Camp guard Karl Otto Koch was tried, convicted, and executed nearing the end of World War II for beating three inmates and stealing from them.

He was a guard at an extermination camp, known as Auschwitz, the most deadly of all the camps.

This issue came up at the trial of Rudolf Hoess, a senior SS officer and the man in charge of the noted camp. He stated in his evidence that “we were there to exterminate people, not mistreat them”.

This statement uttered by an intelligent person defied logic. I simply cannot fathom how anyone who is not insane could think like this.

This maniac participated in the murder of more than one million human beings, but executes one of his staff for mistreating people who had been detained against their will, enslaved and marked for death.

Can I explain the thought process of this maniac? No, I cannot, because logical behaviour differs depending on the environment that you are analysing.

It also differs depending on the state of mind that you are studying.

I have listened to social commentators, human rights activists, politicians and people in the press. They all have their views on what motivates criminal behaviour.

I realise that they often are judging and coming to judgement using logic and their opinion on how they would look at an issue and how they would respond in a specific situation.

I have used the noted example of the German military officer to demonstrate how difficult it is to understand how other people think.

One of the constant issues discussed in analysing our killing problem and our gang problem is opportunity.

The belief is that if more opportunities are made available to inner-city youth, then less of them would join gangs.

This seems logical, especially if you believe that the bulk of people who join gangs were deprived of opportunity. You would likely be correct. They all are.

The next question you should ask yourself is, how many inner-city youth are ever given reasonable opportunities?

The answer is not many. This is where it gets tricky.

The third question is, what percentage of inner-city youth become gang members?

It is difficult to establish this percentage. However, I guarantee you, based on my research, that it is less than 10 per cent.

So how come 90 per cent of inner-city youth behave differently from 10 per cent, yet their situation is the same?

This occurs because gang activity is stimulated by small space environments like homes and encouraged and cultivated by association.

So what seems normal, what you think you know, is incorrect.

This is the limitation of the human being. We make decisions based on how we would react if we were put in the very same situation. This is flawed. People don’t always think the same way. Behaviour is not always logical.

The biggest victim of this type of thinking is juries. Twelve normal people are assembled and expected to pass judgement on the conduct of someone who does not process information in the same way they do.

They can’t understand that a man who participates in mass murder is intolerant of cruel behaviour.

This results in offenders being acquitted because their behaviour, in the eyes of a jury, is being judged by the standards that the jury would operate by.

So our politicians believe that if they create more opportunities in ghettos, then less young men would join gangs.

Well, I am here to tell you that no matter what opportunities are given to all the young men who ride around on bikes and participate in robberies, who kill with impunity and who behave like everybody who works for a wage is obligated to share it with them, they will continue their activity until they are stopped by the State and put in a position where they are not able to harm people anymore.

My opinion is based on decades of attempting to control their ability to harm other people. It’s likely that my opinion appears illogical. However, it is based on experience and my particular area of study.

Therefore, if my theory is correct, that it is almost impossible for people to come to logical conclusions when considering the behaviour of a particular group of people, whether it be German military officers in 1945 or gang members in Jamaica in 2022, then this impacts all people who are involved in decision-making in matters relating to crime.

It also brings into question how much emphasis we should put on public opinion when making decisions on subjects such as this.

Could this be one of the reasons that we have not been successful in destroying gun culture?

Is it that the decisions being made, as reasonable as they may appear, are being made by well-thinking people who simply cannot understand or predict how this group will respond to their efforts?

One would think that if enough criminals went to jail, other criminals would realise gang membership is likely to end in their own disaster.

This may seem logical. However, I am again going to declare that irrespective of how many gang members go to jail, it will not impact or discourage the next generation from engaging in the very same behaviour that destroyed their brothers and uncles.

My view doesn’t seem logical? I agree, but they don’t behave, or think, or conduct themselves in any way, shape, or form that would indicate that they are thinking logically.

So if nothing you do will cause a change in behaviour or prevent like-minded young men from choosing the same path, then what is the solution?

You just have to accept that people involved in conduct such as Jamaican gangs, extremist race groups, terrorist organisations, or religious extremists are going to continue the activity that they have been doing, unless they are stopped.

You cannot predict or understand their behaviour as they have been influenced from a very young age to become what they have turned out to be. So the only solution is incarceration without consideration for rehabilitation. They are not capable of rehabilitation, nor do they deserve it.

So the facilities that they need to be sent to are more in keeping with the concept of warehousing, than those designed to bring about a change in behaviour. Not because it will make us feel better, but because it is the only way to protect ourselves from this small sub-culture that is hurting and killing our most vulnerable every day.

So, in closing, let me give you some advice.

Stop trying to understand and rationalise the conduct of our killers. You can’t understand them anymore than I can understand Rudolf Hoess. Nor will you see them as I do.

My life revolves around their removal from yours, so we will not see things the same way.

Stop thinking of ways to change them and focus on ways to cage them.

Accept that they will not change and not until we stop them will they stop harming our weak.

The solution is no juries, no short sentences, no consideration of a return to society.

In short, mass detention of all gang members.