House burglaries are one of the most serious volume crimes, however, only a few studies have focused on the relationship between the characteristics of house burglars and the style of their offenses. The current study examined differences between repeat offenders committing house burglaries and non-repeat offenders, in terms of offenders' profiles and offence characteristics. Data of house burglars acting alone (N=440) consisting of repeat offenders with arrest records for house burglaries acting alone (n=196) and non-repeat offenders (n=244) were analyzed by comparing characteristics between repeat and non-repeat offenders. Results indicated that variables relating to social maladjustment such as low academic background and unemployment among others were significantly more frequent in repeat offenders than in non-repeat offenders. Furthermore, 18 offense variables were analyzed through correspondence analysis to describe relationships among the variables, which identified two axes; “criminality” and “traceability.” The object score of criminality was significantly correlated with the number of arrests for house burglaries (Spearman's ρ=-.46, p<.001). Finally, a model for discriminating repeat offenders from non-repeat offenders was developed using logistic regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristics indicated that the model had moderate accuracy (AUC=.80).

The purpose of this study is to examine some characteristics of ‘delinquency as self-presentation’ by focusing on goals and targets of self-presentation, motivation for impression management in a social predicament which is relevant to their impression. In the first analysis, 194 delinquents (male juvenile delinquents in Juvenile Classification Home) and 204 non-delinquents (male senior high school students) participated in a questionnaire survey adopted the scene imagination method. The results showed that delinquents who belong to gang groups were more motivated to manage their impression in a social predicament, and more likely to behave roughly and rudely so as to present strong image of themselves than non-delinquents. In the second analysis, we selected juveniles who were more motivated to manage their impression in a social predicament, divided them into two groups, and compared the ways they would react in a social predicament we created for this study. The results showed that the juveniles who were likely to behave roughly and rudely in the given situation have a tendency to present strong image of themselves, be more conscious of the impression which their peers and opponents form of them, be less conscious of the impression which people surrounding them form of them.

The current study inductively analyzed “Japanese Journal of Criminal Psychology” to reveal its academic actual state in Japan using text mining. There were 326 original articles in the journal from 1963 to 2013; multiple correspondence analyses explored relationships among key words extracted by the text mining to investigate principal research subjects from the perspective of both time series variation and disparities according to practical fields. Results showed that the primary theme studied in Japan has gradually diversified. In addition to a traditional corrective field, research articles with respect to both police and child welfare domains increased; furthermore, academic psychologists in university also have researched and submitted their findings regarding manifold criminal and forensic issues to the journal.

Psychological autopsy is an attempt to reconstruct a person's psychological state prior to equivocal death, focusing on their personalities, thought processes, and the involvement they had in their death (Canter, 1999, p. 125). First, we intend to discuss the concept of psychological autopsy in the Japanese investigative psychology, by clarifying its theoretical position in that field, history, definition, procedure, and problem, in addition to the forensic concept and the system of inquest in Japan. Secondly, we intend to discuss the outlook for the prospects of the study of psychological autopsy in Japanese investigative psychology. Especially, we discuss that the prospects of psychological autopsy study needs three aspects, which are respectively theoretical, empirical, and practical aspects in Japan.