The Mechanism of Transformation of the Victim Into the Criminal Under the Influence of Violence (in Fiction)

Abstract

In the submitted article the author analyzes the mechanism of formation of criminal motivation of the woman in the conditions of the psycho-injuring situation with the help of the artistic image described in S. Maugham’s work “Unsubdued”. The portrait of the infanticide created by the great writer can be used for the solution of criminalistic tasks. Addressing a work of art, the author of article relies on the psychological regularities and features important for the prevention and investigation of female violent crimes and makes attempt to define a psychological portrait of the infanticide, transformed from the victim to the criminal. Process of transformation of the victim into the criminal is caused by action as the psycho-injuring situation, and personal features of the woman. This aspect, unfortunately, did not receive due overview in criminalistic literature. S. Maugham’s work “Unsubdued” is a bright illustration of such transformation allowing to understand motivation of criminal behavior of infanticides in certain life situations. The violence described in fiction is called to teach the person how to act in certain situations. The picture of violence shows possible consequences of a wrong act that allows to use examples from fiction in the research purposes.