Psychoanalysis and Crime: A Critical Survey of Salient Trends in the Literature

Abstract

Psychoanalytic studies of criminal motivation generally have followed the salient trends within the his torical development of psychoanalytic theory. The first trend, initiated by Sigmund Freud in an essay entitled "Criminals from a Sense of Guilt" (1916), highlighted the motiva tional priority of unconscious psychosexual conflict. Social and economic factors were minimized. Psychoanalytic ego psychologists subsequently have questioned the explanatory adequacy of the libido theory and have modified the theoretical orientation of psychoanalysis. This theoretical reorientation has been reflected in recent psychoanalytic studies of crime, which not only seek to account for the contextual diversity of antisocial behavior but also emphasize the etiological significance of character development, the adaptational functions of the ego, and the important role played by the environment in the criminal's life.