Class Criminal Psychology and Punitive Severity

This course unit builds upon the learning acquired in the Legal and Forensic Psychology and Criminal Neuropsychology units, aiming to equip students with theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the intersection of Criminology and psycho-criminal expertise-specifically concerning the delinquent individual-while also developing their competencies for work within the judicial system and other relevant sectors (police, prisons, social reintegration), thereby encompassing the dimension of actual penal severity.  

Not applicable

Historical-epistemological framework. Conceptualization, object and methods. Relationship of Criminal Psychology with Criminal Law and Criminology. Psychological acceptance of crime. The decoding function of transgressive behaviors that belongs to Criminal Psychology. Criminal Profiling: notion; operationalization; practical applications. Criminality and psychological approach: characters of the penalty. Criminal Psychology and the subject's radioscopic view. Crime and exclusion: two ways? Psychological autopsy: notion, legal framework and method. Psychological approach to crime. Joint attributions of criminologists and criminal psychologists in the judicial context: complementarity. Punitive severity: notion, object and scope. Articulation with the psychologization of decisions. Severity assessment: instruments and method of work. Application of instruments: adult and young populations. Severity and social stratification; genre

The course will combine the lecture method-primarily in theoretical classes-with the presentation of real-life cases in practical sessions, encouraging student debate. Leveraging existing protocols and informal agreements, study visits will be organized to criminal courts (under an agreement with the Lisbon Judicial District Court), as well as to educational centers and commissions for the protection of children and young people-with whom there is a twenty-year history of collaboration-and to the Bar Association, the Centre for Judicial Studies, and law firms with which ULHT maintains cooperation agreements. Emphasis will be placed on oral communication. Assessment will be based on attendance and participation in sessions designated by the instructors-including answering a question regarding the activity during the subsequent class (40%)-and on a written test (60%).

Béal, C., & Delia, L.(2017). Punir a-t-il un sens? R. Decartes 2017/3 (nº 93), 1-7. Davis, G. & Beech, A. (2012). Forensic Psychology. Leicester: BPS Textbooks. Dubé, R., & Garcia, M. (2018). L´opinion publique au fondement du droit de punir:Fragments d'une nouvelle théorie de la peine? Déviance et Société, vol. 42, 243-275. Durrant, R. (2013). An Introduction to Criminal Psychology. NY: Routledge. Gavin, H. (2014). Criminological and Forensic Psychology. London: SAGE. Hollin, C. (2013). Psychology and Crime: An Introduction to Criminological Psychology. NY: Routledge.