The violent aspie

Until age 24, many men are dangerous

Buitenboys against Nieuw Sloten ended in tragedy, with a linesman dead and three young players in jail. We can only guess about this irrational violence. SCP-director Paul Schnabel came to mind, when I saw him at a conference last month. He spoke about people with the ?fat I?, who cannot control this manifestation. Many don?t identify themselves with the officials, but live in a "high" of aggression, tension and testosterone. Schnabel said that this is due to the "intensification of existence". Young people are raised to be assertive. And a short fuse charaterizes this. The aggression against the "lower-ranking uniformed officials" is an epidemic. The social control decreases, the ?fat I? advancing. I traced that term back to the philosopher Harry Kunneman. The overfed, permanently discontented individuals, those withbindifferent, rude or even violent behavior claiming more and more space.

Over 13 percent have a personality disorder.

That short fuse is also to be found in psychiatry, within antisocial personality disorder. This disorder isn?t that rare. On average this manifests within 4,3 percent of men at some point in their lives. But in the group of 18-24 year olds is 13,3 percent. This is evident from the Nemesis-2 study of the Trimbos Institute. These guys cannot follow rules, are dishonest, lying, swindle, are impulsive, cannot think ahead, are aggressive, irritable, reckless, careless of others safety, irresponsible, have no regretfull feelings and seek causes outside themselves. Imagine you have to check their trainticket or address their violation of rules. This disorder decreases dramatically after the 24th year, to 4,9 percent. Apparently you grow out of it or you learn to manage it better. Experienced police officers refer to this as "three W's" (sic). The three W?s would be Woning, Werk and Wijf (which translates to; House, Job and Wife). If those are arranged they adapt themselves and outgrow their wild stage. Up until then, they can be a bigger danger.

How to recognize persistent aggressive youngsters is pretty much the holy grail of forensic psychiatry. ADHD has long been suspected as a component. This attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with mood and anxiety disorders and learning disabilities. In adolescence, a quarter too aggressive. 5 to 6 percent of the youth population has ADHD. It?s up somewhere between 17 and 22 percent if you look at youngsters that live with special care. ADHD is hereditary, but also socially by promoting poor family circumstances, neglect, rejection, abuse. It turned out that the earlier youth behavioral problems manifest the greater the biological component - and the longer the problematic behavior continues. If the boys are only aggressive in their adolescence, then the intensity oftheir behavior is even bigger temporarily probably.

Now I know nothing of the players of Nieuwe Sloten. Perhaps they?re normal boys. And just as in Haren (A riot ensued due to out of hand Facebook invite; thousands showed up, just to cause havoc), for the kick went drinking and fighting. Rioting as fairground amusement seems to be the way to go now. The looters of Albert Heijn (Dutch Supermarket chain) also proved unable to think ahead. In sociology such an incident is called celebrating a 'moral holiday'. Violence as an experience, also for not explicitly disturbed youth.

And the big question: what are you gonna do about it? By coincidence last week ?Wat werkt nu werkelijk??( what does really work?) got released, which is a list of effective 'social interventions' for undesirable behavior. It also contained a focus on crime by criminologist Peter van der Laan (VU Amsterdam). He provides an instructive list of what in any case does not work. Pure retaliatory punishments, known in the Netherlands for the failed Glen Mills School, got nothing. Also fright programs involving youth prison visits, have no lasting effect. The same applies to house arrest with ankle bracelets and GPS monitoring. Survival Group tours affect individual performance in a group. But it does not lead to lasting different behavior. Also imprisonment may not have high expectations cherished. 90 percent of all prison sentences in the Netherlands are shorter than one month.

Van der Laan lists seven principles to which methods of intervention in the life of a young lawbreaker must satisfy. It has nothing to do with retaliation, he warns. Victims are not served by that either. The permanent change in behavior occurs mainly with training, for example cognitive skills. Three months twice a week an afternoon learning to think before acting. Or a lifestyle training for addicts, focused on self-control, staying away from dangerous situations and other behavioral choices. Or the course ?Respect Limits? referred to learning "sexual interaction skills?. Justice has a repertoire of 23 fully accredited behavioral interventions that the court may impose. Undoubtedly part of the public opinion will see these programs as ?cuddling criminals?. Which brings us back in the repression and rehabilitation debate, which we tirelessly go on and on about. Crime is a problem, for which no clear solutions exist, which was Schnabels conclusion. That's right, unfortunately.

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