Przestępczość przeciwko zdrowiu i życiu. Charakterystyka decydenta z perspektywy jakościowej
Crime against health and life. Characteristics of the decision-maker from a qualitative perspective

Summary/Abstract: Aim. The article presents a qualitative analysis of a decision-maker - a criminal who broke the law against health and life, including a penitentiary repeat offender and a person convicted for the first time. The data presented concerns: motives for action, emotions in the decision-making process, self-assessment, knowledge from a criminal career, as well as plans for the future.Research methods. The article is based on the results of a qualitative analysis of 22 in-depth interviews with elements of a narrative interview.Results. According to the research, criminals who broke the law against health and life manifested economic and emotional motives, with emotional motives prevailing. The narratives contained fragments of statements that testified to cognitive distortions. The results of research on emotions appearing in the process of making a criminal decision indicate that the respondents experienced pleasant and unpleasant emotions. However, in this research group, positive emotions dominated, which were usually accompanied by emotional arousal. Emotions in the recognition of the subjects played an important role in their crime, and were assessed as a factor that limited their rational action. The respondents had knowledge of crime from their own experience, self-education and experiences gained from criminal friends. The respondents presented various plans for the future, which concerned both professional and private life.Conclusions. In their own narratives, the subjects showed cognitive distortions. Therefore, corrective work should focus on those distortions. An effective solution in the case of criminals against health and life could be social rehabilitation taking into account elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Due to the fact that the respondents assessed the role of emotions in committing crimes as significant, work on emotions should also be an important element of corrective work.

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