Criminological Verstehen

Criminological Verstehen stated in the article is “a process of subjective interpretation on the part of the social researcher, a degree of sympathetic understanding between social researcher and subject of study.” In my own words it’s the understanding of empathy based off certain behaviors. Examples in the article were “its moments of pleasure and pain, its emergent logic and excitement.” Being attentive and able to participate helps a person understand the experiences of criminals.

Types of questions that should be asked should be able to show feelings and understanding a persons action. These can be questions like “what made you do this?” How were you feeling throughout the act? If you could do it again would you change anything?

Some elements that I could empathize with a criminal would be deviant acts I did as a teenager. As a teen I committed an act that got me caught stealing at a grocery store. This made my mother so embarrassed that I would humiliate her in public that I never wanted to disappoint her again. Based off of my childhood I can understand what kind of goes on in when a criminal wants to steal.

What I want out of this class is to better understand how to better help people. There are so many rehabilitation methods that don’t work and need to be corrected for ethical issues they have. To learn the trends of people committing deviant acts can better help us help those types of people.