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UNDERSTANDING THE CRIMINAL PERSONALITY OF CONVICTED RAPISTS IN PAKISTANI PRISONS
1AYESHA INAM, 2MINAHIR SHAHID, 3ASIA MUSHTAQ, 4SAHIRA ZAMAN, 5SAMIA WASIF
Assistant ProfessorCOMSATS University Islamabad; ayesha.inam@comsats.edu.pk 2Undergraduate Student, COMSATS University Islamabad; minahirmalik@gmail.com 3Assistant Professor, National University of Modern Languages Islamabad; asmushtaq@numl.edu.pk 4Assistant Professor, Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi; sahirazaman@fjwu.edu.pk 5Assistant Professor, COMSATS University Islamabad; samia.wasif@comsats.edu.pk Correspondence: ayesha.inam@comsats.edu.pk (92-301-855-0725) (Ayesha Inam and MinahirShahid shared the
first authorship)
Abstract: In order to deal with the recent surge in rape crimes in Pakistan, there is a dire need to understand the factors that shape the criminal personality of rape convicts. Current study conducted an in-depth analysis of the lives and experiences of convicted rapists to deepen our understanding of their personality development. Fifteen convicted rapists were interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed that rape is a deliberate choice of a person regardless of situational factors. Disturbed family relations, self-victimization, poor impulse control, resentment towards power figures, and gender-based hate are the key contributing factors in shaping their criminal personality. These psychosocial factors best explain poor impulse control, and gender based hate in rape convicts. The findings of the present study indicate a completely different view of convicted rapists for the policy makers, criminologists and forensic psychologists, who can use this knowledge in their professional endeavor.
Keywords: Gender based violence; Rape; Criminal personality; Pakistan; Convicted rapists; psychosocial factors, Gender based hate, Thematic Analysis
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Gender-Based Hatred and Rape
2. Rapist's Personality Development
3. Theoretical Framework
4. Purpose of Study
5. Method
6. Procedure and Data Collection
7. Analyses and Coding
8. Results
8.1 Denial and Self-Victimization
8.2 Strained Father-Son Relationships
8.3 Resentment towards Power Figures
8.4 Displacement of repressed Anger for Mothers towards Other Women
8.5 External Locus of Control
8.6 Sensation Seeking
8.7 Discussion
9. Conclusions
Introduction
Rape is viewed mainly as a consequential or a circumstantial irresistible impulsive expression towards sexually provoking items, including women's clothing, attire, or actions (Sugiura& Smith, 2020). This idea provides a way out of myths related to rape that puts the criminal's responsibility
away from the criminal but onto some external or internal factor such as mental illness, personality characteristics, age, gender, representation in media, flawed justice system, etc. (Anderson & Overby, 2020). This perception has led to ignorance towards criminal personality traits and development as a potential enabling factor behind rape, emphasizing the criminal as a victim of circumstances (Rosselli&Jeglic, 2017). This disregard for rape as a severe crime releases the stakeholders, the policymakers, and the general public from the heavy responsibility of revisiting and altering those social, cultural, or psychological factors that enable such crimes in the society and facilitate criminals (Bovill& White, 2020).
Crime can be a deliberate choice of a person, and criminal behavior is enabled in the case of a criminal personality. Thornhill and Palmer (2000) state that the desires of men and women are also learned behaviors; that is, rape will occur only if the men have known to rape, and so like a socially learned behavior, it can be eradicated by substituting other lessons. This evidence shows that rape is a learned behavior and the culture, society, and attitudes, in general, enable such a mentality. This supports the notion that personality is shaped by environmental, sociological, and psychological factors and can turn out as a criminal personality resulting in criminal behavior (Fox, 2017).
Research has shown that rapists, although perceived as irrational or impulsive, have a cost/benefits understanding of their actions to some degree. They evaluate their behavior, its consequences, and the risks attached to it, which means they are capable of decision-making and that choosing to commit rape is their deliberate choice (Pedneault et al, 2017).
1. Gender-Based Hatred and Rape
Forced sexual contact, whether in the name of personality or passion, shows a gender-based hatred as motivation, including disrespecting women. Research has evidenced that acquaintance rape is often premeditated and is predicted by discriminatory biases on male entitlement to coerce women into sexual relations against their will. Furthermore, the cases of domestic violence and gang rape also present inferences that show gender motivation. These inferences may be spitting out derogatory remarks or name-callings like "bitch" or "slut" (Rudin&Jusoh, 2020).
Examining rape not as a matter of sexuality but rather as an expression of control, feminist scholars have challenged current understandings of rape law to change the focus to acknowledge the control issues involved. They suggest defining sexual coercion based on the women's free consent rather than her being the victim of the violence or not (Pugh & Becker, 2018). Furthermore, it is also argued that rape increases gender inequality in society because of the rape myths that are culturally supported. Women are pressurized to behave in specific ways that affect their self-esteem and ability to trust others.
2. Rapist's Personality Development
In past research, sex offenses are mostly regarded as hate crimes due to toxic masculinity or poor impulse control (Wikström, 2019). Malamuth et al, 2021 hypothesized sexual aggressors in two sets of characteristics labeled as "hostile Masculinity" and "Hostile Dominance." These personality profiles are more related to aggressive and non-aggressive violence against women. They identified 22 interacting pathways resulting in sexual aggression including association with delinquent peers, introduction to sexual activity at a young age, and having many sexual partners. The hostile masculinity pathway is related to an insecure sense of masculinity, hostility, distrust, and a desire to dominate women. Rape proneness is linked to developmental learning factors. Rape-prone men have a harsh background where they have observed and experienced violence, impersonal and short termed social relationships, and manipulation, coercion, and violence is validated (Abbey et al., 2011). Theory of hyper-masculinity suggests that the construct consists of callous sexual attitudes, violence as manly, and danger as exciting. Further research yielded that sexually aggressive men, in comparison to non-sexually aggressive men, use a suspicious schema and so discount the veridicality of women's communications (Bevens&Loughnan, 2019).
3. Theoretical Framework
Eysenck presented the phenomenon of a criminal personality, stating, "Criminal behavior is a consequence of criminal personality. Combining three major traits forms it. Personality has a biological basis and it is formed through inherited genes that affect the processing of brain" (Fox, 2017). Personality traits are defined as "the underlying tendencies, which suggest a person's behavior and aids in attitude formation" (Ali, 2019). Eysenck described neuroticism, extraversion, and psychoticism as three dimensions of criminal personality traits. According to Eysenck, criminals have high levels of all three listed personality traits, also called super traits (Soliemanifar et al, 2018). Eysenck suggested that high levels of extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism make a criminal person's worldly perception subsequently help predict and identify the crime-prone personalities.
Five-factor model of personality has also been acknowledged in this regard (Grice, 2019). Research has established that people with criminal behavior are more likely to have low levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness. High levels of neuroticism are also sometimes regarded with criminality because offenders tend to be more hostile and impulsive (Furnham&Petrides, 2014). Research has also established the presence of the Dark Triad in people, including narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism; all three traits are also part of the criminal personality. Individuals with these traits are observed to elicit socially aversive behaviors, attributing to stable personality disorders such as Antisocial PD and Narcissistic PD (Bader et al., 2021). Psychopathy is a predictive factor for misconduct, whereas Machiavellianism is observed to predict high-stakes deception, both of which contribute to criminality (Azizli et al., 2016).
The ecological model based on understanding the behaviors of people in the context of their environment that includes immediate setting or larger social contexts was originally developed by Bronfenbrenner (1977), who describes human development through this model. Belsky (1980) further extended this model and explained the etiology of child maltreatment suggesting that child maltreatment is determined by the forces working at the individual (ontogenic development), family (microsystem), community (exosystem), and cultural (the macro system) levels. Heise (1998) extended the ecological framework to form an understanding of the origin of gender-based violence against women. He describes violence as a multifaceted phenomenon entangled with forces and factors that are personal, situational, and sociocultural influencing The ecological model best describes the objectives of the current research that the criminal personality of rapists is developed throughout their life, influenced by their personal, sociocultural, and situational factors.
Women's position in Pakistan is stated as systematic subordination to men where gender roles defined by patriarchal values have created negative social biases and culture for women. Such practices include linking honor with women's sexuality, restricting their mobility, and consequently, the internalization of patriarchy by women themselves (Hadi, 2017). The sociocultural traditions define gender roles as mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters for women in Pakistan (Khalid, 2021). Haq et al, 2019 highlighted that women face severe gender inequalities and human rights violations in Pakistan. Women's autonomy, rights, education and health are mostly controlled by male members of the family, thus giving them a role of subordinates in the society (Mondal et al, 2020). The denial of women's right over their life makes them an easy target of exploitation and abuse of all kinds from males of the society (Ahmad & Anwar, 2018).
Statistics show that rape has been increasing in Pakistan ever since its inception. Still, these statistics also reflect the government's poor policies regarding curbing such a crime and a poor understanding of the crime and the criminal itself (Khan & Gul, 2017). Research findings show that (conducted by Jang group and GEO television network)- 2,669 women in Punjab were raped in 2014, 2509 women were raped in 2015, 2938 in 2016, and 1365 in 2017. Research further shows increased rape cases in Pakistan in 2018 and 2019. The Sustainable Social Development Organization reported that in Pakistan there, has been a 200% increase in the crimes and violence against women from January to March (ssdo.org.pk, 2020).
The recurring high-profile sexual assault and rape cases in Pakistan have initiated the discourse regarding the mental state and criminal profile of rapists. The conception that there must be something wrong with a person's mental state that has driven him to commit such a heinous
offense leads to the stigmatization of mental illnesses and ads onto the prejudice toward the mental health field (Garcia et al, 2020). However, a sex offender is a term used for the individual who has been "charged and of illegal sexual behavior," which may include sexual assault or rape (Patterson & Graham, 2018). Pakistan has witnessed a lot of high-profile rape cases in the past few years. Rape in Pakistan came to notice in 2003 when a woman named Mukhtaran Mai was gang raped in Pakistan under the name of honor in the district of Muzaffargarh (Khan, 2011). Even though this incident gained attention nationally and internationally, such rape and sexual violence cases have long been brushed under the carpet (Mateen, 2018). According to the Jang group and GEO television network group reports, 2,669 women in Punjab were raped in 2014; 2,509 women were raped in 2015; 2,938 in 2016; and 1,365 in 2017 (Shah, 2020). Research further shows increased rape cases in Pakistan between 2018 and 2019. The Sustainable Social Development Organization reported, "in Pakistan, there's been a 200% increase in the crimes and violence against women from January to March" (ssdo.org.pk, 2020).
4. Purpose of Study
Pakistan has observed a surge in sex offenses in the past five years. Leading to the discourse on its causes, enablers, and the punishments for the offender. There are currently more than 1100 sex offenders incarcerated in Central Jail (Adiala Jail) alone. Past research on crime and criminal behavior has formed many theories regarding the causes behind the crime, who does it, and the ways to combat it. Some ideas suggest the lack of socialization at home, in ways like harsh parenting, affects the child's psychosocial wellbeing to self-esteem issues, lack of responsibility, and diminished sight of right and wrong, enabling criminal behavior (Simons & Sutton, 2021). Some theories have suggested the role of mental illnesses, brain injuries, and pathology in helping criminal behavior. However, in terms of criminal personality of rapists, there's a lack of research in Pakistan and specifically in the region of South Asia regarding the causes behind this crime (rape). The current study, thus aims to explore and understand the criminal personality of rapists and to identify the psychosocial factors that contribute to their development.
5. Method
Design
For this explorative qualitative study, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with convicted rapists. The research orientation was phenomenological in essence as lived experiences of respondents were explored in order to understand the role of different factors in shaping the criminal personality of rapists. Moreover, it focused on naturally arising meanings of the said phenomena instead of their operational definitions (Lune & Berg, 2017; Wertz, 2005). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. As part of the regular ethical procedures, the study design and data collection procedures were evaluated against the Ethical Decision Tree and approved (Local Ethics Committee of COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan). Participants
The sample comprised seven male convicted rapists aged 16-42 incarcerated in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The participants were selected based on criminal activity, i.e., rape. The rate of conviction of rape offence in Pakistan is under 3%, and Adiala jail had 15 persons imprisoned at the research time. Moreover, due to the security concern of the researcher, the prison department only allowed interaction with 7 prisoners. The others were very violent and considered to be a security threat to the researcher, even in the presence of police staff.
Table 1. Demographics of the participants.
Participants Age at the time Conviction Occupation
of conviction
1 25 Rape Carpenter
2 22 Rape and Daily Wager
Assault
3 30 Abduction, gang Driver
rape and assault
4 36 Gang rape and Business Owner
murder
5 38 Rape Daily Wager
6 32 Rape Small business
owner
7 28 Rape Grocery store
employee
8 26 Rape Sales man
9 24 Gang rape Daily wager
10 22 Rape and Unemployed
assault
11 25 Rape Carpenter
12 31 Gang rape Business owner
13 31 Rape and Laborer
assault
14 29 Rape and Unemployed
assault
15 29 Rape Pharmacist
6. Procedure and Data Collection
The researcher submitted a letter for permission to the office of Inspector General Prisons, Punjab, including a permission grant to interview convicted rapists in Adiala jail Rawalpindi and Kotlakpat Jail Lahore. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the process was delayed. Researchers obtained permission from the prison department to collect data. It also included specific data collection guidelines, keeping prison rules and COVID-19 restrictions in mind. The researcher interviewed fifteensex offenders inside the premises of Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. A semi-structured interview questionnaire was developed to assess criminal personality traits, including extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, accompanying a questionnaire to determine the offender's understanding of social factors like Gender conceptualization, sex education, and moral code of conduct. The researcher briefed respondents about the nature of the study and their right to participation and withdrawal after rapport building. The participant's verbal consent was taken, and they were assured anonymity and confidentiality. Their primary concern of whether this interview will affect their sentence or case was addressed. They were assured that the interview would have no effect on their cases and that the nature of the interview was solely research and exploration. Participants were given instructions, to be honest in their responses, and if they had difficulty understanding any question, they could ask the researcher. Their responses were recorded by note-taking method with the consent of the participants. The researcher tried to avoid any leading questions or personal targets. After the interview, the participants were debriefed as the nature of the interview was sensitive and included revisiting an unpleasant or traumatic experience for the participant. The idea was to minimize emotional stress or effect caused to the research participants by any triggering or discomforting question.
7. Analyses and Coding
The data was acquired through interview records, transcribed notes, and coding stages followed manually. Themes were sorted and proposed inductively without using the pre-existing coding framework as guided by Braun & Clarke (2006). Braun and Clarke's (2006) six phases were followed for thematic analysis; (1) Initially, the potential themes were identified through rereading the data from transcriptions and familiarizing with it, (2) The codes were reviewed to retain the themes which were representative of diverse factors to include subthemes. The research questions helped to select the relevant themes for analysis. (3) Theme-relevant quotes were
identified, (4) Themes were reviewed again to verify the relevance and representation of the data, leading to a thematic map, (5) Then the themes were reviewed to define and name them, and (6) the write-up was done with themes, sub-themes, and verbatim. This method helped to explore in-depth characteristics of sex offender's personality and causes and identify whether there was a presence of criminal personality traits in sex offenders.
Reliability of the process was assured by making the research procedure transparent by reporting data collection to data analysis step by step. The second and third authors rechecked the generated codes with consensus indicating the good status of the codes. To address conformability, i.e., objectivity, all data was audio-to-text transcribed and analyzed with insightful discussions with all authors to minimize subjectivity and cater to the researchers' reflexivity. Transferability was addressed by gathering a plethora of data and presented parsimoniously in results and discussion.
8. Results
Following themes were generated through the thematic analysis method.
8.1 Denial and Self-Victimization
Sex offenders showed a cooperative attitude towards the interviewer. They were easy to talk to and were comfortable talking to the interviewer. They were presenting their case and telling their side of the story. However, their attitude compelled the interviewer to believe they didn't commit the offense. Denial was majorly seen in all five participants. Their thought process was normal, and they were attentive. The presence of delusions of grandiosity was prominent in 4 out of 5 participants. The participants had poor insight and judgment of their crime before and after the conviction. They would talk of sex offense more as an action than a crime committed. "I wasn't aware of this crime, neither had any idea of rape." They'd stress that they were the victims of circumstances and had nothing to do with the offense conviction descended upon them by the court.
8.2 Strained Father-Son Relationships
A recurring theme was observed from the interviews that all participants were somehow resentful of their fathers. All participants had different stories, but one common thing in their responses was hatred or embarrassment towards their fathers. Their relationship with their fathers was extremely toxic, as they described it, and they had described their fathers as authoritarian parent. "My father was short-tempered; he would place restrictions on us," a participant shared. He added, "My father indulged in foul businesses like fraud and embezzlement. I would try to stop him, but we would end up fighting. He wouldn't stop. I was the breadwinner of my house, so I would think, what's his use then. He would also beat my mother up; I'd try to stop him". This points out feelings of remorse towards the father figure. Another participant shared that, "Father was very ill-tempered. He would beat my brothers and me. If my mom intervened to stop him, he would beat her up too". This brings us to two significant themes observed in the participants' life histories. One is a toxic and false image set of roles of males in the household and society in general (toxic masculinity). The second is remorse and anger towards the significant male figure in the life of sex offenders who were supposed to be their first social learning idol. The interaction with such parents brought anger, temper issues, and violence to their personalities. The focus group interview with police officers and counselors also pointed out the lack of a fatherly figure or a positive fatherly figure in the lives of sex offenders constituting to the development of criminal personality, "Their fathers (referring to sex offenders) are most aggressive in nature and bad persons which causes violence, aggression, and trauma to them in early childhood". Low Tolerance for Aversive Stimuli
Another recurring theme observed in participants was unfiltered anger coupled with impulsivity. A sex offense is mainly regarded as a crime of poor impulse control. When participants were asked to describe themselves in terms of temperament, they would pick that they aren't
impulsive, "I don't rush things, " as a participant acclaimed. But there's a visible disparity between their responses and their shared incidents. One of the participants shared an incident, "When my brother was newly married, my sister-in-law had to cook at home for the first time. My sister-in-law made rice. My mother also told her that he (referring to himself) does not eat rice. But the sister-in-law said, "don't worry, he will eat." I came home after working all day and asked for food. The sister-in-law brought rice. I got so angry that I threw the rice and went to the kitchen and threw the rice bowl. I said no one would cook rice at home from now". This incident represents anger, impulsivity, and emotional instability; however, not all 5 participants showed poor impulse control. It can affect the participants' reactivity to present themselves as fine as possible. Participants also referred to their lives as worthless and full of misery. A participant shared that he'd feel overwhelmed and anxious all the time, "It would feel like my heart would stop all the time, and I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was dying".
8.3 Resentment towards Power Figures
Anger issues and impulsiveness developed in the participants as they grew up. Resentment towards fathers and primary power figures, impulsivity coupled with anger, abusive and authoritarian parenting, and lack of support played a significant role in developing the need for power in the participants. This need for power was manifested in various incidents they shared with the interviewer and through analyzing their case history. The participants were charged with convictions of abduction, gang rape, violent rape, rape and attempt to murder, and sexual assault. All of their victims were females aged 20-26 except one's who was a 12 years old boy, and the offender was also 14 at the age of conviction. All 5 cases represent repressed and depressed emotions, lack of emotional support, and abuse from fathers leading to an impulsive and violent outburst of emotions in the form of criminal behavior. A participant shared a story of his female teacher who wouldn't care about students' learning and knowledge and would make them do home chores. He added, "That madam has ruined my life." He further added "Parents give birth to children and give them to teachers. That madam had some children; she would only make them work for her. She has ruined my life". This statement is representative of repressed emotions of hate, anger, and hurt, which, if not addressed openly, tend to manifest themselves in passive ways leading towards the outlet through criminal behavior. The need for power is a motive behind the sexual offense.
8.4 Displacement of repressed Anger for Mothers towards Other Women
Resentment towards females in the participant's household, especially their mothers, was also observed. When asked about mothers and their role in the family and the participant's life, generally, they would describe their mothers as kind, considerate, and soft-natured. One of the participants shared, "My mother had a good nature; she would never scold us much but keep an eye on everything." However, the researcher observed that the participants would regard their mothers as submissive family members who had little of a say in family matters. The fathers were regarded as dominant and assertive, also violent and abusive. This submissive attitude of the primary caregivers enabled toxic masculinity and unreal standards for the female gender. It created an image of women in the participant's minds that they are powerless and susceptible, allowing their repressed anger toward their mothers, victims, and other women. "I used to get very angry when Abu (father) would beat Ammi (mother). I used to ask my mother to leave him, why do you keep getting beaten up by him, but she would not listen to me. I think about it now, it seems like women have to do all this to settle down, but I used to get very angry at that time". The participants would talk about women as someone or something belonging to men as to husbands, fathers, or brothers and not as individuals. A participant answered the interviewer's question regarding the role of women in society by saying, "It is fine (referring to the women's role in the society) if you think about it until they have access to the Internet."
Hatred or resentment towards women is one of the causes of violence against women, like sex offenses. Women and small children are harmless and easy targets for these offenders. It was
easy for them to target their victims as they were mostly the people they already knew, cousins, friends, or a neighbor. This shows that the offenders have put thought into committing this violent act to satisfy their egos, and when the opportunity presents itself, they take it. They might have thought about the consequences there. However, at that moment, they are solely captivated by how easy the opportunity seems and how conveniently they can take advantage of it. The need for power drives them at that moment, turning into an impulsive act without reasoning and thinking. The inferiority and lack of control inside them drive them to cross limits without even being consciously aware of their drive.
8.5 External Locus of Control
External locus of control refers to when a person regards his undesirable acts or behaviors as having external causes; however, it allows internal reasons for other people's conduct of the exact nature and degree. It was observed that the participants would regard their current condition and the conviction they hold as a result of either rivalry, bad luck, or injustice. However, when asked about other criminals incarcerated for the same crime, they would judge them harshly. A participant, when asked whether he has met with any other sex offender in prison, replie d, "There are many people here, and some have committed rape on their daughters. A man comes to me every day and asks me what I should do now, and I tell him to stay away from me, and I don't like talking to people like that". When further asked if he considers himself different from other sex offenders, the participant replied, "I am very different from them; they are bad people."
8.6 Sensation Seeking
Sensation seeking is the tendency to seek novel and intense experiences related to thrill and risk-taking behaviors. All 5 participants demonstrated the trait of sensation seeking. They'd call themselves calm and collected acclaim, yet they didn't like boring jobs where they had to sit in one place all day. A participant shared, "I used to work as a tailor, but I used to get very bored. I didn't like sitting in one place on the job. There was no fun in that job. Then I joined a company as a driver, and I had a car there. I had to do all the major work of the company, like conveyance, bringing in things, pick and drop. Sometimes I also had to take my boss to Swat. I have always wanted to do such work where I could travel and have fun". The participants would shift jobs quite frequently because they'd claim, "It wasn't fun."
Sensation seeking can't be regarded as a negative personality trait; however, impulsive sensation seeking inhibits a person's ability to reason, decision-making, and perseverance. All 5 participants lacked reasoning, decision-making skills, and perseverance. Participants also exhibited behaviors that were an epitome of extraversion personality trait, constituting risk-taking behaviors, external stimulation, instant gratification, and disregard for the consequences of their actions and behaviors.
8.7 Discussion
The current study aimed to explore the criminal personality in sex offenders and how it can act as an enabler in committing a sex offense. It has been inferred from the results that the criminal personality of sex offenders is shaped through their life-long experiences and psychosocial circumstances. The results also show that criminal personality explains in a better way the poor impulse control, lack of responsibility, and lack of remorse or empathy found in sex offenders.
A semi-structured open-ended questionnaire was developed to understand the personality of sex offenders and to explore criminal personality traits. The questionnaire was derived from Eysenck's personality inventory. Super ordinate theme of strained father-son relationship infers that sex offenders mostly haven't had a stable childhood. The criminal tendency even dates back to their parent's life, who was caught up in a swirl of lack of support, both emotional and physical. They failed at maintaining healthy spousal relationships and home life. Their struggle to fulfill basic physiological needs or the desire to gain more than required resulted in authoritarianism or neglect towards children; consequently, they couldn't look for their child's emotional and psychosocial
needs. In the developmental period, when a child primarily relies on the caretaker, sex offenders are either neglected or face negative parental attitudes (Sitney& Kaufman, 2020). This parental attitude makes the child mistrust everything and everyone in their life, causing avoidant or anxious attachments associated with personality disorders (Garofalo & Bogaerts, 2017). They cannot feel happiness and contentment and are in a constant state of misery and emotional instability, leaning towards the traits of neuroticism. Sex offenders have reported feelings of loneliness, sadism, anxiety, and mood irritability. Studies have shown that neuroticism, even below the clinical psychopathology, has adverse psychological effects on personality and behavior (Boillat et al., 2017. An earlier study found that sex offenders present high levels of neuroticism compared to nonsexual offenders (Carvalho&Nobre, 2019). Social anxiety, coupled with mood swings and aggression, is deemed a risk factor for sexual offending (Kanters et al., 2016). Neuroticism in sex offenders compels them to seek external stimulation leading to other traits of a criminal personality, i.e., extraversion and psychopathy. The findings of this study suggest that while growing up, sex offenders felt a void for a fatherly figure or a positive supporting fatherly figure in their life, a superordinate theme of a strained father-son relationship. They lacked a positive male model in their lives. They'd always resent their fathers and rebel against them, pointing toward strained father-son relationships. Earlier studies have proved that strained father-son relationships cause anger and violence in children, which only grows with time, suggesting that rapists have experienced a lack of emotional warmth from fathers (Sigre-Leiros et al., 2016). This lack of an adequate learning figure, coupled with their mistrust and insecurities, makes them practice deviant and dangerous behaviors.
Studies have illuminated that children with neuroticism have hyper vigilance for threats, and those with psychoticism have high levels of selective attention to distractors, which makes them unable to focus on positive aspects of people and situations, resulting in lower friendship quality (Pavlou et al., 2016). The current study's findings have also highlighted that the sex offenders in their childhood were unable to make friends and, later in life, to form healthy relationships because they would not trust anyone enough and would not open up to anyone.
Sex offenders, in many instances, expressed that they think people are conspiring against them or don't think good of them (interview). With time, their insecurities turned into a lack of regard for others' emotions leaning towards the traits of psychotics, which represents itself in hostile and aggressive, rebellious behaviors to the superordinate theme of low tolerance for aversive stimuli. Through the superordinate theme of Denial and Self-victimization, it can be inferred that denial of crime never leads the way for repentance in sex offenders. Hence, they never felt responsible for their offense. Sex offenders are tough-minded and lack emotionality or the ability to express emotionality.
They disregard the emotions of their victims and those related to them and manipulate and scare their victims (Abbey & Jacques-Tiura, 2011). Traits of psychoticism are prominent in sex offenders; even before committing any crime, they are cruel to animals and children younger than their age and tend to hurt others without remorse for it (Abbey & Jacques-Tiura, 2011). They are involved in high-risk-taking behaviors like theft or other crimes.
Most sex offenders have affiliations with gangs or are in the company of people indulging in violent activities. Coid et al. (2020) stated that this affiliation of sex offenders is to find solace in their life and to feel like they are a part of something and not alone. Joining a group implies a need for acceptance and belongingness that he is deprived of in a sex offender's mind. The thought that they can fulfill their needs by joining a violent gang or group of socially undesirable people is chaotic. It represents that the person may have been sensitized to violence that he doesn't question his actions, or he lacks the reasoning and is acting impulsively on his id, having a higher rate of recidivism (Chu et al., 2010).
Sex Offenders' sensitization to acts like drug abuse, theft, aggression, and violence makes them unable to comprehend the consequences of their criminal behavior. Sensation seeking is prominent in sex offenders' behavior and impulsivity. They have an external locus of control that enables them to judge their undesired behavior as a consequence of the external environment,
although others' undesired behavior is their own choice. Da-Silva et al. (2018) found that gang rape or multiple assailant rape implies social conformity and in-group behavior affected by the group dynamics. The study also found that opportunistic rape represented participants' sensation-seeking and impulsive traits.
The need for power is a motive behind sex offenses. The entitlement of male hegemony in the society for any women in approach is a way to feed the toxic ideals of masculinity and the role of women in society. Freud has defined the concept of id, ego, and superego. Id asks for pleasure gratification, Ego is the reasoning principle, and Superego is the moral principle. The literature has stated that ego depletion causes people to act out in unfiltered ways and have reduced control to elicit behaviors that might be criminal (Staller et al. 2018). Suppression of the reasoning compass inflicts that the person is driven by pleasure gratification, impulsivity, irrational behavior, and in need of constant stimulation from the environment- traits representing extraversion in personality as stated by Eysenck (Goldsmith, 1981).
Superordinate themes of sensation seeking and displacement of anger for mothers towards women, in general, explain the recurring poor impulse control and gender-based hatred (Efrati et al., 2019). Poor impulse control is mainly regarded as the cause behind sex offense; besides chemical imbalance, this can result from impulsive sensation seeking. Anger for women is fed by the ideals of toxic masculinity and the negative role of women in society. As revealed by the results of this study, rape convicts as children have witnessed the suppression of women in their households leading to the sensitization of violence towards women and the perception of women as worthless, vulnerable, and weak. This misperception clouds their judgment and rationality during and after their crime (Saramago et al., 2019).
Rapists' actions and behaviors are also representatives of Extraversion personality traits, inferred from the superordinate themes of sensation seeking and external locus of control. They have a history of affiliation with violent gangs or socially undesirable individuals, although they struggle to have healthy friendships or relationships in their lives. They engaged in numerous conflicts with their parents and siblings, implying their aggression, temperament, impulsivity, and lack of control over themselves, inferred from the superordinate resentment towards power figures enabling the need for power.
The current study's findings suggest that most of the sex offenders population isn't suffering from any high degree of mental illness or a personality disorder. The criminal personality traits, i.e., Neuroticism, Psychoticism, and Extraversion, are present in the rape convicts. The level of these personality traits is less than clinical pathology, suggesting that offenders with criminal personalities hold criminal responsibility. The current study's findings have shown that the participants can make decisions and have rationality even though the prevalence of criminal personality was observed. Through their mental status examination, it can be inferred that their thought process was normal, suggesting that the study participants hold responsibility for their crime. The current study found the response to the research question that sex offense could be a deliberate choice of a person. The role of authoritarian parenting and conflicted father-son relationships is a leading cause of development of criminal personality in sex offenders. The other factor that aids the outcome of criminal personality in sex offenders is the misunderstanding of the role of women in society coupled with the notions of toxic masculinity, perception of women as worthless and vulnerable entertained by the submissive attitude of household women, especially mothers. Other vital factors fostering criminal personality include anger displacement, low tolerance, sensation seeking, external locus of control, need for power and control, lack of resources, and power imbalance.
The current study has a few limitations. First, the study included a small number of samples from the Sex offenders' population due to the prison's restrictions on meeting incarcerated offenders amidst COVID-19. Another limitation is that most participants belonged to lower socioeconomic status and weren't representative of every rape convict. The reactivity and manipulation of respondents during interviews can't be ignored. Since this study was only specific to rape convicts, further research can explore the role of criminal personality in fostering other
crimes. Future researchers can use quantitative approach to understand the criminal personality of rape convicts is of utmost importance.
9. Conclusions
Past research has focused on finding out the reasons behind the rape confiding in the justification regarding the ability of high degree mental disorders distorting the reality and rationality of a person. The current study has highlighted that even though the motives behind rape may vary case to case, but in most of the cases there is no causal factor other than a deliberate choice. This choice can be at largely fostered by the presence of criminal personality i.e., high levels of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. The presence of criminal personality doesn't indicate presence of psychopathology suggesting that the offender holds full criminal responsibility for the crime he committed. These findings are specific to sex offenses and sex offenders only. The development of criminal personality depends upon many psycho-social factors like strained father-son relationships, misperception of the role of women, resentment towards women, need for control, impulsive sensation seeking, and anger issues. The development of criminal personality can be controlled by paying due attention to these factors and highlighting the malpractices. The crimes prevalent due to criminal personality like sex offenses can also be controlled and the rehabilitation of offenders can be ensured reducing recidivism and improving the psychosocial wellbeing of people in general.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the support of prison staff for collection of data. Statement and Declaration
There is no known potential or actual conflict of interest for this research. Funding
This research receives no funding.
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