AUTOAGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF CONVICTS AND THE PROBLEM OF PREDICTING IT IN THE ACTIVITIES OF A PENITENTIARY PSYCHOLOGIST
The purpose of this article is to describe the main aspects of predicting the auto-aggressive behavior of convicts in correctional facilities, to identify factors that precede auto-aggressive tendencies, since the existing Russian penitentiary practice indicates insufficient preliminary work to identify persons prone to suicidal behavior. Increasingly, the reasons contributing to the commission of suicides in correctional institutions are associated with the untimely identification of the reasons for the destructive behavior of convicts, as well as untimely registration on preventive records. Based on the available statistical data, attention is paid to the psycho-diagnostic capabilities of predicting the propensity of convicts to auto-aggressive behavior. The necessity of applying a complex of techniques (both verbal and non-verbal) to assess suicidal risk is substantiated. It was determined that the likelihood of auto-aggressive manifestations of the convict is the higher, the greater the number of scales of psycho-diagnostic techniques used indicates suicidal risk. An important factor when deciding, whether to register a convict as prone to committing suicide and self-harm or not, is confirmation of the existence of an actual suicidal risk based on the analysis of data not only from verbal tests, but also from projective methods. In the case of diagnosing suicidal risk using only one method (projective or verbal), an additional psychological examination (the conversation) is carried out before making a decision to place the convict on preventive registration.