The criminal thinker is unwilling to do anything that is boring or disagreeable! This statement is considered an axiom among corrections professionals. The criminal thinker has boundless energy and interest in activities that are exciting, interesting or fun. But when it comes to basic responsibilities and actions that don’t result in an immediate payoff they lose interest or give up. The words “I can’t” become the mantra for the criminal thinker.
- “I can’t get a job because I have a record.”
- “I can’t stop using drugs because I already tried a hundred times before”
- “I can’t go back to school because I’m too old”
- “I can’t do these assignments because they are too hard”
In reality, “I can’t” means “I won’t.” In correctional treatment programs we often hear from offenders that they tried to stay sober, or they tried to get a job or they tried to finish a task on time, but something or someone prevented them from accomplishing the task. Our common response to criminal thinkers who “try” to do something is to stop trying and start doing. Stop trying to get a job and do whatever it takes to get a job. Stop trying to stay sober and do whatever it takes to stay sober. Do whatever it takes to complete the responsible task at hand. And, by the way, you don’t know what it takes to live responsibly so ask for help and follow advice!
Pushing oneself to do the difficult is the key to criminal freedom. In fact, the best advice for someone early in the criminal thinking change process is to focus on the actions that they like the least. If getting up early and doing house chores is the most disagreeable task at hand, that should be the first thing on the list to complete! Criminal thinking change is an exercise in opposites. A criminal thinker must begin to turn their thinking around 180 degrees. Instead of blaming others for their plight, they need to blame themselves. When doing something responsible seems boring, that is the time to perform the task. Instead of saying “I can’t” say “I must.” We don’t need to feel like doing something in order to do it. Responsibility, maturity, and growth are about taking consistent action especially during those times when we don’t feel like doing them. A babies behavior is based entirely on its feelings, mature men and women’s behavior is directed by responsible thinking and rational beliefs. “Tell me you don’t feel like doing something right now and I’ll tell you that now is the time to do it then!”
Once a habit is formed by doing the disagreeable it becomes easier to do. If we make a consistent effort towards a responsible goal, its achievement begins to become a reality. The serenity prayer is a good source of inspiration for this thinking error of Lack of Effort.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Visit the CriminalThinking.net website for a free worksheet on correcting the thinking error “The “I Can’t Attitude.”
Building self-esteem and developing a positive view of oneself is the goal of many therapeutically sound programs. There are numerous assessment tests that measure self-worth, self-esteem and positive self-image including 
Positive self-perspective can be viewed on a continuum for the criminal thinker with self-hate on the far left and narcissism on the far right. Self-disgust is the result of an honest and balanced self-assessment developed with the help of responsible ‘others.’ The change agents role should be to consistently hold up a mirror to the offender so they see a true and undistorted vision of themselves. The offender will begin to identify the thinking patterns that have caused others harm and the replacements to those errors in thinking. As a result, they will begin developing the skills to hold up the mirror for themselves. Over time, looking into the mirror of self-disgust will motivate change and begin replacing a distorted sense of self-worth with a healthy self-perspective. The negative ripple affects of a life of crime will begin to fade and new ripples of healing and hope will become stronger.
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Criminal thinkers do not learn from the past and operate without regard for the future. They are often described as failing to learn from experience and tend to see behavior and events as isolated incidents. You might be thinking to yourself, “this sounds like my teenager!” If it does sound like your teenager, or even your spouse, don’t be alarmed. We all have errors in thinking and our teens often have many of them at the same time. The difference is that thinking errors in criminals continue to expand into almost all areas of their lives and they regularly fail to deter their distorted thinking which results in regular violence and harm of others.
In Stephen Covey’s book, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, a persons actions and activities are divided into a matrix of four quadrants. The first quadrant is comprised of things that are important and urgent in our daily living such as emergencies, crises, deadlines that are fast approaching, etc. The second quadrant includes things that are important but not urgent. In recovery this might include reading a relapse prevention book, making amends with a person or making retribution. The third quadrant is urgent, but unimportant activities like interruptions from a child, needing to have a cigarette, etc. The fourth quadrant is neither urgent nor important. This would include time wasting activities like playing solitaire on the computer, random web surfing and video games.
Watching the VCU Rams basketball team beat the U of K Jayhawks to enter the NCAA final four is a great example of the many character traits required for criminal freedom. The NCAA tournament is a long, hard series of games that results in one team beating every team they play on their path to the national collegiate championship. Key traits that have led the VCU team to the final four include:
The essence of criminal thinking is the closed channel. Criminal thinkers are closed off from being receptive, are closed to any interest in being self-critical and also shut down from disclosing the truth about their destructive behavior. These three components of criminal thinking must be replaced with their natural corollaries, i.e. receptivity, self-criticism and self disclosure.
In Psychology 101 class we learned about the the Pavlovian stimulus-response (S-R) theory. When a particular stimulus is offered it will illicit a particular response. For example, when a stimulus, such as an opportunity to steal, is available to the criminal thinker they feel compelled to respond and take advantage of the opportunity. The changing criminal will often say they just react to situations. They blame the victim for leaving items unattended. They see their actions as disconnected from their thoughts.
Reflection is a key component of change for the criminal thinker. The 
Criminal Thinkers are notorious for having selective perception. They pay attention to the details that benefit and support their way of viewing the world. They remember events and situations that justify their irresponsible and criminal behavior and discard and forget the central role that their decisions and lifestyle played in their current reality.