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PEER-REVIEWED
Original Study
| Published: December 08, 2021
A Mixed Method Exploration of Psychosocial Attribution of Criminal Behavior Among Prisoners
Master’s in Legal Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands, M.A. in Psychology, Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Google Scholar More about the auther
Lecturer, Central Department of Psychology, Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Google Scholar More about the auther
DIP: 18.01.105.20210904
DOI: 10.25215/0904.105
ABSTRACT
The rise in global crime rates requires proper research into a situational aspect of why an individual ends up committing the crime. Previous studies have suggested that the psychosocial variable has occupied a pivotal role in criminal behavior literature. Yet, no previous study has examined it in the context of developing country Nepal. The purpose of the study was to examine psychosocial and other potential factors of criminal behavior in a sample of 30 prisoners from Jagannath Deval Prison, Sundhara. The semi-structured interview questionnaire aimed to collect self-reported attribution for committing the crime. The Levenson Psychopathy Self-report Scale (Levenson et al., 1995) was used to assess the psychopathy variable. The analysis revealed that one-third of the respondents obtained higher than the cut-off score in Levenson Psychopathic Checklist. Several psychosocial factors, such as social injustice, negative childhood experiences, defense against strain, immaturity, etc., were attributed as prime reasons for conviction.
Keywords
Psychopathy, criminal behavior, psychology and crime, psychosocial factors, Crime in developing country.
This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2021, Rasaily M & Bhatta K R
Received: July 29, 2021; Revision Received: November 17, 2021; Accepted: December 08, 2021
Article Overview
ISSN 2348-5396
ISSN 2349-3429
18.01.105.20210904
10.25215/0904.105
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Published in Volume 09, Issue 4, October- December, 2021