Criminology-101
www.drgonzo.org The Classics aka Choice Theory
Why People commit Crimes:
Cause they want to…
(Gonzo Theory evolving)
Long time ago, maybe in a galaxy far away, where
accountability and responsibility joined forces to
insist upon authenticity, criminology had two major
schools of thought. One was the then revered
posture that asserted free will. Otherwise, how
could humans evolve from hunting gathering
cultures to industrial super powers? As rational
logical beings, within this view of humanity, people
made choices. They still do. Nothing’s changed.
No matter how bizarre the behavior, or even
seemingly illogical, there’s always a rationality to
the purposes we intend.
Hence, the Classical School of Criminology. Sure,
this view demanded moral retribution for criminal
acts. Regardless of whether you were a terrorist,
gangster or bribed politician. Wait, you mean
criminals held responsible? Whoa, what a
concept. No, you think? Sure, swift and certain,
adherents asserted. No excuses cut to the chase,
search and seizure, hook’em and book’em. But,
what happened to along the way? Simple, we saw
ourselves in the reflection. But, we know the truth.
Uh oh, now we got to come up with alternatives. If
we’re the criminals and the criminals are us, now
what? None the less, the facts remain. People
know right from wrong and understand the nature
of their criminality. Plus, we fully realize the very
essence of the cause-effect consequences. We
choose our malevolence. Since we have the
ability to think, reason, pick and choose, each one
of us knows the distinction between civility and
hostility. There are no excuses for criminal
behavior. But, just wait. Someone always tries to
take us back to the early days of anthropometry.
That is, the theory that criminality can be seen in
the physical characteristics of the so called
“criminal type”. Today, more than likely, we’d want
to call that “profiling”. Better yet, on the medical
side, someone’s always looking for the “criminal
gene”, so that we can excuse everything.
Newsletter 1
January 2010(1)
In the “psychophobia”, within the post-modern
world, and its smokescreen, “psycho-babble”,
classical criminologists (or, today, choice
theorists), consider very disturbing the
fundamental misconceptions, fallacies of
inference and deliberate sleight of hand to
promote hidden agendas. Don’t forget, with us
humans, there’s always another story behind the
scenes. Smoke and mirrors. Personal bias for the
sake of subjective validation, among the many
contemporary theories, goes a long way toward
ensuring the failure of criminological public
policies. History testifies to this fact.
Getting “inside the criminal mind”, as suggested
by clever dramatic television portrayals, obscures
the rationality and the logic of the real world and
what really happens within the complex structures
of human thinking processes. But wait, if the mind
is an illusion created by the intricate neural
manifestations of the brain. Then, how do you get
inside something that doesn’t exist? Well, that’s
easy. You just make it up as you go along.
Oh, you just wait. It gets better. Even in the
criminal justice system, where people ought to
know better, complicity runs the gambit of political
acquiescence. You go along to get along and
keep your appointed office. Like certain agency
officials who espouse nonsense at press
conferences. No one wants to disagree if
politicians, the public, professors and the press
have bought into certain schemes inside the maze
of the “psychobabble”. Once that illusion has
received widespread hasty and generalized
mystical acceptance, why not accept the
deceptions?
Even if the scientific community, forensic
analysis, seasoned investigators and evidence
are to the contrary. You don’t mess with fiction in
favor of the facts. Heck, we’ll believe the myth,
magic and metaphor with potent amative ease.
Such as all the mythology surrounding the so
called “serial killer”. Bottom line though, people
know how to ruse each other for their own benefit.
Newsletter 2