Socio-Psychological and Criminological Characteristics of Convicts in Open Prisons
Keywords:
open treatment, social characteristics, psychological characteristics, criminological characteristics, level of education, pathological phenomena, social status of convicts, intelectual abilitiesAbstract
By studying the sample of 412 convicts serving a prison sentence in an open-regime treatment (under the conditions of minimal security measures imposed), the social, psychological and criminological characteristics of convicts were explored. Examined social characteristics include the age at the time of committing the crime, level of education, employment, family background and family status. Psychological characteristics were explored by examining the intellectual abilities and pathological behavior during the sentence serving, while criminological characteristics have been observed by examining the offence type, sentence length and recidivism.
Socio-psychological and criminological characteristics are very important factors in criminality causation; in a mutual interaction with other factors, they apparently affect criminality. The socio- psychological and criminological factors are also very important for an observation of convict’s personality and preparing of adequate treatment programs, determining of forms and methods of working within the process of correcting the convicts’ behavior.
The analysis of these factors revealed that the most convicts (72%) fall into the age group 23-50; the most convicts (64%) have the high school level of education; and that there is a correlation between the age and educational level (C=0,32). Also, more than 42% of convicts were unemployed at the time of committing their crime. The majority of the convicts come from families with poor economic conditions.
It is particularly important that around 55% of convicts expressed pathological forms of behavior while there is also a high level of recidivism in open-type institutions (around 45%).
The structure of convicts in open-type institutions is quite detrimental for the effective functioning of these institutions; it is necessary to change the structure of prisoners in order to reach the optimal circumstances for achieving the aims that open institutions were established for. Open institutions actually give the best chances for preparing convicts for life upon leaving prison and refraining from further criminal activity.
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