What Makes a Criminal?

“I BELIEVED that criminal behavior was a symptom of buried conflicts that had resulted from early traumas and deprivation . . . I thought that people who turned to crime were victims of a psychological disorder, an oppressive social environment, or both. . . . I saw crime as being almost a normal, if not excusable, reaction to the grinding poverty, instability, and despair that pervaded their lives.” (Inside the Criminal Mind) (Italics ours.) That was the view of psychiatrist Stanton Samenow before he started to interview hundreds of criminals.

In an effort to explain why a person becomes a criminal, psychiatrists and other experts have put forward a variety of reasons​—unemployment, poor education, harsh family background, nutritional imbalance, and psychological pressures, among others. While these factors can be an influence, another fact cannot be ignored​—millions of people endure these circumstances daily without turning to crime as a solution.

Criminals​—Victims or Victimizers?

After lengthy investigation, Dr. Samenow adopted a different approach. He writes: “The essence of this approach is that criminals choose to commit crimes. Crime resides within the person and is ‘caused’ by the way he thinks, not by his environment.” (Italics ours.) “Criminals cause crime​—not bad neighborhoods, inadequate parents, television, school, drugs, or unemployment.”

This led him to change his viewpoint of the criminal mind. He continues: “From regarding criminals as victims we saw that instead they were victimizers who had freely chosen their way of life.” Therefore, he infers, instead of spoon-feeding excuses to the criminal for his conduct, we should make him conscious of his own responsibility.​—See page 9, “Profile of a Hardened Criminal.”

Judge Lois Forer of Pennsylvania, who advocates a change in the U.S. sentencing system, writes, “My conclusions are based on the belief that every human being is responsible for his acts.”​—Criminals and Victims, page 14.

Why Choose Wrong in the First Place?

Regarding this question, Dr. Samenow arrives at a simple conclusion: “Behavior is largely a product of thinking. Everything we do is preceded, accompanied, and followed by thinking.” Therefore, how can criminal behavior be altered? He answers: “The criminal must learn to identify and then abandon thinking patterns that have guided his behavior for years.” (Italics ours.) This simple conclusion accords with the Bible’s teaching.

For example, the Bible writer James explained: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin.” (James 1:14, 15) In other words, the way we act depends on how we think. A wrong desire is the result of the thought process. A sin or a crime is the outcome of an incorrect desire and a bad choice.

Paul directs attention to the thought process as fundamental to a change of personality by referring to “the force actuating your mind.” (Ephesians 4:23) The Jerusalem Bible renders that passage: “Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution.” Likewise today, there has to be a radical change in thinking, since “crimes result from the way a person thinks.”​—Inside the Criminal Mind.

This still leaves the question, How did the criminal acquire his antisocial thinking patterns in the first place?

When the Seeds Are Sown

“Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) This Bible maxim goes to the heart of the matter. The key is to ‘train the boy,’ not the young man, but earlier​—the boy. Why is it necessary to start when the child is so young? Because thought and behavior patterns are established in infancy and childhood.

True, some negative traits are built in at birth because we are all born imperfect. (Romans 5:12) As the Bible says: “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy.” However, that scripture adds: “The rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him.”​—Proverbs 22:15.

Many criminals try to justify their conduct by harking back to childhood influences, blaming their parents, teachers, and others. Dr. Samenow draws a different conclusion: “Criminals claim they were rejected by parents, neighbors, schools, and employers, but rarely does a criminal say why he was rejected. Even as a young child, he was sneaky and defiant, and the older he grew, the more he lied to his parents, stole and destroyed their property, and threatened them. He made life at home unbearable . . . It was the criminal who rejected his parents rather than vice versa.”​—See page 8, “Profile of a Budding Career Criminal.”

Yes, the seeds of criminal behavior are often sown in childhood and sometimes are unwittingly nurtured by overindulgent parents. Dr. Patterson, psychologist at the Oregon Social Learning Center, believes that “most delinquency may well develop due to ineffective parenting skills.” He refers to parents “who are unable to maintain clear rules, monitor compliance and handle even minor violations with nonphysical punishment.”

Dr. Samenow concludes: “The criminal child’s departure from parental and societal expectations involves more than isolated acts. Beginning as early as during the preschool years, patterns evolve that become part of a criminal life style.” (Italics ours.) As a consequence, some psychologists are now turning their attention to the field of crime prevention in childhood by offering help to those parents and children who have a potential delinquency problem.

Crime, its causes and possible solutions, is a complex subject. Would increased employment and an improved environment change the picture for some? Are more and bigger prisons the answer? Would more police on the beat cut down crime? In fact, is there any practical solution to crime at all in our present human society?

[Box/​Pictures on page 8]

Profile of a Budding Career Criminal

As a child, the criminal is a being with an iron will, expecting others to indulge his every whim. He takes risks, becomes embroiled in difficulties, and then demands to be bailed out and forgiven.

The parents become the first in the criminal’s long string of victims.

The child constructs an increasingly impenetrable barrier to communication. He lives a life that he wants to hide from his parents. What he does he considers none of their business.

The delinquent lies so often and so long that his lying appears to be compulsive. Yet the lying is totally under his control.

The child has contempt not only for his parents’ advice and authority but for the way they live, no matter what their social and economic circumstances. To him, having a good time is what life is all about.

When there are other children in the family, they are victimized by their delinquent sibling, who bullies them, helps himself to their belongings, and blames them when any discipline is about to be meted out.

The delinquent chooses to associate with risk-taking youngsters who are doing what is forbidden.

The delinquent refuses to subordinate himself to anyone else’s authority. He chooses instead to engage in something more exciting, often illicit.

The parents of these children often do not know where their offspring are, not because of negligence but because of the youngster’s ingenuity in concealing his activities.

The delinquent takes but rarely gives. He does not know what friendship is because trust, loyalty, and sharing are incompatible with his way of life.

Part of the delinquent youngster’s social scene is alcohol use, which begins even before adolescence.

The criminal rejects school long before it rejects him. He exploits the school, using it as an arena for crime or else as a cover for it.

What others consider getting into trouble, he perceives as a boost to his self-image.

(Please note that one or two of these factors alone may not indicate that a child is a budding career criminal. But where many are combined, there is a basis for concern.)

[Box on page 9]

Profile of a Hardened Criminal

Criminals are at heart antiwork.

The criminal’s most pressing business is crime, not a regular job.

He is positive that his expertise and unique talents distinguish him from the common herd.

He values people only if they bend to his will. Even his appraisal of his mother vacillates from saintly to satanic, depending on how readily she does his bidding.

A criminal does not regard himself as obligated to anyone and rarely justifies his actions to himself.

His pride is such that he adamantly refuses to acknowledge his own fallibility.

The criminal does not want his conduct questioned by other family members.

The criminal knows right from wrong. When it suits him, he is law-abiding.

As with everything else, the criminal exploits religion to serve his own purposes.

The criminal carefully tailors his story to provide what he hopes will be a convincing account of why he did what he did.

The criminal does not regard the victim as a victim at all. He himself is the victim for having been caught.

(The profiles on pages 8 and 9 are based on Inside the Criminal Mind.)