Stanton E. Samenow's
Inside the Criminal Mind
Book report by J. Zimmerman
Book report for a
class on criminal behavior.
Page references are to the hardback 1984 edition.
Inside the Criminal Mind:
Theories of criminal causation.
Book structure.
Strengths.
Weaknesses.
Thesis of Inside the Criminal Mind
Stanton E. Samenow advocates the confrontation of criminals, in the style of
psychiatrist Samuel Yochelson,
who used confrontation as his core method, as in this example:
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"In a direct, yet polite manner, Dr. Samuel Yochelson
was telling Leroy that he was a menace to society." [p.211]
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Yochelson and Samenow believe that criminals should:
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"be treated as responsible for their behaviors and held accountable. ...
significant and lasting change in the behavior of criminals could occur only with
a 180-degree alteration of their thinking.
He developed a technique to teach criminals to report their thinking so that it could be monitored
and errors pointed out and corrected."
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Samenow does not discuss the "cognitive therapies of A.T. Beck and D.H. Meichenbaum" [p.198].
He does not even acknowledge
the pioneering (1930s) work of
George Kelly,
the first to equate
personality with cognitions.
Nonetheless,
the advocated approach is intent on changing how criminals think.
It is
cognitive therapy
for criminals.
Two theories of criminal causation
1. "Classical school"
In 1764, Cesare Beccaria published his brief treatise Dei Delitti e delle Pene (On Crimes and Punishments):
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"The criminal possesses reason and free will. The major reason for his negative behavior communally is his will to commit crime. ... He is basically no different from the non-offender. He exercises freedom and is capable of choice."
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2. "Positive school"
- Introduced by Cesare Lombroso in 1876, with his publication of The Atlas of Criminal Man.
- Promotes rehabilitation and treatment.
- Lombroso:
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"Criminality is determined almost entirely by emotional, environmental, or physical factors
that the potential criminal could not control ... offenders are different from non-offenders in more ways than merely
'the will to commit crime.'"
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- Juvenile justice systems: sheltered trials, separate laws, removal of juveniles from unfit homes to foster homes.
- Probation: opportunity to correct behavior in the community without going to jail.
- Parole: opportunity to serve last part of prison sentence on the street though with guidance and under supervision.
- Specialized institutions (e.g. CRC (California Rehab Center)) to deal with root problems.
Inside the Criminal Mind:
- Written by Dr. Stanley Samenow (criminal psychologist) in 1984 and 1998.
- Wants criminals to carry the image of themselves as victimizers for the rest of their lives.
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"If crime is a series of choices (which I am convinced it is) then it's possible to make a series of choices to change,
given the right situation. The question is '[under] what conditions?'"
- Based on research by Dr. Samuel Yochelson:
- Criminal psychologist with 'current classical' view.
- Yochelson originally of the Positive school (3-volume The Criminal Personality).
- Awarded grant for 15-year study of violent criminals at St. Elizabeth's Hospital (D.C.).
- Found that "half the criminals came from stable homes ... their siblings often led very respectable lives."
- Talking to violent criminals, Yochelson used closed-ended questions;
told them they were criminals (none of them believed that they were).
- Described to the criminals what a responsible life is like and
the widening circles of effect of what they do.
- Because of his study, Yochelson switched to the Classical school and revised his books to say:
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"crime is not related to being mentally ill. The criminal is not sick but prefers a life of crime."
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- Yochelson's 4 axioms:
- Man can choose.
- Man can will.
- Take a moral inventory at the end of each day.
- A system of deterrents can correct a criminal's old thought patterns.
- Positive school became seen as 'excusing' behavior on the basis of Freudian psychology.
- Daniel Glasser's Reality Therapy became popular in 1970s. It was used only on patients that wanted to change.
Patient and therapist jointly figured out:
- the patient's goals
- small weekly behavioral contracts that inch the patient toward a larger goal (e.g. a romantic relationship).
Structure of Inside the Criminal Mind
The book relies on case studies, which fill the first 9 of its 14 chapters:
- A new beginning.
- The basic myths about criminals.
- Parents don't turn children into criminals.
- Peer pressure: no excuse for crime.
- "The hell with school."
- Work and the criminal.
- People as pawns.
- "Getting over the shrinks."
- Locked up.
Those chapters tear down existing theories, but only by using individual examples, not by citing any
statistical correlations, let alone by reporting any scientific experiments that might determine cause and
effect.
Chapter 10 (Criminals self-image: "decent people") argues:
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"The criminal knows right from wrong. ...
When it suits him, he is law-abiding and even takes pride
in being meticulous about it. ...
If a criminal regards something as wrong for him personally,
he will not do it. An act is wrong if it is too risky. ...
If a criminal makes an error in judgment and is caught, he will
say what he did wrong, but only because he was caught."
[p.160.]
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Samenow goes on to disagree with other psychologists by this unusual claim:
"Criminals do experience guilt and remorse.
They have a conscience but it is not fully operational.
When they commit a crime, they can shut off considerations
of conscience as quickly and totally as they can shut off an electric
light. Just the fact that the criminal can feel
guilt, no matter how ineffective it is as a deterrent,
helps him to maintain the belief that he is decent."
[p.163.]
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Chapter 11 (The conventional wisdom: how wise?) asserts
that
"Crime is not significantly reduced by social programs."
[p.179.]
Chapter 12 (Coping with criminals: dusty trails and dead ends)
reviews several systems that attempt to reform incarcerated criminals
but have little success.
Chapter 13 (To change a criminal) presents the case of Yochelson's
consistent confrontation and education of Leroy, a criminal,
teaching him habilitative procedures to:
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to control his anger and his thoughts.
- to acquire new goals.
- to perform a daily moral inventory.
Chapter 14 (Corrections that correct) argues:
"Criminals experience brief periods of dissatisfaction with their lives
during which they sincerly want to change.
Those in corrections much learn how to take advantage of these periods
by helping the criminal to see himself as the rotten person he is
and then teaching him new ways of thinking."
[p. 245.]
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Teaching someone 'new ways of thinking' is at the heart of
cognitive therapy,
one of the most proven psychological techniques of therapy.
It is, therefore, not surprising that this method has some success.
And finally we get a bottom line number from the statistics-shy Samenow:
"The only meaningful statistics with respect to Yochelson's
work occur during the years 1970 to 1976 (the year of his death).
... he was utilizing the habilitative procedures ... with 30
hard-core criminals. As of May 1976, 13 out of 30 [43%] were living
responsible lives ... better than a 30% success rate
[the default if nothing is done?] with men whom others had given up on."
[p. 251.]
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In the rest of the chapter, Samenow returns to his usual style of generalization
from individual case studies.
Strengths of Inside the Criminal Mind
- Lots of examples that illustrate the weakness of the traditional classical view.
- Breezy conversational style.
Weaknesses of Inside the Criminal Mind
- Very little science is reported.
- Most arguments are generalizations from individual case studies.
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