4. The psychology of crime as a special kind of activity

A crime is a specific activity (action or inaction) that causes damage (harm) to the victim (victim): physical (bodily injury, murder, undermining of health), moral (insult, slander, etc.), psychological (mental disorder, psychological shock, depression), material (estimated in monetary terms). The damage caused is the objective side of the crime, and the one to whom it was inflicted is subject to criminal infringement.
As with any activity, a crime also has an internal, subjective side, to which the motives that led a person to violate a criminal prohibition belong. The same nature of the crime (for example, murder) can be committed by different people for different reasons. The fact is that the motive performs three interrelated functions: 1) encourages activity, 2) directs it, and 3) gives the criminal activity a personal meaning.
But we must bear in mind that the motive in criminal law (revenge, self-interest, hooliganism, base motives, jealousy, hostility, etc.) and in psychology do not coincide. For example, a crime committed for mercenary motives (a criminal law motive) may be differently motivated: the desire for personal enrichment, the need for self-assertion, envy, the desire for idle life, the passion for gambling, entertainment, and irresistible inclinations (for alcohol, drugs).
Motives for criminal activity can be sustainable and situational. Sustainable motives become the core of the criminal lifestyle, situational appear in a particular criminal situation. Sometimes criminologists and lawyers talk about unmotivated crimes. Criminal psychology does not recognize this. Just in this case, the true motive could not be established.
In group crimes, group members may have different motives for committing a particular crime. This is especially true for minors. So, committing a robbery attack, one is guided by the desire for personal enrichment, the other by the desire to assert itself in the group, the third is to show their courage, the fourth is due to fear of being expelled from the group or fear of punishment, etc.
The motives are: 1) direct (when the offender wanted certain consequences - the death of someone, causing material damage, etc.) and 2) indirect (when he did not want some consequences, but they came (I wanted to scare someone) , and ended in the death of the victim.) The crime can be committed due to criminal arrogance and criminal negligence, as well as in the heat of passion, when self-control is lost as a result of a narrowing of consciousness. All this affects the determination of the punishment measure.
Self-justification and psychological protection. When committing a crime, the offender includes psychological defense mechanisms - a special regulatory personality stabilization system aimed at eliminating or minimizing the feelings of anxiety associated with the commission of a crime and classifying it as a special category of people-criminals. Thus, the criminal tries to keep himself in his eyes as a full-fledged person and for this purpose tries to justify himself in the crime committed. There are many forms of protection of different types and levels: reference to forced action, accusation of others, etc. But they all do not remove the problem. The most common protective forms and methods of self-justification are as follows:
1) in violent crimes - accusation of the victim, the idea of ​​collectivism, friendship, partnership, the action "for the company", etc .;
2) in mercenary crimes - the idea of ​​enrichment, "honestly sharing with the victim his" fat "," why should the good be lost, "" others steal more ";
3) partial denial of guilt and responsibility: “guilty, but not enough to imprison me”, etc .;
4) transferring the center of gravity from the illegality of criminal actions to the motivation of the violations committed: “I wanted it better, but it turned out completely different,” “I didn’t want to kill, but only wanted to scare”, etc .;
5) cynical forms of protection and self-justification in the form of bragging and bravado with a crime committed (manifestation of resourcefulness, ingenuity, cruelty, etc.).
The action of defense mechanisms, including at an unconscious level, makes it difficult to carry out preventive work, not to mention rehabilitating convicts, because a psychological barrier arises between the educator and the criminal, making the latter immune to other views, ideas, attitudes: "What are you trying to re-educate me , if I am not guilty, "The victim is to blame, she provoked me to respond," "I defended my comrades from the attackers," etc.
Studying protective mechanisms and ways of self-justification, criminal psychology also develops ways of removing them to help the criminal to realize his guilt and repent of his deed. Repentance is the first step towards correction that penitentiary psychology examines.