Criminal psychology

Criminal psychology, also referred to as criminological psychology, is the study of the views, thoughts, intentions, actions and reactions of criminals and suspects. It is a subfield of criminology and applied psychology. Criminal psychologists have many roles within legal courts, including being called upon as expert witnesses and performing psychological assessments on victims and those who have engaged in criminal behavior. Several definitions are used for criminal behavior, including behavior punishable by public law, behavior considered immoral, behavior violating social norms or traditions, or acts causing severe psychological harm. Criminal behavior is often considered antisocial in nature. Psychologists also help with crime prevention and study the different types of programs that are effective to prevent recidivism, and understanding which mental disorders criminals are likely to have. Criminal psychology started the late 18th century. There were four key aspects of the development of criminal psychology: philosophical, medical, legal and biological. Before criminal psychology, there was a conflict in criminal law between medical experts and court judges on determining how to proceed with a majority of cases which specialized the development of a specialized field for individual investigations and assessments of suspects. It is generally accepted that criminal psychology was a predecessor to the broader field of criminology, which includes other fields such as criminal anthropology which studies more systemic aspects of crime as opposed to individual suspects and court cases. Offender profilingRacial profiling Criminal profiling, also known as offender profiling, is a form of criminal investigation, linking an offender's actions at the crime scene to possible characteristics. This is a practice that lies between the professions of criminology, forensic science and behavioral science. Most commonly used for homicide and sexual cases, criminal profiling helps law enforcement investigators narrow down and prioritize a pool of suspects.