Human beings are capable of great good, but we also seem to have an unlimited capacity for evil. We have only to look at our criminal justice system to know that the assumption that human beings are born “good” is suspect.

Morality and respect for the law have to be taught, and they have to be taught beginning at an early age. If we fail to transmit our values to the next generation, our values, and the next generation, can very easily be lost.

One of the Judeo-Christian values that prevent our society from blowing apart is selflessness. Selflessness can be defined as a willingness to make personal sacrifices for the common good, or for the good of just one other person.

Our society holds together not because of government, but because there are still enough civic-minded people among us who care enough to personally do something to improve our lot. Without selfless people, no government would be strong enough to hold our baser instincts in check; our nation’s rapidly-expanding prison population, from 400,000 to 2.3 million since 1985, indicates that we may already be in trouble on that score.

Without selfless people, there would be no Salvation Army, no Red Cross, no Relay for Life, no Interfaith; and we can also forget about the thousands of churches and other organizations whose work makes our communities better and our lives easier. All of these organizations exist because compassionate, caring people saw a need and did something about it.

Spiritually mature and emotionally healthy people tend to display selflessness in abundance; most people involved in criminal behavior do not. Most of the time, it is because they have not been taught selflessness. If selflessness is not taught, then what we get by default is selfishness.

There are as many as sixteen criminal attitudes or mindsets that unchecked, tend to influence us to do wrong. All of us possess at least some of these attitudes to some degree; the evidence suggests that most habitual criminal offenders possess all of them to an extreme degree. One of these attitudes is a lack of empathy.

Empathy is not sympathy, but an ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes and not only understand how they think and feel, but care about how they think and feel. Empathy makes us capable of deep and abiding friendship; truly close friends are those who can share one another’s pain. The ability to empathize is necessary for anyone who wishes to enjoy healthy relationships and a life with meaning and purpose.

Empathy is fatal to criminal thinking and the lifestyle that goes with it. In order to continue to live a lawless lifestyle, the habitual lawbreaker cannot feel empathy for his victims. He cannot enjoy the fruit of his criminal activity if he cares about how his actions affect those around him. He must be selfish, and remain so.

What do people without empathy look like? First, they try to justify their actions, thus demonstrating a lack of concern for their victims. They may tell you such things as; they were not really hurt. They have insurance. We only had sex; I didn’t really hurt her. The store won’t miss what I took; they have more.

Second, they will demonstrate a lack of understanding of the lasting emotional harm their actions may have caused. They will say; they’ll get over it; it’s no big deal. The world is a tough place, and only the tough survive. I did them a favor; now they’ll just have to toughen up.

Offenders participating in a study were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement; “Untrustworthy actions in a family gives the family an opportunity to practice forgiveness, and makes the family stronger.” The study found that half of the people they interviewed in prison or jail tended to agree with this statement.

Finally, the emotional life of those incapable of empathy will be stunted and unhealthy. They will have little or no respect for other people’s feelings. They will be fatalistic and negative about life, expressed in statements such as these; “I’m always going to be like this, and I’ll always feel this way. I’m never going to change, so why should I even try?”

When I started in prison ministry more than fifteen years ago, one of the new characteristics of young offenders coming into the system was their lack of empathy. The generation of offenders under the age of twenty entering prison at that time simply did not care about anyone other than themselves.

Just in the last year or so, a new and even more disturbing trend has appeared among many young people entering the criminal justice system; a lack of empathy, coupled with an unlimited capacity for violence. As many teachers can already tell you, it’s getting rough out there.

What can stop and reverse these negative trends in our society, and in our correctional system? What can be done to challenge and change the criminal thinking so many possess? Can those without empathy be taught to care?

I’ll have more to share with you in next week’s column; in the meantime, I’d like to hear any comments or suggestions you may have.

E-mail me.

For information or to give The Rev. Richard Johnson hand, e-mail him at richard@christian-formation.org or call 812-945-0886.