This is the last installment of my notes from David Malinowski's workshop on Criminal Thinking, presented to the Civilian Police Academy Alumni in July, 2008. I suggest you read the other 4 parts first, if you haven't. I've run them for the last 4 Fridays, so they should be easy to find. This post originally ran in late July 2008 (worth noting with weather references).
To Change a Criminal: Corrective Thinking
Change is only possible when a criminal makes a choice to change.
When does a person change? When they are ready, and not a moment sooner.
The objective is to teach criminals to live without injuring others
Note: this comes right back to Malinowski's opening statement about concern for victims.
Corrective Thinking means:
Strict standards
No "feel good" stuff
No shortcuts
No rewards for doing what is expected – "Until your desperation factor exceeds your embarrassment factor, you are not a candidate for transformation."
Remember: Criminals Think Differently!
Change is a 4-letter word.
W – O – R – K
Welcome to Terry's Place. I'm an author of mystery and romance, happy to share what I'm learning, both about writing and anything I find interesting.
Showing posts with label Criminal Thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Criminal Thinking. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Criminal Thinking 4
Here's the next installment in my replay of "Criminal Thinking". It's original posting date was July 22, 2008.
Some more statistics
In a typical prison population:
20% are "scared straight" by the experience and won't be back
20% are "hard core" and will never change, no matter what
30% are still doing crime while they're incarcerated
30% want to change but don't know how.
The last group has the best chance for the requisite "deep change", but according to Malinowski, the last two groups tend to flip flop, often influenced by the other two.
Some more statistics
In a typical prison population:
20% are "scared straight" by the experience and won't be back
20% are "hard core" and will never change, no matter what
30% are still doing crime while they're incarcerated
30% want to change but don't know how.
The last group has the best chance for the requisite "deep change", but according to Malinowski, the last two groups tend to flip flop, often influenced by the other two.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Criminal Thinking 2
What I'm reading: Feel the Heat, by Cindy Gerard.
I'm continuing the repeats of my Nov. 2008 series on Criminal Thinking, taken from my workshop notes. See last week's entry here.
A brief recap: Malinowski defines "criminal" as someone who lives a lifestyle of crime. To a criminal, the usual boundaries of authority don't apply.
In his presentation, Malinowski also stressed the difference between cause and influence. For example, poverty does not cause crime, but it definitely influences it. For Malinowski, the personal motivation that gives meaning to his job stems from his belief that a criminal has three basic choices.
1. Continue the life of crime. This will result in the criminal returning to prison, dying on the streets, or dying in prison.
2. Suicide. Not a recommendation but nonetheless, still a 'choice'. Fear keeps most criminals from suicide.
3. Change. Must be deep change. Without deep change, there is only slow death, so change becomes a "life vs. death" choice.
Malinowski's goal is to help offenders see the need for change, and to give them the tools they need to effect it.
A quick statistic: 97% of incarcerated people get out of prison. (Often many times,) Only 3% die in prison, either by the death penalty, of natural causes, or at the hand of other prisoners. In the Florida system, there are 100,000 inmates, and 129,000 who are out "under supervision."
Malinowski suggested that the next time you go to eat at a restaurant like Denny's, or Applebees, or TGI Friday's, you take a look around the back. Are there bicycles parked there? Odds are good that these belong to people who are recently out of prison, perhaps on a work release program. Since they can't hold a driver's license, they'll bike to work.
I'm continuing the repeats of my Nov. 2008 series on Criminal Thinking, taken from my workshop notes. See last week's entry here.
A brief recap: Malinowski defines "criminal" as someone who lives a lifestyle of crime. To a criminal, the usual boundaries of authority don't apply.
In his presentation, Malinowski also stressed the difference between cause and influence. For example, poverty does not cause crime, but it definitely influences it. For Malinowski, the personal motivation that gives meaning to his job stems from his belief that a criminal has three basic choices.
1. Continue the life of crime. This will result in the criminal returning to prison, dying on the streets, or dying in prison.
2. Suicide. Not a recommendation but nonetheless, still a 'choice'. Fear keeps most criminals from suicide.
3. Change. Must be deep change. Without deep change, there is only slow death, so change becomes a "life vs. death" choice.
Malinowski's goal is to help offenders see the need for change, and to give them the tools they need to effect it.
A quick statistic: 97% of incarcerated people get out of prison. (Often many times,) Only 3% die in prison, either by the death penalty, of natural causes, or at the hand of other prisoners. In the Florida system, there are 100,000 inmates, and 129,000 who are out "under supervision."
Malinowski suggested that the next time you go to eat at a restaurant like Denny's, or Applebees, or TGI Friday's, you take a look around the back. Are there bicycles parked there? Odds are good that these belong to people who are recently out of prison, perhaps on a work release program. Since they can't hold a driver's license, they'll bike to work.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Criminal Thinking
If you follow writing, you're probably aware of the hoopla surrounding Harlequin's new vanity press and the responses from major writers' organizations, such as RWA and MWA. There's plenty of that to read elsewhere. But bottom line: in publishing, money is supposed to flow TO the author. Vanity publishing exists, and writers should be allowed to choose. However, the Harlequin approach of dangling a "pay us to publish your book and maybe someday you can become a 'traditional' author" carrot has raised hackles. An excellent look at what's going on was posted at Murder She Writes yesterday, by author Allison Brennan. News continues to break, and by the time you read this, things might have changed.
A week or so ago, I'd mentioned rerunning some of my most popular posts on Fridays now that we've finished with Detective Hussey's case files. My site stats say that my notes from the Civilian Police Academy on Criminal Thinking are at the top of the list. This was originally posted in July of 2008, and I know there are a lot of new readers here who haven't seen it.
The class on "Inside the Criminal Mind" was fascinating and crammed full of information, but I'll say right up front that these are the facts as I understand them, and there might be places where I'm not spot-on. These are the facts and opinions as our speaker presented them, not necessarily mine. However, he's the expert, and most of what he said made perfect sense to me. As always, one can't make broad generalizations, and there are always exceptions.
Our speaker was David Malinowski, the Regional Transition Coordinator for the Florida Dept. of Corrections. He became interested in the field of criminal thinking after realizing that traditional approaches with education did not work in a prison classroom.
Anyone incarcerated in the Florida prison system is required to go through a course from the Transitional Life Skills Center, within 6 months of release to help transition them into the "responsible" world, which is the way Mr. Malinowski refers to what most of us consider the "outside" or the "free world." The class was designed to address myths and mistakes often made when dealing with a criminal population and what is required for true change to take place.
First, he spoke of sympathy for the victims, who get lost in the system. He referred to the need for the offenders (another term he uses) to understand that whatever they did hurts people. His goal is to lead them toward change, but change has to come from the offender. Nobody can force change on someone else.
His presentation was subtitled "Criminal Thinking" and this is the crux of the matter.
What defines a criminal? They think differently. Somewhere along the line, they don't have the internal constraints that most of us have. He spoke at length of Responsible vs. Irresponsible thinking.
If one can make a generalization, it's that the criminal mind works on the "rules don't apply to me" foundation.
According to Malinowski, Criminal Thinking is erroneous thinking that comes automatically out of fear, like a reflex, or is a reaction.
Thinking leads to Feeling leads to Behavior. Criminals live out of their feelings. They don't move past it to cognitive behavior.
We've all been cut off in traffic. We react emotionally at first (although if you live where I do, the tourist population with it's "I need to turn left here, and it doesn't matter that I'm in the right hand lane" style of driving tends to become commonplace enough so that natives are aware of it, look out for it, and let it slide).
Although those who are not desensitized to idiot drivers can curb their immediate reaction to do something to the driver of the car. As responsible thinkers, we might hit the horn or flip the bird, but we don't normally crash into his car or shoot him.
He went on to give three basic reasons for crime: Power, Control, and Excitement. And three areas of crime: Property, Assault, and Sex.
To a criminal thinker, information is power. They will collect facts which may or may not be useful at the time. But if they know something about you, that gives them power. Those working in the system don't (or shouldn't) keep family photos in their offices.
He gave one interesting example. If you or I (assuming you're not a criminal thinker—I can speak only for myself here!) stand in a classroom doorway for 15 seconds and look around, we're likely to notice things like gender and racial mix of the group, the instructor, who's looking at the instructor, etc. When the offender stands in the doorway, he's noticing who's got an open purse, the keys on someone's desk, who's got cigarettes, and even the classroom roster on the instructors computer screen.
The criminal sees his behavior as normal. He's probably done it dozens of times without being caught. There are probably very few real "first time offenders" in prison. They're there because it was the first time they were caught.
A week or so ago, I'd mentioned rerunning some of my most popular posts on Fridays now that we've finished with Detective Hussey's case files. My site stats say that my notes from the Civilian Police Academy on Criminal Thinking are at the top of the list. This was originally posted in July of 2008, and I know there are a lot of new readers here who haven't seen it.
The class on "Inside the Criminal Mind" was fascinating and crammed full of information, but I'll say right up front that these are the facts as I understand them, and there might be places where I'm not spot-on. These are the facts and opinions as our speaker presented them, not necessarily mine. However, he's the expert, and most of what he said made perfect sense to me. As always, one can't make broad generalizations, and there are always exceptions.
Our speaker was David Malinowski, the Regional Transition Coordinator for the Florida Dept. of Corrections. He became interested in the field of criminal thinking after realizing that traditional approaches with education did not work in a prison classroom.
Anyone incarcerated in the Florida prison system is required to go through a course from the Transitional Life Skills Center, within 6 months of release to help transition them into the "responsible" world, which is the way Mr. Malinowski refers to what most of us consider the "outside" or the "free world." The class was designed to address myths and mistakes often made when dealing with a criminal population and what is required for true change to take place.
First, he spoke of sympathy for the victims, who get lost in the system. He referred to the need for the offenders (another term he uses) to understand that whatever they did hurts people. His goal is to lead them toward change, but change has to come from the offender. Nobody can force change on someone else.
His presentation was subtitled "Criminal Thinking" and this is the crux of the matter.
What defines a criminal? They think differently. Somewhere along the line, they don't have the internal constraints that most of us have. He spoke at length of Responsible vs. Irresponsible thinking.
If one can make a generalization, it's that the criminal mind works on the "rules don't apply to me" foundation.
According to Malinowski, Criminal Thinking is erroneous thinking that comes automatically out of fear, like a reflex, or is a reaction.
Thinking leads to Feeling leads to Behavior. Criminals live out of their feelings. They don't move past it to cognitive behavior.
We've all been cut off in traffic. We react emotionally at first (although if you live where I do, the tourist population with it's "I need to turn left here, and it doesn't matter that I'm in the right hand lane" style of driving tends to become commonplace enough so that natives are aware of it, look out for it, and let it slide).
Although those who are not desensitized to idiot drivers can curb their immediate reaction to do something to the driver of the car. As responsible thinkers, we might hit the horn or flip the bird, but we don't normally crash into his car or shoot him.
He went on to give three basic reasons for crime: Power, Control, and Excitement. And three areas of crime: Property, Assault, and Sex.
To a criminal thinker, information is power. They will collect facts which may or may not be useful at the time. But if they know something about you, that gives them power. Those working in the system don't (or shouldn't) keep family photos in their offices.
He gave one interesting example. If you or I (assuming you're not a criminal thinker—I can speak only for myself here!) stand in a classroom doorway for 15 seconds and look around, we're likely to notice things like gender and racial mix of the group, the instructor, who's looking at the instructor, etc. When the offender stands in the doorway, he's noticing who's got an open purse, the keys on someone's desk, who's got cigarettes, and even the classroom roster on the instructors computer screen.
The criminal sees his behavior as normal. He's probably done it dozens of times without being caught. There are probably very few real "first time offenders" in prison. They're there because it was the first time they were caught.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 4
What I'm reading: The Drifter by Susan Wiggs
What I'm writing: Chapter 11, scene 2
Back to Criminal Thinking
Some more statistics …
In a typical prison population:
20% are "scared straight" by the experience and won't be back
20% are "hard core" and will never change, no matter what
30% are still doing crime while they're incarcerated
30% want to change but don't know how.
The last group has the best chance for the requisite "deep change", but according to Malinowski, the last two groups tend to flip flop, often influenced by the other two.
Criminals want power and control, regardless of what form it might take. They're observant.
Malinowski drove a truck. Parking for the prison is some distance away, so it's a long walk to the entrance. He drove the truck on his first visit to a prison, but the next time, he used his wife's car. When he was inside, an inmate said, "Where's your truck?" He had observed the original vehicle, but in this case, didn't see Malinowski get out of the other car. Yet he knew he'd driven something different.
Likewise, he used to wear a straw hat, more so the guards would be ready to unlock the gate than because he was a hat person. He didn't wear it inside. The first time he showed up without it, an inmate asked about it, which means these folks find ways to know everyone's comings and goings. It's not like they can sit in the parlor and watch the world go by. Word gets around.
Another time he walked down a corridor carrying a briefcase and a video cassette. He entered a room, put the video on the table for the next day, and left. Probably took less time than it did to type this. Later, an inmate asked what was on the video. They watch, they notice, because any detail might be useful.
Malinowski spoke of an assignment he gave to his class relatively early in his career. At the time, he used the large flip-charts in his classroom. An inmate came up after class and proposed an elaboration on the assignment, complete with diagrams and charts. He asked for a piece of paper so he could do a presentation. Mr. M, as they call him, agreed and tore of a sheet. The inmate then asked for one more, in case he messed up. All very polite, very eager. Mr. M gave him the second sheet.
The next day, that inmate didn't show up. Instead, he sent someone else to demonstrate his plan, saying inmate #1 had been transferred. The inmate brought one of the sheets of paper, complete with diagrams, etc. BUT, inmate #1 knew he was being transferred. Knew darn well he would never be going to the next class. However, he had Power, because he had scammed two sheets of paper (and if you recall, those old flip charts are BIG). There are countless uses for paper, not the least of which is turning it into a weapon.
Looks like it's going to take at least one more day to finish. Please come back!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 2
What I'm writing: Chapter 10
A brief recap: Malinowski defines "criminal" as someone who lives a lifestyle of crime. To a criminal, the usual boundaries of authority don't apply.
In his presentation, Malinowski also stressed the difference between cause and influence. For example, poverty does not cause crime, but it definitely influences it. For Malinowski, the personal motivation that gives meaning to his job stems from his belief that a criminal has three basic choices.
1. Continue the life of crime. This will result in the criminal returning to prison, dying on the streets, or dying in prison.
2. Suicide. Not a recommendation but nonetheless, still a 'choice'. Fear keeps most criminals from suicide.
3. Change. Must be deep change. Without deep change, there is only slow death, so change becomes a "life vs. death" choice.
His goal is to help offenders see the need for change, and to give them the tools they need to effect it.
A quick statistic: 97% of incarcerated people get out of prison. (Often many times,) Only 3% die in prison, either by the death penalty, of natural causes, or at the hand of other prisoners. In the Florida system, there are 100,000 inmates, and 129,000 who are out "under supervision."
Malinowski suggested that the next time you go to eat at a restaurant like Denny's, or Applebees, or TGI Friday's, you take a look around the back. Are there bicycles parked there? Odds are good that these belong to people who are recently out of prison, perhaps on a work release program. Since they can't hold a driver's license, they'll bike to work.
He told us of receiving a phone call (by law, they're required to answer all telephone calls from prisoners so they can't claim they tried to get in touch with them but couldn't reach them) from a recently released inmate. He went on and on about how he'd gotten with the program, had a place to live (girlfriend), checked in with a parole officer, and had a job lined up (graphic artist) that would pay him $1700. Malinowski didn't recall the name, so he looked it up in the prison computer system. The guy had been arrested 22 times, and had been in prison 5 times. He was calling because he needed $80 to rent the airbrush equipment so he could do the job and get paid, and to him, the easiest and fastest way to the money was to call the instructor of the Life Skills class.
One side note – why the picture of the binder clips? The stacks of class handouts were fastened with these clips. After unclipping them to pass them out, David's colleague automatically hooked the clips together and put them in his pocket, whereas we would probably just leave them on the table. Why? Because if you remove the prongs from the clip, they'll unlock a pair of handcuffs.
Along those lines, Nike once manufactures some elite shoes with chrome tips on the laces (anyone know the correct term for those tips? I did, which was my moment of fame in the class) which also were perfect for unlocking cuffs.
A brief recap: Malinowski defines "criminal" as someone who lives a lifestyle of crime. To a criminal, the usual boundaries of authority don't apply.
In his presentation, Malinowski also stressed the difference between cause and influence. For example, poverty does not cause crime, but it definitely influences it. For Malinowski, the personal motivation that gives meaning to his job stems from his belief that a criminal has three basic choices. 1. Continue the life of crime. This will result in the criminal returning to prison, dying on the streets, or dying in prison.
2. Suicide. Not a recommendation but nonetheless, still a 'choice'. Fear keeps most criminals from suicide.
3. Change. Must be deep change. Without deep change, there is only slow death, so change becomes a "life vs. death" choice.
His goal is to help offenders see the need for change, and to give them the tools they need to effect it.
A quick statistic: 97% of incarcerated people get out of prison. (Often many times,) Only 3% die in prison, either by the death penalty, of natural causes, or at the hand of other prisoners. In the Florida system, there are 100,000 inmates, and 129,000 who are out "under supervision."
Malinowski suggested that the next time you go to eat at a restaurant like Denny's, or Applebees, or TGI Friday's, you take a look around the back. Are there bicycles parked there? Odds are good that these belong to people who are recently out of prison, perhaps on a work release program. Since they can't hold a driver's license, they'll bike to work.
He told us of receiving a phone call (by law, they're required to answer all telephone calls from prisoners so they can't claim they tried to get in touch with them but couldn't reach them) from a recently released inmate. He went on and on about how he'd gotten with the program, had a place to live (girlfriend), checked in with a parole officer, and had a job lined up (graphic artist) that would pay him $1700. Malinowski didn't recall the name, so he looked it up in the prison computer system. The guy had been arrested 22 times, and had been in prison 5 times. He was calling because he needed $80 to rent the airbrush equipment so he could do the job and get paid, and to him, the easiest and fastest way to the money was to call the instructor of the Life Skills class.
One side note – why the picture of the binder clips? The stacks of class handouts were fastened with these clips. After unclipping them to pass them out, David's colleague automatically hooked the clips together and put them in his pocket, whereas we would probably just leave them on the table. Why? Because if you remove the prongs from the clip, they'll unlock a pair of handcuffs.
Along those lines, Nike once manufactures some elite shoes with chrome tips on the laces (anyone know the correct term for those tips? I did, which was my moment of fame in the class) which also were perfect for unlocking cuffs.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Inside the Criminal Mind: Criminal Thinking, Part 1
Last night's class on "Inside the Criminal Mind" was fascinating and crammed full of information—much more than I can cover here, and definitely not in a single post. So, this may turn out to be a series. I took fast and furious notes, and the speaker provided handouts, but I'll say right up front that these are the facts as I understand them, and there might be places where I'm not spot-on. These are the facts and opinions as our speaker presented them, not necessarily mine. However, he's the expert, and most of what he said made perfect sense to me. As always, one can't make broad generalizations, and there are always exceptions. Feel free to ask questions.
Our speaker was David Malinowski, the Regional Transition Coordinator for the Florida Dept. of Corrections. He became interested in the field of criminal thinking after realizing that traditional approaches with education did not work in a prison classroom.
Anyone incarcerated in the Florida prison system is required to go through a course from the Transitional Life Skills Center, within 6 months of release to help transition them into the "responsible" world, which is the way Mr. Malinowski refers to what most of us consider the "outside" or the "free world." The class was designed to address myths and mistakes often made when dealing with a criminal population and what is required for true change to take place.
First, he spoke of sympathy for the victims, who get lost in the system. He referred to the need for the offenders (another term he uses) to understand that whatever they did hurts people. His goal is to lead them toward change, but change has to come from the offender. Nobody can force change on someone else.
If one can make a generalization, it's that the criminal mind works on the "rules don't apply to me" foundation.According to Malinowski, Criminal Thinking is erroneous thinking that comes automatically out of fear, like a reflex, or is a reaction.
Thinking leads to Feeling leads to Behavior. Criminals live out of their feelings. They don't move past it to cognitive behavior.
We've all been cut off in traffic. We react emotionally at first (although if you live where I do, the tourist population with it's "I need to turn left here, and it doesn't matter that I'm in the right hand lane" style of driving tends to become commonplace enough so that natives are aware of it, look out for it, and let it slide).
Although those who are not desensitized to idiot drivers can curb their immediate reaction to do something to the driver of the car. As responsible thinkers, we might hit the horn or flip the bird, but we don't normally crash into his car or shoot him.
He went on to give three basic reasons for crime: Power, Control, and Excitement. And three areas of crime: Property, Assault, and Sex.
To a criminal thinker, information is power. They will collect facts which may or may not be useful at the time. But if they know something about you, that gives them power. Those working in the system don't (or shouldn't) keep family photos in their offices.
He gave one interesting example. If you or I (assuming you're not a criminal thinker—I can speak only for myself here!) stand in a classroom doorway for 15 seconds and look around, we're likely to notice things like gender and racial mix of the group, the instructor, who's looking at the instructor, etc. When the offender stands in the doorway, he's noticing who's got an open purse, the keys on someone's desk, who's got cigarettes, and even the classroom roster on the instructors computer screen.
The criminal sees his behavior as normal. He's probably done it dozens of times without being caught. There are probably very few real "first time offenders" in prison. They're there because it was the first time they were caught.
I think that's all for today. Check back tomorrow, and I'll continue.
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