Psychology is a scientific study that pays complete attention to the behaviour and intentions of individuals. Criminal psychology provides us with a sight into a criminal’s psyche and helps in clinically evaluating the mental state of criminals.
Significance of Psychology in Law
As taken from the above explanation, psychology studies the mental facet of an individual helping ascertain individual human behaviour.
It includes the study of the conscious and unconscious states of a person’s mind. It studies the human mind and its consequence on human behaviour.
Psychology, alone, plays a very indispensable role in law. Forensic psychologists and criminal anthropologists assist in determining the accused by means of scrutinizing or analysing a crime scene, they investigate into criminal’s psyche and other behavioural sciences.
Law enforcement agencies like FBI depend on these professionals to get within the heads of the probable culprit by recognising perpetrator’s personality type, lifestyle habits and quirks.
In the legal aspects, psychology helps in understanding of criminal intent of the criminals while committing of the crime, veracity of witnesses, and what punishment should be granted to someone committing an offence, by keeping in mind the person’s psychological frame of mind. To some extent, psychology has started determining a criminal, as someone plagued by a disturbance and thus suggests that such persons should be medically treated and not punished. the many changes in psychology include the deinstitutionalisation of the unstable, with a greater understanding of the treatments and causes for mental disorders.
Psychology is certifying criminals as people suffering from mental disorders, hence recommending the person to be treated medically rather than being punished.
Over the years, a greater understanding of psychology, human behaviour, and psychiatry has helped in bringing significant changes on how the legal experts consider law, also as changes, in how the criminal justice system treats the unstable persons.
Psychology during this era has become an integral a part of the system. The legal rules, doctrines and procedures reflect the fundamental assumption of attribute. Though psychology isn't considered by some legal authorities as a discipline that's relevant to the law, it assists the decision-makers in making decisions by providing more accurate images and pictures of human preferences and perceptions. Psychology also helps in checking the veracity of witnesses, as often the eyewitnesses are known to be either influenced by the accused or they're fearful of the accused. jPsychology can even help in reducing the false confessions by adopting peace models. Its studies include the examination of various areas having social and legal significance. It's supported the psychological and research of law and legal institutions and helps in that specialize in legal psychology instead of clinically-oriented forensic psychology.
Considering the psychological aspects of somebody's mind while pronouncing a judgement ensures justice. In the legal aspect, Psychology helps in determining the criminal intent of a criminal while committing the crime, veracity of witnesses, and what punishment should be granted to someone committing an offense, by keeping in mind the person’s psychological frame of mind. Psychology could be a leap forward in making the system perfect, the role played by psychology within the system helps in modifying our system and also helps in maintaining justice, equity, and good conscience. The study of criminal psychology can help in preventing more crimes happening in future because the best thanks to reduce crime is to grasp the criminal’s mind.
Does society create criminals?
There are three major domains underlying assumptions about attributes, these are as follows -
1. Conformity perspective:
Consistent with the speculation of Merton R. K. ‘humans are fundamentally good people and conforming beings who are strongly influenced by values and attitudes of the society within which they live’. This theory assumes that humans are creatures of conformity who want to try and do the proper thing. The correct thing is what society considers to be right. Family, education, social network, and contacts’ influence, can help access the correct thing. When there's ‘perceived discrepancy’, between the goals cherished and materialist values and also the availability of legitimate means, then delinquency and crime occur. Individuals and groups who experience a high level of strain are forced to choose whether to simply accept or violate laws or norms; consequently, they withdraw, confront or rebel.
2. Non-conformist perspective:
This theory assumes that masses are basically in disciplined creatures, if given an opportunity a personal would flout the society’s convention and commit a criminal offense. It's been contended in Travis Hirsch’s group action theory that delinquency and crimes occur when a person’s ties to the normative or conventional standards are largely non-existent or weak, where there's a fault within the checks and balances of the society. This theory assumes that attribute is fundamentally ‘bad’ or ‘antisocial’.
3. Third perspective:
It assumes that basically, people in general are ‘neutral’ by birth and that they learn all their beliefs, behaviours, and tendencies from the social environment. Consistent with this theory, criminal behaviour is learned through social interaction with people.
Criminal behaviour isn't the results of only psychological state, major affective disorder, or innate qualities of goodness or badness. People learn to be criminal as a result of the messages they receive from others, who were also thought to be criminals. The standard wisdom that “bad company promotes bad behaviour” aptly summarizes this theory. It may be concluded that the crime may be a combination of various things in our life, the primary and also the most significant being money clear from the phrase “money is that the explanation for all evil.”
When there's a lack of cash and a person is unable to fulfil his needs, then he commits differing kinds of crimes just to avail money. Another essential cause for committing against the law is that the feeling of revenge. Crime and society, they both exist in society, and their relation depends on one another. Crime is usually committed in society because it is that the society which labels particular act as crime or not. And where there's society, crime is probably going to happen due to social conflict and other factors as explained above.