to him personality is largely a product of Body type, or somatotype
And crime is largely could be predicted and understood through these broad Personality
types.
According to Sheldon, there are three types of Personality according to the body type.
1. Endomorphs (Viscerotropic): Endomorphs have an obese body structure, they have a
relaxed and jolly temperament.
2. Ectomorphs (Cerebrotonic): Ectomorphs have a thin body structure, they are introvert
and thoughtful.
3. Mesomorphs (Somatotonic): Mesomorphs have a muscular body, they are bold,
adventurous and courageous.
According to Sheldon Mesomorphs have a tendency to show aggressive nature and thus
were more likely to become criminals.
Jacobs, Brunton, Melville, Brittain, and
MsClemont’s Chromosomal theory (1965)
In normal genetic structures females have XX Chromosome and Males have XY
chromosome but it was observed that some men have an extra Y chromosome
leading to having a pair of chromosome as XYY. These men were considered to
be extra masculine and therefore are considered to be more aggressive.
Mark and Ervin’s “Dyscontrol Theory”
(1970)
According to Mark and Ervin lesions in the brain specifically temporal lobe
and in Limbic System results in dys-control within the brain, which may lead to
“Dyscontrol Syndrome”.
The symptoms of this syndrome include sudden emotional outburst leading to
physical acts of violence. It also includes impulsive sexual behaviour, and
frequent violation of law.
Sociological Perspective
Sutherland’s “Differential Association Theory” (1939).
Differential association theory explains that criminal behaviour is learned.
Social interactions of people and their environment teaches them values due
to which they learn to violate laws.
It is the set of values that an individual feel associated to which decide
whether they will get involved in criminal acts or not.
Becker’s “Labelling Theory” (1963)
Becker was of an opinion that criminal behaviour results from labelling. If an individual is
labelled as criminal then it will promote deviant behaviour and thus the tendency of that
individual to become a criminality will increase.
Labelling according to Becker promotes deviant behaviour due to its self-fulfilling prophecy,
which might not be true, but it tends to become reality due to actions of such people.
According to Becker nobody is a born criminal, and deviance is not related to genes.
According to him it’s the society which attaches this label to an individual.
Psychological Perspective
Eysenck’s theory
He has also explained through his personality theory that individual high on
extraversion and neuroticism have a high tendency to be involved in
criminal acts and behaviour. As he believed that both these traits result in
aggressive personality type and such individual show high arousal and energy
which makes them quick to react to negative situations.
Psychodynamic theory
Psychodynamic theory is a part of Psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud is considered as father of Psychoanalysis
According to him everyone carries the residue of their childhood experiences,
emotional attachments which guides our future actions and behaviours.
ID, Ego and Super Ego
Psychodynamic theorists believe that in criminal Superego and Ego completely takes
a back seat and it’s only the Id which is in action. Thus, Morality does not affect
criminal minds because their superego is completely suppressed.
Their Id has the complete control which guides them foe immediate gratification at any
cost. Id causes loss of impulse control in such individuals leading to increased
expression of pleasure seeking drives.
In such cases ego is also completely damaged of suppressed which leads to social
immaturity, and poor social skills.
ANY QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU