Criminal Personality

'Yochelson and Samenow attribute crime to a series of early irresponsible choices that predate drug use among drug-using criminals. Personality and personal choice variables are conceptualized as critical in initialing and maintaining use. In what is called an indiscriminate search for excitement drug-using criminals are characterized as expanding their criminal repertoire while excusing their actions by rationalizations sometimes invented by sociologists psychologists and psychiatrists. Although these ideas are of considerable interest the real value of the text lies in its intriguing presentation of drug-user thinking. ' DContemporary Psychology A Jason Aroson Book