2. Dr. Samenow and Dr. Yochelson
developed the evidence base for criminal
thinking patterns by working with
criminals in a mental hospital. Their
project spanned 14 years and 255
participants from various backgrounds
(black, white, inner city, suburbs,
wealthy, poor, etc.) The study was
conducted over 7 years. 2
3.
“ . . . the prevailing thinking was (and still is
in many quarters) that people are influenced
or forced into crime by poverty, divorce,
abusive parents, peer pressure, and other
environmental factors.”
“Virtually every man in our study had at least
one sibling who had overcome adversity or, at
least, had responded to it without victimizing
others.” 3
4.
“More critical than specific environmental
factors is how human beings choose to deal
with the environment in which they find
themselves.”
4
5.
5
Criminals:
Are restless,
dissatisfied and
irritable
While at school,
considered requests
from their teachers
and parents as
impositions
Are habitually angry
Want to live life of
excitement, at any cost
Continually set
themselves apart from
others
Are lacking empathy
Feel no obligation to
anyone or anything
except their own
interests
Are poor at
responsible decision-
making, having pre-
judged situations
6.
“It is important in understanding who the
criminal is not to confuse the victimizer
with the victim.”
“When held accountable, criminals often
blame circumstances. And, if they don’t come
up with enough excuses for crime on their
own, mental health and others supply more.”
6
7.
“. . . the environment can make it easier or more
difficult to commit and get away with crimes by the
presence or absence of deterrents.”
“If firearms are easy to obtain, most people will
not use them. If the criminal can readily have
access to a gun, he may seek revenge in a more
lethal manner than he would if the gun were
not at hand. The issue is not the presence of the
gun, but the psychological makeup of the
user.” 7
8.
“A significant difference exists between
the psychological makeup of a person who
struggles to improve his situation and that
of an individual who focuses on proving
that he will have ultimate control and
prevail in any situation, no matter the costs
to others.”
8
9.
“Consider the person laid off from his job
whose family depends on his wages.”
“Some unemployed workers become depressed,
anxious, or resentful.”
“Others become determined to do whatever they must
to find a new job as quickly as possible.”
“It takes a particular sort of mind to plot revenge and
return to one’s former place of employment and
retaliate by shooting one’s former supervisor.”
9
10.
“The youngster with the incipient criminal
personality reacts to consequences differently
from his responsible counterpart.”
“Every boy who steals a candy bar does not become a
one-man crime wave.”
“For most young first-time shoplifters who are caught
and punished, that is the end of the thievery.”
“Not so for others, who conclude that the next time
they need to be slicker to avoid detection.”
10
11.
“The individual who is extreme in these
thinking errors pursues excitement by doing
the forbidden and builds himself up at the
expense of others.”
“Human relationships are seen by these people as
avenues for conquest and triumph.”
“Any means to self-serving ends, including deception,
intimidation, and brute force, are employed without
considering the impact on others.”
11
12.
“An initially dismaying distortion was that the
Yochelson-Samenow approach is devoid of
compassion, that it is ‘hardline’ and unrelentingly
confrontive and potentially destructive.”
“One can be confrontive without being provocative or
harsh. In fact, harshness will evoke anger in return.”
“Compassion is expressed not by sympathizing with the
criminal who has created his own predicament; instead, it is
demonstrated by a dedication to work tirelessly with people
whom many deem hopeless and prefer to incarcerate and
forget.” 12
13.
“The great majority of offenders eventually
will be released.”
“Once the individual returns to the
community, the criminal mind functions as it
did before confinement and during
incarceration. Therefore, it is in society’s
interest to find more effective ways to help
offenders change.”
13
14.
“By holding the criminal completely responsible
for his actions . . . Criminals are told that none of
their hard-luck stories are relevant. The
circumstances of their lives are of no concern. They
are not victims . . . the heart of this program is the
premise that a man is capable of choosing between
good and evil.”
(From interview w/Dr. Samenow; “Society Doesn’t Cause Crime, Says Dr.
Stanton E. Samenow; Criminals Do Because they Enjoy it,” by David Van
Biema; posted 5/12/84, People)
14
15.
“. . . from workers in the trenches
(professionals who deal with criminals
every day) that focusing on ‘errors in
thinking’ had a strong and positive impact
on offenders.”
“The concepts were clear.”
“Errors of thinking and obstructive tactics
were readily observable.”
15
16.
http://www.samenow.com/concept.html
Dr. Stanton E. Samenow - Bio
Dr. Samenow received his B.A. (cum laude) from Yale University in 1963 and his
Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1968. After working as a
clinical psychologist on adolescent inpatient psychiatric services in the Ann Arbor
(Michigan) area, he joined the Program for the Investigation of Criminal Behavior
at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. From 1970 until June, 1978, he was
clinical research psychologist for that program. With the late Dr. Samuel
Yochelson, he participated in the longest in-depth clinical research-treatment
study of offenders that has been conducted in North America. The findings of that
study are contained in the three volume publication The Criminal Personality
(Lanham, Md.: Roman and Littlefield) that he co-authored with Dr. Yochelson. Dr.
Samenow received his B.A. (cum laude) from Yale University in 1963 and his Ph.D.
in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1968. After working as a clinical
psychologist on adolescent inpatient psychiatric services in the Ann Arbor
(Michigan) area, he joined the Program for the Investigation of Criminal Behavior
at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. From 1970 until June, 1978, he was
clinical research psychologist for that program. With the late Dr. Samuel
Yochelson, he participated in the longest in-depth clinical research-treatment
study of offenders that has been conducted in North America. The findings of that
study are contained in the three volume publication The Criminal Personality
(Lanham, Md.: Roman and Littlefield) that he co-authored with Dr. Yochelson.
Editor's Notes
If environment is the greatest influence on criminality, then we would expect siblings to have the same criminality. Thus, Samenow and Yochelson questioned the prevailing “wisdom” that a criminal’s environment was the key determinant in their path.
What Samenow and Yochelson found was that individual choice was the key determinant of hard core criminality. This is not to say the environment has no role – as a person in a drug infested or gang riddled environment will have more pressures and opportunities to participate in criminal behavior – but, fundamental are the conscious choices a person makes.
These are the characteristics of a hard-core criminal:
Often, our institutions (courts, advocates, media, etc.) plead the criminal’s case . Think of heinous crimes that are committed, followed by media scrutiny about the criminal’s motives, upbringing, etc. – often blaming issues like poverty, race, etc. to explain the criminal behavior. Often, the victim is a side story at best.
More recently, mental health organizations have proposed that mental illness is often why inmates end up in prison – suggesting they simply are unable to navigate a modern society. However, approximately 25% of Americans have some sort of mental disorder and the ADC prison population has 26% with mental disorders. You would expect this number in ADC as it is almost identical to that of the general population. In fact, mental illness does not explain criminal behavior – there is more going on there – such as choices an individual makes. There are very few inmates with such serious mental illness issues that directly drive their criminality.
As noted previously, environment can play a role in influencing criminality but it does overpower the choices a person makes. Simply having a gun available does not create a firearm criminal act. A person with criminal tendencies may simply take advantage of the weapon availability whereas a non-criminal would not use the weapon in commission of a crime.
This is so important for staff to understand and internalize: a hardcore criminal sees the world differently than you and me. They are looking for advantage and will take advantage no matter the cost to another person’s property or person. They want to dominate every encounter and often are very skilled at it, using multiple methods to get what they want.
They may start out very polite and ask for a piece of copy paper to use as scratch paper so they can prepare for some laudable purpose (e.g., studying for GED; writing a letter home to their family, etc.). But if the staff member rebuffs them by saying the copy paper cannot be given to inmates, the inmate will take a different tact – “Can’t you make an exception for me?” If the answer continues to be “no” then the inmate may escalate by blaming you if he/she does not pass the GED or claim you are preventing efforts to improve family relationships. It could even escalate to threats to write a grievance or inform on you for some perceived misdeed or misapplication of policy. In some cases veiled physical threats could occur.
The inmate sees you as the “sucker” working at a traditional job that pays poorly when he/she will be living a lavish lifestyle upon release by embracing the criminal lifestyle.
This criminal mentality is what has to be confronted and systematically addressed.
Example of criminal mindset.
Example of criminal mindset.
Hard core criminals like the criminal lifestyle and often enjoy the excitement of the criminal act. Have you had inmates who admitted they liked seeing the fear of a person when they robbed them at gunpoint; or, the thrill of burglarizing a house and getting away with it; etc., etc.
Key is the concept of using others to get what they want. Another person is just an ends to a mean.
Samenow and Yochelson were criticized for this approach to addressing criminality that focuses on the inmate’s criminal thinking errors and discounting other factors as being devoid of compassion or hardline.
The idea is to confront the inmate about their criminality and not to allow any excuses for their behavior, so that the inmate must deal with their own choices and actions. This does not mean that staff do so in a harsh way, only that they do not allow the inmates attempt to minimize their behavior to stand.
Compassion is not sympathy, it is demonstrated by working to get the inmate to see and acknowledge and then work on their criminal thinking errors. This is real compassion as it has the ability to change lives.
Other programs that provide skills to the inmate are important. An inmate needs basic education and job skills to compete for a job, but simply having those skills without addressing the inmate’s criminal thinking is futile. You simply have a criminal with increased skills to expand their criminal activities.
It is vital to remember that inmates are human and can change. You remember the inmates that return to prison – it is almost a celebration sometimes, is it not? But you forget those inmates you never see again. Some inmates give up crime and even become successful people. We don’t know which ones will be successful but we should all be positive that our work in addressing criminal thinking is noble and will help some inmates succeed. And that means we can directly improve our communities by doing so.
Again, this approach is to make the inmate responsible for his/her actions. They are not victims and can choose their path. The Cognitive Restructuring curriculum is designed to help them take ownership for their behavior and give them skills (by practicing these skills through role playing) to assist them in choosing non-criminal methods of dealing with life issues.
As we interact with inmates in every circumstance, it is important not to let the inmate play the “victim card” or the “blame card” and always turn the inmate’s behavior to the inmate’s actual behavior, which points to their criminal thinking.
Errors in thinking is the key factor that will have a positive and long lasting impact on hard core criminals. Our cog curriculum is the key to unlock this tool.
YOU are the key to guide the process!