Another example of a need for change.

     Well, that was short and to the point Van1!

     In case you've not visited this page before, the topic of Van1's page is the sexual misconduct of a particular psychotherapist. (Click here if you want to check it out before continuing.)

     Because of your brevity, I'm not sure what you were wanting me to address here. If it is the particulars of this case, I am too grossly under-informed to even comment. I do intend to eventually have a large section in the "Rebuilding Our Political System" and "Rebuilding Our Social Control System" that will deal with crime and punishment.

     I guess, until I have a chance to elaborate further, I will briefly say that crime is largely a product of environment. Though there are cases where crime has biological causes (e.g. chemical imbalances in the brain, etc), most can be traced back to the criminal's upbringing, his surroundings while growing up, and the opportunities he had to form social bonds and to advance. I'm not trying to present the criminal as "the victim", I'm only trying to express that there are usually reasons why someone would disregard the humanity of another for his own pleasure. An improvement in the overall environment (equal opportunity for advancement for all, etc) would reduce crime.

     In the case of professional misconduct and white-collar crimes, the causes are very different from the common theft or murder. The theory typically put forward in the case of rape is the "frustration-aggression theory" - when one is unable to have their psychological needs met, they become frustrated and act aggressively. According to one professor, 95% of rapes are "power rapes", where the criminal has no control over their own lives so they need control over someone to get a sense of power. They have under-controlled personalities and were not taught how to deal with their emotions properly. Many such people are the result of a strict upbringing, they appear perfect on the outside, but have no outlet for their tension until it explodes.

     If there is any validity to this theory at all, it would suggest that the solution would be to have socially acceptable means in which people can have their psychological needs met. Thus, those people who are attacking pornography, prostitution and all of those other "dirty things" we don't like to think about, are probably only making the situation worse. Humans are sexual beings, there are times in our lives when our hormones demand action. Without some kind of outlet for this frustration, we will break. I would like to think that everyone has the ability to find a life-partner and that this relationship, as well as other social ties, has the ability to meet all of our psychological needs. But not everyone can be as lucky as I am, so I realize that there is a need for other outlets.

     I also realize that there will always be crime. The kind of control needed to stop all crime is not only near impossible, but would be so oppressive that it would suffocate all personal liberty. Thus, there will always be a need for methods of punishment...but I've already elaborated too far and need to save something to say in the crime and punishment section!

     Please keep stopping by Van1...and don't be afraid to verbalize.