Crime - Why do they do it?

June 5, 2009 Rota, Spain
When I was an undergraduate, I took all the Criminology courses that were offered. At that time there was a debate about the causes of crime and I don't even remember all the details now, but it was all about the impact of genetics and environment. There was a strong theme that lack of jobs, breakdown of the family, drugs and alcohol, the existence of a large permanent underclass, and other similar factors were the primary causal factors of crime.

I don't disagree with all of that, but after working with criminals, I found that there was another factor that I had never heard mentioned that was perhaps the most powerful of all. I am referring to the criminal subculture. I will call these folks "Outlaws".

Being an Outlaw is a way of life. It is a sometimes glamorous alternative lifestyle that is open and always recruiting. It provides emotional and psychological support for its members. Membership is open to any and all who support the basic rules and beliefs of the subculture. Here is a quick list as they popped into my mind:
1) Outlaws never "snitch" - they don't talk to police or other non-outlaws.
2) Outlaws are smarter because they don't have to work 9 to 5 jobs for lousy pay.
3) Outlaws help other outlaws when possible. There is an "us-against-them" element.
4) Outlaws know how to do time - jail is just another place to be and one's ability to do time well earns respect.
5) The Outlaw life is more glamorous. (There is a certain selective amnesia at work here because a holding cell on Saturday night lacks glamour. So do gang rapes in prison). Nowadays, Outlaws are supported in this belief by the fact that non-outlaws imitate their fashions (slang, backwards baseball caps, baggy clothes, etc.)
6)Outlaws accept very marginal individuals - borderline retarded, poorly socialized, and of course, sociopaths and psychopaths. Individual Outlaws may not let the marginal members into their inner circles, but they relate to them as fellow Outlaws.
7) Outlaws are justified in their actions against the larger society because of all of the many corruptions and injustices of the larger society. They can recite a litany of these.

Outlaws of course are more visible in lower socio-economic communities - virtually all the young people in poor neighborhoods know who are the dealers, the gangsters, etc. The young there have to go to considerable lengths to avoid getting caught up in the Outlaw world. Gangs routinely harass book-carrying minority kids - and the weaker of those often join a gang to stop the harassment and to get "backup".

In middle-class communities, Outlaws are virtually invisible but still present. Unhappy middle-class youths have no trouble finding Outlaw companions. If they are angry at their families, drug use is a quick introduction to the Outlaw world. Not working and staying high all day finds them lots of Outlaw company. Supporting a drug habit will quickly lead to criminal activity.

In addition to the active Outlaws, there are a lot of other supporters of the Outlaw lifestyle. Family members and female companions may avoid overt criminal activity, but still support many of the basic beliefs of the Outlaw subculture and choose to relate mostly to Outlaws.

When I was working with delinquents, I read a book that had a profound influence on the way I perceived my clients. It was "Manchild in the Promised Land" by Claude Brown. Having grown up in a middle-class home with little Outlaw contact, I always thought that going to jail was about the worst thing that could happen. It never ocurred to me that some people would chose to go to jail for a variety of reasons, none of which were valid to me: to add to their prestige with other Outlaws; to join a group of "homeboys" on the inside; to avoid some kind of danger on the streets; etc. Another fabulous source for background on Outlaws is the movie "American Me" starring Edward James Olmos, one of my personal heros. This movie, still in rental stores, is an accurate portrayal of life in prison and the difficulty of making a transition back into non-Outlaw life.

Once I realized how little understanding I had for this subculture, I began to seriously investigate it. And that led to an awareness of the degree to which our correctional institutions have failed to fully appreciate the power of the Outlaw culture in the lives of the prisoners whom they hoped to rehabilitate.

During the 1960's and 1970's, there was plenty of money for corrections and we threw at the problem of crime the most powerful tool we knew at the time for modifying dysfunctional behavior - psychotherapy. And it was a miserable failure. The Outlaws ran a huge con on the therapists and the counsellors. The Outlaws didn't need to plan that; they were just being themselves and following their own values. Perhaps it isn't fair to say so, but to me it seems that the most effective part of psychotherapy is the price tag. At $100 per hour, clients take their behavior and thinking very seriously. If it were free, I wonder if it would have the same effect. I'm afraid it is probably most effective on the profoundly unhappy person. And Outlaws do not fall into that category. They have found an adjustment that allows them to function. It is hard for them to imagine changing lifestyles.

From the standpoint of corrections, that is the most difficult part. Corrections deals with individuals who are established in the Outlaw subculture and, while incarcerated, are living in a 100% Outlaw environment. Corrections asks the outlaw to turn his back on his Outlaw associates; to enter an alien world where he is poorly socialized to function - the world of non-outlaws; and to try to find a job in that world - which is thoroughly prejudiced against him. The Outlaw commonly has nowhere to turn; no non-outlaw friends for support; poor social skills after having been out of circulation for so long; and the fear that everyone who looks at him can see him as a prisoner. It is no surprise that the failure rate is above 70%.

Today the Outlaw culture is as strong as ever - perhaps moreso in that many elements of Outlaw culture have become glamorous - hip-hop music, gangsta rap, baggy clothes are a part of non-outlaw youth culture. If parents knew the sources of some of these strange clothing fads, they might not be so quick to buy them for junior.

As a digression, I have always held that one of the main reasons for drug use is that individuals don't really have a future that they are looking forward to. Young people may not really want to grow up to be their parents - it is not a failing of the parents, but of our culture that has become so materialistic that the future looks so much like collecting and maintaining "stuff" and making the payments on it all. And the individual is reduced to being a "consuming unit". Young people who can't wait to get up in the morning because they are pursuing a dream are not at risk for drugs or crime.

I have necessarily overgeneralized in this essay. It could easily have been a book. I am trying to establish a foundation for a series of essays on things that we can do to make the correctional industry work better. Stay tuned....