The main motive of this research is that what are the reasons behind the crime done by an offender or group of offenders, what are the psychological factors behind the act what is the intention behind the act? This research consists of psychological theories of crime, the factors which is seen when an offender commits a crime. Why crime is present in our society? Why an individual commits crime. So this research is all about psychological aspects in offender.

Whenever the crime is committed the questions which come to everyone’s mind is that why an individual commits crime?
Why is crime present in our society?
Why the offender did so?
These are the foremost question which come to everyone’s mind, but no one think that:
why there is a need arisen in the offender’s mind to do so?
What are the factors or circumstances that led him down to do so, so here comes the part of psychological factors or psychological aspects. In that very aspect of psychological factors , an individual’s mind set, the way he thinks of any particular crime, or his behavior towards the society or an individual plays a vital role. There is a need of psychological factors to be examined while a crime has been committed. Reading the mind of the offender is a very major role to be played while the proceedings is going on.

Most of the criminologists are attempting to answer the question:
That why an individual commits a crime?
Why crime is present in our society?

As the word crime includes Actus Reus and Mens Rea, when both combined makes a real meaning of crime Acus Reus and Mens Rea. Actus Reus means an Act physically done to any person and Mens Rea means the guilty mind or the criminal intention, knowledge of the fact. Both when complied makes crime, either of one of them doesn’t make a crime, as alone an act without any intention to kill or hurt cannot be a crime as both the aspect of Actus Reusand Mens Rea must be present in the mind of the offender when he is committing a crime.

An offender when he commits a crime have the knowledge of what he is doing or what he will do to the victim, the main focus of psychological aspect is on the reason behind is act, what was the reason of his act that he commits a crime, if a person commits theft then why did he do so? There are so many factors that either he is a habitual offender or he is doing for his/her family or he is doing for some sort of bet (which mostly youth has the ego to not to let himself down and for that ego they can do anything to any extent or just for showing off ) or he is taking revenge or he/she stoles the particular thing that is giving them instant gratification or pleasure there are so many factors for which the offender committed a crime.

Why is crime present in our society?
Crime is present in the society because of the mentality of the people. Mentality of no humanity in most of the human, I mean how a man can rape a small girl of 5-6 year or even a new born. Don’t they have humanity? I guess no humanity left in the human nowadays that’s why the crime rate is super high. Psychologically if we see there are so many factors in a human that why he did the offence. But as the circumstances seen nowadays is that there is no humanity left in people, first they were divided in caste but now they are divided in no humanity in them, that’s why Jyoti Singh victim in Nirbhaya case suffered his friend begged for help but no one come up. A teenager was the one amongst the offenders who was one of the most brutal as he attacked her with iron rod. How shameless can a human be is seen nowadays when these kind of offences are been done, here comes the psychological factors that what is the factor which comes into the mind of the offender that he did so.

Psychological Theories of Crime

1. Psychodynamic Theory

This theory was originated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), founder of psychoanalysis. An individual’s mental growth starts from the childhood, from where he starts to learn and his growth for good or bad things starts from there only. Person’s personality is controlled by unconscious mental process that is grounded in early process. An individual’s personal makeup or drive for something is present at birth for instance food or other necessities. When someone develops moral standards and values of the community, family, friends, good or bad behavior or morality is developed is super ego.

Something happened in childhood is constantly drawn in person’s mind, frustration, anger , depression , anxiety of childhood shows up in future. Childhood worst experience will affect the future by the way of depression, anxiety that is the main reason most of the youth or teenagers indulge themselves in crimes. Most of the youth are drug addicts because of their family issues or issues relating to relationships nowadays or if their friend is doing, they will also do the same for the sake of popularity amongst their friends or group or college, school.

A child whose mother faced domestic violence from his father or his paternal side the child will develop criminal intent towards his relatives. An individual’s behavior reflects his maturity level, what is his thinking about crime.

2. Behavioural Theory

The social learning theorist is Albert Bandura (1978). Human behavior is developed through gaining and learning experiences while growing up. The children learn violence from others, it is seen that the children learn most of the acts from movies and try to apply them in real world. Movies is meant for entertainment but teenagers grasp them and apply them, most of the youth is drug and alcohol abuse, by taking them they feel that they are in some other beautiful world and they start abusing themselves physically, mentally, emotionally. youth is more keen towards drug , smoke , alcohol. Teenagers mostly attracted towards their opposite sex and if they face rejection they feel to take revenge and starts drinking alcohol, thinking that taking alcohol will decrease their pain.

Aggressive act, ego problem, revenge thinking, indulging themselves in drugs and alcohol modeled from-

# Movies
# Family interaction or problems
# Teenage relationships
# Environmental experiences
# Bad surrounding
Teenage age is where a child needs proper attention, love from their parents. Parents need to understand their child and how to protect the child to not to go in bad world of drug, alcohol, smoking. This age is where most of the teenager starts indulging them in the world of friendship and starts doing what their friends are doing. Mental, physical, emotional growth is develop more through experience when you meet people. children who are more aggressive are brought up by parents there are so many circumstances related to this that the child is spending more time with care taker and parents cannot give time to their child. Child starts making up his mind that his/ her parents do not have time for him/ her and feel alienated. A person who lives in an area where people are mostly offenders then he/she either want to stay apart from them or starts living like them.

3. Cognitive Theory

This theory mainly focuses on how a person solve the problem and perceive social environment especially the offender how he perceive the environment. This theory is associated with crime and violence. A person who is indulge in violence is less in moral standard.

Nowadays male or female both are indulging themselves in crime, in many of the cases of molestation or sexual harassment cases are fake which were filed by women. Women are also the culprit of kidnapping children, filing fake FIR’s, sending parents to old age home, harassing her parents to give her property. Over a period of time crime ratio is increasing day by day because the people are losing humanity, no moral values are left at all.

The word EGO means self esteem or self importance, this word has been misused over a period of time as earlier ego play role when someone’s goodwill is harmed but nowadays, mostly in youth their ego hurts if someone speaks loudly to him/her, if the teacher scolds the student, the student will kill his/her teacher as his/ her ego is hurt. No moral ethics is left no values or respect for elders. The only things left are aggression, ego, selfishness, revenge, power of money, hatred.

Conclusion
Humans are made by God not to hate or kill someone but to spread love, humanity, helping poor, but the human now can do anything for his own good, laws made for the benefit of human are been violating and misused by them. Nature is been exploited by the human for his own benefits, human is exploited their lives in the manner that money is more important than the life of any person. Psychological factors which is seen in offender as well other people is of lust, hatred, revenge, ego, power of money, selfishness.

At last I want to add one famous quote-
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul. - Swami Vivekananda

Written By: Meghna Gupta, Institution - K.r. Mangalam University, Sohna Road, Gurugram