The mechanisms of individual criminal behavior are widely considered in criminology, where the possibilities of preventing future illegal acts and investigating previous events are studied. This is also necessary to exclude the formation of conditions in which a person is able to commit a crime. So, for example, drunkenness and unemployment can significantly increase the risk of crime in the region.
The process of forming the preconditions for the commission of an illegal act
The mechanisms of individual criminal behavior are considered far before the beginning of the emergence of a motive for the implementation of the plan. They take into account the environment of a person, his social level, work environment. The psychophysiological state, mental abilities are analyzed.
Considering the mechanisms of individual criminal behavior, there are several successive stages in the emergence of a motive for an illegal act. Ateach individual must go through all 3 stages. If you pass at least one of them, a person has an increased chance to stop in time and think about the consequences.
Steps of the mechanism of individual criminal behavior:
- Awareness of the future act. Often this is a long internal process of motivation formation. Surrounding circumstances, personal reflections based on accumulated life experience can induce to illegal action.
- Established intentions. A person thinks in detail about the method of committing an offense, chooses a victim and an excuse for himself. A clear plan of action has been outlined, a crime weapon has been chosen, a place where everything should happen.
- There is a situation in the mechanism of individual criminal behavior, called an illegal physical act or an act dangerous to society.
- Mechanisms of criminal behavior include the psychological torment of an individual after the implementation of an illegal act.
The period of formation of conditions for misconduct
The main elements of the mechanism of individual criminal behavior include: motivation, planning, execution. The first is formed under the influence of external conditions. These include the level of social protection, collective influence, military operations.
The main elements of the mechanism of individual criminal behavior are not implemented without motivation. It acts as a primary source for inducing a person to action. May appear with a lack of benefits:money, food, other needs.
Motivation is often formed regardless of the will of the person. However, the action itself takes place consciously according to a premeditated plan. The psychological mechanism of individual criminal behavior always works under the influence of external conditions:
- Income stratification in society.
- The idle way of life of the group surrounding a person: parasitism, alcoholism, contempt for the positive qualities of society.
- Criminal environment where theft and other more serious acts are perceived as the norm.
Planning
The structure of the mechanism of individual criminal behavior includes a period when a person thoroughly thinks over the method and time of his act. They take into account the instruments with which the illegal act will be committed. Appropriate events are selected.
Planning is an integral part of the crime. Since any illegal action occurs consciously, and therefore, intentionally. The time frame has to be taken into account. This is what forensic science tries to prove, pointing to guilt in a misdemeanor.
Combined with motive, planning becomes action. The purpose and method of its implementation depend on many factors determined by human activity. Here the accumulated experience of previous years, habits, goals play a big role.
A positive lifestyle does not always preclude the appearance of a motive. Thus, a crime may be committed out of envy of the more fortunateopponent or because of racial hatred. Planning begins only when the person has clearly defined the end goal.
Motives
Criminalists consider the causes, conditions and mechanism of individual criminal behavior. The first component determines the initial stage, when a person first thinks about committing a misdemeanour. These thoughts arise for many reasons:
- material, sexual needs;
- psychological abnormalities;
- sense of danger;
- desire to acquire knowledge.
According to the conditions in which a person is daily, criminologists are able to determine whether he will be able to commit a crime in the future. Thus, new laws are able to transfer law-abiding citizens into the category of criminals with only one wording. The very concept of the mechanism of individual criminal behavior is attributed more to the internal contradictions of the individual. Let's take a closer look at them.
The concept of the psychological mechanism of individual criminal behavior is considered from two points of view:
- Motive of material needs.
- Social needs.
Material motives are less aggressive and are aimed at enriching the individual. Goods play the role here: money, objects, jewelry. This includes everything that can be taken away, felt physically.
Social needs are classified as moral goods. They spawn crimes in the name of faith, sexualcharacter, satisfaction of personal ambitions. The motive arises from anger, hatred, personal beliefs, for the sake of self-assertion.
Types of needs
The motive that arises on the basis of material needs can be of several types depending on certain conditions:
- Sustainable needs give rise to criminal activity. So, a person commits an illegal act to get food when there is no other way out.
- The motive for a crime can also be formed in response to the needs common to a given society.
- Inflated needs also push a person to commit a crime. This manifests itself in the desire to have more than others. Otherwise, this desire is called hypertrophied for this society.
- A separate place in forensics is the study of perverted needs. The motive for the crime is most likely here. It occurs against the background of alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling. These desires of a person are aimed at causing damage to society, otherwise they are called perverted.
The material motive determines the mechanism of individual criminal behavior, and its elements are considered from the standpoint of an individual's desire to get rich at the expense of others. This group includes the majority of minor and medium damage crimes.
The motive arising from social needs appears in order to satisfy the psychological component of the criminal. Illegal actions are the result of revenge, racial or class hatred, envy. The individual acts for his ownself-assertion or promotion in society.
The value system as a barrier to the formation of a motive
Considering the mechanism of individual criminal behavior, they try to classify the concept and elements according to the psychological component. So, the motive often arises due to the manifestation of interest, negative and positive feelings, attraction (often sexual), emotions. The purpose of actions can be to satisfy physical needs, the lust for power, to receive praise and approval from others.
Each individual is instilled with a system of values from an early age, which becomes a barrier to committing a crime. Conscience, fear of the inevitability of punishment do not allow to commit an illegal act. But often it is these values that make a person a hostage to a situation where there is no other way. This is possible during periods of crisis, unemployment, natural disasters.
The value system is necessary for society. It can perform negative functions:
- The motive is strengthened by the beliefs of society, overlapping their own. Media organizations influence the formation of anti-social actions.
- There are examples in history when religious or political beliefs became the motive for the criminal act of several million people. This happened and is happening under nationalism. Generations were raised on the basis of false religious teachings, calling entire countries apostates and calling for the murder of infidels.
Implementation of the plan
In the mechanism of individual behavior, there are several options for an act, depending on the circumstances. Consider them as separate groups of crimes:
- The motive has not yet been specified. There is spontaneity in actions. More often this happens when the situation changes to unfavorable and uncomfortable for a person.
- Inertial mechanisms of behavior work without intended goals and a sound assessment of the situation, when a person does not think about the consequences of his act.
- Instant reaction to a negative situation. The individual used the first tool that came his way.
- The action takes place without hesitation, the process of realizing the seriousness of the act is weakened. The perpetrator is unable to control himself.
- In the criminal process there is no action of the mind, more mechanical movements are inherent. In this case, the main part of the crime is committed without meaning.
- In the latter case, the entire period of the crime is committed under the influence of only one unconscious state. Most of the mental process takes.
Every wrongful act is the result of a motive. Criminology distinguishes the sources of formation conscious and unconscious. Whereas criminal law singles out only intentional crimes.
Objective reality and internal component
Each illegal action is the result of some relationship between the mental state of a person and the surrounding reality. External factors determine directiondeed.
There are several links in the formation of individual criminal behavior:
- Becoming a personality. During this period, the external environment has the maximum effect on the formation of internal qualities. Social norms are defined.
- The social environment has a negative effect. An antisocial vision of the world is formed in the individual, addictions are developed. So, theft becomes the norm in some group. Having moved to a new place, the individual can no longer get rid of the criminal skill.
- The risk of crime increases when an individual has already formed anti-social social norms, and he finds himself in a crisis life situation.
Environmental reality
The crisis situation is assessed based on the internal representations of the individual. Social norms, physical and psychological conditions instilled from childhood are involved here. Reality is divided into the real environment and the subjectively perceived (assessment of the situation by each individual).
Two kinds of reality never match. For one person, a crisis is a situation when gold runs out. For another, there is no life without alcohol. In both cases, the risk of committing a crime is quite high. The difference is observed only in the reasons for the formation of the motive.
Mostly subjective opinionshave a significant impact on the decision to commit a wrongful act. Two different people will behave differently under the same conditions. Another important parameter of a crisis situation is its duration. In a short period of time, many are not able to move to an illegal act.
The frequency of recurrence of crisis situations leads to the commission of a crime, when a person can no longer stand it and breaks down into an act of retaliation or aggression. The scale of the events taking place also has a crushing effect on the psyche. Actions become massive, often the situation no longer depends on the individual. The motive is imposed by the public.
Differences of opinion
Many scientists build models of criminal behavior from different points of view. For some, the determining factor in the formation of a motive is the antisocial position of the individual. For others, the current crime situation plays a major role.
Most researchers of this issue agree that in a criminogenic situation, a person's personal attitudes fade into the background. Consciousness and will are completely subordinate to the current process, suppressed by stress, conflict events. From another point of view, the antisocial moods of the individual can prevail over reason, and in favorable conditions a crime is committed.
The factor of internal antisocial sentiment plays a significant role in the commission of a wrongful act, but it is considered in conjunction with the prevailing conditions.
