Juvenile Delinquency and Psychopathic Behavior: About a Case in Abidjan

摘要

Violent and murderous juvenile delinquency born of the phenomenon of young people organized in gangs commonly called “microbes”, has become a real security problem for Ivorian society. It is in this context that this study has set itself the main objective of depicting the psychopathic behavior of a young “microbe” delinquent who has committed several violent crimes. It was a monographic study of the correlational-explanatory type that mobilized observation and semi-directive interviews for the production of data. The method of phenomenological analysis permits to detect traits of psychopathy in a 21-year-old youth through family history and accounts of criminal acts committed. The results of the study showed, on the one hand, a family dysfunction that gave the bed of behaviors such as the lack of empathy, the absence of remorse and the superficiality of the affects, thus translating a deficit on the level of the affective dimension. We also noted the presence of antisocial behavior such as living on the streets or in smoking rooms consuming and selling drugs. There were further implications such as theft, physical aggression and intentional homicide. According to the psychopathy literature, emotional insensitivity juxtaposed with behavior disorder was a primary combination of characteristics that help identify adolescents who exhibit psychopathic traits. Faced with this reality, this study pleads for the establishment of a special aid program to better control the deadly violence of these people.