NCJ Number
90933
Journal
Revue penitentiaire et de droit penal Volume: 105 Issue: 2 Dated: (April-June 1981) Pages: 259-269
Date Published
1981
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The author discusses the goals, methods, and evidentiary value of analyzing the personalities of offenders. His goal is to persuade the justice system of the Cameroons to follow the French lead in individualizing treatment of criminal offenders through real, subjective personality assessment.
Abstract
The goals of personality evaluation are to determine whether factors in the background of the offender are conducive to the commission of crimes or to dangerousness and to impose a just penalty for commission of a particular offense. Methods for evaluation are based on the assumption that both environment and socioeconomic situations contribute to personality formation. In order to evaluate the results of offenders' interaction with the elements of their world, the researcher must explore the interior components of crime using individual case studies, the relationship between offenders' personality and society, the specific social nature of offenders' personality, the relationship between personality and real exterior situation, and criteria conducive to positive personality development. The basis for analysis is the act committed by the offender. Both the state of the individual conscience and the motives arising from that conscience must also be considered. In criminal proceedings, evidence gathered in the study of personality can be used to establish the existence or nonexistence of an offense and the culpability of the accused. It is emphasized that the evidentiary information must be obtained by legal means. Notes are supplied.