Theories of crime can help in the understanding of criminal behavior. According to the psychological theories of crime, individual differences in behavior may make some people more predisposed to committing criminal acts. These differences may arise from personality characteristics, biological factors, or social interactions (Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985).Theories of crime can be separated into four categories from a psychological perspective. These theories help us understand personality defects and critical-thinking patterns. Behavioral scientists and police use criminal profiling to narrow down criminal investigations to suspects who possess certain behavior and personality features that may have been revealed irrespective of the way the crime was committed.
A successful profiler should possess skills in the understanding of criminal psychology and investigative experience. A criminal investigative analyst is a person who performs tasks of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene.Police investigate crime using psychology theory and techniques such as criminal profiling, deception techniques, and polygraph techniques. The purpose of criminal profiling is to provide law enforcement agencies and officers with a psychological sketch of the criminal and the possible characteristics of likely suspects. One skill in determining whether somebody is lying is through observation of behavioral cues as well as deception techniques such as body language and verbal cues.
Conduct research on theories of crime and psychological theories of criminal behavior. Based on your understanding, address the following:
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