What insights into criminal behavior does the psychoanalytic perspective offer?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The psychoanalytic perspective sees criminal behavior as maladaptive, or the product of inadequacies in the offender's personality. Significant inadequacies may result in full-blown mental illness, which can be a direct cause of crime.

According to the psychoanalytic perspective, one way in which a person might be led into crime is as the result of a poorly developed superego. The mind is left to fall back on the ego's reality-testing ability and without a moral guide, the ego may select a more expedient path of action that violates the law. Without a fully-functioning superego, offenders come to be characterized by id-dominated personalities, and the id's need for instant gratification determines their behavior. These individuals are unlikely to give thought to the long-term consequences of the choices they make.

The behavior of violent criminals is seen by some psychoanalysts as being dominated by the id, so they are unable to control the id-based impulsive drives. Possibly due to negative life experiences at an early age, violence-prone individuals may suffer from damaged egos that are too weak to deal with the urges emanating from the id.

According to some psychologists, some criminals have an unconscious need to be punished, arising from a sense of guilt. This may be a motivating factor in criminal behavior, although even the offender may be unaware of this need. Essentially, from the psychiatric point of view, many drives, motives, and wishes are unconscious or even repressed by people who harbor them.