NCJ Number
155724
Journal
International Criminal Police Review Issue: 446 Dated: (January- February 1994) Pages: 16-21
Date Published
1994
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of psychoanalysis in treating offenders and preventing recidivism is discussed and compared to other forms of treatment.
Abstract
Existing approaches to offender treatment, including the death penalty, prison sentences, and medical and psychiatric treatment, have not been particularly effective because they do not remove the cause of the criminal act. As an alternative approach, psychoanalysis allows the offender to voice his or her feelings, with no medication, suggestion, or conditioning involved. Psychoanalysis assumes that the cause of the criminal act is subjective, unconscious, and discursive and is always linked to language and speech. Offering psychoanalysis to offenders and criminals means giving them the chance to speak, reassess their state of mind at the time the crime was committed, and reassume responsibility for their actions and words. 1 photograph