The Illusion of Control

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 29th Mar 2021

I don’t believe I’ve ever met somebody who didn’t consider themselves a good driver – regardless of their driving record – and if somebody is accused of being a bad driver, you can pretty much guarantee they’ll have a hostile reaction to the claim made against them. What constitutes a “good driver” differs from person to person and sometimes from place to place e.g., living/driving in Massachusetts it seems like a “good” driver is somebody who will suddenly speed up and attempt to not let you in when they see you trying to get on to the highway etc. Having...Click To Read More

Social Disorganization Theory & Its Flaws

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 22nd Mar 2021

In criminology there tends to be two types of theory, one which emphasizes people and another which emphasizes places. Shaw and McKay’s Social Disorganization theory, looks at how places create and develop criminality i.e., people are a product of their environments – both physical and social – and when certain factors come together it can create a subculture - that breeds crime etc. The theory built on others including Park and Burgess’s Concentric Zone Model, that proposed cities would naturally “evolve” to have five, distinct concentric rings, with the more affluent and physically mobile classes, moving out to the edge...Click To Read More

Lessons In Striking

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 15th Mar 2021

I have by nature always been a grappler. My physical build suits grappling e.g., short limbs, low center of gravity etc., in a way that it doesn’t lend itself to striking. However, this doesn’t mean that I value grappling above striking, or by default prefer grappling solutions to striking ones. It does mean that because I am not a natural puncher/striker, this is part of my game that I’ve had to invest a lot of time in to achieve a level of competency. Whilst I generally preferred to use grappling solutions when I worked on the door - for numerous...Click To Read More

Internal & External Aggression

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 8th Mar 2021

I have written before about two classifications that I use to help me understand aggressive and violent incidents I may have to deal with. One of the first questions I ask when dealing with violence is, whether the incident is a premeditated or spontaneous one. Premeditated events are those such as muggings/street robberies, where the individual has planned to use violence or the threat of violence to accomplish a goal (such as acquiring money/possessions), with Spontaneous incidents being those where an individual had no initial plan/desire to engage in an aggressive act, but due to something happening in their environment...Click To Read More

The Criminal Mind

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 1st Mar 2021

I have written before about the fallacy of the “Criminal Mind” i.e., that offender’s brains/minds, are somehow wired differently to “normal” people etc. however, in this article I want to look at how a person’s experience with the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and in particular the American Penal System may change and effect how a person thinks and behaves etc., and how this may effect future offending etc. There are indeed offenders who treat prison/jail as a “business center” for crime, offering networking opportunities, and the chance to better educate oneself about how to offend more efficiently/effectively – just as...Click To Read More