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The Criminal Mind
When someone is committing a crime, what is going through his or her mind? What triggers them to commit a murder or violent crime? There are many theories on why criminals commit these heinous crimes. Behavioral Analyst’s examines why people commit crimes, what triggered a violent reaction, and how to prevent, or predict, these crimes from happening in the future.
Behavioral Analyst’s focus on the following concepts to piece together a crime and figure out why the criminal committed the crime. Behavioral science deals with achieving a better discerning of human behavior (Dictionay.com, n.d). By understanding how a person thinks, you can incorporate criminology and victimology into criminal profiling. Criminology is the concentration of a crime and/or criminal (Dictionary.com, n.d). In other words, what was going through the criminals mind when he or she was committing the crime? Victimology is the examination of victims and its psychological effects (Dictionary.com, n.d). Often times, criminals where once victims of the crimes they are currently committing. Piecing behavioral science, criminology, and victimology will allow the analyst’s to create a criminal profile. Profiling is a tool that helps analysis or investigate behavioral complexion to forebode and profile the unknown offender (Dictionary.com, n.d). For example, a murder was committed. There was so no camera or witness, so the analyst will try to find DNA or some sort of clue to describe a physical and emotional characteristic of the unknown offender. Now, the analyst has an idea of who the unknown criminal could be.
When evaluating a complex crime, the following behavioral manifestations are left at crime scenes are taken into accou...
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Montaldo, C. (2014). Multiple murders. Retrieved from http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/killer_types.htm
Mental Floss. (2006, September 16). Serial killer vs. mass murderer: What's the difference?. Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/19608/serial-killer-vs-mass-murderer-whats-difference
Office of Code Revision Indiana Legislative Services Agency. (n.d.). Iniana code 35-36-3. Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title35/ar36/ch3.html
Beller, L. (2011, August). The making and unmaking of a criminal. Retrieved from http://insight-magazine.org/2011/headline/the-making-and-unmaking-of-a-criminal/
Freberg, L. (n.d.). What is undoing?. Retrieved from http://psych.answers.com/psychoanalysis/what-is-undoing
Farlex. (n.d.). Crime of passion. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/crime of passion
Baer, Donald M., Montrose M. Wolf, and Todd R. Risley. "Applied Behavior Analysis for Criminal Justice Practice: Some Current Dimensions." Applied Behavior Analysis 1.1 (1968): 91-97. Print.
education-portal.com>. The "Behavioral Analysis Unit. " History of Forensic Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
Nature and nurture are no longer a debate; we see the two working together in concert to produce a genuine expression of the individual. The personalities and habits humans acquire in their lives is as much a biological evolution as it is a social or cultural acclimatization. While some people still have the argument that it is nature or it is nurture many people have come to the realization that is has to be both. Both nature and nurture developed who we are and what we become. So the question would remain which one influences us more on if we become a criminal. In that it is meant people that live outside the acceptable social norms of that society that may involve punishment or rehabilitation. The impression that people become criminals due to their inheritable factor has not been a popular idea amongst criminologist and has incited anger amongst a lot of them. There have been amazing findings in the fields of genetics that have encouraged a biological evaluation in other social sciences. This has also steered to the appearance of a criminology sub-field called Biocriminology.
Code 35-50-2-6 Version b (P.L. 158-2013. Available at http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title35/ar50/ch2.html. Accessed on 16 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. 8 Ind. & Exp.
This paper explores three criminological theories as to why Jeffrey Dahmer committed his crimes. Although these approaches vary in terms of defining the cause of crime, one thing is certain, there is no single cause of crime; the crime is rooted in a diversity of causes and takes a variety of forms depending on the situation in which the crimes occur. However, the published articles vary in their definitions and uses of Criminological Theory. Rawlins (2005) suggest that the criminal phenomenon is too complex to be explained by a single theory. Other theories suggest differently and; therefore, have varying explanations. This paper examines the Psychological, Biochemical, and Social Process theories to slightly explain Jeffrey Dahmer’s actions.
Many of the traditional criminological theories focused more on biological, psychological and sociological explanations of crime rather than on the cost and benefits of crime. More conservative approaches, including routine actives, lifestyle exposure and opportunity theories have clearly incorporated crime rate patterns as a fundamental part of analyzing the economics of crime. Crime statistics are important for the simple reason that they help put theories into a logical perspective. For example, a prospective home owner may want to look at crime rates in areas of potential occupancy. On a more complex level, it helps law enforcement and legislators create effective crime reduction programs. Furthermore, it also helps these agencies determine if crime prevention programs, that have been in effect, have been successful. There are many factors that influence the rates of crime including socio economic status, geographical location, culture and other lifestyle factors. More specifically, Messner and Blau (1987) used routine activities theory to test the relationship between the indicators of leisure activities and the rate of serious crimes. They discussed two types of leisure actives, the first being a household pastime, which primarily focused on television watching. The second type was a non-household leisure event which was consisted of attendance to sporting events, cinemas, and entertainment districts. The focus of this paper will be to study the effects that substantial amounts of leisure activities have on the offender and the victim. Leisure activities not only make a crime more opportunistic for offenders, it may also provide offenders with motivation to engage in criminal activity. On the other hand, it may also be argue...
Description of offender’s psychological history and functioning at the time of the offence is based on statistical approach which involves the analysis of behavioural and other relevant information found at the scene of crime in order to infer ...
The brain is arguably the most complex part of a human being and is linked to motivations, feelings, and actions. Therefore, when actions of individuals differ from “normal” actions, the brain is brought into question. Repeat killers commit actions that are not “normal” when compared to the general public and therefore research on their brains has been conducted. When comparing scans of everyday citizens’ brains as opposed to the brain of a convicted serial killer, the differences are clear. The two scans differ widely with the prefrontal gray matter of the average person’s, dwarfing that of the murderer’s (Adams). Pr...
The process of using behavioral evidence left at a crime scene to make inferences about the offender, including inferences about personality characteristics and psychopathology is called criminal profiling. Around the country, several agencies rely on the minds of criminal psychologists to lead them in the right direction to finding the correct offender. Criminal profiling provides investigators with knowledge of the appearance and behavior of a potential criminal.
Miller, Laurence. "The predator's brain: Neuropsychodynamics of serial killers."Serial offenders: Current thought, recent findings, unusual syndromes (2000): 135-166.
Greenfield, D. (2007). Introduction to forensic psychology. issues and controversies in crime and justice. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 35(2), 201-201-204,105-106.
Critical criminology, also known as radical criminology dates back to the concepts of Marxism. Despite the fact that Fredric Engels and Karl Marx were the founders of contemporary radical criminology, none of them gave explicit focus to crime. William Bonger (1876-1940), a Dutch criminologist was a more direct founder of this concept. It gained popularity during the early 1970s when it tried to explain the causes of contemporary social mayhem. He used economic explanations were used by critical criminology to analyze social behavior by arguing that social and economic inequalities were the main reason behind criminal behavior (Henry & Lainer, 1998). This view reduces the focus on individual criminals and elaborates that the existing crime is as a result of the capitalist system. Just like the conflict school of thought, it asserts that law is biased since it favors the ruling or the upper class and that the legal system that governs the state is meant to maintain the status quo of the ruling class. Critical criminologist are of the view that political, corporate and environmental crime are not only underreported but also inadequately punished by the existing criminal legal system.
There are two types of serial killers. The visionary serial killers who murders people because they hear voices or have visions that direct them to do so. Then there are the missionary murders, who believe that they are meant to get rid of a particular group of people. Inside these two groups of serial killers, there can be four different types of serial killers. The Lust serial killers, the thrill serial killers, the gain serial killers, and the power-seeking serial killers. Lust killers derive sexual pleasure from killing, thrill killers get joy from it, gain killers murder b...
In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.
Understanding Psychology and Crime; Perspectives on Theory and Action, New York. PENNINGTON, D ( 2002) , Introducing Psychology: Approaches, Topics and Methods, London, Hodder Arnold TANNENBAUN, B, (2007),Profs link criminal behaviour to genetics [online] , Available at: http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2007/11/profs_link_criminal_behavior_to_genetics [accessed 16th October 2011]. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/41182390/Explanations-of-Criminal-behaviour