Substantial Aspects of Psychological Preparation of Operational Staff

to Work with Persons Convicted for Terrorist Activities

Svetlana Vladimirovna Kulakova

and Pavel Nikolaevich Kazberov

Research Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, st. Narvskaya, 15A, bldg. 1, Moscow, Russian Federation

Russian State Social University, Wilhelm Pieck street, 4, build.1, Moscow, Russian Federation

Keywords: Psychology of operatively-search activity, operational staff, training psychological characteristics, persons

convicted of terrorist activities, research work.

Abstract: The need for psychological training of employees of the operational services of the penitentiary system of the

Russian Federation to work with convicts, and in particular with persons convicted of terrorist activities, is

obvious. The need for a targeted approach to both convicts of a certain category (in this case, those who

convicted of terrorism) and to each convicted in particular is becoming increasingly urgent. The

implementation of this provision determines the necessary competence of the employees of the operational

service in the issue of the general characteristics of convicts, and in particular in the content of their socio-

psychological characteristics. The purpose of this study was to determine the substantive aspects of the

psychological preparation of operational officers to work with convicts for terrorist activities. The tasks: the

definition of the methodology for organizing the training of operational staff, the principles of its construction;

identification of social and psychological characteristics of persons convicted of terrorist activities that are

important for carrying out operational work. the following methods were used: a method for analyzing

documentation, characteristics of convicts, materials on the analysis of their disciplinary practice; the

questionnaire; the method of psychodiagnostics: 1). the questionnaire LSI (LIFE STYLE INDEX) Р. Pluchic,

2). the methodology "Standardized method of personality research" (SMIL) Sobchik L.N., 3). the

methodology "Temporary perspective of a convict" Zimbardo F., 4). the research methodology of self-attitude

Panteleev, R.S., 5). Bass-Darki personality questionnaire, 6). the methodology "Comprehensive study of the

personality of a convict" Chebalova, E.A., 7). the test "Life-meaning orientations" Leontyeva, D.А. Based on

the results of the study, the theoretical and methodological aspects of psychological training of employees of

the operational service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia to work with convicts for terrorist activity

are revealed, presented in the form of valid principles of its construction, determined by interpreting a

significant array of empirical material.

1 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to determine the

substantive aspects of the psychological preparation

of operational officers to work with convicts for

terrorist activities. Accordingly, the tasks of the

research work were defined, which together reveal

the general content of the research goal, and in

particular: the definition of the methodology for

organizing the training of operational staff, the

principles of its construction; identification of social

and psychological characteristics of persons

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8688-2021

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2233-0230

convicted of terrorist activities that are important for

carrying out operational work.

Based on the results of the study, the goal and

objectives were fully met. The importance of the

results obtained is determined by the disclosure of

theoretical and methodological aspects of the

psychological training of employees of the

operational service of the Federal Penitentiary

Service of Russia to work with people who convicted

for terrorist activity, presented in the form of valid

principles for its construction, determined by

interpreting a significant array of empirical material.

140

Kulakova, S. and Kazberov, P.

Substantial Aspects of Psychological Preparation of Operational Staff to Work with Persons Convicted for Terrorist Activities.

DOI: 10.5220/0010632500003152

In Proceedings of the VII International Scientiﬁc-Practical Conference “Criminal Law and Operative Search Activities: Problems of Legislation, Science and Practice” (CLOSA 2021), pages

140-144

ISBN: 978-989-758-532-6; ISSN: 2184-9854

The theoretical and practical significance of the

results is also emphasized by the established socio-

psychological characteristics of persons convicted of

terrorist activities, which are necessary for effective

operational work with them.

The main prerequisite for starting this research

work of studying of the personal characteristics of

convicts for terrorism, which was necessary for

effective operational work with them, was the

situation of insufficient data regarding this category

of persons obtained by analyzing real empirical

material. Most of the research on the identity of the

terrorist (Vityc, V.V,., 2003; Sochivco, D,V., 2011;

Doosje, B. Loseman, A., Bos, K. Van den, 2013;

Hogg, M., Adelman, J., 2013) and aspects of

psychological preparation of the operative service

officers of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia

to work with convicted persons (Babichev, I.V.,

2011; Boeva, M.V,., 2013; Kudruavcev A.B., 2012;

Polyakov, A.V., 2015; Williams, K.S., 2013) are built

on the hypothetical assumptions of the authors and do

not have conclusions and methodological proposals

based on the results of interpretation and processing

of the necessary valid empirical material in the form

of grounds.

In this situation, the novelty of the research is the

definition of the principles of building the

psychological preparation of operational staff to work

with convicted terrorist activities, as well as the socio-

psychological characteristics of persons convicted of

terrorist activities, necessary to conduct effective

operational work with them, established by

interpretation a significant array of empirical

material. This is precisely the research contribution of

the authors to the study of the issue of training

operational officers of the Federal Penitentiary

Service of Russia for successful work with convicts

for terrorist activities, this will be discussed in this

article.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

In order to accomplish the tasks set in the

introduction, our empirical study, some of the results

of which are discussed in our publication, was

organized and conducted from 2013 to 2020 in

correctional institutions of the Federal Penitentiary

Service of Russia in thirty territorial bodies of the

penal system. The sample of persons convicted of

terrorist activities amounted to more than seven

hundred people.

In the process of the research work, the following

methods were used:

- a method for analyzing documentation related to

the personality of convicts for terrorist activities

(personal files of convicts, materials of court

decisions (sentences), characteristics of convicts,

materials on the analysis of their disciplinary

practice);

- the method of conversations with persons

convicted of terrorist activities,

- the questionnaire survey of persons convicted of

terrorist activity using author's questionnaires;

- the method of psychodiagnostics (testing): 1).

the questionnaire LSI (LIFE STYLE INDEX) Р.

Pluchic, 2). the methodology "Standardized method

of personality research" (SMIL) Sobchik L.N., 3). the

methodology "Temporary perspective of a convict"

Zimbardo F., 4). the research methodology of self-

attitude Panteleev, R.S., 5). Bass-Darki personality

questionnaire, 6). the methodology "Comprehensive

study of the personality of a convict" Chebalova,

E.A., 7). the test "Life-meaning orientations"

Leontyeva, D.А.

All the empirical material obtained in the course

of research work underwent appropriate

mathematical and statistical processing using the

methods of the package IBM SPSS Statistics 23.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The processes are taking place not only in our country

but throughout the world, and include migration and

integration processes, actualize the problem of

countering terrorist activities. These dynamic

processes reflect not only the contradictions of

different countries, religions, political doctrines, but

also different cultures and mentalities. (Kazberov

P.N.., Spasennicov B.A., Tuncov V.V., 2019).

In these conditions, the problem of preventing and

countering terrorism becomes relevant for the Federal

Penitentiary Service of Russia, and in particular for

the employees of the operational service of the

Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. The

optimization of the existing psychological training of

operational staff to work with convicts for terrorist

activities is also determined as relevant. A natural

requirement for the organization of such training will

be its conducting at the appropriate methodological

level, at the level determined by the definition of the

principles of building psychological training of

operational officers to work with convicted terrorist

activities, as well as the level of deterministic use in

the preparation of authentic socio-psychological

characteristics of persons convicted of terrorist

activities which are necessary to carry out effective

Substantial Aspects of Psychological Preparation of Operational Staff to Work with Persons Convicted for Terrorist Activities

141

operational work with them, established by

interpreting a significant array of empirical material.

Comprehension of all the empirical material

obtained by the study made it possible to determine

the principles of building the psychological

preparation of operational officers to work with

convicts for terrorist activities. Thus, the principle of

axiology assumes that the training of employees of

the operational service of the Federal Penitentiary

Service of Russia to work with convicts for terrorist

crimes should be based on the mandatory

consideration of the value system of each person,

respectively, and convicts of the category in question.

This can be achieved by providing operational staff

with knowledge in the field of axiology, a scientific

discipline that studies the values of a person's vital

activity, which determine the qualitative state of the

substructure of the orientation of his personality.

To implement the principle of axiology, the main

part of the training of operational staff should be

devoted to teaching them the use of psychological

techniques to understand the mechanisms of

manipulative influence to which persons convicted of

terrorist crimes were previously subjected (Chabriev

R.Y., Pertlu L.F., Spasennicov B.A.,2019).

In the process of psychological training of

operational staff, it is necessary to reveal the main

problematic aspects of the functioning of the

cognitive, behavioral and affective levels of

individuals convicted of terrorist activities. Problems

of their cognitive level are characterized by the

presence of: irrational attitudes, cognitive distortions,

destructive thoughts, often leading to social

disintegration of the personality and inadequacy in

self-esteem. Problems at the affective level are

expressed in the manifestation of anger, aggression,

hostility; in the manifestation of feelings of guilt and

fear, nightmares. At the behavioral level, problems

are indicated in hostility, social deprivation,

impulsivity and in the dominance of less constructive

mechanisms of psychological defense. (Muzichyk

T.L.,, Kulakova S.V., Spasennicov B.A.,2019).

It is indisputable that to bring the convicted person

to the thought of correction is necessary to understand

the motives due to which he committed the crime.

(Doosje, B., Moghaddam, F.M., Kruglanski, A.W.,

2016). It is necessary to take into account the vivid

typical characteristics of the motivation of those

convicted of terrorism, which include subordination

to radical political and religious ideas. In

psychological terms, such ideas can be defined as

destructive irrational attitudes (Bovin B.G. Bovina

I.B., 2020).

The training of the operational service staff should

presuppose the formation of their competencies to

work with the most traditional irrational attitudes and

cognitive distortions of a mental and religious nature,

which are often encountered in work with convicts of

terrorist crimes.

We also note that the content aspect of the

effectiveness of training operational employees

should be expressed, among other things, by such

indicators as: knowledge of taking into account

irrational attitudes and cognitive distortions inherent

in representatives of a monotheistic mental

civilization, behavioral patterns (Victuc V.V., 2003);

as well as the possession by employees of the

operational service of psychological methods:

labialization, identification, moral empathy and

anticipation (Tsvetkova, N.A., Kulakova, S.V.,

2020).

The principle of the axiological nature of the

training of operational staff determines the need for

the formation of such competencies as the basis of

psychodiagnostics work, as well as scientific,

intersectoral and intercultural. It is intercultural

competence that determines the availability of

knowledge and skills of employees in the field of

accounting in preventive work with those convicted

of terrorism of data on their irrational attitudes and

cognitive distortions inherent in representatives of a

monotheistic mental civilization that affect their

behavioral patterns and life in general. In their

professional activities, employees of the operational

service need to understand and perceive the

subjectivity of the perception of the situation by any

of its subjects. The observed situation is perceived

and understood by each subject differentially, based

on his attitude to certain social, political, religious

groups, life experience, system of values, orientations

and individual characteristics. For example, by

blowing up architectural monuments of the

Hellenistic era in Syria, that is, essentially committing

acts of vandalism in accordance with European

criminal law, terrorists believe that they are

destroying objects of idolatry, that is, they are

fighting the dark legacy of polytheism (paganism).

Compliance with the principle of integrability is

also mandatory in the psychological preparation of

operational staff to work with convicts for terrorist

activities.

Psychodiagnostics characteristics of convicts who

are on preventive records as persons studying,

propagandizing, professing or spreading extremist

ideology often do not disclose to operational officers

their individual characteristics related to the

substructure of the personality orientation. Our

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research made it possible to determine the personality

model of those convicted of terrorist crimes as a set

of integrative personal characteristics of these

persons. In accordance with the content of the model,

these persons are defined as socially active marginals

with a conversion personality profile, capable of

committing terrorist and extremist crimes based on

irrational attitudes of a mental and religious nature.

The presence of integrative properties shows that

the properties of the system, although they depend on

the properties of the elements, are not completely

determined by them. Thus, firstly, the system is not

reduced to a simple set of elements, and secondly,

dividing the system into parts, studying each of them

separately, it is impossible to know all the properties

of the system as a whole.

The integrative personality characteristics of

convicts, being elements of the personality structure,

reflect the experience of their life, are manifested in

their behavior, consciousness, and feelings.

It is important to note one of the provisions

revealed by the researchers of the studied issue that

the basis of integrative personal characteristics is the

person's awareness of the need for his own changes,

transformation of his inner world and the search for

new ways to increase personal self-awareness

(Nokhrina, I.G., 2004). Perhaps this provision

contains one of the foundations, ways of the

possibility of corrective action on convicts. Both

cognitive and regulatory and integrative personality

characteristics are distinguished, which are the basis

for the development of socially important personality

traits (Nokhrina, I.G. 2004).

In the process of psychological preparation, it is

important to bring to the operational service staff

knowledge about persons convicted of terrorist

crimes as typical owners of a conversion type of

personality profile. With short-term contacts, persons

convicted of crimes of a terrorist nature are able to

impress themselves as self-confident people,

confident in themselves in social aspects, easily

establishing social contacts. But this, as a rule, is a

fake identity disguise. Possessing a conversion type

of personality profile characterizes them as people

who have experienced significant mental trauma.

Those worried about dramatic events do not diminish.

The experiences of resentment and insults have

severely hurt the person. As a rule, the need for

affective discharge with the awareness of the need for

revenge led to the commission of a crime (Kazberov,

P.N. Bovin, B.G., Fasolya, A.A., 2019).

Convicts with such patterns are owners of

hysterical personality traits, which manifest

themselves in emotional instability, in the

replacement of reality with cognitive distortions and

irrational attitudes, in fantasizing of reality

(Kazberov, P.N., Spasennikov, B.A., Tyunkov, V.V.,

2019). Therefore, persons convicted crimes of a

terrorist nature, as a rule, do not have a high

educational level, so easily succumb to all-different

radical religious mysteries of attitudes and dogmas.

The totality of the provisions specified in the

publication on the personal characteristics of convicts

of this category must be taken into account when

organizing psychological training for operational

officers to work with persons convicted of terrorism.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The research work made it possible to determine the

following conclusions:

1. Based on the results of the study, the theoretical

and methodological aspects of psychological training

of employees of the operational service of the Federal

Penitentiary Service of Russia to work with convicts

for terrorist activity are revealed, presented in the

form of valid principles of its construction,

determined by interpreting a significant array of

empirical material.

2. The principle of axiology established by the

study in organizing the training of operation staff

assumes that the training of employees to work with

convicts for terrorist crimes should be based on the

mandatory consideration of the value system of each

person, respectively, of the convicted category.

3. Compliance with the principle of integrability

is also mandatory in the psychological preparation of

operational staff to work with convicts for terrorist

activities. Integrity in the training of operational staff

should be observed both in the plane of intrasubject

connections of training, and in the plane of

intrasubject connections.

4. Knowledge of the basic social and

psychological characteristics of persons convicted of

terrorist activities is a prerequisite for effective

operational work with this category of convicts.

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