Criminologist in interview: How much killer is in me?
BARBARA: Let's get down to business, Mr. Weidner: Sometimes you want to kill. When driving, for example? How dangerous are such fantasies?
Jens Weidner: The good news: everything is allowed in the imagination. It is the only lawless space that we have in Germany, and above all, imagination can be very relieving. There is only one catch: If the same murder fantasy is constantly repeated and more and more practical, more and more concrete, then please seek help. That's not normal.
I would never kill? ? how true is this statement?
That calms me down! And: this statement is true. Most would never do it? and never do it. We have 82 million people in Germany. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, there were 140,000 dangerous and serious bodily injuries in 2017. And 2379 murders and manslaughter. This is incredibly tragic and brutal for all relatives of the victims. But it is not a mass phenomenon. Nevertheless, occasional extreme situations can shake each of us.
"Never quarrel in the kitchen near the knife block."
That would be?
A supposed threat situation for example. You defend yourself, the attacker falls? he is dead. Or if you are irritated to the death. And that in her kitchen. By chance near a knife block. But grabbing a knife is another matter? Well, there is one rule: when the hate, the aggression, floods you, take what's there. If there is a scrolled poster by chance, just hit it with it. But if you have a knife at hand? then take that too. So here is a small partnership recommendation: Please never argue in the kitchen near the knife block.
Oh, come!
They laugh! But that's no joke.
Okay, so evil is inevitably part of each of us?
I won. Libido and Thanatos are in each of us. So the ability to love and the ability to act aggressively.
What decides which side prevails?
Education, culture and socialization decide if and how you use these energies. Whether you become leader of a violent hooligan gang or prefer sales manager in a car company, where you with positive aggression? That's what we call yes? Bite? ? Achieve sales success. But you can not say you do not have the evil in you. It's about what you do with it? Eat it in and thus become autoaggressive or let it out positively, for example through sport. There is the notion of sublimation, the translation of aggressive energy into cultural achievement.
Can I still switch from the hooligan gang to the dealership?
Absolute! That's a question of your attitude, so whether you really want that. There is a theoretical guiding principle of the Stanford professor Albert Bandura, which reads: Everything that we have learned can be unlearned. Unfortunately, that also applies to the good.
"If the enemy is defined as a monster, a cockroach, then the offender feels the right to crush them."
How evil can every human being really become?
There is another rule: A bad world creates evil people who commit atrocities? You can see that in every civil war zone. And it's always the same principle, global. If the enemy is defined as a monster, a cockroach, then the offender feels the right to crush it. And has the feeling that doing something good with it. This perverse thinking has come to me in many conversations with violent criminals.
Do you look murderers in the soul, what do you see there?
A person who was once a normal, sweet creature? who is so brutalized by an education to the evil that for him killing offenses represent a possible, meaningful action alternative.
What do you mean by education to evil?
Mistreatment for example. Maltreated children and adolescents carry a lot of legitimate hatred. They want to get rid of that. And that can then lead to a homicidal offense, but also to auto-aggression, such as suicide or a very serious bulimic disorder. One can say about people who kill, nothing comes from nothing.
Not everything can be put on education, right?
People who kill usually have a rather dangerous triad: violent parents, an aggressive, brutal circle of friends? simply because they are familiar. In addition, there is an extremely strong enemy perception.
What does that mean?
These people see a real danger, a threat. For right-wing radicals, are these foreigners? all enemies. Through this enemy image perception, they develop physical stress and then land in a defensive posture, which leads to aggressive resistance.
Is anything missing?
Yes, to make you truly violent, you need something else, and that's what scientists call neutralization techniques.Violent offenders are world champions in justifying their act. They justify this justification before they say, "If you kill him, you're protecting your mother, your sister, whoever. You are the protector, not the murderer!
What role does morality play in this equation?
It's important because you have to actively overcome it. Everyone knows that such an act is not right. The active overcoming arises from the conception of an enemy, that is, from the idea that he or she deserves it. In addition, justification strategies to apologize, to appease guilt and shame in the run-up to an act. By the way, that's what each of us does! If you feel today that you had to worry more about your parents or children, but you did not succeed, then you will somehow justify that? the job eats you up, this conversation has cost so much energy. It works on a small and large scale. But with catastrophic consequences when it comes to violence.
"Kill women to avoid being controlled"
Morden women unlike men?
Yes. There is a principle: kill men to dominate. Kill women to avoid being ruled. Stephan Harbort, Chief Inspector and Author, put it in a nutshell. The main motives in women: self-protection, self-esteem, self-preservation.
Males are also significantly more likely to kill than women, why is that?
This is a bitter realization for men: women are more intelligent in dealing with conflicts. You do not wait until your anger has grown morbid, you are looking for a solution beforehand? before they go crazy. Women simply anticipate better. Basically. There seems to be a biological component that I can not explain? also nobody knows me. But it's true. Women are much less likely to be criminals, they are much less likely to commit homicides. You could also say that your readers are generally not fit for homicide. That's a start!
AGGRESSIONS? In? The Pepperoni Strategy? (Campus) explains the aggression researcher Prof. Dr. med. Jens Weidner, how to use these positively in the job. Without a hit.
