Ian Ramdhanie
Principal, CISPS
?
Knowing how criminals think is one effective way to deal with crime in conjunction with other strategies. Understanding the criminal mind is a science in itself and has been studied for a few hundred years. Non-criminologists may know much of it but in less technical terms.
What is a crime? Is it only when a law is broken? Is it also when something harmful is done to someone or society but haven't been made an "official" crime yet? Does it include when something wrong is done but not found out? If it is the latter, then probably all of mankind would have committed some wrongdoing sometime in our lives. Some get caught, others don't!
Crime, according to law, includes from less harmful behaviour like using obscene language and trespassing to more harmful ones like fighting, stealing, wounding, illegal drugs, fraud, corruption, murder, terrorism, etc. A criminal can be from a cussbud to an outright killer.
A proverbial question is: what causes crime? One way to understand this is to examine the mind of a criminal. Psychology deals with the study of an individual's mind and how the mental processes influence behaviour, in this case, criminal behaviour. One notable explanation states that the criminal has free will or choice and rationally decides to commit crime without being forced or predisposed. In the criminal's mind, he is making that conscious decision on what type, when, where, how, etc.
There is, however, the flip side of this explanation–a criminal cannot freely choose to commit crime as there are always some things that push or pull him into criminality and it is not free choice. If a criminal has free will to engage in crime, what can be done to deal with him? If he doesn't have free will, what can be done as well; should be it the same interventions?
A second much-accepted explanation of the criminal mind suggests that the values and processes of criminal behaviour are learned just as how other human behaviour and values are learned. In the same way a person learns the norms, values and behaviour like respect, honesty, relationships, etc, similarly, criminals learn norms and values associated with criminality.
Therefore, to deal with criminals, one has to deal with the learning and un-learning of criminal behaviour. This has tremendous implications for policies for home/family, schools, communities, prisons, rehabilitation, etc.
A third critical explanation of the criminal mind deals with labelling/profiling. It is argued that if someone is labelled/called a particular way and he internalises that label and starts to believe that label, a self-fulfilling prophesy kicks in whereby he begins to behave in that way. If a family, community, or society through the police and courts label someone as a thief, rapist, killer and that person begins to see himself as that label, he can act out that label. Again, hosts of policy implications exist for families, schools, prison, juvenile homes, police and the judiciary.
Fourth, one cannot have a discussion about the criminal mind and exclude Sigmund Freud (father of psychoanalysis). In short, Freud showed that part of the criminal's mind (superego) is not well-developed and functioning properly. It is not restraining the criminal from engaging in crime. Other psychoanalysts noted that criminals have predisposed traits like a desire for immediate gratification, place greater emphasis on personal desires over ability to have good relationships with other people, and lack of guilt.
The concept of the criminal mind also deals with issues such as mental illnesses/conditions like an anti-social personality disorder. It includes issues of the cognitive development of people and psychopaths. You often hear in T&T when certain types of serious crimes occur that he or she "is ah psychopath." Some key characteristics of psychopaths are they lack remorse or empathy, possess shallow emotions, are manipulative, lying, egocentric, glibness, have low tolerance level when frustrated, have episodic relationships, engage in parasitic lifestyles, violate social norms persistently, etc.
How can understanding the criminal mind help us? It leads to programmes to detect and treat such people early. For example, young people or adults who show certain tendencies can be prescribed age-appropriate interventions. If there is the understanding that criminals think a certain way, better designed interventions for crime prevention and management can be possible. If we don't take the time to understand what goes on in the minds of criminals, there will be scattershot policies which are destined to fail.
It is important that people who deal with schools, communities, families, the entire criminal justice system (police, courts, prisons) all understand the criminal mind professionally. Parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, prison officers, probation officers, police officers can all benefit from appropriate training in the conduct of preliminary diagnostics and appropriate referrals to experts. The criminal mind is not an elusive phenomenon–capture it, confront it and reduce crime!
The Caribbean Institute for Security and Public Safety offers short training and development courses in many areas including understanding and dealing with criminal behaviour, law enforcement, private and public security, prisoner rehabilitation, and HSE among many others. Contact us at 223-6999, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com