Editor’s Note: This week’s PoliceOne First Person essay is from Dr. Olivia Johnson, a PoliceOne Special Contributor and Subject Matter Expert. In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. If you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members, simply send us an e-mail with your story.
By Olivia Johnson, DM
Police1 Special Contributor
Cops hear every excuse in the book when it comes to breaking the law. From drug addicts blaming the drugs for their criminal behavior to speeders explaining why the speed limit should be increased.
Although those speeders say that “cops should be going after the real criminals,” the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that more than one-third of all vehicle crashes were blamed on speeders and aggressive drivers (as cited in Read, 2012). That computes to almost 11,000 deaths on the nation’s roadways yearly.
Now, please, tell me again how cops should go after the “real criminals.” When will people start taking responsibility for their actions?
What do sugar, caffeine, drugs, movies, music, video games, and guns all have in common? They have too have been blamed for or linked to violence and criminal activity. The idea that sugar, movie violence, violent video games, and music varying from Gangsta Rap to the Beatles inadvertently contribute to one’s propensity for violence seems a bit much for many to wrap their heads around.
In addition, blaming the movies, music, and video games for an individual’s action has somehow removed personal and parental accountability.
Whether through desensitization or conditioning, criminal activity, blamed on media violence will always have its proponents. There is no argument here, that young children exposed to media or actual violence are at increased risk for aggressive behavior as adults.
The question should be: why are they being exposed in the first place? This can probably be answered very simply: a lack of supervision. Research has also linked a lack of parental supervision to aggression later in life. It is important to note that not every child exposed to violence exhibits such behaviors and surely the majority of those exposed to such violence do not grow up to be criminals.
Research has shown, however, that children are more encourageable when they lack parental supervision. And children lacking parental supervision are more likely to find cognitive stimulation through media outlets. Still others believe these defenses are nothing more than excuses conjured up by a society, which not only lacks good judgment, but one that does not understand the concept of accountability.
Remember the so-called Twinkie Defense? That was the case in which Supervisor Dan White took the lives of fellow-supervisor Harvey Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone.
White claimed his depression worsened after his consumption of high-sugar foods (i.e., Twinkies), which then led him to kill as a result of a delusional influenced ‘sugar high.” Twinkies are not alone. Hundreds of foods and drinks have been linked to or blamed on violence due to caffeine levels, high sugar content, added chemicals, nutritional deficiencies, and even food allergies.
There is no doubt that junk food is a major staple in our society, but blaming one’s actions on something they chose to put into their bodies is another. We seem to lack not only a sense of will power, but eating junk food makes us feel good. And we are definitively a society of people who want everything that makes us feel good and we want it now.
Our inability to tell ourselves ‘no’ has lead New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to enact a ban on large soft drinks, in an attempt to reduce obesity.
The argument being made here is not about obesity. Rather, the argument here is about personal accountability.
When do we hold those accountable that choose to eat and drink themselves to death, and not the means by which they do so?
Additional sources show correlations between decreasing crime rates and increasing obesity rates. Could Governor Cuomo’s ban actually backfire on the City’s decreasing crime rate? Maybe this is the answer.
Instead of banning guns, violent media, and sugary drinks, maybe we should increase the size of happy meals, keeping our children obese and less able to participate in criminal activities.
Sounds pretty stupid, right? Well, it is.
If we want to address the issue of violence and crime, we need to look first in the home.
Parents must be held accountable for their role in the lives of their children. But we must not overlook the children and the individuals who choose to participate in violence and criminal activities.
Case in point: The sexual abuse of a child is a tragedy on many levels.
But if this same child grows up and becomes an offender — that is a crime. We have no problem holding this “offender” responsible.
Why?
Because this individual was no longer a victim — this individual made a conscious decision to offend. There comes a point when we can’t blame the abuse. There is a point when the child is no longer a child. A point when parents can no longer make the final decision, and a time when children are seen as adults and will face adult consequences.
We want to blame everyone and everything except those responsible. A society that blames the gun and not the gunman is a society which will also blame the rape victim for dressing too provocatively. Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. One bullet, a thousand cheeseburgers, or a lack of parental supervision can be deadly.
However, the common denominator here is not guns, sugar, music, or video games. The common denominator remains people. People have to eat the food, swallow the drinks, watch the movies, or play the video games. They can also choose to not partake in these activities.
A large portion of the accountability however, should fall on the lack of parental supervision, parents who use media outlets to entertain their children. However, many of us grew up being “latch key” kids. We lived in households in which both parents had to work. We grew up a little faster, but were also more responsible. Sometimes it boggles the mind how similar situations can end up so differently.
As a society, we must demand accountability. We must stop making society guilty for the crimes of one man, one woman, or one child.
Stop placing blame on fast food establishments because people lack will power or video game producers for a lack of parental supervision.
We all have stake in the next generation — whether we’re parents or not.
About the Author
Dr. Olivia Johnson holds a master’s in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and a doctorate in Organizational Leadership Management from the University of Phoenix — School of Advanced Studies. Perseverance in raising awareness to officer wellness resulted in her being named the Illinois State Representative for the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation. This role led to her being invited to speak at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit’s 2010 – Beyond Survival Toward Officer Wellness (BeSTOW) Symposium. Dr. Johnson is a veteran of the United States Air Force and a former police officer and collaborates with several journals regarding law enforcement issues. She writes for Law Enforcement Today as their police leadership expert and was contracted out by Crisis Systems Management to train military personnel worldwide on Critical Incident Peer Support (CIPS). Correspondence can be sent to: johnsonolivia@sbcglobal.net
References
Read, R. (2012). Speeding, aggressive driving still cause 1/3 of fatal accidents. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1073905_speeding-aggressive-driving-still-cause-1-3-of-fatal-accidents
