(no subject)
Muggle psychologist Abraham Maslow defined the rules of basic human behaviour, laying the foundation to understanding criminal behaviour. In 'Motivation and Personality', he said that all of it could be fit into a 'hierarchy of needs', which he said fit into five catergories:
Physical - Food and the such, things to keep a body alive.
Security - Shelter and a place one feels is safe/home.
Belongingness and Love - Odd that this rates as one. Unlike the first two, this is an emotional need that expresses the desire to have roots and be wanted.
Esteem - Again, this is a mental need instead of a physical one. Maslow stated that all humans have the desire to be respected and liked.
Self-actualization - This is another odd one that most overlook. In the human condition is the desire to know and understand the world around us, to invent and create, and to solve everyday problems.
Everyone is capable of committing a crime. However, other than petty things, the life of crime the average person considers is limited to fantasy and dreams. So what makes the average person different from a criminal? There is no difference. The question more should be what brought this darker side out that we all possess? The answer is simple: Decent people grew into mature human beings while criminals stagnated in a perpetual childhood. This degeneration in behaviour is accentuated by three basic traits that signify the so-called 'criminal personality':
Weakness - Emotional and/or physical, lacking in discipline.
Immaturity - Childish egocentrism. Expecting demands to be met immediately like a small child would or the belief that the world revolves around them.
Self-deception - Distorted sense of personal reality, severely narcissistic. God complex people and the like fall in here.
There are other factors to keep in mind:
1. There is no such thing as normal. The terms 'normal' and 'abnormal' are merely societal labels that change like the weather.
2. Mental illness such as severe depression can turn even the best of men or women into murderers or other criminals.
3. The majority of the criminal population is motivated by greed although there is a 'kick' involved in illegal economic activity. Many criminals are bent towards more aggressive, antisocial, destructive desires that embody this hunger, a bloodlust that varies in degrees and a thirst for power and danger.
The last thing to remember is perhaps the most important, stated once quite well by former US Surgeon General Dr C. Everett Koop, an American Muggle. Violence, and for the most part, all crime, is a disease. Criminal behaviour is part of a whole class of destructive human behaviour disorders, which, contrary to the protestations of the social scientists, makes crime and violence a medical problem.
Criminal behavior and violence are pathological conditions of the mind and thus are truly diseases. Thomas Szaz, another Muggle psychologist, writes more on this and is well worth reading if one is trying to fit into a mold.
Violence, as a disease, is referred to in medical terms as 'intentional trauma', which includes according to the Centre for Disease Control but isn't limited to: Murder, assault, sexual assault, manslaughter, partner/spousal abuse, child maltreatment (abuse and neglect), physical and mental exploitation, suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, deliberate negligence, deliberate hazards, criminal manipulation and duress, peer confrontations, parasuicide, abduction, and robbery.
While this is a complex issue, it can be simply stated that crime and violence are problems of medical ecology. This is an equation that defines the relationship between one or more individuals in conflict with one or more other individuals, their surrounding environment, and the factors as they relate to time. This would appear as:
[VICTIM(S)+VICTIMIZER(S)+TIME]+AGENT/VECTOR FACTORS + MECHANISM + ENVIRONMENT FACTORS = CRIME
Time = fate
Agent/Vector Factors = criminal's motive, intent, opportunity, and method along with environment.
Mechanism = weapon or tool used
Environment factors = Not just physical influences but also political, social, legal, and economic factors.
Violence is not a social or legal problem. It is a complication of mental illness. It is merely a matter of finding the root or cause of said mental illness be it genetic, acquired, traumatic, or drug induced.
Physical - Food and the such, things to keep a body alive.
Security - Shelter and a place one feels is safe/home.
Belongingness and Love - Odd that this rates as one. Unlike the first two, this is an emotional need that expresses the desire to have roots and be wanted.
Esteem - Again, this is a mental need instead of a physical one. Maslow stated that all humans have the desire to be respected and liked.
Self-actualization - This is another odd one that most overlook. In the human condition is the desire to know and understand the world around us, to invent and create, and to solve everyday problems.
Everyone is capable of committing a crime. However, other than petty things, the life of crime the average person considers is limited to fantasy and dreams. So what makes the average person different from a criminal? There is no difference. The question more should be what brought this darker side out that we all possess? The answer is simple: Decent people grew into mature human beings while criminals stagnated in a perpetual childhood. This degeneration in behaviour is accentuated by three basic traits that signify the so-called 'criminal personality':
Weakness - Emotional and/or physical, lacking in discipline.
Immaturity - Childish egocentrism. Expecting demands to be met immediately like a small child would or the belief that the world revolves around them.
Self-deception - Distorted sense of personal reality, severely narcissistic. God complex people and the like fall in here.
There are other factors to keep in mind:
1. There is no such thing as normal. The terms 'normal' and 'abnormal' are merely societal labels that change like the weather.
2. Mental illness such as severe depression can turn even the best of men or women into murderers or other criminals.
3. The majority of the criminal population is motivated by greed although there is a 'kick' involved in illegal economic activity. Many criminals are bent towards more aggressive, antisocial, destructive desires that embody this hunger, a bloodlust that varies in degrees and a thirst for power and danger.
The last thing to remember is perhaps the most important, stated once quite well by former US Surgeon General Dr C. Everett Koop, an American Muggle. Violence, and for the most part, all crime, is a disease. Criminal behaviour is part of a whole class of destructive human behaviour disorders, which, contrary to the protestations of the social scientists, makes crime and violence a medical problem.
Criminal behavior and violence are pathological conditions of the mind and thus are truly diseases. Thomas Szaz, another Muggle psychologist, writes more on this and is well worth reading if one is trying to fit into a mold.
Violence, as a disease, is referred to in medical terms as 'intentional trauma', which includes according to the Centre for Disease Control but isn't limited to: Murder, assault, sexual assault, manslaughter, partner/spousal abuse, child maltreatment (abuse and neglect), physical and mental exploitation, suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, deliberate negligence, deliberate hazards, criminal manipulation and duress, peer confrontations, parasuicide, abduction, and robbery.
While this is a complex issue, it can be simply stated that crime and violence are problems of medical ecology. This is an equation that defines the relationship between one or more individuals in conflict with one or more other individuals, their surrounding environment, and the factors as they relate to time. This would appear as:
[VICTIM(S)+VICTIMIZER(S)+TIME]+AGENT/VECTOR FACTORS + MECHANISM + ENVIRONMENT FACTORS = CRIME
Time = fate
Agent/Vector Factors = criminal's motive, intent, opportunity, and method along with environment.
Mechanism = weapon or tool used
Environment factors = Not just physical influences but also political, social, legal, and economic factors.
Violence is not a social or legal problem. It is a complication of mental illness. It is merely a matter of finding the root or cause of said mental illness be it genetic, acquired, traumatic, or drug induced.