Kenneth Padowitz - Fort Lauderdale Criminal Defense Attorney

Confessions, Forensic Psychology, and DNA Evidence

One of the tasks of a forensic psychologist is to interview an alleged perpetrator who has given a confession with an eye toward judging whether the person understands the gravity of having confessed and whether he or she understands what it is that has been confessed. It has been discovered that confessions are not always the last word in accuracy and that they can be extracted in a variety of ways. Once there is a confession, efforts to locate new or contradictory evidence concerning [...]

Confessions, Forensic Psychology, and DNA EvidenceKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T19:25:37+00:00

Juvenile Sex Offender: Myth versus Reality

Busting the Myth It goes by different apothegms, “Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior,” “A ticking time bomb,” “Old habits die hard”… Whatever form it takes, the idea is simple and generalized. That one who has committed an offense before is more likely to commit the same offense again. It even has a fancy word “recidivism.” The idea permeates the public space. Such that just about any average person on the street would accept that any juvenile arrested for a sex [...]

Juvenile Sex Offender: Myth versus RealityKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T19:20:30+00:00

Crime and Religion: Explaining the Antithesis

The Antithesis It is paradoxical that individuals who devote their life to criminality often associate with a religion and put up the notion that they are devout adherents. It might involve regularly attending a place of worship—a church, mosque, or synagogue. In addition, they may observe holidays, festivals, and read religious texts. Many go as far as adorning religious ornaments. Lifting the Veil The primary explanation for this oddity resides in the word—compartmentalization. Criminals keep their religious beliefs and practices away from their everyday [...]

Crime and Religion: Explaining the AntithesisKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T19:13:53+00:00

Delusions and the Social World: The Connection

Has there ever been a society where deluded individuals did not exist? - The answer is probably no. At one time or another, virtually every psychiatric hospital of decent size had their hands full with people who thought they were Jesus Christ or spies for either of two cold-warring intelligence agencies—CIA or KGB. Today, the mix is evolving. We now have quite a lot of individuals who think they are reality TV stars—the Kardashians in the psych wards so to speak. For these individuals, [...]

Delusions and the Social World: The ConnectionKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T19:09:46+00:00

Deindividuation

Some of our recent discussions have been concerned with topics relating to how individuals tend to underestimate the role of environmental or situational influences on behavior, and to overestimate individual personality factors, when concerning other people. To recap, the fundamental attribution error is a term, which refers to the common human error in which people tend to underestimate situational influences and overestimate individual personality factors, when explaining behavior. We also looked at one example of the fundamental attribution error, crimes of obedience, which is defined as: [...]

DeindividuationKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T19:04:02+00:00

Study Review: Borderline Personality Disorder and Social-Cognitive Deficits

Those afflicted with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are characterized with a variety of cognitive and emotional deficits seen throughout life regarding the regulation of emotions, impulsivity, and maladaptive images of self and others. This often leads to a pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships. Early life trauma and genetics are theorized to play major roles in the development of this condition. Up until recently, research has mostly been focused on the neurophysiological abnormalities that may play a role in the disorder, particularly in the amygdala, [...]

Study Review: Borderline Personality Disorder and Social-Cognitive DeficitsKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T18:53:47+00:00

Should We Be More Concerned With Prenatal Exposure In The Prevention Of Crime?

Crime and violence has existed throughout human history, and the search for answers as to what causes such behavior has lead to a variety of proposed theories. Criminal behavior is often associated with a variety of social and environmental risk factors that people are exposed to throughout life; lack of education, unstable family life and poverty are some of the most common examples. According to this perspective, crime is a result of a combination of these risk factors that people are exposed to in [...]

Should We Be More Concerned With Prenatal Exposure In The Prevention Of Crime?Kenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T18:45:55+00:00

Arguably Minor Misconducts That Were Given Major Punishments

The Strive for Fair Punishment There was a young man named Tony. At the age of 18, he met and fell in love with a girl whom his friends also knew. While they became really close, it did not occur to him to ask about her age. Their relationship became much deeper and consensual sex was one of the things that happened between them. Their sexually highlighted relationship was soon discovered by the girl’s dad. It became clear to Tony that he was having [...]

Arguably Minor Misconducts That Were Given Major PunishmentsKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T18:40:48+00:00

Portrait of Women as Criminal Offenders

The public has a common perception of “the criminal”, which is portrayed, primarily by the media and the entertainment industry, as a bulky, rugged man who is hiding out there in the dark ready to grab an unsuspecting victim. However, if one will take a deeper look, these influential institutions may be overlooking a vital change happening on the ground – that women are joining the ranks of criminal offenders, and that they too deserve to occupy a significant space in the portrait. Men [...]

Portrait of Women as Criminal OffendersKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T18:33:37+00:00

Environment’s Role in the Proliferation or Deterrence of Crime

The environment does not have any hand in producing crime, but it can significantly reinforce or deter criminal acts. Small towns with close social interaction tend to have lower crime rates than big cities where people barely know their neighbor. It is not so much the “bond” that people form that deters criminality, but the sense of being closely watched by the community. According to a tour director in Moorea, a small island in French Polynesia, there is very little crime in the island [...]

Environment’s Role in the Proliferation or Deterrence of CrimeKenneth Padowitz2024-07-29T18:29:16+00:00

About Kenneth Padowitz