PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY OF CRIME DETECTION (ZIGMUND FREUD ON CRIME)

Sigmund Freud is recognized worldwide as the original psychoanalyst founded to form theories and concepts surrounding the existence of mental illness and its nature in relation to human behavior. Throughout his psychological and psychoanalytic studies, Freud concluded that behavior can be explained through the investigation of one's experiences and traumas by accounting for the motivation of a person's actions. Interpretation of his findings concluded that a person can adapt his/her behavior from childhood experiences to become part of the hidden state of consciousness He studied unobservable behaviors, parts of personality that are not clearly visible within one's nature and at a basic level, cannot be explained. In 1923, Freud created a psychological idea or theory that the human mind had three elements that conceptually make up the "Psyche". The Id (instincts), Ego (reality), and Superego (morality) are not tangible physical areas within the brain, but rather entities that Freud concluded make up the human personality. What Freud called the "psychic apparatus," three elements of the human personality are now established as the unconscious level that dictates biological desires and instincts. Psychoanalytic criminology is a method of studying crime and criminal behavior that is based on Freudian psychoanalysis. This theory or school of thought examines the personality and psyche (especially the unconscious) for motive in crime. Other areas of interest are fear of crime and the act of punishment. Criminal behavior is attributed to maladjustment and dysfunctional personality. According to Buhagiar, "psychoanalytic criminologists were not against the principle of solitary confinement and often favored increased punishment."