Prison Officer Reveals Common Traits All Criminals Have In Common

Low self-control

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If there's one thing that criminals pretty much all have in common, it's their inability to control their behaviors. After all, a lot of criminals wouldn't have committed the crime had they been given half the chance. Instead, though, they lack the self-control to make rationalized decisions.

Rationalizing their behavior

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Nicely leading on from the last point, a lot of criminals will rationalize their indecent behaviors, whether that be excusing it through retaliation, or take advantage of people's vulnerabilities. "She shouldn't be walking around with her handbag like that if she doesn't want it stolen."

Keeping criminal friends

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It's pretty much a given that to make a criminal, they'll all be surrounded by similar types of people, and that's what the prison officer reveals. Between their upbringings, interests and traits, criminals will naturally gravitate towards each other, perpetuating a never-ending cycle.

Misplaced loyalty

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Similar to the point above, criminals will often put their faith in the wrong types of people, which leads them to making bad decisions. This could be people like their criminal friends, who'll disappoint them in a heartbeat, or putting their faith in high-level drug dealers.

Has an antisocial personality

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Antisocial behaviors come from anti-social personalities, which is a common trait that most if not all criminals tend to have, prison officers reveal. Anti-social personalities can take place in the form of isolating themselves, causing havoc in the streets and taking part in activities that disturb the peace.

Dysfunctional family

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A lot of the time, criminals have had dysfunctional upbringings, which only puts them in a position of committing criminal behaviors as they grow up. This can especially come from a dysfunctional family; maybe they had an absent parent, maybe a parent had a drug abuse issue, or maybe they grew up poor.

A sense of "boredom"

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A lot of criminals, and this is especially young criminals, partake in these behaviors because of one thing, and that's a lack of things to do. Prison officers reveal that the more bored a criminal is, the higher the chance that they'll start to engage in criminal activities.

A sense of entitlement

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Criminals aren't necessarily criminals without a sense of reason. A lot of the time, these criminals feel that they've been treated badly, and so feel the need to put things back into the right place. This might be that they feel life has treated them rough, or that law enforcement have never treated them how they should.

A turbulent upbringing

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Prison officers reveal that a turbulent upbringing can be a common trait among criminals who've been locked up. Parts of this could be moving locations a lot, missing parents, being moved around the foster care system, or having parents who struggle to make ends meet.

Brought up in a high-crime neighborhood

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High-crime neighborhoods have really been labelled as places that are so difficult for people to break out of. After all, if you're constantly around people committing the same offences, it's not going to give you a much of a chance to break out of them.

Poor relationship with parents

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Criminals tend to have poor relationships with their parents. Often, this is because their relationship has broken down due to their criminal behaviors. However, there are a lot of times that this relationship (and trust) was broken when the criminal was young.

Drug abuse

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Prison officers reveal that criminals commit acts as a form of desperation a lot of the time, and often this desperation is driven by addictions. One of these addictions, naturally, is drugs, which have taken over whole cities and neighborhoods in the USA.

Alcohol abuse

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Much like the above, it's not just drugs that drive people to commit criminal acts, it's the booze too. Being an alcoholic can be debilitating for some people, until the only thing they can think of is their next drink. It can ruin careers, relationships and finances.

Other types of addiction

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Moving away from the substance abuse issues, there's also plenty of other addictions that criminals tend to struggle with. One of the biggest ones are gambling, and criminals will go to some extreme lengths to get money to feed their gambling addiction.

Distracted easily

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Believe it or not, this is actually a trait that most criminals share with each other. It doesn't sound like a criminal trait, but once it's explained, you understand why. Criminals struggle to keep their mind focused on goals and aspirations, which leads them to fall back to toxic behaviors.

Poor-quality education

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Education (while some think it's irrelevant or unnecessary) is actually pivotal for people growing up. If a poor education is offered, it can often stunt people from moving on and doing good. A lot of people fall into criminal behaviors if they don't get the right opportunities at school.

Sentimentality

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It's easy to believe that criminals are never sentimental about anything, but this isn't true, criminals can be VERY sentimental which can drive those criminal behaviors. If they feel that someone or something has done wrong by one of their loved ones, you better believe that they're going to put it right.

Feeling a sense of injustice

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Criminals feel a sense of injustice in every sense of the word, even if they're the ones causing the unjust. It might be at the hands of the government, their parents, or law enforcement, but nonetheless, it can drive their motivation to commit the behaviors.

Obsessed with power

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Prison officers reveal that there's often a power struggle where criminals are concerned, and this tends to be the case for a lot of them. There's many parts of their lives that they aren't in control of, leading them to stand-up to whoever they might feel are oppressors.

Criminal history within the family

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If a kid grows up in a family that's surrounded by criminals, it doesn't give them much of a chance as they become a young person, then an adult. Prison officers have admitted that a lot of criminals come from families that have also been involved in crime.

Hatred towards law enforcement

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If there's one thing that criminals hate, it's law enforcement. Obviously this won't come as a shock to many, but prison officers have revealed that there is a big distaste towards any law enforcement where criminals are involved; they see them as protectors of the state, not the people.

Impulsive behavior

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Prison officers mention that criminals find it hard to control their behavior, leading them to act on impulse rather than a rationalized approach. This often leads to these sorts of people engaging in criminal acts because they don't think about the consequences of them.

Family history of mental health

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It's probably not much of a known one, but mental health is big when it comes to criminal activity and criminals themselves. Either they suffer with it, or their family has, and this can really set them up for failure in life, especially if they're untreated.

Lack of empathy and remorse

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While criminals might be sentimental about some things, it's only the things they actually care about. A lot of the time, they won't reserve any empathy or remorse for the random person they attacked in the street, and will just be glad that they robbed their purse.

A sense of invincibility

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Have you ever seen a criminal riding the streets doing a wheelie? Or jumping out a five-storey building just to get away from the police? The sense of invincibility a criminal has is actually unmatched. Prison officers reveal it's part of their psyche.

A streak of aggression

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Prison officers have revealed that a lot of the time criminals really are aggressive, and (while it hardly ever just runs in their blood) the way they've been brought up can be the big cause of this. Aggression translates to criminal behavior quite easily.

Multiple adverse childhood experiences

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Adverse childhood experiences are what a lot of teachers talk about at school these days, and it's how they measure a child's risk or chances of engaging in harmful behaviors. Criminals tend to fall under a lot of these adverse experiences and it ruins their life.

Cognitive laziness

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You might be asking yourself, what's cognitive laziness? Well, essentially, it's how a criminal chooses the path of least resistance. That basically means they will continue to choose the easier paths in life, whether that be because they don't feel worthy of anything better, or it's all they've ever known.

Undiagnosed disorders

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What's sad about many criminals is that they often go undiagnosed when it comes to disorders like depression, ADHD, OCD or autism. Because of this, they never have the ability to regulate their disorders, and they end up releasing them in harmful behaviors.

Repeat offenders

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One of the biggest thing that criminals share is actually being repeat offenders, especially those who are incarcerated. Apparently, being sent to prison twice massively increases the risk of repeat incarceration, and it's hardly any surprise considering the support prisoners get outside of prison.