Clinical Criminology: Analyzing Criminal Personality

Defining Clinical Criminology

Clinical criminology is the science of social and criminal behavior, based on the in-depth observation and analysis of individual cases. Funke Ruiz suggests that a simple enumeration of background factors is insufficient for determining an offender's character.

The Iter Criminis and Character Determination

Within the iter criminis, four distinct phases are identified: mitigated consent, consent made, the state of danger, and the way to act.

Theories of Criminal Personality

Etienne de Greff developed a theory of criminal personality, identifying four key features to reach a criminological diagnosis: aggressiveness, egocentricity, lack of foresight, and emotional indifference. Similarly, Pinatel recognizes four core traits that constitute the criminal personality: self-centeredness, emotional lability, aggressiveness, and emotional indifference.

Diagnostic Approaches in Criminology

Criminological diagnostics are divided into two primary categories:

• Clinical Diagnosis: Combines capability and adaptability.
• Etiologic Diagnosis: Combines endogenous and exogenous factors.

Criminological Forecasting

According to Göppingen, forecasting in criminology usually refers to a statement regarding the future conduct of an individual or group.

Common Traits and Temperament of Offenders

Frequent physical traits observed in criminals include tics, onychophagia, and involuntary discharge of urine. Temperamentally, offenders are often impulsive, extroverted, aggressive, and cruel. Psychologically, they may be hostile, suspicious, susceptible, stubborn, resentful, fearful, brusque, independent, and recalcitrant.

Social and Personality Factors

Key social factors include the discipline of the young by their parents, monitoring by both the father and mother, and the inclination of the young toward the father. Personality factors often involve a dependence on external influences, self-aggression, mistrust, and destructiveness.

The Purpose of the Criminological Clinic

The Criminological Clinic serves two primary purposes: the application of existing knowledge and the research of new theories and methods. As Quiroz Cuarón noted, it is the patient who provides the material for the clinician; it is the male offender who provides knowledge for anthropological criminology.

Risk Assessment and Legal Measures

The concept of risk was introduced into criminology by Garofalo, who initially used the term timibilidad. Modern criminology distinguishes between:

• Alleged Hazard: Cases where security measures are ordered after verifying the implementation of certain facts.
• Threat Level Checked: Cases where a magistrate can implement security measures without first checking the concrete existence of a hazard.

The Future of Individualistic Criminology

Di Tullio emphasized that modern criminology should always strive to become more individualistic, transforming into a clinical criminology.