Straight Talk about Criminals: Understanding and Treating Antisocial Individuals

348 Pages·2002·3.76 MB·English

by  Stanton E. Samenow

The Criminal Personality
Volume I:
A Profile for Change
Samuel Yochelson and Stanton E. Samenow
1-56821 -105-8; softcover; 552 pp; $60.00
~
The Criminal Personality
~
Volume II:
The Change Process
Samuel Yochelson and Stanton E. Samenow
1- 56821 -349-2; softcover; 592 pp; $55.00
The Criminal Personality
Volume Ill:
The Drug User
Samuel Yochelson and Stanton E. Samenow
1- 56821 -244-5; softcover; 384 pp; $45.00
Straight Talk
About Criminals

Straight Talk
About Criminals
Understanding and Treating
Antisocial Individuals
Stanton E. Samenow, Ph.D.
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Oxford
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
POBox317
Oxford
OX2 9RU. UK
Copyright O 1998,2002 by Jason Aronson Inc.
First softcover printing 2002
First Rowman & Littlefield edition 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sarnenow, Stantion E., 1941-
Straight talk about criminals : understanding and treating antisocial individuals 1
Stanton E. Sarnenow.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-7657-0340-8
ISBN 0-7657-0340-8 (softcover)
1. Criminal psychology. 2. Deviant behavior. 3. Antisocial personality disorders. I.
Title.
HV6085.S215 1998
364.3--dc21 97-40385
Printed in the United States of America
@"The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO 239.48-1992.
To my wife
Dorothy K. Samenow
With appreciation for her devotion and forbearance
during my travels over the last two decades
while I accumulated all the questions
upon which this book is based

Contents
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
The Criminal Personality: An Introduction 1
1 Criminal Behavior Is a Result Not of Environment
but of an Individual's Choices 7
Role of Environment 9
Environmental Stress and Crime 13
The Military and Criminality 15
Permissiveness in Society and Crime 15
Egocentrism in Society and Crime 17
Cultural Relativity and Crime 17
2 Environmental Factors Do Not Cause Crime
Media Violence and Crime 21
Pornography and Crime 22
. ..
vlll CONTENTS
Free Time and Crime 23
Nutrition 24
Full Moon and Crime 24
Gangs: A Sense of Belonging? 24
Birth Order and Crime 25
3 Bad Parenting Does Not Cause Crime
Lack of Adequate Male Role Models 29
Parents' Predictions: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? 30
Antisocial Child as Family Scapegoat? 31
Latchkey Children and Crime 32
Permissive versus Authoritarian Parenting and Crime 33
Parental Attention and Crime 35
Parental Untruthfulness and Crime: An Example 35
Is the Child to Blame for Crime? 36
Crime as a Choice 37
4. People Do Not Become Abusers and Criminals
Because They Were Abused
Victim or Victimizer? 41
Corporal Punishment and Violence 46
5 BiologicaVGenetic Contributions to Criminality
Need Not Preordain Incarceration
6 The Alleged Increase in Crime:
It Is Not Human Nature but Laws,
Law Enforcement, and Deterrents that Change
Inner-City Crime Rate 57
Multiple Antisocial Offspring 58
An Increase in Antisocial Personalities? 58
Female Crime 59
More Law Enforcement as a Cause of Crime? 59
A One-Time Criminal? 61