Steven Briggs - Criminology For Dummies

When substance abuse directly leads to violent conduct, criminologists refer to the connection as a psychopharmacological relationship. A clear-cut example of this kind of relationship can be found in a condition known as methamphetamine psychosis. This condition occurs in methamphetamine abusers and can result in extreme paranoia, delusions, panic, and a great propensity for violence. When a person suffering from methamphetamine psychosis commits an assault, there’s a psychopharmacological relationship between the drug and the crime.

As I explore in detail in Chapter 9, even more violence results from the business of illegal narcotics. Drug traffickers commonly protect territory and trafficking routes by using murder, assaults, and kidnapping. For example, Mexico, the primary drug source country for the United States and Canada, has experienced an explosion in drug related deaths in recent years. In 2007, the murder rate in Mexico was 7.9 deaths per 100,000. In 2019, it had risen to 29 deaths per 100,000, driven mostly by violent drug cartels. As just one example, in 2019, Mexican officials arrested the son of infamous drug cartel leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. In the Sinaloa state capitol, armed drug cartel members erected 19 roadblocks and engaged in 14 armed attacks until Mexican officials agreed to release El Chapo’s son, known as “Los Chapitos.” Eight people were killed and 16 injured.

The drug business within the United States also commonly results in violence as dealers compete for markets and customers. Increasingly, violent offenders commit armed robberies (known as rips ) on drug dealers, seeking to obtain drugs or cash. Drug dealers are particularly susceptible to violence because they’re not likely to seek protection from law enforcement.

Proving that a particular family problem led to a particular act of violence is probably impossible. Nonetheless, some common issues within a family are associated with juvenile delinquency and future violence. For example, violence between parents (or between a parent and his or her partner) has been linked to future violence by children. For this reason, many state laws provide more severe punishment for domestic violence when it’s committed in the presence of a child.

Similarly, physical and sexual abuse by adults on children may play a big part in leading those children to commit the same acts when they grow up. Kids who are constantly exposed to violence can come to view violence as an appropriate way to solve conflict. For example, a boy who regularly sees his mom’s boyfriend physically and emotionally abuse her may copy the abusive behavior when he grows up because he never learned other skills for resolving arguments with others, especially women.

In 2008, eight people from an organized gang were indicted in New York for a five-year crime spree in which the defendants allegedly impersonated police to take drugs and cash from large-scale cocaine dealers. The crimes occurred across five states and netted more than $20 million worth of cocaine and $4 million in cash. More than 100 cocaine dealers were victimized.

According to court papers, the robbers sometimes conducted police-style traffic stops of cocaine dealers who were transporting drugs or money. In other cases, the robbers invaded cocaine dealers’ homes and bound family members with duct tape and handcuffs, sometimes holding them hostage for days. One victim recounted how the robbers applied pliers to his testicles and threatened to squeeze if he didn’t reveal the location of large caches of cocaine. Other victims reported being tortured, including having their heads held under water to force them to talk. After the cocaine was located, the gang sold the drugs on the streets of New York.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from physical abuse, some parents may not discipline their kids at all. If a child is never reigned in after misbehaving, he may be less likely to learn proper boundaries or decision-making skills. Later in life, that kid may be less able to conform to society’s rules, including laws against violence. (In Chapter 11, I discuss in more detail the causes of all crime.)

Studies of groups of murderers have revealed that murderers are likely to have lower IQs than the average citizen. You might say that they have mental deficiencies.

Note that a mental deficiency is much different from a mental disease, which is a mental illness as defined by psychiatrists and psychologists. In court, a mental disease can be the basis of an insanity defense. A mental deficiency such as a decreased IQ, on the other hand, can’t be part of an insanity defense; it simply helps explain, in part, why someone may have committed an act of violence.

One mental disease that prosecutors often encounter in criminal cases is paranoid schizophrenia . For example, a person who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia may experience a delusion in which he believes his television is telling him to kill his neighbor’s dog. If he actually kills the dog, he’ll likely be excused from criminal responsibility because of an insanity defense. (For a more detailed discussion of the insanity defense, see Chapter 20.)

A personality disorder is yet another mental problem that can be a cause of violence. Like a mental disease, a personality disorder is diagnosed by a psychologist or psychiatrist. But it’s not considered as severe a disability as a mental disease and, therefore, can’t be used for an insanity defense. These are the two best-known personality disorders in the criminal justice system:

Narcissistic personality disorder: Someone with this disorder generally sees herself as very important, needs others to see her as important, and lacks the ability to experience empathy with others.

Antisocial personality disorder: Someone with this disorder has a pattern of disregarding the rights of others that starts when she’s a juvenile and progresses into adulthood.

Similar to antisocial personality disorder is a characteristic known as psychopathy. A psychopath is a predator who uses charm, manipulation, and violence to control others and achieve her own selfish needs without experiencing any guilt or remorse. Studies of psychopaths within prisons reveal that psychopaths are generally untreatable and may even become more cunning and manipulative after being subjected to treatment. Psychopaths are also considered much more likely to engage in future acts of violence than other inmates.

See Chapter 14for a more detailed discussion of how a psychological or personality disorder can lead to criminal behavior.

Some criminologists look to cultural values within a society as a potential cause for violence. For example, the murder rate in Japan has been measured at less than 10 percent of that in the United States. For this reason, some people have theorized that the United States, which highly values independence and self-reliance, may have more violence, in part, because of these values. In contrast, Japan is a more socially organized country that places less value on independently resolving conflict and, thus, has less violence.

Today’s society also offers people constant access to violent messages. Some people believe that relentless exposure to violence (through TV programs, movies, music, video games, and so on) may desensitize children, making them more likely to resort to violence to resolve conflicts. One analysis concluded that by the time the average child in the United States reaches the age of 8, she has seen 8,000 murders on TV, and by the time she reaches 18, she’s seen more than 200,000 acts of violence on TV.