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Title: Inside the Criminal Mind by Stanton E. Samenow ISBN: 0-8129-1082-6 Publisher: Crown Publishers Pub. Date: 01 January, 1984 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (32 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Understanding How Criminals Think
Comment: Stanton Samenow's enduring look at how criminals think is a fascinating, although at times, upsetting view into the criminal mind. Samenow describes how criminals view the world as a place that exists to serve them, and them alone. They dont dismiss rules or morality outright, only when it interferes with what they want. If a criminal wants something, he takes it, without regard for its rightful owner. In his mind, its his anyway, no matter the consequences for others. The same goes for criminals who want money, sex, drugs, or anything else: Its theirs, by divine right. Samenow's view of criminals as selfish, impulsive, and undisiplined accurately describes just how these people think, and how it differs from responsible citizens. Moreover, Samenow offers a treatment program for criminals, which has been implemented in many places. The plan is not easy or quick, but changing a criminal is no easy task. And ultimately, rehabilitation has to come from the criminals desire to change. No program can change a criminal who has no will to change his take what he wants attitude. There are some problems with Samenow's book however. He claims that intelligence has no relation to Crime, but studies repeatedly show that criminals have significantly lower IQ's than the general public. And as Samenow admits, he has no idea what causes the criminal mind, he just deals with it as is. But perhaps if we knew why we could more effectively treat the criminal element. But Samenow's view inside the criminal mind stand the test of time, and perhaps most importantly, he debunks many myths about why criminals act as they do. Ultimately we must remember that criminals are dangerous, selfish people who act out of their own selfish interest with no regard to the responsible members of society who seek to make the world a safe place to live in.
Rating: 1
Summary: Polemic masquerading as science
Comment: This is a book of appalling, egregious broadsides, crass generalisations and posturing masquerading as insight. Though a qualified clinical psychologist, has has developed ( in part as the result of his research at St. Elizabeth's Psychiatric Hospital in Washington) an uttern contempt for his profession and for anything and everything it has thought, proposed, suggested, investigated and attempted. He also dismisses the bulk of work in the prison services, correction and rehabilitation.
For Samenow, all criminals are alike: all are lucid, cunning, intelligent, self-seeking, aware of their misdeeds and eager to 'play the system'. I doubt any psycologist, criminal, forensic or otherwise, would deny that some criminals fit this profile, but they might suggest that there are others who are confused, gullible, incapable of empathy; and still other crimes which result from opportunity, greed, stupidity and mischance. He excludes parenting, upbringing, culture and mental illness as factors in violent crime because none can be demonstrated to have a causative link, (not all poor/abused/neglected/mentally ill people are criminals) This is the grotesque simplification. It reminds me of tobacco companies insisting that 'not all smokers develop cancer' and that 'no causative link has been extablished between smoking and cancer'.
Outside the realm of theory, cause and effect are not always easy to determine: nonetheless, the fact that a preponderence of criminals (including violent criminals) come from poor/abused/neglected backgrouds and sometimes demonstrate mental illness might merit investigation. It's even possible (shock!) that a NUMBER of factors contribute to criminality and to violence, and (horror!) we may never be able to completely pinpoint what those might be
Samenow seeks to desregard ALL psychological and criminological theories of criminal behavior, yet the "criminal personality" he "discovers" is similar to Cleckley psychopath, the Kernberg psychopath, or the DSM-III-R quadruple diagnosis of antisocial, narcissistic, borderline, and histrionic personality disorder. In discounting ANY negative social/financial/parental influence on criminality, Samenow simply confirms the biases of the superordinate institutions.
Samenow can, he claims, pinpoint the seeds of criminality in a child, identifying their "errors" in thinking (from a list of 52 he devised. He also proposes a solution, though in his own tests, of the 255, most dropped out of the study, only 30 completed the program, and only 9 genuinely changed by the established standards
It would be interesting, perhaps even informative, to read some of Samenow (and his mentor Yochelson's) actual research in the raw, but there is little science in this book - Samenow does not give his readers information about individual cases, nor about statistics, trends, and other psycholocial studies (or indeed the details of his own). There is no information, only opinion and invective.
I'd give it no stars but Amazon won't let me
Rating: 4
Summary: The Calculus of Crime
Comment: Criminals have to hit bottom before they change. Criminals strive to maximize benefit to cost. This simple truth - that criminals, psychopaths, and narcissists cannot be healed, treated, cured, or rehabilitated - is at the heart of Samenow's controversial and thought-provoking tome.
Criminals regard others as objects, or instruments of gratification and utility. They manipulate them with indifference and ease because they have no conscience, empathy or the ability to perceive other people's nonverbal cues, needs, emotions, and preferences.
Many criminals are psychopaths. They recognize no one's rights and their own commensurate obligations. They are impulsive, reckless, irresponsible and unable to postpone gratification. They often rationalize their antisocial behaviors.
Criminals cannot be relied on to honor their commitments and obligations, contracts, and responsibilities, to hold a job for long or to repay their debts. Thus, rehabilitation is meaningless - a ploy to secure a reduced sentence and an aid to recidivism. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".
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Title: Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D., Ph.D. Hare ISBN: 1572304510 Publisher: Guilford Publications Pub. Date: 08 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Games Criminals Play: How You Can Profit by Knowing Them by Bud Allen, Diana Bosta ISBN: 0960522603 Publisher: Rae John Publishers Pub. Date: 01 August, 1981 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Before It's Too Late: Why Some Kids Get into Trouble-And What Parents Can Do About It by Stanton E. Samenow ISBN: 0812930657 Publisher: Three Rivers Press (CA) Pub. Date: 20 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Straight Talk About Criminals: Understanding and Treating Antisocial Individuals by Stanton E., Ph.D. Samenow ISBN: 0765703408 Publisher: Jason Aronson Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Criminal Mind: A Writer's Guide to Forensic Psychology by Katherine Ramsland ISBN: 1582970793 Publisher: Writer's Digest Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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