A COMPARATIVE PSYCHOWGlCAL PROFILE OF PROFESSIONAL AND NON-PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Criminal behaviour. being heterogeneous collection of acUvilles. Is often argued to be class ified Into more homogeneous units. As Important dlITerences exist among such kinds of criminals as violent killers. obsessive rapists, professional thlcves. white-collar offenders and proslllutcs , classification of otTender pat terns are required If progress Is to be made towards the discovery of causal fac tors or/and effective handling and rchabilltation of prisoners. Previous researchers have demonstrated the existence of offender types by pointing to simliariUes among offenders. However. the empir ical lests of offenders typologlcs have been rare and a few studies done so far Indicate that there is u sually a disagreement found betwecn typological claims and empirical observallons. But despite the dlfflcullies encountered in the development of typologies of criminals, s ludylng them In types Is Important for psychologists whose Intcrests revolve around and pers ist In the eliology of c rimina l behaviour. It Is also Important as studying crime and delinquency In general and exploring some global theories which could explain all c riminality scellls fu tile s imply because of the tremendous amount of heterogeneity found In criminal behaviour. In the present resea rch, two samples of co nvlct ~, one ra ndomly chosen (N= 240) and the other selected through s tratlfted random sampllng (N= 140) from Pakistani prisons are classified In two broad categories. namely Professional and Non-professional Criminals. These two types arc not oblained frum any theoretically constructcd typology. Neither do these prelude otlle r types. Rat her, th ese are empir ically derived types differing on certain defined attributes called Classifying Varlablcs such as Type of Crime. Past Criminal Record. Rclatlonshlp with the Victim. Prcmedltatlon. and Criminal Associations. These variables are ofTcnse-rela ted a nd not offe nse-specific. These are operationally definable. On these varinbles Is also bnsed Ihe folk concept of a ProfeSSional Crimina l In the Pakis tani soclc ty. This concept was tapped In the present research by having res ponses of 15 1 subjects belonging to representatives of general public and law-enforcement agencies on 23 questions cons truc ted In s uch a way lhat each described a ProfeSS ional Crimina l In re lallon to one or the 01 her Cla :S:S lfYlng Variable. The findings Indicated that there was a high concurrence between the researcher'S conceptua lization of a Professional Criminal and that of the lay public. The data on prisoners regarding ClaSSifying Variables. Demograph iC Variables and Early Home Environmental Conditions were collected wllh the help of Interview-guide. Indepth Interview was held with each subject. Data on Personallly Characteristics, namely SOCialization. Self-esteem and Acting-out (Aggressive) behaviour were obtained by adnlinls terlng three personality tests (vii) whiCh are Socialization Scale of California Pers onality Inventory, Urdu Adjective Check· list and the Hand Test. The findings Indicate that most Pakis tani prlsoncr s a re cla ssifia ble into th e two s ugges led cat egorie s of Professio na l and Non -professional Crimin a ls on the b asis of d efined Classifying Variables. Though the variables did not classify th e s ubjects In one particular direction of Profe s sional or Non·profeslonalness as a subject cons idered Professional on one variable was not necessarily judged Professional on another variable. yet high correlations were found as rega rds Lhejuclgement of subjects on the classifying variables. which suggested that If a subject was judged as MProfesslonalM on onc classifying variable, he was likely to be judged so on another variable too. Type of Crime and Past Criminal Rccord were two variables which showed the highest correla tion. Findings also indicate that Professional and Non-profess ional Criminals significantly differed from each other on all the Classifying Variables. Four hypotheses related to DemographiC Variables wcre s upported by the findings which meant that compared wllh Non-professional Criminals. Professional Criminals (al had committed their crimes more frequenUy In urban localities, (b) had lesser mean age, (c) were more frequently unmarried at the time of commission of their first offence and (d) more frequenUy reported having had a chequered Occupa.t1onal Life Pallern. No s lgnlOcant differences, however , were observed between the two types on variables of educational level a nd socio· cconomlc s ta tus. As regards the Early Home environmenta l Condilion s, a ll the four hypotheses were supporteu by the findings which meant thal Professionals . compared with Non· professionals, (a) belonged more frequently to Physically Broken Homes. (bl belonged morc frequenlly to Psychologically Dis rupted I·tomes, (e) reported more frequently having received DefecUve Modes of Discipline from their parents. and (d) scored higher on the Psychological Adversity Scale. As regards the personality characteristics, two of the three hypotheses were supported by the findings which meant that Professional CI'lmlnals, compared with Non· professional criminals. scored slgnlflcanlly lower on both Socialization and Self- esteem scales. However. Ihere was not found any Significant difference between Professional and Non· professlonal Criminals on the variable of MAcllng_outfl (Aggrcsslvt:) behaviour. Etiological Importa nce of the claSSification has been highlighted. Impllcallons for further research have been discussed and suggestions for eITeclive handllng of convicted prisoners have been given on the basis of the research findings.