THE ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN CRIMES

Ms. L Jyoti Reddy

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Psychology

Kalinga University, Naya Raipur (C.G.) –INDIA

ljyoti.reddy@kalingauniversity.ac.in

Crime can be defined as doing something against the accepted social norms, morals and behavior

which result in harmful effects on the society as a whole. Different countries have their own criminal codes which codify these crimes and further prescribe ways to prevent the occurrence of such acts. The English word ‘crime’ is derived from the Latin word “crimen” which means “to charge”.

Criminal psychology, also known as forensic psychology, focuses on studying the patterns of a criminal’s mind and his behavior. A criminal psychologist is interested in the question of what might have motivated a person to commit a crime, not the question of why. It is concerned with the thoughts, behavior, and feelings of a person to study the criminal circumstances which lead him to commit the crime. By studying the mind patterns of a criminal, criminal psychologists can identify the likelihood of a criminal recidivism.

The role of a criminal psychologist is to assist in criminal investigations by helping law officers solve crimes and analyze the behavior patterns of suspects. They play an important role in the investigation of criminal profiling, also known as offender profiling. Criminal profiling is concerned with the investigation of individuals who commit crimes. This type of investigation helps in identifying serial cases of criminal activities as the details of several cases are compared in this investigation. The purpose of this test is to classify the behavioral tendencies, demographic and geographic variables of the suspect. It creates a framework of the suspect’s life and his mental state.

One of the challenges criminal psychologists face when interrogating a suspect is that sometimes the suspect tries to be hostile, distrustful, and uncooperative in order to protect himself from criminal charges. Suspected cheaters get clever and try to save themselves from the situation. Sometimes the biases of the psychologists also influence the questioning process.

Criminal Psychology is dependent on the study of psychological aspects of man. Psychological factors are needed to understand issues such as parenting style, traumatic experiences that a person has had, and suicidal tendencies that lead to criminal behavior in individuals. Criminal psychology helps psychologist to understand and train the issues that govern psychotic criminal behavior. Criminal psychology enables to explore and manage formation, attribution bias, past impressions, prejudice, etc.