Criminal Psychology and Criminal Behaviour of Population

Abstract

Criminal psychology is mainly the study of the underlying factors that make people engage in criminal activities. Psychologists involved in this area study not only the thoughts and wills of criminals but also the reactions that follow after committing the criminal activities. Criminal psychology is the study of criminal behavior, where term behavior includes personality, attitudes, physiology, learning, motivation, thinking, and other cognitive factors which contribute to the act of crime or criminal behavior. Purpose of criminal psychology is to understand criminal behavior and to be able to control and modify such behavior. The terms“crime” or “criminal” are very contextual in nature. 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. Often confused as the similar terms. “Criminality” and “Crime” are different. While Criminality indicates intentions and attitude of indulging into criminal behavior. Crime is an act against law. Criminal psychology aims to control by providing interventions for criminality. This paper aims to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the theories in explaining the causes for offending and criminal behavior. For this study, we will evaluate the explanations givens by using several psychological factors in addition to social learning theory and the general aggression model in relation to aggressive and violent behavior, and also personality theories such as the “big five” model and personality dimensions theory, in relation to antisocial, impulsive and criminal behavior in general. These theories have been selected due to their relevance to the subject of behavior and relatability of criminal behavior.