Criminal dangerousness: keys and concepts for assessing criminal dangerousness

How do you determine how dangerous an offender is? We explain it from criminology.

In this day and age, it is not uncommon to hear the term "dangerousness" often in newscasts, radio and other media, especially when they talk about issues related to the criminal field.

"Highly dangerous criminal," "medium-dangerous prison" and other concepts and terms are examples of how we hear such terminology on a daily basis, to the point where we think we are familiar with it. Despite this, this concept remains one of the most misunderstood in criminology as it is often confused with others such as aggressiveness and violence.

In addition, the new forms of criminality that arise with the new times force us to review and revise it in depth. In this article we propose to conceptualize the concept of dangerousness, point out its characteristics and explain its importance..

Criminal dangerousness: knowing the history of the concept

The idea of danger is by no means new, however the concept of criminal dangerousness is relatively modern.

Its clearest antecedent dates back to the theses of the German author Feuerbach, whose term would become part of the Bavarian Criminal Code in 1800 and who defined it as the quality of a person that leads to a well-founded presumption that he will violate the law..

Modern definitions and approaches

The most modern definition of dangerousness was introduced to criminology by Rafael Garófalo with his fearfulness to designate the constant and active perversity of the offender and the amount of evil to be feared on the part of the offender himself..

The concept, although controversial from that time on, was rapidly accepted until 1892 when the International Union of Penal LawThe concept, although controversial from that time, was quickly accepted until 1892, when the International Union of Penal Law, with the help of eminent masters of this branch of law such as Von Liszt and Prins, officially recognized it.

Unitary definition from criminology

Danger, from Latin periculum, refers to the risk, to the imminent contingency of some evil occurring, being the situation, thing or obstacle that may cause harm.The situation, thing or obstacle that increases the possibility of some harm or damage.

Dangerwhen applied to a person, is the quality of harm that could be caused by a person, according to the factors that impel him/her to do this harm.. The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language accepts this term referring to a person as one who can cause harm or commit criminal acts.

To make this concept clearer, let us review other definitions given by various legal and criminological scholars. Rocco defines it as the power, attitude, suitability and capacity of a person to cause harmful or dangerous actions. Petrocelli defines it as the set of subjective and objective conditions under whose impulse an individual is likely to commit a socially dangerous or harmful act. The Quillet Encyclopedia says that dangerousness is the set of subjective conditions that authorizes a prognosis about the propensity of an individual to commit crimes.

As can be seen, the common elements in the definitions are potentiality and intent to be prone to crime.. Just as there is a clear difference between aggression and violence, dangerousness is distinguished from the previous two in that both terms help us to try to diagnose the latter.

Components of dangerousness

Scholars of criminal behavior agree that dangerousness has two essential components: criminal capacity and social adaptability..

The first concept, criminal criminal capacityrefers to the internal criminal tension, the criminal potency, what the criminal personality is capable of giving of itself in the criminal field. On the other hand, the social adaptability is the criminal's suitability for social life, i.e., the possibility of adapting the criminal's activity to the environment in which he/she is inserted.

Based on these components we can recognize four forms of dangerous state.

Constituent elements of dangerousness

The following are the most important characteristics of dangerousness most important characteristics of dangerousness.

Quantifying dangerousness: an interdisciplinary task

Clinical criminology attempts to explain crime from the starting point of the criminal, his personality, his personal history and the various factors that play a role in his behavior. It aims to formulate a diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the subject who commits an antisocial behavior..

To quote Wolfgang and Ferracuti, clinical criminology consists of the integrated and joint application of criminological knowledge and diagnostic techniques to particular cases for diagnostic-therapeutic purposes. Thus, in terms of the functions of clinical criminology, the following are highlighted

A) To synthesize the various studies carried out on the antisocial subject and integrating them for a correct criminological synthesis that allows to issue a diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

B) To discover the criminogenesis and criminodynamics of the delinquent

C) To issue opinions and expert opinions criminological

D) Propose, where appropriate, what type of penalty is most is more convenient for him/her

E) Carry out criminological prophylaxis and attend to the criminological needs of the subject. of the subject

F) To estimate the level of dangerousness

Sciences and professionals who assess the dangerousness of offenders

Although the clinical criminologist is the figure in charge of quantifying the level of dangerousness, it would be impossible to perform this task without the correct application of various disciplines that provide objective tools on the antisocial subject.

The criminological synthesis must derive from at least seven sciences that together allow for a reliable diagnosis and that complement each other in the explanation of antisocial behavior. These sciences are: anthropology, medicine, psychology, sociology, victimology and penology. To these can be added others that allow other objective criteria to be issued on the subject, such as: social work, pedagogy, etc.

As an example of interdisciplinary work, we could exemplify the following caseThe pedagogue emphasizes that an important criminogenic factor is his level of learning, which turns out to be scarce, and dictates that this difficulty has repercussions on his few job opportunities, finding in theft the easiest way to make a living. For his part, the doctor explains that malnutrition played an important role in the poor development of his brain during the first years of life, which would partly explain a low IQ that reinforces the idea of his low level of learning; in turn, a psychologist concludes that both conditions, over the years, accentuated levels of insecurity and feelings of inferiority that prevented him from seeking an honest way of life due to the fear of being rejected.

In this way, the criminogenesis of the offender emerges, which in turn allows us to estimate more reliably his level of dangerousness.

Assessment and quantification of criminal dangerousness

The assessment of dangerousness has a qualitative and quantitative character.. The first is appreciated in the meticulous and objective study of the criminogenic factors of the antisocial subject, both endogenous (e.g. his characterology and biotype, organic disposition, psychopathologies, etc.) or exogenous (social environment, environmental conditions, culture, educational level, etc.).

In this sense, it is also of utmost importance to establish whether the dangerousness of the subject in question is absolute, i.e. whether his antisocial behaviors develop under the influence of any criminogenic stimuli, or whether we are talking about a relative dangerousness in which the individual only goes to the act after the influence of specific factors and in very particular circumstances.

On the other hand, quantitative assessment refers to the value, quantity and size of factors that make it possible to predict, among other things, the likelihood of recidivism and the effectiveness of prison treatment.. It is usually classified as minimum, medium and maximum, but different authors handle multiple scales based on pre-established items correlated to qualitative dangerousness, trying to point out the greatest number of possible criminogenic factors present in the subject. Examples of such studies will be cited below.

The criminogenic threshold

This raises several problems in relation to what various scholars of human behavior call the criminogenic threshold, also known as the delinquency threshold, which is defined as the subject's capacity to react to a certain amount of criminogenic stimulus.

This is an individual characteristic. Thus, the lower the subject's criminogenic threshold, the less criminogenic stimulus he/she will need to take the step to the act. (just as people with a low threshold for Pain need a small stimulus to produce it). To the comparison of the personality studies should be added the individual's previous criminal record, as well as observing the differences in the action between one act and another, since dangerousness tends to increase in proportion to the complexity of the crime.

Scales for assessing dangerousness

For Schied (German author), dangerousness can be quantified on a scale consisting of 15 factors, each of which adds up to one factor. each of which adds up to one negative point and which in turn is related to the probability of recidivism. Among the factors included by this author, the most important are psychopathy, hereditary diseases, work regularity, judicial record, etc.

Other supporting tools included to assess dangerousness include the HCR-20 (protocol for assessing the risk of any type of violence), LSI-R (which calculates the probability of recidivism), SVR-20 (specially designed to calculate the probability of recidivism for sexual offenders), and so on.

What is the purpose of knowing the dangerousness of a criminal?

From a clinical point of view, establishing the level of dangerousness of a criminal has several objectives, among which we highlight the following:

1. To establish what the criminological action will be.. If it will be prophylactic or only a specific treatment, if it needs a total reintegrative work or if the specific criminogenic factors that lead to criminal behavior should simply be addressed, that is to say, it allows to make the penitentiary treatment more individualized.

2. To help the judge determine the penal reaction.. if it is deserving of a custodial sentence or a security measure. If he/she needs a prison treatment of five years or twenty.

3. Indicate the probability of recidivism, helping to establish a correct diagnosis and prognosis and therefore the probability of reintegration. and a prognosis and therefore his probability of reintegration into society.

4. Justify which penitentiary institution is more convenient for his treatment and if he deserves to be in a correctional facility. and whether he/she deserves to be in a penitentiary center or in a low, medium or high danger prison.

5. Provide an idea of the harm he/she may inflict on others. against others.

Reflections on the validity of the concept of dangerousness

Due to the enormous complexity of the human personality, despite the various items and methods proposed to try to quantify dangerousness, there are no 100% objective parameters that allow a reliable diagnosis in this aspect.

In addition, among the most pronounced criticisms of the term is the idea that it is stigmatizing and prejudicial. Some jurists and psychologists criticize the concept of dangerousness because it limits the study of criminals.

On reflection, prison is practically useless: it is costly, it keeps criminals idle, it multiplies their vices, it is just another punishment, isolation causes abnormalities ranging from neurosis to psychosis, and it promotes promiscuity.

Unfortunately, today the vast majority of governments still choose to punish the intention to commit a crime and the reasoning applied to commit criminal acts, but they do not examine in depth the criminal intent and the reasoning applied to commit criminal acts.The proportionality of the crime and the dangerousness of carrying it out is not examined in depth. However, countries that adopt the individualized reintegration model based on the subject's criminogenic needs, that take into account the subject's level of dangerousness and that apply qualitative and not quantitative punishments, obtain better results and their recidivism figures are lower.

• Very high criminal capacity and uncertain adaptabilityless serious but with a very harmful criminogenic potential. Their maladaptation makes them easy to attract attention. Professional and specialized criminals, social outcasts, among others, are in this category.
• Low criminal capacity and weak adaptationThe low level of criminal capacity and weak adaptation: these are the criminals who usually flood the prisons. They include psychic misfits, character offenders and similar typologies.
• Low criminal capacity and high adaptability: mild forms of criminality. Their dangerousness is either low or acute (dangerousness can be chronic or acute in terms of duration; we will discuss this later). Here we recognize occasional and passionate offenders.
  • ElementsThe first, known as dangerous state, is the situation experienced by a person who is about to commit a crime. The first, known as dangerous state, is the situation experienced by a person who is about to commit a crime. Meanwhile, the opportunity is the convenience of time and place that lends or favors the subject to take the step to the act.
  • FormsPsychiatrists, psychologists and criminologists distinguish two types of dangerousness, the first being chronic (or permanent), which generally occurs in cases of psychopathy and in other criminals who are difficult to readapt; while the second refers to acute dangerousness, which is rather episodic and can even be exhausted in the act itself. However, if the criminogenic circumstances are maintained, acute dangerousness can become chronic.
A practical example to understand the role of each professionalBibliographical references:
• • Rodríguez Manzanera, L. (2003). Criminología. (18 ed.). Mexico: Porrúa
  • Mendoza Beivide, Ada Patricia. Psychiatry for criminologists and criminology for psychiatrists. Mexico: Trillas (Reimp. 2012).
  • Pérez, Luis Carlos: Derecho penal. Bogotá, 1981.
  • Landecho, Carlos María. Peligrosidad social y peligrosidad criminal. U. of Valencia. 1974