Smart criminals hide within each of us. Like the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, human nature easily extends from the normal to the abnormal. People are capable of anything, both good and bad. Regardless of socioeconomic status, criminal behavior can cross any social line. Big and small crimes happen every day. Just because some are minor does not mean they are less important. These incidents are still crimes. However, for most of us, the criminal is the other. Not us, of course. We are quick to point fingers, gossip, and pass judgment. Roll your eyes, stick your tongue out, and shoot a finger, everyone doesn’t like someone. The holy virtues are always at war with the capital sins. We don’t like to show that the only reason we are not him or her is because we were not caught. Although, in everyday life, we have probably had some similar thought. Motives, intentions, and inclinations run deep in the dark recesses of the human brain. Sometimes we call it the mind, an illusion that brain chemistry creates. Our perception of criminal behavior is a conception based on the denial of our complicity in the presumption. At the same time, some of us make decisions, albeit bad ones, to plan, execute, and carry out our own desires, impulses, and longings. However, once apprehended, there are a myriad of excuses that spring from that personal inner sanctuary of crafty cunning. Yes, we are crafty, crafty and crafty. Some of us are really good at it.
From putting stop signs to cheating on taxes to drugging a date to have sex, we would do anything if we thought we would get away with it. Cunning and devious, human brain processes fantasize about an astonishing range of possibilities. Our entire entertainment industry, from the media to public policy, offers escapism in one form or another. The more tragic the story, the better the audience factor. Reality is exchanged for fiction and myth becomes reality. Not long ago, responsibility and accountability became the twin relics of lost ethical principles. The moral absolutes have been replaced. The precepts of morality are quickly exchanged for easy answers and comfortable feelings. Instead of hardening ourselves, we look for ways to explain leadership failure, an integrity crisis, or so-called errors in judgment. Politicians, the press, and the priestly class know all too well these sleight-of-hand tactics. Throughout society, at all levels, we have covered our tracks. There are so many more psychological ailments than ever. When the time comes, we will find some reason to rationalize the heinous commission of hurting another. The era of hypocrisy, double talk and the transmission of blame has fallen on contemporary society. In short, we can justify anything, invent conspiracies, and sneak around quietly while no one is watching.
As an audience, we love a good mystery, a blatant tragedy, or a great crisis. We’ll shut down an interstate system just to catch a glimpse of the roadside carnage. Too often, we intelligently overlook our own ability to make decisions, select alternatives, and exercise the freedom of our will. When it comes to committing crimes, criminals are no different than the rest of us. Behavior is about making decisions. The elementary themes are related to rational exercises of personal freedom. From ideation to commission, criminals premeditate their actions in self-gratifying activities.
Being cunning, smart and cunning, some criminals, like the rest of the population, are more skilled than others. Cunning and devious, the perpetrators of criminal behavior are people who have made the decision to break the law. His egocentricity is a main characteristic of his personality in general. From psychology to psychopathology, the continuum is one of connectivity with the inner drives of self-indulgent inclinations. Crossing the boundaries of another is a gap through which the perpetrator finds attractive, tempting, and seductive. For them, other people are a means to an end. It’s a matter of getting what they want, when they want it, and wherever they can get it. Your intended victim is a target. They will stalk, hunt, and hunt someone or something that they perceive to belong to them. Criminals pursue targets of opportunity, given selected environmental conditions and abilities for personal gain. Challenge, temptation, and seduction are related to individual motives, inclinations, and desires. Aware of the risks, they take the necessary measures to achieve their objectives. The goals depend on the skill set of the mindset.
Like the rest of us, criminals apply their talents, skills, and abilities to crime that fits their needs. From political corruption to corporate embezzlement, armed robbery and murder, we all have the potential to commit a variety of antisocial behaviors. While some commit crimes, others commit murder. However, the inherent motivations are the same. It is about personal gains, such as love or money, and variations on these two basic themes. At times, it could be power, dominance, and control that turns one on. It excites the senses and causes the acquisition of the objective in question. Either the love of oneself or the obsessive possession of another person. It just depends on individual ideation, fantasy and motivation. Within this secret realm of fantasy, the expectation of spreading into the real world is sown. Ideation loves the fruition of the subconscious in the reality of the conscious. From within these obscured confines arises the intention to carry out a criminal act.
Criminals see themselves as intelligent, creative, and competent within the sphere of their criminality. But then again, don’t we all dream of getting away with some unconventional activity? Show our arrogance in various ways, means and movements? Now, come into possession of something for nothing? While some of us deviate towards acceptable diversions, those who do not prefer the diversion of crime. We choose what we do and we know why we do it. People don’t suddenly wake up one day and “break down,” “go crazy,” or “get out of control.” Internal feelings have been building, plotting, and plotting over a period of time. Premeditation is an exclusively human activity. By reason and rationality, we pursue our goals with a purpose. Likewise, so does the person who chooses to accept a bribe, carry out a betrayal or report fraudulent news. As in other efforts, criminality spans the spectrum of crimes of choice. While some may have a preferred method of operation, they are capable of changing, adapting, and altering the nature of their criminality. As such, the mysteries of mental processes are more complex than we can predict. The problem of predictability is compounded by the fact that we all share an inheritance. Criminal inclination is part of human nature. To find out what a criminal is like, all you have to do is look in the mirror.
For the individual, deviating from accepted social norms holds seductive possibilities. The sensual transcends the sexual and evolves into the spiritual realm of our thought processes. We do so, by virtue of our choices. Inherent in the design of human nature is the propensity to deviate from the rules through acts of disobedience. That is, of course, if we decide to do it. We can also agree not to deviate. From the allegory of the first fall to perceptions of postmodern society, allusions abound in metaphorical descriptions of the selectivity of free will. However, we ignore the small details. Simply put, conscious decisions are made to do the things we want to do. We intelligently seek repetitive behaviors, seeking the pleasurable pleasures of the gain we make. The core of our essential personality houses the content of thoughts, fantasies and desires. We cover them up is a myriad of deceptions. Fooling everyone, from family members to authorities. When we are caught, we manufacture a mystery. Tell tales of fantastic stories. Find as many excuses as we can. But in the end, we have to realize that crime like the common cold is not spread.
On a simpler level, we believe that we are cunning in our criminality. Misbehavior becomes an attractive alternative attached to lustful notions of our sexuality. Instead of the boredom of “law-abiding” community service, our intelligent sense of self rules out the transgressions of crossing lines. Producing the sensations of a psychic “high”, the art of criminality provides the release of repressed desires. Hidden notions of private motivations. Cunning, cunning and devious, people play a role. Posture in public and private performances to bring out your inner thoughts. Taste the reality of the real world from the depths of the mental inclinations. But not quite. Only the tip of the iceberg emerges on the surface. In the process, they fool the best of us. From psychics to psychologists, from profilers to politicians, police officers and the community, the scam permeates the public policies of social institutions. Acting “stupid” in public allows people to shirk responsibility. We project illusions. In indirect testimony of a heinous and strange act, we are quick to judge. Take off your straitjackets and conclude that only a “crazy” person does things like that. Yes, crazy as a fox.
The crime trade has fostered entire industries of various “schools of thought.” Some are innovative, creative, and some are ridiculous. Meanwhile, most of us miss the point. We overlook the decidedly dangerous dark side of humanity. People can be cunning, cunning, and devilish. They can change, alter, and transform your thinking, behavior, and methods of operation. And, from an investigative standpoint, our hope is that we are smarter and more cunning than criminals think we are. Or, for that matter, we have to be better at “fighting crime” than they think we are. Criminal arrogance views the rest of us as “law-abiding souls” as foolish, gullible, and naive. We have to keep track of the evidence. And conduct our criminal behavior assessments through careful crime scene analysis, astute investigative monitoring, and determined innovative processes. Caution should be exercised against the fast fashions of contemporary fiction rather than fact. Our theories and conclusions must adapt to changing situations and circumstances and pursue technology that affects forensic evidence. People are not necessarily stupid, even if they act that way. But they make mistakes and are based on our misconceptions about criminal behavior. The cunning of criminality is the sleight of hand of postmodern society magic.
