William Harmening

What is it that compels a person to choose a life of crime and deviancy over one of responsibility and social conformity? To understand exactly how and why that choice is ultimately made, we must turn to the discipline of psychology. The author presents and then deconstructs his own unique formulation of the internal deterrence system, and looks specifically at the psychosocial development of each of the proposed component parts—attachment, morality, and identity. He then weaves together an example of the developing child and the role played by parents, peers, and internal psychological processes in the development of a moral and socially responsible adolescent who is able to effectively self-deter from crime and deviancy, or, in the event of a problematic course of development, its unfortunate antithesis. Topics include the evolution of crime, theoretical foundations, defining the criminal personality type, attachment in early childhood, moral development in middle-late childhood, morality and the criminal triad, identity formation in adolescence, criminal beginnings, and intervention strategies. A new perspective of the criminal personality type that integrates original theory with ideas and constructs from the likes of Freud, Erikson, Kohlberg, and Bandura, among others, is discussed. The end result is an interpretive guide for identifying a child’s criminal propensity in its pre-development stages, and a road map for effective mediation before they reach that critical situation where a wrong decision can have lifelong consequences. This resource will be of interest to criminal justice and legal professionals, criminal psychologists and psychiatrists, and those in social work, sociology, social welfare, and victimology.

Charles C. Thomas Publishers
Springfield, IL
Published 2010
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