Criminology

    Based on an article entitled The Technology of Intuition published in a book, intuition is the cornerstone of safety. The root word of intuition is tuere which meant to guard or to protect (de Becker, 1997). Intuition is a gut feeling that calls for witty and immediate attention. For example, when a person who asked directions felt differently to the answer of a native, then the one giving a direction of where to go next is lying. In other words, the native of the place is not telling the right directions.

    More often than not, intuition is better than logic in protecting us from danger. Intuition is a product of mediation and discernment. It is felt by a person who believes that all of us are always protected by a superior being who is infinite. The technology of intuition then is considered mysterious. In addition, intuition is a product of other founded feelings of protection against impending danger or harm. A person who foresees an impending accident while driving a car feel fear of losing life first before holding on to anything for instant protection.

    De Becker defined fear as fear of men. Real fear is a sign intended to be very instant or short being a mere servant of intuition (de Becker, 1997). Since fear is a servant of intuition, de Becker is correct upon believing that fear is a gift. Without the feelings of fear, there is no signal for a person to seek protection and safety. A persons intuitive mind will not work out then without the presence of fear in his heart and mind. In case of Robert Thompson, he felt that really needed to go away from the convenience store (de Becker, 1997). He just felt that something bad will happen. There are signs of fear, impending danger, and even problems. The next day, he was right. There was a shooting incident that happened in the said convenient store. If not because of his intuition, there is a huge possibility that he will be harmed in going inside the store. It is right for him to listen to what he felt at that exact moment when he still have time to protect himself from harm.

    There are other things that Robert Thompson noticed. The person behind the counter is intently looking of a customer. It is as if the clerk of the convenience store is too afraid on another customer. The said customer was wearing a jacket when in fact it was very hot at that time. That made him thinks that something is wrong. Right there and then, he went out. Thompson was not noticed by the police officer because he went outside the convenience store after feeling intuitive thoughts. His fear is not unfounded that he decided to go out as fast as he could. The next day, Thompson realized that the robber hid his shotgun in the jacket that he is wearing. 

    The shooting incident in the convenient store is reflective of the importance of intuition as a precursor of safety. When Thompson went outside the convenient store, he noticed that the man with a jacket and two other men in a wagon whose engine is roaring signaled that something bad will happen. After a few minutes, a police officer was killed by the man with a jacket. The said man is part of the group who wanted to rob the convenient store. Since the presence of the police officer will prevent them from executing their evil plans, they killed the same. The experience of Thompson exemplifies that fear is a gift. He showed us how he listened to his intuition and be saved by it. Since de Becker wrote that intuition is a cornerstone of safety, we can agree now on his words. The conclusion is that it is not proper to ignore ones intuition. It would result to lifetime regret if a hidden warning within ones self is being ignored. Thus, Thompson became safe from the shooting incident because he listened to his intuition.

    There are myriad survival signals that de Becker mentioned in order for people to get away from harm. First, we need to study the forced teaming. According to de Becker, forced teaming is the best way to develop untimely trust since a were-in-the-same-boat behavior is difficult to rebuff without feeling offensive (de Becker, 1997). Besides, forced teaming is intentional and directed and of course, not circumstantial (de Becker, 1997). For example, an old man arrived at the Western Union that is about to close. The old man needed the money for his sons hospitalization bills. A moment later, another old man arrived at Western Union for the purpose of getting money sent by a daughter from abroad. He would use such money to buy food for dinner. Since both of them feared that their money might not arrive before Western Union closes, they decided to help each other in case anyone of them got the money they waited.

    The second survival signal is the presence of charm and niceness. Being able to charm an attacker and reading its mind is very essential in times of danger. It was de Becker who explained that a person must understand charm as a verb and not as a trait (de Becker, 1997). An example of this situation is when a young lady suspected that a robber is trying to bring her to a dark road wherein no one passes by at night. Since the young lady has still time to get away from the criminal, she decided to read the mind of the robber while walking to a store with so many customers. The robber finds it hard to stop the young lady who is too charming to lead the way to the store. At least, she will be safe in the store and the robber will be forced to run away.  Third, a suspicious person provides too many details. As a survival signal, a person must identify this behavior from an attacker. The alibis are too obvious because it has been stuffed by too many details. The deceitful remarks of an attacker might slip off if the victim does not know the idea of too many details. For example, a young man was seen outside the house walking back and forth one evening. The owner of the house did not mind at first. But the next evening, the same young man is still doing the same habit up to the next night. The owner of the asked the young man why he was there outside the house. The young man provided too many explanations to support his claim. Indeed, there is proof that the young man is having a plan to rob the said house one day.

    Moreover, de Becker also wrote about the victim selection process. In fact, there are also conditions that are essential for offenders in selecting their targets. First, there must be a sequence of explicit conditions being met. The other conditions include the right appearance and perfect type of victim (de Becker, 1997). People cannot control these factors but can control the possibilities of being in danger by not being accessible to criminals.  

    Finally, de Becker provided a hint on how to handle situations like car-jacking and when someone is suspiciously following a person. The author did not provide a list of specific reactions to the given situations. He just reminded the readers to listen to ones intuition since it will help the possible or potential victim free himself from danger or violence. After all, different reactions apply to different situations.