Violent Offenders
Anna C. Salter
Agenda
 Violent
Thinking
 Lonnie
Athens
 Treating
Violent Offenders
Theories of Violence
 Loss
of Control
 Product
of Distorted Thinking
Loss of Control
 Impulse
 Stop
 Exit
Control
and Think
Risky Situations
Loss of Control

Interviews 20 Violent Offenders

Meaning Units = Phrases
Loss of Control
12%
(Polaschek et a., 2010)
Violent Schemas
 Violence
is Normal
 No Choice
 Hostile
Attribution Bias
 Social Status
 Self Image
 Victim Deserved It (Widget Theory)
Violence is Normal

Normal for discipline

Normal for achieving goals
Elway: Attacked Officer – Stabbed
in Head

“I feel like it was justified. The only thing
was my objective wasn’t fully completed.
But other than that.”
Q. “What was your objective?”
A. “To kill him. I wasn’t stabbing him just to
be stabbing.”
Elway: Effect on Victims?
A. “Probably none.”
Q. “Why not?”
A. “Cause none of them are dead or paralyzed.”
Q. “So it wouldn’t have any effect?”
A. “I think it will on certain people – like young,
someone 14 or probably people who live in an
area where it’s pretty much peaceful and
nonviolent so it would be strange to see
anything violent.”
Elway
“ The rest of us live in a pretty violent atmosphere
and it’s pretty normal – anybody who works in
DOC it wouldn’t have any effect unless they’re
dead or paralyzed or give them a big scar on
their face so they have to look at it every day.
So if I attack an officer that’s what I’d try to do,
so they’re dead or paralyzed or they have to
see it every day and know I did it to them.”
Hit a Man on a Bike with His Car
Just to See What It Would Do to
Him
“Do I consider myself a criminal? No.
Basically just doing stuff, just breaking the
law.”
Why Not a Criminal?
“A criminal is one who terminally focuses on
doing crime. They don’t just think about
it on the spur of the moment. Criminals
plan it more. They scheme. I don’t ever
scheme.”
Home Invasion Looking for Drugs:
Killed a Man and a 7 Month
Pregnant Woman – Couple Had
No Drugs
“ It was part of the way I was living. It didn’t
feel right or wrong. Actually, it didn’t feel
wrong. It felt I was forced to do something
I really didn’t want to do, but . . . it
happened.”
No Choice
“She wouldn’t listen to me unless I hit her
first.”
(Polaschek et a., 2010, p. 87)
No Choice
“How else was I going to get through to him
that schoolwork was important?”
(Polaschek et a., 2010, p. 87)
Violence is Normal
Meaning Units
46%
(Polaschek et al., 2010)
Gang Member
Q. Do you feel bad about the people you killed?
A. I don't talk about that. . . . When the incident
first took place I didn't have no remorse at all
because I thought it was the right thing. But I
have thought about it and I think I was wrong for
what took place on that day.
Q. How do you know you were wrong?
A. The situation and the circumstances. Cause I didn't
have to do it. It was all over territory and I had to
prove my loyalty. I thought that was right. That's what
I had to do to be accepted in the Gangster Disciples. .
. . You're the first person I ever said anything about it
to. . . . It was absolutely wrong. It was an utter
mistake.

“But you have to understand that. You may have
grown up in a different family. But I grew up Chicago
where people die every day. In order to be in a
certain organization you have to do certain things.
And me being brainwashed in that way I had to do
that thing. And it protected me. Because I could go
to somebody and they would protect me. ‘Hey man,
let's go shoot up those n. . . . Let's take their family
hostage and teach them a lesson.’ That's how I was
taught.”
“Violent prisoners spoke of violence as a
routine occurrence between people that
hardly needs explaining and that could be
helpful in achieving some personal and
social goals.”
(Polaschek et a., 2010, p. 86)
“Violence ‘resolves’ conflicts, ‘persuades’
others to do things, can be exhilarating or
simply make you feel better, and usually it
makes others treat you with respect.”
(Polaschek et a., 2010, p. 86)
Self Image

“I guess when you’re young, you want to
be feared, you want to be respected.”
Shot an Officer, a Deputy and
Escaped from Vehicle
Pride in Violence
“I had a lot of time. I didn’t want to do the time. I
had to do something for myself. I tried to help
myself. I owed that to myself to try to regain my
freedom. I was going to leave the country and
never come back. I was quite young then,
compared to what I am now and fearless [pride
expression] -- intrepid at that time --and didn’t
think the way I think now. I would be more
concerned about my welfare now and my family
– something happen to me what would they
think – then I didn’t consider those things.”
Violent Self Image
“I’m a man, and I want to be treated like a man. .
. I don’t care who a person is or who they think
they are either; they better not play around with
me. I’ll show them who in the hell they’re
playing with. They’ll find out fast they aren’t
fucking with any boy when they fuck with me. . .
I’ve ruined more than one good man in my time,
and Jack, I’ll do it again too. That’s the way I
am and that’s the way I’ll be until the day I die.”
(Athens, 1997, p. 57)
“My son was getting into fights at school. So
I taught both sons to box after school, so
they could defend themselves. I didn’t
want my sons looking like [cowards] or
being walking [sic] over by every Tom,
Dick, or Harry. Everyone needs respect.”
(Polaschek et a., 2010, p. 87)
Self-Image/Social Status
Meaning Units = Phrases
20 violent offenders
57% of Meaning Units
Self Image
(Polaschek et al., 2010)
Victim Deserved It
(Widget Theory)
16-Year-Old After Battery and
Attempted Homicide of Female Staff
Member: Leroy

“It didn’t matter who was in the booth, . . I was
gonna go, and it didn’t matter who was there. I
was gonna fight them and take them down. It’s
not very hard to take that little puny pathetic
staff down. I’d rather be dead than locked up.
.. . I told the staff six months ago I was gonna
get out no matter what, and when I got out I
was gonna strip them naked and drag their
assess down the hall and put them in that
room where they put us.”
Leroy






Staff alone in booth
Left booth to make snack for unit
His door unlocked
“Don’t hurt me”
Beat her head on floor repeatedly –
multiple skull fractures
Stripped her, dragged her 117’ and left her
Leroy

“I heard it crack when her head hit. At first it
surprised me. I told her to shut up, but she
wouldn’t. She cried louder. . . I slammed her
dead down on the floor. I had a limited time to
get out of there. I was running out of time.
The guards were checking every ten minutes.
I slammed her head against the floor four more
times because she wouldn’t shut up. I was
fixing to break her neck. Every time I slammed
her head on the floor, I heard her bone crack.”
Leroy

“She was quiet for a minute after the third time
and I thought that was it, but then she started
moving again, so I did it two more times. I
thought she was dead. I didn’t care. I was
gonna kill any staff. It didn’t matter to me.”
Leroy

“Q. Do you know the difference in right
and wrong?”

A. “I don’t think about right and wrong. I’m
cold-hearted.”
Leroy

Q. “Did you think you were doing anything
wrong?”

A. “No, cause I was thinking I got three
minutes to leave before they come.”
Impact on Victim: Leroy









At sentencing
Headaches every day, sometimes excruciating
Dizziness
Nausea
Permanent loss of smell and taste
Neck and back pain
Some days couldn’t get out of bed
Couldn’t drive
Wouldn’t be alone
Nightmares, flashbacks
Impact on Victim: Leroy


Sensitive to light, noise and motion
Left alone for a few hours – locked self in
bathroom
Impact on Victims:
Leroy’s Response

“I’m not sure? I’m not going to go off into
the guessing. I only know what they put in
the files and none of that has been
substantiated. . . It’s only her side of the
story, the side of the story that they want
to portray. “
Leroy’s Response

“All this was is battery. I got railroaded.”
Callousness: Ethan
 Robbed
and beat 86 year-old woman
 Robbed
74 year-old woman
Impact on Victim: Ethan
 Deteriorated
 Unable
to live alone
 Incoherent
within months
Ethan: Narcissism


Q. “How do you feel about little old lady
deteriorating? “
A. “She took a deposition. Are you sure it’s him?
She didn’t want to say it was me. She started to
waiver. She was a school teacher. She knew they
were going to hang me. She didn’t want that to
happen. I believe. She told a story about some
horse thieves . . . the posse came along and arrested
all of them. . . a young boy was there and they tried
to hang him too . . she asked the detective was this
right? That’s the parable she tried to tell him. I
believe it was a message to me. . . I will always honor
her for that as I honor all women.”
Ethan


Q. “She got beaten.”
A. “Yes, but she resisted. This woman fought
me as hard as anybody could fight. I know how
it looks. I was not intending to use any more
force than I needed to. This woman fought me
fiercely. Never for one moment did she admit.
I was saying, ‘Lady, lady please.’ Yes, she got
beat but I know in my heart I didn’t do it
sadistically and I didn’t do it any more than was
necessary.
Ethan

“We are in a society that lacks mercy.
They want to punish a guy forever.”
Attacked Officers in Jail

That incident in the county jail it wasn’t personal. It
wasn’t one of those things that officer so and so is
working today – whoever was working – it was going
to happen. . . You go into that situation knowing . . .
Just like if you go in a robbery with a gun, you don’t
think you are going to kill someone. But you know
you need to take the gun in the robbery because you
might need to kill someone. Of course that’s wrong.
But you don’t care. Why should I care? That’s why
you need to get to the point where you care.
Shallow Affect

Q. “ Were you ever in love?”

A. “I was very much emotionally attached
to all of them in a sense. I don’t want to
say I was in love with them because I still
don’t know what love is.”
Shallow Affect (continued)

“I exposed myself – I did in some sense – I
don’t mean any disrespect when I say this –
women – you demand some kind of
connection – you hunger for something more
than a mutual friendship. Eventually they wore
me down in the sense that I did tell them
certain things but I did this in a way that if they
said something to someone else I would know
who said it.”
Interaction of Genes and
Environment
Males with low MAOA activity allele
(specific gene)
+
Childhood maltreatment
Increased antisocial behavior
(Beaver, 2008)
Genetic Contribution to Violent
Behavior
½ Variance in antisocial behavior
Due to genetic factors
( Beaver, 2008; Mason & Frick, 1994; Miles
& Carey, 1997; Rhee & Wald, 2002)
Genetics & Environment
Interactive
(Rowe, 2002; Rutter, 2006; Walsh, 2002)
Violence Delinquency Scale

How many times past 12 months hurt someone
badly enough to require medical attention

Used a weapon to get something from
someone

Took part in a group fight
(Beaver, 2008)
Violent Adolescents
3 samples
Pretrial Assessment
Institutional Assessment
Assessment Before Release
(Lodewijks et al., 2010)
Impact of Protective Factors
0
1 or more
Pretrial Assessment
High risk
40%
6%
Low risk
12
6
(Lodewijks et al., 2010)
Impact of Protective Factors
Institutional Assessment
High risk
86
Low risk
44
Pre-Release
High risk
Low risk
54
13
78
33
38
3
(Lodewijks et al., 2010)
Protective Factors
Adolescent Violent Offenders






Prosocial involvement
Strong social support
Strong attachments & bonds
Positive attitude towards intervention
and authority
Strong commitment to school & work
Resilient personality
(Lodewijks et al., 2010)
Which Factors?

Strong social support

Strong attachments to prosocial adults
Psychopathy
Adolescent Psychopathy &
Violence
Age Range
High
Low
Younger (13 - 15.5)
52%
12%
Mid (15.5 - 18)
64%
54%
Older (18 - 20.5)
48%
33%
(Forth, 1995)
High Vs Low Psychopathy
Adolescents
10 or More
Violent Acts

High Psychopathy

Low Psychopathy
64%
37%
(Forth, 1995)
Psychopathic Adolescents






More criminal acts
More types of criminal acts
Earlier age of onset for violent & nonviolent
offenses
More likely to have threatened with a weapon
More likely to commit robbery & arson
More likely to commit a sexual offense
(Forth & Burke, 1998)
Psychopathic Adolescent Sex
Offenders

Threatened more

Used more severe violence
(Gretton et al., 1994)
Adolescent Psychopathy &
Recidivism
N = 189
Nonviolent
Violent
High
66%
Low
27%
31%
12%
(Gretton et al., 1994)
Adolescent Psychopathy &
Recidivism
N = 189
High
Months to
Recidivism
16
Low
27
(Gretton et al., 1994)
Protective Factors
Adolescent Violent Offenders






Prosocial involvement
Strong social support
Strong attachments & bonds
Positive attitude towards intervention
and authority
Strong commitment to school & work
Resilient personality
(Lodewijks et al., 2010)