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. These thinking errors are similar for the addicted offender as well, leading to substance use and criminal activity. This webinar is an overview of the criminal and addictive thinking patterns and their similarities, tactics used by the addicted offender in an effort to mask their criminogenic needs, and “the lack of time perspective” which prevents them from learning from their experiences.

Goals of Criminal Thinking Therapy:

• To describe and provide examples of common criminal thinking errors in the offender population.
• To help mental health and corrections practitioners and offenders become more aware of thinking errors and thinking distortions.
• To assist change agents in facilitating the criminal thinking change process.

Question: What is Criminal Thinking?

“thinking that says that its alright to violate others or the property of others”

Criminal Thinking Tactics

1.Continuously point out staff inadequacies

2.Building self up by putting others down

3.Telling others what they want to hear

4.Lying, distorting the truth

5.Vagueness

6.Diverts attention

7.Putting others on the defensive

8.Total inattention

9.Accusing others of misunderstanding

10.Attempting to confuse others

11.Minimizes the situation

12.Agrees without meaning it

13.Silence

14.Selective attention

15.Make a big scene about minor issues

16.Putting off doing something by saying I forgot

17.Claiming that they have changed because they did something right, once!

Question: Who are they really hurting?

• Injury worksheet
• Self & Victim
• Families
• Neighbors
• Community
• Quality of Life
• “Ripple Effect”

Steps to undoing Criminal Thinking

• Learning other-directed communication patterns
• Develop ties with family or family-like relationships
• Develop positive social unit and family structures
• Replace antisocial with pro-social behaviors
• Develop self-control and self-confidence
• Shift reward potential to non-criminal conduct
• Develop skills to avoid or cope with high-risk settings
• Develop responsibility for own behavior and actions
• Develop pro-social and more other-reflective moral codes          .
• Develop social and coping skills through social skills training
• Learn self-regulation of angry feelings and other emotions
• Develop skills to increase abstract reasoning and thinking
• Develop recreational, vocational, and interpersonal alternatives to AOD use and criminal conduct