Specific personality characteristics of prisoners convicted for terrorism and extremism crimes

Abstract

The authors have analyzed personal characteristics of prisoners convicted for terrorism and extremism crimes. They present the results of surveying 700 such convicts in 490 penitentiary institutions in 2015–2019 using the Standardized Multiphasic Personality Inventory (SMPI) — the Russian version of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The authors examine the generalized profile indicators of the key scales of the Standardized Multiphasic survey of convicts prosecuted for extremism and terrorism crimes, as well as the profile indicators of three separate sub-groups of convicts: persons convicted for terrorism activities; persons convicted for extremism activities; persons convicted for extremism-terrorism activities (mixed type). Research results made it possible to state that, in order to achieve the goals of punishment for this category of persons, it is necessary to correct the corresponding personality characteristics of convicts in each subgroup. The obtained data were used to work out and implement into Russian penitentiary practice the recommendations on optimizing the achievement of the goals of punishment for these convicts. The authors were able to provide answers for some of the urgent questions on determining the specific personality characteristics of convicts guilty of such crimes. The obtained materials did not prove the thesis that the dominant share of these persons have acute accentuation of character and psychological health disorders, or that they demonstrate a readiness to violence based on their inclination to aggression and destruction. The materials, presented in the form of graphs and numbers, are ready for an independent interpretation by Russian or foreign criminologists who do not have an opportunity to survey such numbers of convicts in penitentiary institutions. The obtained data make it possible to identify persons inclined to terrorism and extremism activities on the basis of psychological profiling before they commit crimes.