A Look Into the Purpose of Criminal Psychology
In this day in age there are many ways for the legal system to apprehend and prosecute criminals. Often times this is through the use of multiple different kinds of special agents, machines, or even animals. One resource authorities have when working with criminals is a criminologist of expert in criminal justice. But what is exactly are criminology and criminal justice? Criminology and criminal psychology are two scientific schools which focus on using criminal behavior patterns to build effective profiles to aid police in apprehending and prosecuting suspects.
Criminal psychology goes a bit further and is often used during trials to try and discover the defendant's state of mind and reasoning. In most cases a criminal psychologist will spend a great deal of time acting in the role of an expert witness, or someone who testifies in court to bring clarity to specialized facts about the case. Criminal psychologists are usually used in especially violent crimes where there was great loss. Examples of trials which might use a criminal psychologist include serial murder, rape, sadism, homicide, sexual abuse, kidnapping, and others with similar perpetrators.
Criminal psychologists are trained to look at the psyche of criminals and see what motivated them to commit crimes, how likely they are to do it again, and if they are a danger to society. Because this kind of extensive interview is expensive and time consuming, criminal psychology is saved for those defendants deemed a serious threat to society. Often upon interviewing said individuals, criminal psychologists discover diseases and disorders that caused that particular person’s devolution into crime. It is because of this kind of understanding that everyone in society isn’t afraid to walk the streets at night. Society as come to recognize violent criminals as an exception to the rule and not something that everyone has the capability of becoming.
The above article’s sources came from multiple locations including:
www.criminaljusticeusa.com/criminologist.html
