Causes of Bad Behavior

I counsel teen drug addicts every Wednesday evening. I’m looking for critical causes in their life to understand why they did what they did. What led them to drugs and chaos? 

I wonder about school shootings; why did the shooter do what he did? What led him to this specific path?

A youthful life of crime – burglary, auto theft, rape – what led these youth to such behavior?

The cause is the object in this wondering. Finding the cause will help me understand why these people did what they did, and continue to do what they do. It doesn’t answer the question of what we do about it now. No, that is a public safety question; it is also a question of redemption or rehabilitation as well.

Learning causation is the first step in understanding the behavior. That understanding helps communicate with the individual miscreant. Hopefully this will lead to constructive conversations that will guide the person toward a more fulfilling life. That outcome would be good for him/her and for the rest of our society, too. After all is said and done, that is the desired outcome and we need to remain focused on it.

Punishment for the offensive behavior is not my field of interest. That is up to others who understand the mechanisms designed and in place to address punishment. My interest is in recovering the potential of the individual and helping him or her get onto the right road for the future.

That is a difficult task in the context of a society irate over the behavior in the first place. In my case, I have to separate the shock of the offense in order to find the ordered pathway forward. Constructive effort, you see. Always prefer constructive over complaint. Oh I get it; complaint is a phase of recovery by society over the shock of the offense. Complain is necessary. But so is recovery. That is what is lost in our nation, today.

Penal institutions specialize in separating offenders from the general society. During imprisonment, however, rehabilitation should be present in most of the activities designed for the prisoners. I’m sure a lot of this is in place, but I wonder how effective it is? Are the programs even followed? What are the outcomes?

Recidivism is the return to poor behavior. A repeating of the offense even after the punishment and rehabilitation. Recidivism is high in America. The outcomes of the penal system is poor. So something must be missing. What might that be?

I suggest it is effective rehabilitation programs. I also suggest the lack of such has much to do with poor budgets to support such programs, and that leads to a low attraction to the field for professionally trained people.

It cannot be easy dealing with offenders. But they are people and need to be treated as such. Give them respect and they may work hard to earn that respect for the future. That is a good beginning.

Discipline is both internal and external. The external is experienced as punishment. The internal is a badge of honor worn privately by the individual. If we expect ex-offenders to become model citizens, we must prepare them for the role. It will take time. it will take an investment to build a better life for them so they can build a better life within our communities.

They have damaged communities. They will continue to do so unless we help them reconstruct purposeful lives.

Question: are we actually doing this? And what investment level must be present to do so?

May 31, 2018