This article aims to overview and consider the various theoretical systems of past about half a century in the domain of personality assessment for Japanese criminals and juvenile delinquents. After depiction of several key words used in this article, fundamental framework of genealogical or evolutional analysis is set up as follows. (1) holistic and morphological typology of personality (2) trait-based approaches of personality (3) dynamic perspectives of personality (4) value-oriented individual understanding of personality. Very interestingly, above-mentioned general framework of analysis is well fitting in the paradigm of individual personality assessment within clinical setting. Unexpectedly, it holds a superficial corresponding with Haeckel’s Recapitulation Theory of phylogeny and ontogeny.

In the correctional field scientific studies by psychologists started in the late 1940’s, and their systematically continued efforts contributed much to the progress of correctional psychology. Psychologists working in institutions and organizations related to corrections increased in number and they played important roles in the area of criminal psychology.

One of the most remarkable characteristics of the psychological researches made in the field of corrections has been diversity of their themes reflecting complicated administrative roles and social expectations assigned to corrections.

A broad range of psychological researches in the past 50 years were briefly outlined. They include not only substantial themes related to various types of psychological assessment and treatment for inmates but also practical subjects peculiar to correctional environment such as inmate’s institutional adjustment, necessary measures for distortions of collected information and formal reports sent to the other agencies, etc..

In consideration of the past progress and the difficult circumstances of psychological studies in the correctional area, some topics of researches expected to be carried out for further development in the future were briefly discussed.

This article shall provide some methodological issues on the understanding of delinquent behaviors as well as on the selecting of treatments for the juveniles concerned, by presenting my own personal history as materials which describe as to how I thought about and dealt with the issues in question throughout the long term practice as a Family Court Probation O$cer; therein I have tried to clarify the chenges of evaluating delinquent facts in the process of juvenile judgment proceedings in the Family Court system, by introducing matters such as ① the conflicts with the law-originated way of thinking, with which a psychologist may encounter when he gets into the field of juvenile delinquency,　② dignostic methods of delinquent behaviors,　③ traits of Japanese-like appraisals for crimes,　④ viewpoints of receiving juvenile delinquents, and ⑤ step-by-step system of the selection of treatments for the juveniles.

The tradition of the Family Court Probation Practice was reviewed historically, regarding each of the three main trends which have emerged in the course of its development. The first trend was the notion that sees the probation practice as casework, which flourished in 60’s and faded out thereafter. The second trend was the focus on the intra–psychic approaches such as psychoanalytical therapy. During the dominance of psychoanalytical approaches, the Family Court Probation Practice was strongly influenced by their theories and supervisee experiences under the prominent analysts. Thirdly and most recently, its direction shifted to the interpersonal approaches such as family therapy. In the current trend, the more practical, problemsolving oriented stance is preferred, that led Family Court Probation Officers work eagerly the wisdom and technique of brief therapy, solution focused therapy and cognitive therapy. Rapid expansion of community service orders to juveniles among the Family Courts all over Japan, would be an example of their being nervous to the public expectancy, as these orders are easy to understand and respond well to the growing request for accountability from the public.

This article reviews research in the field of criminal psychology in the area of community-based treatment and rehabilitation of offenders and juvenile delinquents, in post–World War II, from 1945 to the present, decade by decade. In early stage, researches were conducted mainly by the research officers of the Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice. In later stage, action–oriented researches conducted by probation officers were gradually increased. In the near future, as the treatment programs are developed, research focused on clinical approach becomes more important in the area of community–based treatment and rehabilitation of offenders and juvenile delinquents.

This paper reviews criminal psychological studies done in the Japanese police agencies. The history and future directions of these studies are described by categorizing them into three major subjects: crime prevention, policing of juvenile delinquency, and criminal investigation support. Research on crime prevention includes geographic crime analysis, perceived risk and fear of crime, and prevention of crime and victimization. Studies on the policing of juvenile delinquency deal with delinquency phenomena, delinquency-related factors, and preventive measures for juvenile delinquency. Research on criminal investigation support is concerned with polygraph examinations, witness testimonies and investigative interviews, suspect retrieval systems based on modus operandi, and offender profiling. The nature of crime and delinquency is interdisciplinary and is analyzed from various perspectives, such as sociology, education, and psychiatry. Therefore, this review also incorporates major studies that have appeared in the Japanese Journal of Criminal Psychology and other academic journals.

A developping process of the criminal psychology in Japan is analysed by the contentanalysis of articles in “THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY” (Vol. 1-Vol. 43). Developments or changes are found in thems, subjects and methods of articles.

The contents of early stage of criminal- psycholpgical studies in Japan are “theoretical consideration”, “various orime and delinquency”, “traits and psychological mechamism of criminals or delinquents”, “testing and assesment”, “clinical psychology and psycho-thearpy”, “case study”, “social psychological study”, “victim” and “treatment”. “Family relations”, “social control (theory)”, “agression”, “methdology”, “mathematical analysis”, “recurrence”, “eye-wittness”, “community/environment”, and “profiling” apear after.