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11International Annual Edition of Applied Psychology : Theory, Research, and Practice Volume 4, Issue 1, 2017.
THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE PERSON IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Natalia M. Romanova,
Saratov State University,
83, Astrakhanskaya Street, Saratov, Russia
RomanovaNM@info. sgu.ru
Abstract
The article is devoted to the necessity of identification of social and psychological mechanisms of involvement of the person in criminal activity in the conditions of anomy Russian society; factors of expansion of criminal self-realization areas of the person in anomy society are singled out; the main directions of psychological research of the criminal personality are described; ways of involvement in criminal activity (individual, group) are emphasized; manifestations of modification of modern criminal subculture (a combination of criminal and individual values, formation of specific organization culture, "interlacing" of lawful and criminal kinds of activity, an inclusiveness in society) are described; definitions of the concepts "involvement in criminal activity", "self-involvement in criminal activity" are presented; components of the social and psychological mechanism of involvement of the person in criminal activity (genesis, process, result, factors and determinants) are described.
Key words: involvement, criminal activity, anomy, self-involvement, criminal subculture
Crime is one of the most relevant international problems. For the global community the significance of resolving this issue increased greatly after World War II. This is associated with rapid growth of criminal activity across the world, its globalization, intellectualization, professionalization, and spread of organized crime, interlinking of governmental and criminal structures, and increasing number of criminals going unpunished [1,2].
ISSN 2313-4097
According to UN data, in the end of twentieth century rate of growth of criminal activity is 3-5 times more than rate of growth of human population. Amount of committed crimes across the world is increasing by 5 percent every year [3].
According to ICPS, the amount of convicted criminals in Russia per 100000 citizens is 487, with the total of 697800 people. (As of March 1, 2013) [4].
The scale and structural changes of present-day crime put it on the spot for a deep scientific research. Intense social transformations, happening in modern Russian society, lead to a change of social and individual values, implementation of ideals of consumerism, destruction of old standards and traditions and discrediting of the new ones. Along with traditional sources of formation of deviant and criminal behavior of the individual, and means of initiation the members of society (most of all youth) towards asocial and antisocial forms of behavior, appear new sources, more akin to modern postindustrial society. Thus, under conditions of social disorganization (anomy), happening in modern Russian society, expands the field of deviant and criminal self-realization of an individual.
Intense dynamic of social transformations linked with the change of the system of social values, expansion of the sphere of influence of negative socialization sources on individual in modern society, appearance of new opportunities of creating the meaning of life for individual under the condition of global changes, leads to expansion of the area of criminal activities, change of motivational grounds for criminal behavior, involvement of different parts of population into criminal activity, which in itself includes individuals with different psychological, social and lawful characteristics, increases the number of different asocial and criminal groups.
Social transformations inevitably spawn transformation of crime at large as well as criminal behavior of an individual in particular. Individual trajectories of affiliation of someone towards criminal activity at the moment are characterized by wide variety of criminal self-realization opportunities. Hence it is possible to focus scientific research on analyzing new, specific for transforming society determinants
of connecting an individual towards criminal values and involving said individual into criminal activity.
Consequences of individual being involved in criminal activity are often tragic and irreversible for the individual (criminal identification, risk of relapse in 70% of all cases, ruined life, and social detachment of the criminal).
Under conditions of global social changes in globalizing world existing theories of criminal behavior (criminological, sociological, socio-psychological, medical etc.) quickly become irrelevant. It is connected with the influence of following factors:
1) Change and disappearance of one set of social determinants, valuable from the point of view of forming of criminal behavior, and appearance and expansion of the area of other.
2) Use of intense social changes by representatives of crime cells for their own benefit: a) adaptation of social and socio-psychological conditions (law oversights, loopholes in the functioning of social system, people's needs and expectations not being met); b) deliberate creation of conditions for expanding the spheres of criminal self-realization of individual criminals and criminal organizations.
Joint effort of outer and inner factors of expanding areas of criminal self-realization of an individual in modern society explains the increased involvement of representatives of various social groups into criminal activity (youth, women, highly-qualified specialists and intellectuals).
Thus stands the problem of scientific search for socio-psychological mechanisms of involving the individual into criminal activity. The problem of mechanisms of involving the individual into criminal activity remains not scientifically researched enough as a whole and psychologically in particular. In psychological and interdisciplinary knowledge the following traditional directions of researching of individual's criminal behavior have been fixed: the mechanism of individual's criminal behavior is being expanded upon in the works of
G.A. Avanesov [5], M.P. Kleimenov [6], A.R. Ratinov [7]; motivation of criminal behavior is presented in the works of Y.M. Antonyan [8], K.Y. Igoshev [9]. In the works of L.V. Alekseyeva [10], Y.M. Antonyan [11], V.F. Pirozhkov [12], M.I. Yenikeyev [13], A.F. Lazurskiy [14], A.N. Pastushen [15], S.V. Pozdnishev [16] the qualities of criminal's personality are being revealed. Types of criminals are developed and described in the works of A.F. Zelinski [17], A.G. Kovalev [18], A.M. Yakovlev [19]. Correlation of biological, psychological and social inside criminal's personality is presented in the group work of N.P. Dubinin, I.I. Karpez, V.N. Kudryavzev [20]. Determinants of aggression, violence and cruelty of the subject of a criminal act are revealed in the works of L.A. Voloshina [21], S.N. Yenikolopov [22], O.Y. Mikhailova [23], A.R. Ratinov [24], F.S. Safuanov [25], O.D. Sitkovskaya [26]. Y.M. Antonyan and Y.G. Samovichev [11] look into criminal behavior as a form of compensation and protection, basis for which is a formed non-adaptive style of reaction, S.A. Belicheva [27] links criminal behavior with troubles in family. In the meantime criminologists point out the fact of intensive criminalization of modern Russian community and active criminalization of social relations on a global scale [28, 29].
The existing approaches, explaining criminal activity classify the latter in the aspect of situationism - dispositionism. In first case the determiners lie in the sphere of external factors and impacts. In case of the disposition approach act, the responsibility lies on the subject himself (herself). In works of G.A. Avanes [5], Y.M. Antonyan [11], I.P. Bashkatov [30] the role of the person's social pedagogic and psychological desolation factor in the sphere of deviant and criminal behavior is underlined.
Meanwhile objective realias of modern life represent a much wider component of the criminal behavior subjects, including those demonstrating social behavior forms, appearance presentability, intelligence. It is a special type of criminal personality oriented on social cultural norms of law-obedient society on one hand, and the norms of criminal world on the other. The features of that kind of criminal are
presented in criminological researches. Socially-psychological portrait of that person and social psychological factors of his/her criminalization are still unknown , but social psychological mechanisms of the involvement of the person in criminal activity have their peculiarities, that are different from the peculiarities of the involvement of the general criminal person in criminal activity.
The literature on the problem of the involvement of the person in criminal activity is mostly concerned with the lack of socialization, ill-being of the family, and also problem of social and medico-psychological character. However, this kind of models show their limitation in the conditions of anominal society, that is characterized by massive social transformations dynamic. In anominal society the results of fast and intense changes are loss, destruction and instability of normative systems, that lose their regulative function, in this kind of society the normative control drops just as the meaning of morality and law. The increasing of the criminal actions is followed by an active ingression, spreading and implantation of the criminal subculture and values into social structure of the society. The involvement in criminal activity is realized through the identification of the person with criminal values and criminal subculture. In conditions of transformation and modification of the latter the directions of person's involvement in criminal activity also change. The research of which - is the most important task of the modern evolution stage of our society.
The term "the involvement of the person in criminal activity" is understood as the exposure of the individual to criminal activity and encouragement to participate in it, that appears under the influence of the determinant's total. The term "involvement" van be used in psychological research mostly concerning the religion while considering the process of the involvement of the person in cults and totalitarian groups. In law area this term is used for the actions of the criminal towards the underage people (involvement of underage people in prostitution or crime). At the same time the term "the involvement of the person in criminal activity" may be used in wide context - for explaining the involvement of the person in criminal behavior.
In the modern dictionary of Russian language written by T.F. Efremova the term "involving" means: 1a) forcing someone to do something; 1b) drag someone with you with the power of personal example; 2a) using the power of persuasion; 2b) use something in work, production, etc [31]. In the S.I. Ozhogov and N.Y. Shvedova definition dictionary the term "to involve" means "to encourage someone to do something" [32].
Socio-psychological mechanism of the involvement of the person in criminal activity is viewed as a complicated system that is developing in the process of person's life. In our opinion, the components of that mechanism include following features: a) genesis of the involvement of the person in criminal activity (the history of the person's criminal behavior foundation formation); b) the involvement of the person in criminal activity as a process (dynamic, speed, the existence or absence of cognitive discordance); c) the involvement of the person in criminal activity as a result (the depth, the intensity, the expressiveness, the stability, and the transmutability); d) determiners of the involvement (socio-psychological, gender, age, individually-psychological, etc.) e) the factors of involvement: 1) external, environmental; 2) internal, individual.
We see the nature of the involvement process as one that can be realized both with conscious and not so conscious psychological mechanisms. The mechanism of the involvement of the person in criminal activity is the mixture of components and processes (objective, subjective, static, dynamic, external, internal).
In the basis of the psychological mechanism formation of the involvement of the person in criminal activity lie processes of asocialization and desocialization. The asocialization stand for the process of person's absorption antisocial norms, values, negative roles, models and stereotypes of the behavior. In the process of the asocialization a- and anti- social models are fixed, commonly accepted norms of behavior are denied , this process can either be spontaneous or task-oriented. Desocialization is the deformation of the person on a particular stage of his/her normal socialization under the accidental or task-oriented influence of the negative
micro-environment (the group of the same age people, criminal group) [33]. As a result of desocialization the person's values and norm change, and the acceptance of the new antisocial destroys only some of the person's connections with society. Asocialization more often happens in young age, desocialization can happen in the middle age too.
In the process of asocialization and desocialization the negative standards of behavior become individual's personal norm and need, the habit of behaving in accordance with them. The result of the process of the involvement is person's perception of the criminal activity as possible, acceptable, attractive; this process can be either long or short. The means of involvement can be individual and group ones. In first case the person is both the subject and the object of involvement. In second case it happens in limits of social interaction of the object of involvement and the group, in which case the group is the subject and the person is an object of involvement.
Traditionally the involvement in any kind of activity or action was considered as a result of the influence on the person of some people or group, however the person himself can form a criminal part in himself and commit some crime after revaluating of his life directions. The main factor of the self-involvement is internal. In this case the criminal activity is viewed by the person as attractive, and the kind of activity that helps to satisfy some of the person's needs. The reasons of formation of that kind of behavior can be: a) personal peculiarities and the fully-formed system of relations, ideals and values; b) result of the inner conflict, connected with the possibility and acceptance of the criminal act.
In the group involvement of the person in criminal activity, the main factor of the involvement is external. In this case the criminal subculture functions as a socio-psychological mechanism of the involvement. An increasing number of the values of criminal world in law-obedient society structure led to the modification of the traditional criminal subculture. This modification is characterized by: a) social mimicry, the ability to adapt in the changing social realias; b) the corelation of the
criminal values with the values of individual and cultural competition; c) the formation of specifically organized culture, that corresponds with the needs of different criminal groups; d) correlation of legal and criminal activities; e) directing of the activity towards the inclusion into the social life of people.
Modern criminal subculture depends on peculiarities of a certain criminal group. That is why socio-psychological mechanism and the character of the involvement of the person in criminal activity depend on specifics of the criminal group subculture.
Nowadays different kinds of criminal subculture are represented in the law-obedient society structure: their content represents the set of criminal values and acceptable social forms of behavior. That is why new socio-psychological mechanisms of the involvement in criminal activity are made, when the involvement of unstable conformal person happens gradually, sometimes even unnoticed for the person himself/herself.
Therefore, social realias of Russian society, connected with the transformation of modern criminal activity, direct scientific researches towards the developing, analysis, classification of the socio-psychological mechanisms of the involvement of the person in criminal activity, the research of new ones typical for transformable community, determinant of the involvement into criminal values, the formation of the concept that explains the phenomenon of the extension of criminal social base due to the appearance of new socio-psychological reasons of the involvement of the person in criminal activity in anominal Russian community.
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