astronomy

Stanton Samenow

Stanton Samenow is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stanton Samenow rather than just read about it. In short: Stanton E. Samenow (October 16, 1941 – May 8, 2023) was an American psychologist and writer.

Key takeaways

Stanton Samenow belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stanton Samenow to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stanton Samenow from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stanton E. Samenow (October 16, 1941 – May 8, 2023) was an American psychologist and writer. On his death in 2023, an obituary in the Washington Post noted that he "drew national attention by challenging prevailing views of criminal behavior, arguing that its causes lie not in environmental factors such as poverty but rather in an identifiable 'criminal personality'".

Biography

Early life and education Samenow was born to Charles and Sylvia Samenow. He was married, had two children, and resided in Falls Church, Virginia.

Career From 1970 through 1978, Samenow worked as a clinical research psychologist for the Program for the Investigation of Criminal Behavior at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. With Samuel Yochelson, the findings of their clinical research-treatment study of offenders were published in the three-volume set entitled The Criminal Personality. Samenow, interviewed by The Forensic Examiner in 2005, described it as "the longest in-depth research-treatment study of offenders that has been conducted in North America", lasting a total of 17 years. According to reviewer Dorothy Starr, writing in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Samenow and Yochelson "relentlessly debunk the romanticizing, rationalizing, and analyzing of motivation and causes [of criminal behaviour] and simply call a criminal a criminal". Their work proved controversial and divisive. A reviewer writing in the journal Criminal Justice and Behaviour argued it was "a seminal work, rich in new concepts of criminal treatment," offering "a blueprint to begin the serious work of criminal rehabilitation". Others were disparaging: O.J. Keller, US Parole Commissioner for the Southeastern United States, writing in 1980, argued that the work was "sensational", "simplistic", and had "done real harm to corrections". From 1978, Samenow was in private practice as a clinical psychologist in Alexandria, Virginia, and "specialized in forensic psychology, notably criminal and child custody matters". His 1984 book Inside the Criminal Mind, which argued criminals were responsible for crime rather than wider society, turned him into "something of a celebrity", according to a 1984 Washington Post review. His central thesis, that criminals commit crimes through their own free will, because they have different thought patterns, was refined in four more books published over the following three decades. He summarized this thesis in a 2004 op-ed piece in The Washington Times: "Some people choose to do evil. From childhood, they reject everything responsible and positive. Their self-esteem depends upon overcoming others by deceit or force... Until science tells us more, we have no satisfactory explanation for evil. Sociological and psychological determinism offers only more excuses to criminals who have enough of their own". Even so, he believed criminal thinking could be challenged and changed: criminals "have to learn how to live responsibly by implementing new thought patterns, which is the beginning of building values. It's critical to go beyond rational problem solving and teach a corrective thinking pattern". Samenow sat on three presidential task forces on crime. He died May 8, 2023.

Published works

Books The Criminal Personality, Volumes I, II & III (1976, 1977, 1986) Inside the Criminal Mind (1984) Before It's Too Late (1989) Straight Talk About Criminals (1998) In the Best Interest of the Child (2002) Inside the Criminal Mind: Revised and Updated Edition (2004) The Myth of the Out of Character Crime (2007)

Articles Understanding the User (unknown date) appeared in Virginia Lawyer.

Videos Good Intentions, Bad Choices: Overcoming Errors in Thinking Commitment To Change I: Overcoming Errors in Thinking Commitment to Change II: Tactics—Habits That Block Change Commitment to Change III: The Power of Consequences

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stanton Samenow

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stanton Samenow claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stanton Samenow before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stanton Samenow ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stanton Samenow

In research: Stanton Samenow appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stanton Samenow in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stanton Samenow is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1941 births, 2023 deaths, 20th-century American psychologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stanton Samenow outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stanton Samenow in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stanton Samenow means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stanton Samenow out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stanton Samenow in simple terms?

Stanton E. Samenow (October 16, 1941 – May 8, 2023) was an American psychologist and writer.

Why does Stanton Samenow matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stanton Samenow?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stanton Samenow.