Psychological Perspectives on Delinquency (From Kids Who Commit Adult Crimes: Serious Criminality by Juvenile Offenders, P 107-113, 2002, R. Barri Flowers, -- See NCJ-197664)

• NCJ Number: 197672
• Author(s): R. Barri Flowers
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Press, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This overview of psychological perspectives on delinquency profiles psychoanalytic theories of delinquency, personality-disorder theories of delinquency, and psychiatrictheories of delinquency.

Abstract

Psychoanalytic theories of delinquency regard the deviant behavior of youths as a result of unresolved instincts and drives within the human psyche. When these are in conflict, delinquent or other aberrant behavior may occur. Sigmund Freud, who posited that the personality is composed of three integral parts -- the id, the ego, and the superego -- relied on psychoanalysis to delve deep into an individual's past experiences to uncover and resolve unconscious conflicts. Although Freud is recognized as having established a relationship between delinquent behavior and personality formation, particularly the unconscious sense of guilt developed during childhood, it was the work of August Aichorn (1935) that is regarded as most responsible for applying psychoanalytic principles to criminality. In his study of juvenile delinquents, Aichorn postulated a psychological predisposition to committing criminal and delinquent acts. More recently, Schoenfeld (1975) hypothesized that most acts of delinquency are caused, not by criminal tendencies, but rather a weak or defective superego unable to sufficiently control the primitive and strong early childhood urges, resulting in deviant behavior. Personality disorder theories tend to explain juvenile delinquency in terms of personality flaws and emotional disorder not necessarily related to unconscious conflicts. The most common feature of personality disorder theories is the reliance on personality tests, such as IQ and Rorschach inkblot tests. Issues related to personality-disorder theories are emotional disturbances, psychopathic theory, criminal-personality theory, and IQ theories. Psychiatric perspectives have often related delinquency to mental illness; however, most experts in delinquency and criminality believe that delinquents who suffer from mental illness are in the minority. One of the most prominent psychiatric theories of delinquency is the "superego lacunae" theory. This theory posits that delinquent children have gaps or lacunae in their superego and become scapegoats in families where parents project their own difficulties onto them, receiving vicarious pleasure from the delinquent acts of the child.