MANAGEMENT OF CRIME :NEUROSCIENTIFIC BASIS 

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The opposite of poverty is not wealth ,it is justice-Bryan stevenson

Conflict is inevitable- Combat is optional-Unknown

There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for his greed-Mahatma Gandhi

Neuroscience of social behaviour

In primate societies there is a dominant male who has the lions share of food and sex. The rest of males and females have a subservient position. Groups of primates usually attack other groups for territorial and resource dominance.

   During evolution of human societies the group dynamics ( game theory of power games)maintained by asymmetric power leading to a hierarchical society changed to an egalitarian group. Initially the instinct of altruism arose leading to sharing of food in the group. This allowed hunting as a group endeavour. Later it led to reciprocal exchange of favours . The second instinct  was related to parental attachment to the child along with strong sexual attachment/ love for a unitary family. Both were essential for bringing up children who were immature at birth and required a long period of learning . Though groups now lacked an authoritarian leader human groups were flexible with both liberal and authoritarian  modes. This allowed groups to adapt to external crisis of food shortage or attacks by other groups. Simultaneously the out group basis also changed in humans. Humans group formation was not based on kinship only but based on race,territory,castes etc and this allowed formation of larger groups. Larger groups were better able to face external attacks.

Groups always had individual differences and there were abnormal personalities leading to individuals with Antisocial  personality or narcissistic personality. They were usually kept in check by group rules and norms 

      Aggresion and third party policing

Human groups also had cognitive evolution. These progressed from concrete reasoning  to conceptual reasoning. This allowed construction and use of tools and craftsmanship. This led to rise of private property and possibility of wealth and power accumulation.It also created the possibility of theft and briga dry.Simultaneously religious ideology arose and allowed construction of large societies based on common faith and breakdown of tribal groups. 

   The maintenance of law and order in a large society requires third party policing. In tribes there is no authority by consensus for third party policing as such division of labour is not sustainable economically.In a conflict between individuals there is anger if there is feeling of injustice. If the culprit has no feeling of guilt usually aggression occurs. Third party mediation occurs in humans but not in animals. However the mediation is not as rigorous and depends on resources available for punishment. Incidence of violent crime is much less in modern societies than tribal societies due to presence of third party mediation.

Deception ,Opportunity and theft

Primate group existed  with extreme hierarchy and competition. Those lower in hierarchy were compromised in respect of obtaining food or sex. The neural circuit of bluff arose in these circumstances and allowed material benefits to be obtained by those disadvantaged by theft.In human groups however bluff and lies is an impediment to cooperation. It serves a purpose however to limit unrestricted behaviour of giving as such people would be eliminated early. 

   Humans also have neural circuits to detect lie speaking. Morever there are elaborate rules in human groups to detect and punish lies,theft. The incidence of lies and theft occur more when circumstances favour their occurrence. Thus an isolated dark place motivates even a sane person to commit theft from a compromised person. The opportunity is responsible for much of sexual assault on women. 

Cognition,scripts and organised  crime

Human cognition develops in a child. Initially the child learns  through punishment to know good or bad behaviour.Later with development of concrete reasoning it understands belief of others as possible and different from ones own. This leads to possibility of alliances of like minded children as wells as conflict through jealousy and spite. With development of conceptual thought the child understands the need of laws to regulate behaviour by third parties. 

   Apart from reasoning and moral development the child accumulates knowledge in memory in episodic and declarative forms. This knowledge builds up by either concrete or conceptual reasoning.The initial knowledge the child builds up is contextual and called scripts.. It allows the child to react to particular contexts automatically  

The child which grows up in a poor neighbourhood or dysfunctional schools is exposed to group norms which are deviant. These are inculcated by imitation especially if the child is himself having borderline personality disorder.As the child grows into an adult further exposure to gangs leads to learning the professional skills of a robber or murderer. 

Violent and nonviolent crimes

Crimes committed may be planned deliberately or without deliberation.Street conflict,road rage are examples of assault and second degree homicide caused by disputes leading to violence. They occur commonly because masculine culture promotes a strategy of not backing down. The same masculine dominance leads to domestic violence.However a need for revenge may lead to perpetual hostility and first degree homicide ,which is planned.These are all examples where the normal thinking is overwhelmed by dominance by amygdala temporarily.

    Addiction to drug’s frequently leads to theft and robbery to procure money for drug’s. The same occurs in alcohol addiction where in addition drunk driving leads to high rates of death due to accidents.Addiction is again partly a predisposition genetically. However it requires presence of street gangs to get it’s resources and permanence.

    Planned crime may be a result of psychotic personality,the psychopathology killer..Thus serial killers murder for the thrill. Robbery,arson,stalking all can result from psychotic personality

Street gangs ,bike gangs are the common source of learned crime in large cities.Members may indulge in drug’s,rapes,fights as components of gang culture

Other learned crimes occur through established groups promoting hate crimes and religious terrorism. These groups exist in an underlying base of societal support for these deviant ideologies. Hate crimes increase in times of economic downturn. However religious terrorist is frequently sponsored by state apparatus for achieving geopolitical aims.

 Most organised crime is done by criminal gangs. These gangs have a hierarchy and internal rules and learnedcapabilities for crimes . They indulge in activities which are prohibited but in high demand. These include drug distribution,contract killings,prostitution,smuggling,car jacking,robbery,arson for business sabotage or concealment of insurance claims.New entrants need to prove allegiance to the gang. The tools of crime are gradually taught to him. Attempt to leave or divulge to police can lead to murder

       Lastly greed can overwhelm even normal balanced persons especially if there is opportunity ,the victim is helpless and there are no witnesses. Thus even crimes of homicide for property inheritance,business partner elimination apart from fraud can occur. This is analogous to learned white collar crimes but the individual acts on his own and not in a firm or organization.         

          Sexual lust and gratification may result in rape and homicide. Here the offender may be a person familiar to the victim. In other cases it may be a individual crime motivated by a unknown who takes ad vantage of a vulnerable victim.

Modern organizations and white collar crimes

  Business organizations allow individuals to compete for power both within departments,between departments, between firm and corporate board,between workers and management. In an ethical corporate culture all stakeholders are treated with justice. However many corporates have a criminalizing culture. Here new entrants learn a deviant corporate culture in cheating workers, consumers ,violating climate protection,office politics and coalition formation,exorbitant executive remunerations and sometimes outright fraud in accounting and theft. The culture develops sometimes due to intense competion  within or between firms for resources ,markets etc. This is followed by justification of wrongdoing by requirement to face competition ,failure of assets and so on. Corporate frauds also occur when internal checks and balances are lax leading to opportunities for embezzlement due to greed.A rapidly changing external environment with uncertainty and lack of internal expertise in handling it can lead to accidental collapse of a firm.This is more likely to occur if the leadership is authoritarian and unwilling to listen to advice. White collar crimes are also committed by workers. More them fifty percent shoplifting is erroneously attributed to shoplifters whereas it is the own employees who indulge in theft of the goods.

   The other mega organization where corruption is endemic is public service. Government organization meant to serve the people end up serving themselves through bribes, whether from public to prevent harassment and delay,or from contractors for public projects.Here what is lacking is leadership emphasising service over self interest. The US Navy seals are motivated on the basis that their country and mission is always above personal discomfort or pleasure. 

   The overall political culture is dependant on the presence of a dominant corporate landscape. In industrial societies citizens vote based on basis of political ideologies. Capitalism frequently leads to wealth inequality independent of individual hard work and due to host of factors as disabilities,inadequate education  opportunities,. However conservative political ideology ignores this reality and justifies societal inequalities. Conversely liberal ideology justifies all sort of state interventions for disadvantaged groups some of which breeds lethargy. A balance between the two depending on prevailing economic cycle is in agreement with a game theory basis. In addition powerfull corporate elites promote economic theories justifying inequality and are supported by pliable media and academia in industrial nations. During economic downturn prejudice against minority out groups rise and blaming them for all misfortunes occur.It is also observed that authoritarian personalities fear change and favour conservative ideologies. The opposite is seen in liberal support by people with empathy. A balanced ideology is essential to promote societal cooperation rather than conflict and political violence.

     The family is another organization where learned scripts can lead to harmony or disruption. A male with a learned script of female subservience can lead to conflict. 

Criminal behaviour a result of abbé rant thinking

It is observed that criminal behaviour is not a result of a particular environment. A delinquent  child arises with tantrums and destructive behaviour whereas the other siblings are normal. This is seen in broken families with faulty and cruel parents. Similarly a disturbed neighbourhood or school gangs does not spoil a child as majority of children are normal inspite of the handicap. 

   The basic faults thus is due to abbé rant way of thinking about self and others which occurs early in life. It may be partly genetic as genes do influence the bias of neural networks controlling social emotions.But the end result is that the person starts thinking and reason ising in an antisocial manner.

  The components of this thinking pattern is very obvious.Firstly justifying all crimes as due to how unfair life has been to self. Also everyone is doing the same and escaping the law.  The world should respect me but I do not need to listen to others. The world should suit me but I need not suit anyone. Getting a thrill from criminal behaviour and not feeling remorse from hurting others

Reforming criminals

Criminals with serious crimes are locked up in prison to keep society safe. When they are released they are monitored on parole for a recurrence of crime. Efforts have been made to reform criminals by many therapies to reform them through conditioning behaviours. However the rate of rescidivism or return to criminal activity has remained unchanged.

     One method which is successfull is use of psychotherapy to change criminal thinking. During sessions criminals are motivated to join the program or continue a life of crime ,commit suicide if frustrated with life eventually. Those who join the program often become demotivated later on as they consider a normal way of thinking and life a drudgery without thrills. The motivation for change however increases with success

   In the program individuals are asked to tell their daily criminal thoughts either to the therapist or in a group. Today’s thinking contains the seeds of tommorows crime. The person is told to try and eliminate these. Any criminal thought is treated as having committed the crime itself.Even a single abbé rant thought is treated seriously.Blocking criminal thoughts is helped by thinking of consequences to self of actually having committed it.

   Later on thinking is directed towards thinking responsibly. Anger management focuses on consequences to self of any adverse behaviour.One has to to cope with criticism,swallow anger and cope with rejection.One cannot demand fairness without returning it   Learning to get in others shoes and learn how they are affected by hurtful behaviour.Murphys Law: If things can go wrong,they will.Learning to anticipate what things can go wrong every time and prepare oneself in advance. 

 Progress is monitored by taking stock over a period of time of responsible behaviour undertaken.It is emphasised that long term endurance is required to prevent rescividism. Blaming everybody for own problems has to end. Immediate gratification for thrills has to end.One has to be a team member rather than always a leader.Learning to listen to others rather than humiliating others for their views.

Ack:Modelling norms;The truth about denial;The criminal elite;The political agenda of organizations; Human aggression : theory,research;An introduction to criminal psychology;Human evolution and the origin of hierarchies ;Darwinian politics;Power and politics in organizations;Organizational pathology;seven deadly sins of organizational culture;Handbook of management styles;The productive narcissist.Inside the criminal mind