Anyone will say that a criminal is a person who has committed a crime. What are the characteristics of a criminal person? This will be discussed in this article.
The concept of the identity of the criminal
In both criminology and criminal law, the identity of the offender has always been a key issue. How can you characterize the person in question? A criminal is a person who has certain properties and traits that are criminally punishable. At the same time, various disciplines and scientific directions interpret the criminal personality in different ways. So, in criminal law it is the "subject of the crime", in the criminal process it is the "accused", in the criminal correctional environment it is the "convict".
It should be noted that each criminal has a certain legal status and duties that the court gives him. As a rule, this is an obligation to serve a sentence in correctional colonies.
To distinguish a criminal from the whole mass of people, it is necessary to designate clear legal criteria. At the same time, these criteria must coincide with the fact that the crime was committed.
Statistics
Criminal criminallaw is always a person who falls under a number of certain criteria. These criteria have been developed in accordance with special statistics developed by the Academy of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. What do the statistics show?
It has been proven that the total number of crimes is growing every year, and for the second decade already. However, these data are trying to refute the law enforcement agencies, who are sure of the opposite. The Academy nonetheless claims that 25 million crimes occurred in 2012; law enforcement agencies call the figure of 2.3 million. Despite various data, both instances are sure of one thing: the statistics helped to identify a number of specific signs characteristic of criminals. All these signs make up a single classification necessary for the study of lawyers, investigators, psychologists and other persons. It is about this classification that it is worth telling further.
Social and demographic features
What is meant by the social characteristics of a criminal person? This includes the most common criteria applicable to all ordinary people: gender, marital status, age, level of working qualifications, place of residence, etc. All these seemingly simple signs characterize absolutely any person in the best possible way. However, in the case of criminals, everything is somewhat opposite.
As you know, a criminal is a person with some deviations and "shifts" in the physical or mentaldevelopment. The social signs revealed in a criminal person make it possible to qualitatively determine the level of deviation from the norm. Some scientists talk about highlighting individual personality traits of a criminal, according to which more complete and complex statistics can be built in the future. At the same time, we are talking about the system of social relations, the level of socialization of a particular criminal person. So, thanks to socio-demographic features, it seems possible to qualitatively build typical portraits of potential violators of the order.
Criminal signs
Unlike social, criminal-legal signs are inherent only to persons accused of a particular crime. What exactly applies here? It is worth highlighting the following main elements:
- the motives that the person had at the time of the crime;
- shape of guilt;
- the nature of the crime - group or individual;
- the criminal past of a person, his biography, etc.
There are also a number of special, non-traditional features. They do not point to a specific crime, but to the offender's belonging to certain social groups. So, the violator can be a thief in law, a leader of some community or an important representative person.
All the features listed above best reflect the nature, composition and form of the crime committed. A criminal is a person containing many different contradictions and characteristic features. That's whyit is possible to conduct a competent analysis of his personality only with the use of criminal law signs.
Psychological and moral signs
A criminal in criminal procedure law, in criminal law or in criminology is always an absolutely ordinary person with a certain motivational need sphere, certain interests, views, beliefs and character traits. Representatives of the relevant authorities are required to competently analyze the intellectual, volitional and emotional spheres of a criminal person. What is it for? First of all, in order to identify the main elements of human degradation. Thanks to the revealed moral and mental signs, it is possible to determine the likelihood of degradation of a person. Which signs come to light first?
This could include:
- intelligence;
- interests, habits and abilities;
- value orientations, worldview, views;
- volitional properties and some other elements.
So a criminal is just like any other person. However, certain deviations greatly affect the personality, as a result of which criminal motives are formed.
Physiological signs
A criminal is a person, as a rule, with certain deviations in physical or mental development. Naturally, such a statement is not always true. However, in most cases, the motives for criminal acts are formed precisely by certain deviations anddeviations from the norm. Mental signs have already been named above, but now it is worth pointing out physiological ones. What can be highlighted here:
- diseases, abnormal physical constitution;
- congenital or acquired defects;
- chronic diseases, etc.
All these moments have a strong influence on the human psyche. The consequence of a disease state may be insufficient socialization, problems in work or study, various kinds of social barriers. Naturally, all these factors cannot but affect the personality of a person. As a rule, a person develops for himself certain motives that push him to criminal acts.
