Knowra Criminal psychology Criminal psychology Criminal psychology studies the thoughts, motives, emotions, and behavior associated with criminal conduct. It applies psychological research to understanding offending, victims, investigations, and legal decisions.
Investigative psychology : A field applying psychological theory and research to criminal investigations and offender behavior. It uses behavioral evidence to help interpret crimes and guide investigations.
Criminogenic needs : Changeable factors associated with increased risk of criminal behavior, such as antisocial attitudes or substance misuse. These factors identify psychological and social targets for reducing reoffending.
Criminology : The study of crime, its causes, patterns, prevention, and social responses. It provides the broader field in which psychological explanations of crime are situated.
Biological criminology : The study of biological influences on criminal behavior, including genetics, brain function, and physiology. It emphasizes biological pathways that psychological accounts may examine alongside cognition and learning.
Risk-Need-Responsivity model : A rehabilitation framework matching intervention intensity to risk, targeting criminogenic needs, and adapting treatment to the person. Its principles raise questions about how psychological assessments should guide correctional treatment.
Offender profiling : The practice of inferring characteristics of an unknown offender from crime-scene and behavioral evidence. It translates patterns of offending into investigative hypotheses about a perpetrator.
Self-control theory : A criminological theory linking low self-control to a greater tendency toward impulsive, short-term offending. It explains some criminal acts through difficulty delaying gratification and weighing consequences.
Psychopathy : A personality construct marked by traits such as callousness, shallow affect, and manipulative or antisocial behavior. It is often discussed in relation to persistent offending, but does not explain all crime.
Sociological criminology : The study of how social structures, institutions, and relationships shape crime and criminalization. It locates explanations in social conditions that individual-level psychology may not capture.
False confession : A confession to a crime that the confessor did not commit. Psychology investigates how pressure, vulnerability, and interrogation practices can produce unreliable admissions.
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