In this article, we are going to analyse various types of crimes and the Psychology behind committing them.
What’s the first thing which comes to your mind when you read the words like “Crime” and “Criminals” in our country? In India, we watch and read newspapers flooded with bizarre types of crimes and criminals, and it sometimes makes us wonder why do they do such things. However, they are human beings just like us also.
The answer to these questions is under Criminal Psychology.
Criminal Psychology, in-depth, is the study of the human psyche, which influences him to commit a crime. When we talk about a country like India, which is the second largest developing populated country in the world and unfortunately has a vast exceeding crime rate, so the question arises what’s the reason for the exceeding crime rate in the country?
Some of us may start assuming the reasons like poverty, politics, religion, unemployment, society etc., but none of these can directly justify the causes of a crime. There’s one thing ahead of all of these reasons, which is a criminal’s mind and how it works differently from an average individual. What runs through their mind when they commit a crime? Their mind develops in a way that lacks empathy for any other person.
Group Identification
Represents a core dimension for explaining a criminal’s attitude and behaviour. Group identity refers to a person’s sense of belonging to a particular group. At its core, the concept describes social influence within a group. The social category to which a person belongs impacts his mind also, for instance, people belonging to the same group may have a similar way of thinking and perception. This type of ideology which belongs to a certain community, may be often seen to be passing through generations. Group Identification does not classify groups into certain classes or castes, but its main focus is on the atmosphere a person gets influenced by living in it.
In the famous case of Akash Yadav vs the state of Haryana, it was analysed how a minor children’s mind was abruptly influenced by the atmosphere he was living in. The child seemed aroused by the “property-driven wealth of his father” (a real-estate businessman) and a surrounding of modernity which impacted him negatively.
Hunger for Power
A fight for superiority to establish dominance. Most of the political crimes in India fall in the same category.
For instance, the youngsters (mostly unemployed) getting involved in politics to highlight their posters, banners and hoardings on road, you may notice a similar type of demeanour in most of the young politicians or (chatra netas) which includes “gamchas” peace of cloth using in the neck. We often watch some of them on social media flexing rifles, guns, pistols, cars etc. Now we get back to the reason behind all these things, which is the given satisfaction, power and feeling of superiority In return.
They forget the motto of politics is for social welfare and are involved in such things just for self-satisfaction. Sometimes this craving for power results in crimes like keeping illegal weapons, social bullying and whatnot. So many times, crimes are committed to gain nothing but power (or to make a social position), and the satisfaction comes with it, which results making some criminal politicians and other gangsters or conmen. Dawood Ibrahim world’s third most wanted underworld don, has the same personality traits of dominance or power, and his ideologies are not an exception to this theory.
Desire crime
Crime for Pleasure and satisfying desires.
There are mainly three factors to committing a crime- desire, target and opportunity.
The prime factor in committing a crime is the desire of a criminal. The desire may be related to anger, revenge, or sexual and other emotional needs. To fulfil these needs, one may commit a crime. The level of satisfaction and excitement they receive by doing such acts barres their sense of guilt, remorse and empathy toward others which liberally indulges a person into criminal activities again or continuously. We have so many examples of criminals induced by desires to commit a crime even after having all the wealth and social sources to justify or to reach a certain level of satisfaction, like a nicotine addict.
One example of desired criminal in india is the infamous thug Mithilesh Kumar Shrivastava (Natwarlal). He was a lawyer by profession and had good family background but at the time he started doing forgery for fun, he received a high level of self-satisfaction, which gradually converted into an addiction making him one of the biggest thugs in India.
“One may think that we all individuals have our own emotional desires, but that doesn’t make all of us commit or take an illegal way to satisfy those desires then what leads a criminal towards the crime? The reason behind it is that humans have no control over their desires, but one may find a healthy and positive way to control or tame them. In contrast, others don’t, leading them to do anything to satisfy their uncontrollable desires.
Co-relation between crime and psychiatry
In India, according to a research by NIMHANS , more than 80 per cent of people do not access care services for multiple reasons, including lack of knowledge, stigma and less local resources and because of its pricey affair. Moreover, in India, to see a psychiatrist is seen as a sign of maniac that’s also one of the reasons people hesitate to admit their mental illness or disorders .
Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990, it’s a rising issue in our country.According to several types of research worldwide, it has been proved that certain mental conditions do increase a person’s risk of committing crime; research shows that people with mental illness may be more prone to violence if they do not receive adequate treatment because of suppressing any mental illness. Depression, post-traumatic disorder etc., may have dangerous consequences ,due to not getting treated at the right time may result in violent behaviour towards others, for instance, domestic abuse,ecetera.Most serial killers and murderers’ history is buried with childhood traumas and depressing incidents.
These were some of the leading causes of a criminal mentality in India, describing the psychology of being a criminal and how their mind works. However, one should never forget that a crime can never be justified, doesn’t matter whatever the reason behind it. Next time you hear about crimes or someone who mirrors a personality like this, surely you will not pass it out without thinking about the above factors of psychology.