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)