Inside the Criminal Mind

Inside the Criminal Mind, Revised and Updated Edition by Stanton Samenow, Crown, 2012. 

Bad Thinking

The author sees the root cause of criminal behavior as being bad thinking. 

Nature or Nurture?

The author objects to the idea that a child’s mind is a blank slate leads to the idea that society is at fault when someone becomes a criminal. Whether there is a genetic predisposition to criminality remains an open question. But there is evidence that temperament is largely inborn. If the family is to blame for the criminal, why is it that the criminal’s siblings often turn out to be law-abiding citizens? Most children of abusive parents do not turn to crime.

Family Dynamics

The bad child bargains with his parents by agreeing to behave if he is given what he wants. The bad child may also manipulate his parents by threats of suicide. The child can avoid physical punishment by threatening to report his parents for child abuse. The children in the family that behave decently may be neglected by the parents who are too busy focusing their attention on the bad child.

Psychologists and Social Workers

Outsiders, such as psychologists and social workers, often misunderstand the family situation. Some children who are beaten by their fathers brought it on themselves by abusing their parents. If a child is defiant, physical punishment is unlikely to work. Outsiders may think that the child is misbehaving because the parents are too lenient, but the parents may have simply given up on trying to change their child’s behavior. The author advises parents to press charges if their child commits a crime on their property.

Peer Pressure

Some people say that the teenager was corrupted by the kids he hung out with. But he chose which kids to hang out with. The bad child likes to hang out with kids who take chances and try to get away with doing forbidden things.

Disruptive Students

Children who misbehave are sometimes labeled as suffering from attention deficit disorder, but often they merely find school boring and meaningless. Misbehaving schoolchildren often accuse their teachers of abusing them. The educational authorities often oppose the efforts of teachers to remove violent children from their classrooms.

Malignant Narcissism

The criminal does not listen to other points of view and often shouts them down. Criminals see their own pronouncements as decrees that should not be challenged. Criminals lack the ability for self-criticism. Criminals admire themselves for being clever enough to fool others.

Rehabilitation

Samenow points out that the concept of rehabilitation implies that there was an earlier state of integrity to which the criminal can be returned. This is often not the case. 

Working for a Living

Often jobs are available, but criminals refuse to take them, because they are too menial and low status. Criminals have problems with authority. They see holding a regular job as being a slave. When criminals do have jobs, they often use them as an opportunity for crime.