posted November 30, 2002 11:23 AM         

Not humanitarian at all. Certain therapists claim criminality is a certain kind of mental dis-ease. It is like hanging you because you have got tuberculosis (or cancer or just virus fever). It doesn't make humanitarian sense, right?

Quarantine them? Prisons?

So far I haven't heard of a single criminal who went to prison and came out and lead a normal life. But I have heard and read of criminals, to whom prison became some kind of lodging house. We know it.

Hypnotize them?

You hypnotize the criminal and tell him, "You are good guy" and bam! he would be a good guy. Only if were as simple as that! Even in habits such as nail biting and smoking hypnotizing doesn't have much effect. A smoker would begin smoking within weeks, if he is chain smoker within hours. It happens that way with criminals too.

Black/White magic?

If it is blackmagic you would need a criminal to do it. So whitemagic seems to be the alternative. Prayer is one form of whitemagic and it hasn't had much effect for all the millions of years of Earth History. Magic won't help, either.

Be patient?

A bit of practical advice, given by many personal development experts. Even the most callous criminals have a tender inside. It requires the missing ingredient: Patience. I don't know what they will say about psychopaths.

posted November 30, 2002 11:40 AM         

Music is definately the key above all else, if there is an expression needing to be released I believe music has the power to do that.

But in any case, I really believe taking away the freedom of anyone defeats the whole core issue of whats really going on and even the most horrific criminal imprisoned by their own destructiveness is surely looking for a way to freedom by commiting his/her violation, he/she commits to their own fears.

posted November 30, 2002 12:37 PM         

The following is an excerpt from "Picking Up The Pieces" - it's about psychological profiling......

The first use of psychological profiling (in the UK) resulted in the conviction of Paul Bostock for the murders of Caroline Osborne and Amanda Weedon; it is now acknowledged that Bostock was the first person in Britain to be caught and convicted with the help of a psychological analysis and profile created from evidence left by an "unknown offender" at a crime scene, which, drawing on professional psychological expertise, painstakingly established key characteristics of the offender: his primary motivational driving forces; his intellegence, education and abilities; his emotions, personality structure and employment; his sexual, social and family relationships; the location of his current and previous homes and the geographical range he is comfortable and will operate in; and, crucially important, the likihood that he will offend again.

Since that first case I have travelled tens of thousands of miles in my spare time, criss-crossing Britain to assist in over a hundred investigations involving murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and extortion. I have "walked through the minds" of perpetrators and provided police with the psycholigical characteristics that would narrow their search for potential suspects and help to stop them from killing again.

Although psychological profiling remains a relatively new science, it has enabled offenders to be caught in cases of serious crime involving murder by strangers - something that may involve the abduction and killing of children. This new science enables a greater understanding of why people behave in this otherwise inexplicable way, so making it possible for us to see if this risk can be reduced by the earlier indentification of potential offenders and the treatment of the underlying causes. With a greater understanding of why people offend in these seemingly uncontrollable fashions, it may be possible to treat a number of, for example, rapists or stalkers in a way that would prevent them reoffending when they are released into society.

In Jigsaw Man (1997) I revealed the details of my work for the police and gave an insight into the world of offender profiling. In this book I've returned to certain criminal cases and introduced new crimes to illustrate particular points about how I draw my conclusions.

My two roles have dovetailed effectively because both require an understanding of the broader psychological aspects of offending and offenders. What makes a person abduct, rape, kill, torture or abuse another human being? What were the developmental processes that moulded them and sent them along this particular path?

As a forensic psychologist, I have always known that if I could prevent just one person from commiting a crime, then I would be preventing many others from ever becoming victims. For example, by the time many sexual offenders reach the middle years of their 'careers' they will have harmed over 150 seperate victims. It seems a lot, but I have examined paedophiles in their early twenties who could trace back more than 400 seperate child victims before being caught. Being convicted and punished rarely changes these men. They have to be analysed and treated.

There is a wealth of scientific literature about human behaviour and psychological functioning and this knowledge underpins my work in the consulting room. At the same time, I learn new things every day with each patient I interview.