Recognizing Individuals Prone to Spreading Extremist Ideology in Prison

Abstract

The problem of the research is to identify persons potentially capable of spreading violent ideology at the stage of arrival in a penal institution, during the mandatory psychodiagnostic examination of inmates. The aim of the study was to build a probabilistic model for identifying disseminators of extremist-terrorist ideology. The subject of the study was behavioural characteristics and profiles of protective mechanisms of those convicted of extremist-terrorist crimes. The research methods were expert assessment of behavioural characteristics of convicts and the LSI (Life Style Index) test, which allows to determine behavioural and emotional features of an individual based on the defence mechanisms. Comparison of the behavioural characteristics of persons capable, according to the assessment of the staff, of spreading the ideology of violence, largely corresponded to the behavioural characteristics of the functioning of such defence mechanisms as projection, compensation and reactive formation. At the same time, the behavioural characteristics of individuals with a low probability of propagating extremist-terrorist ideology corresponded to the functioning of defence mechanisms: suppression, regression and intellectualisation. Further research is expected to identify the personal characteristics of inmates vulnerable to radicalisation in prison.