Psychology Of Criminal Behavior
Ragavi Pandiyan, Vinayaka Missions Law School, Chennai
ABSTRACT
There is no single psychological cause of criminal behavior. This paper reviews five bodies of research that together explain why some people offend and others do not: biological and neuropsychological factors, personality and psychopathy, learning and social cognition, developmental and environmental adversity, and mental illness and substance use. The evidence shows that genetic risk, prefrontal and autonomic differences, callous- unemotional traits, hostile thinking patterns and early maltreatment all increase the risk of offending, but none is deterministic, and most work through interaction rather than alone. Severe mental illness, often assumed to be a major driver of crime, accounts for only a small share of violence after adjusting for substance misuse and social disadvantage. The paper concludes that integrated, risk-based models, above all the risk need responsivity framework, provide the most defensible basis for assessment, treatment and prevention, if findings are used with caution about stigma, determinism and the limits of prediction.
