Felon’s Alphabet: I for insight

Every single justice-involved individual is guilty of not having adequate insight; hence why we are here in prison doing time.

“I” is for insight.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, insight is “the ability to see and understand clearly the inner nature of things.”

There are five components of insight: remorse, acceptance of responsibility, knowledge of the crime’s causative factors, the crime’s impact and magnitude, and factually recounting the events of your life crime without minimization.

Remorse involves a deep, long-standing regret for the harms caused. This is the time to demonstrate empathy by “seeing” the crime from the victim’s perspective and “feeling” all the ways they have been affected.

If the victim was shot, what did they think when the bullet struck them? How much pain did they feel as they lay there bleeding?

What were their last thoughts? How much did they suffer? It is not enough to simply know the harm you caused. Remorse requires you to feel their pain. By answering these questions, you will experience empathy because you are able to put yourself in your victim’s shoes.

Having insight into your responsibility is knowing every way, and to what degree, you were involved: before, during, and after the crime. This needs to include all the gory details, every decision you made on the day of your crime, including the act itself, and any attempt you made to cover it up. Basically, you are required to “put all your criminal cards on the table” and hold nothing back.

Knowledge of your causative factors is the third component of insight. Causative factors are any and all factors in a person’s life that contributed to the crime. Do you have a propensity towards poor, destructive choices? Are you a person who ruminates and stays in negative emotional states? Do you engage in antisocial and criminal behaviors? Do you harbor faulty belief systems?

The list of potential factors can appear never-ending: traumas, issues with anger, impulsivity, low self-esteem, substance abuse, mental health disorders, and criminal thinking.

All factors, both internal and external, need to be addressed. You also need to understand how they developed, how they contributed to the commitment offense.

Understanding the impact and magnitude of your crime is recognizing that a crime never has just one victim. Your victims can be your direct victim, but also indirect victims such as the victim’s family, extended family members, friends, acquaintances, first responders, the judicial system members, neighbors, and eyewitnesses. This list could even include your family, and any person your life has ever touched.

It is vital that we verbalize all the ways our actions have impacted our victims, mentally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. It is just as imperative that we speak to the loss of their sense of safety, their loss of faith in humanity, and the total change in their belief systems, personalities, and perspectives, all without minimization.

The impact of violent crime is devastating, and the long-term effects are immeasurable. This crime will affect them for the rest of their lives.

The last component of insight is elocution: articulating all aspects of the crime without minimization.

Always remember that Insight isn’t just a BPH requirement; it is required of us as human beings. After all, how sentient are we with zero insight?