Character accentuations and criminal behaviour (according to the study of prisoners convicted of intentional killing or reckless killing)

Excessively expressed character traits (accentuations) in combination with the social orientation of the individual and the motivation of behaviour play an important role in the mechanism of the crime. The study showed that accentuations are more common for convicts than law-abiding citizens (the minimum value is 42% and 36.6% respectively), while convicts are characterized by manifestation of accentuations of a mixed type that significantly hamper human adaptation in the society. The results of the research can be taken into account when predicting individual criminal behaviour and when developing basic programs for individual work with convicts of various categories. In particular, it should be noted that some convicts guilty of reckless killing as well as those guilty of intentional killing, require correction of crime-related personal properties (impulsiveness, high level of aggressiveness, emotional defects, low self-control, prevailing dependent behaviour, unfavourable behavioural stereotype).