Anyone will say that the criminal is the person who committed the crime. And what are the characteristics of a criminal person? This will be discussed in this article.
The concept of the identity of the criminal
Both in criminology and in criminal law, the identity of the perpetrator has always remained a key issue. How can the person in question be characterized? A criminal is a person who possesses certain properties and traits related to criminal offenses. At the same time, various disciplines and scientific fields interpret the criminal personality in different ways. So, in criminal law it is a “subject of crime”, in a criminal trial - “accused”, in a criminal correctional environment - “convicted”.
It should be noted that each criminal has a certain legal status and obligations that the court gives him. As a rule, it is an obligation to serve sentences in penal colonies.
To distinguish the criminal from the whole mass of people, it is necessary to identify clear legal criteria. Moreover, these criteria must coincide with the fact of the crime.
Statistics
A criminal in criminal law is always a person who meets a number of specific criteria. These criteria are worked out in accordance with special statistics developed by the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. What is indicated in the statistics?
It was proved that the total number of crimes is growing every year, and for the second decade. However, these data are trying to refute law enforcement agencies, confident in the opposite. The academy nonetheless claims that 25 million crimes occurred in 2012; law enforcement agencies say the figure is 2.3 million. Despite various data, both instances are sure of one thing: statistics have helped to identify a number of certain signs characteristic of criminal persons. All these signs make up a single classification, necessary for study by lawyers, investigators, psychologists and other persons. It is about this classification that is worth telling further.
Social and demographic characteristics
What is meant by the social characteristics of a criminal? These include the most ordinary criteria applicable to all ordinary people: gender, marital status, age, level of work qualification, place of residence, etc. All these seemingly simple signs best characterize absolutely any person. However, in the case of criminals, the opposite is true.
As you know, a criminal is a person who has some deviations and “shifts” in physical or mental development. The social signs revealed by the criminal person allow to qualitatively determine the level of deviation from the norm. Some scientists talk about highlighting certain personality traits of the criminal, according to which in the future it is possible to build more complete and complex statistics. At the same time, we are talking about the system of public relations, about the level of socialization of a criminal person. So, thanks to socio-demographic characteristics, it seems possible to qualitatively build typical portraits of potential violators of order.
Criminal Law Signs
In contrast to social, criminal law features are inherent only to persons accused of a particular crime. What exactly belongs here? It is worth highlighting the following main elements:
- motives that a person had at the time the crime was committed;
- form of guilt;
- the nature of the crime - group or sole;
- the criminal past of a person, his biography, etc.
There are a number of special, non-traditional features. They point not to a specific crime, but to the criminal belonging to certain social groups. So, the offender may be a "thief in law", the leader of a community or an important representative.
In all of the signs listed above, the nature, composition and form of the crime committed are best reflected. A criminal is a person who contains a lot of different contradictions and characteristics. That is why a competent analysis of his personality is possible only with the use of criminal law features.
Psychological and moral attributes
A criminal in criminal procedural 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 the criminal person. What is it for? First of all, in order to identify the main elements of human degradation. Thanks to the identified moral and mental signs, you can determine the likelihood of degradation of a person. What signs are identified first?
This may include:
- intelligence;
- interests, habits and abilities;
- value orientations, worldview, views;
- volitional properties and some other elements.
Thus, a criminal is exactly the same as any other person. However, certain deviations strongly affect the personality, as a result of which criminal motives are formed.
Physiological signs
A criminal is a person who, as a rule, has certain deviations in physical or mental development. Naturally, such a statement is far from always true. However, in most cases, the motives of criminal acts form precisely certain deviations and deviations from the norm. Mental signs have already been named above, but now it is worth pointing to physiological ones. What can be highlighted here:
- diseases, abnormal physical constitution;
- birth defects or acquired defects;
- chronic diseases, etc.
All these points have a strong impact on the human psyche. The consequence of the 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.