Criminal psychology: characteristics and goals of this applied science

Criminal psychology It is a branch of psychology that focuses on studying the criminal process, explaining it, understanding how and why it has happened and, thus, trying to prevent it.

The history of this discipline is very long and the theories and fields of application of it are multiple and varied. Below we will discover more in depth what this complex social science is dedicated to.

• Related article: "Forensic psychology: definition and functions of the forensic psychologist"

What is criminal psychology?

Criminal psychology is a branch of psychology that is aimed at studying, understanding and explaining what is the origin of crime and crime. It also studies what the motivations and personality of the offender are, in addition to taking advantage of what has been learned to prevent and control crime and rehabilitate the offender. Based on all this, the figure of the criminal psychologist stands out in prisons, mental health and tried, conducting interviews with those implicated in the crime and designing preventive programs of criminality.

Criminal psychology is an applied social discipline that, relatively recently, has managed to become independent from other nearby branches. Among these branches with which it is related we have legal psychology, forensic psychology, prison psychology and police psychology.

Historical origins

The historical origins of criminal psychology are various, related to other disciplines, especially criminology, sociology and psychology. In fact, and in relation to the latter, criminal psychology could not have developed up to the way it is today without psychology having developed as a science in general. One of the great milestones of psychology, the creation of tests, have been widely used in criminal psychology as an evaluation of the criminal characteristics of the suspect of a crime.

One of the most important developments for criminal psychology is the studies on the memory of Hermann Ebbinghaus. These have been of great importance when assessing eyewitnesses, how they remember the criminal event and how to verify its veracity. It is also related to psychology, specifically social, the study of group dynamics, increasing interest in the study of decision-making by individuals involved in an act criminal.

But in addition to the development of psychology itself, criminal psychology also owes its maturity to various historical and social events. Among them is the feminist wave of the sixties and seventies, in addition to a greater sensitivity towards child sexual abuse, a crime that was believed not to have such a high incidence.

It was in this context that criminal psychology tried to understand and confront crime, especially sexual and sexist crimes, with the intention of preventing it. With all this, it was intended to develop and implement treatments for abusers, and to study the ability of children to give evidence in court before the traumatic experience lived.

Nor can it be ignored that part of current criminal psychology has part of its roots in pseudosciences. Among them we have physiognomy, a discipline that considered that the body and the soul are in intimate relationship, causing the deformities of the body to be due to spiritual defects. Along with it we have the phrenology of Franz Joseph Gall, who developed a theory in which each psychic function corresponds to a part of the brain, and these can be seen in the skull, in the form of depressions and mounds along the head.

Another of the great contributions that criminal psychology has received has its origin in psychiatry. This discipline, at the time, distinguished between mentally ill individuals from those who were criminals. Although it was suggested that criminality had a psychopathological origin, as is the case with the proposed moral insanity by James Cowles Prichard, this concept was eventually superseded by that of criminal personality during the 19th century. XIX. Thus, it was recognized that criminal conduct occurred because of criminal traits present in the individual's personality.

• You may be interested: "History of Psychology: main authors and theories"

Theories related to criminal behavior

As we have commented, criminal psychology is understood as the application of psychological knowledge in the understanding and explanation of criminal behavior. Although this definition is clear and unequivocal, there are many theories that try to explain the fact that someone commits a criminal act.

From evolutionary psychology emphasis is placed on how developmental trajectories influence criminal behavior. The focus is on environmental influences, such as coming from an environment low socioeconomic status, not having received cultural stimulation, being the subject of a negligent parenting style and low self-esteem. All this can cause the individual to behave criminally, especially in adolescence.

On the other hand, going to social psychology, there are several theories that try to explain how criminal behavior occurs. Among them we have Festinger's theory of social attribution, in which it is indicated that people tend to attribute a cause, internal or external, such as the appearance of the behavior. Also, from the same author, we have the theory of cognitive dissonance, explained as the tendency of people to make a decision between two options that are valued similarly and lead to tension psychological.

Within social psychology we also have studies of social deindividualization, a process in which People lose their individual identity within a group, which can contribute to their disconnection from the society. This disconnection is a very important aspect in the study of criminality, since it can be a factor that makes the person more prone to commit crimes.

With regard to the psychology of personality, we have the study of individual psychological characteristics. The psychology of the personality focused on the criminal process tries to explain and find what are the specific characteristics of the personality that make some individuals more prone to committing criminal acts, with a very close relationship to self-control.

Within clinical psychology we can highlight the study of psychopathology related to crime. Crime can be linked to certain mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and mood disorders. Having some type of disability can also be related to the criminal process intellectual or impulse control disorder, kleptomania, pyromania, or spectrum disorders autistic.

Scope of application

Criminal psychology has many fields of application, the figure of the criminal psychologist in prisons, health centers and courts being especially notable.

1. Criminal analysis

Among the functions performed within criminal psychology, criminal analysis cannot be ignored. This is one of the main reasons why psychology should be included in the criminological field, given that many people can intervene in a crime, both the perpetrator and the victim and accomplices.

Thus, criminal psychology analyzes the behaviors of the offender in different specific situations, in such a way that it compares the data obtained with the databases. In case matches are found, such as the weapons used, the type of victim (as in the cases of murderers serial), the modus operandi, the geographical location and other aspects that allow to have a basis to guide the investigation.

Here you can also include the police investigation, including negotiation with criminals, work on the psychological content of different evidence or facts, studies on the structure of criminal gangs involved in the crime or mapping of the crime.

2. Criminal profiling

Another application of criminal psychology is criminal profiling. This is an investigative technique that helps investigators place themselves in the mind of the criminal, allowing to identify her personality and behavior characteristics, analyzing the crime and the scene of the same.

In this way, different aspects of the author's personality or motives can be known. For example, it may be that the crime had a prior planning, or it may be impulsive and passionate. The age of the person who committed the crime, their gender and the area in which they may live are also taken into account.

3. Interviews with those involved in the crime

Criminal psychology can be applied in conducting interviews, both with offenders and victims, to get relevant and truthful information about the events that have occurred.

In this way, the different needs of each person subjected to the criminal act are taken into account. They have needs, capabilities and characteristics that must be taken into account when conducting the interview, such as a minor who has witnessed a crime, an offender who refuses to confess, someone traumatized ...

The interview in this area has its peculiarities, since In standard interviews, three problems can be identified that involve inhibition in information retrieval:

• Frequent interruptions.
• Formulation of excessive questions.
• Inappropriate sequence of questions.

All this can result in more vague and imprecise information, little useful for the investigation.

That is why In this type of interview, the cognitive interview is usually used through different techniques. The first would be to mentally reconstruct the contexts of the crime, the second would be to leave the “free memory” to the person, narrating everything they remember. The third is the "change of perspective." The last is the "memory in reverse order" that the events are narrated differently from how they happened.

4. Valuation to be judged

One of the competences of the criminal psychologist is to assess if the accused is fit to stand trial.

It should be assessed whether the individual is capable of understanding the commission of the crime of which he is accused, and whether he had full powers to understand it at the time of the that he did it, if he can understand the causes of which he is accused, if he understands the range of possible convictions and if he has the capacity to testify on his own defending.

The reasons that make a person cannot be judged are various, such as a brain injury, dementia, intellectual disability or presence of psychopathology.

To be able to verify this, psychologists use evaluation methods or psychometric tests.

5. Assessment of the victim's condition

It is not only intended to know the characteristics of the offender, but also to know the status of the victim. In other words, the aim is to find out what effects the act that he has experienced has on his mental health, which can be especially traumatic in the case of an attempted murder, sexual abuse or mistreatment.

6. Prevention

Finally, we have that criminal psychology has a preventive purpose, since knowing the crime also contributes to avoiding it by intervening on the groups most likely to carry it out.

Thus, this discipline, knowing the biopsychosocial factors that have a relationship with the appearance and with the development of crime in order to reduce crime through prevention. It is intended to improve knowledge of crime and its prevention.

Bibliographic references:

• Arce, R. and Fariña, F. (2006). Psychology of testimony and cognitive evaluation of the veracity of testimonies and statements. In J. C. Sierra, E. M. Jiménez and G. Buela-Casal (Coords.), Forensic psychology: Manual of techniques and applications (pp. 563-601). Madrid: New Library.
• Durrant, R. (2013). An Introduction to Criminal Psychology. New York: Routledge.
• Farrington, D. (2004). Criminological psychology in the twenty-first century. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 14, 152–166.
• Hollin, C. R. (2013). Psychology and Crime. An introduction to criminological psychology. New York: Routledge.
• Otín del Castillo, J. M. (2009). Criminal Psychology: Applied Techniques of Police Intervention and Investigation. Valladolid: Lex Nova.
• Albiñana-Durà, J. (2015). Criminal psychology. CRIMINE. Center for the Study and Prevention of Crime. Miguel Hernández University