Today
I wanted to examine the young life of
Monster Kody Scott, a South Los Angeles gang member of the Eight Trays. Kody had dreams of being a gang member since
he was a small child; he was drawn to the loyalty between the members, the
notoriety that they held in the “hood” and the cash flow that some seemed to
have. Kody rose through the ranks of the
Eight Trays and became a notorious “banger”.
We will be examining his life as a youth then pose a treatment plan for
young Kody with different approaches developed from Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy. Examining his behavior and possible interventions that may have
gotten him off his path and onto a different one.
DISCLAIMER
Until
we change the actual systems in place that create this style of human, we can
only treat the subsequent behavior and will never truly get to the root cause
of this behavior.
Lets
Get Started
I read this book in my twenty's and again in my thirty's, both times I was intrigued about intervention points that could have helped Kody and countless teens like him out of this lifestyle and into a morse sustainable one.
Thinking
for a Change
This
intervention is tailored to guide offenders into a more aware state. He will learn to become more aware of himself
and the people in the community. This
intervention teaches problem solving while examining the offenders way of
thinking, his feelings, beliefs and attitudes (Milkman & Wanberg
2007). This intervention is delivered in
twenty-two sessions that last one to two hours per session.
Application
of Cognitive Therapy with Kody Scott
Assessment
The
assessment is done based uniquely on Kody Scott self-narrated autobiography;
Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur (formerly
Kody Scott) (Shakur, 1993). A summary of
his story follows.
Sanyika
Shakur born Kody Scott in 1963 decided to become a member of the Eight Tray
Crips a few weeks prior to his sixth grade graduation. Kody was raised in a single parent home with
the only contact from his father being strained and maladaptive. He never could get an understanding of why
his father disliked him. Kody enjoyed
the feelings that the street life offered him.
He admired other members of the gangs and was honored when he was
initiated, taking his role as a new recruit with extreme seriousness. His first night he was initiated he was also
given a sawed off twelve gage pump which he was to use on the enemy. Kody did not hesitate when it came to serving
his new collective. He emptied all eight
shots watching his multiple victims fall by his hands. He informed us in the book that once he was
alone and the drugs and alcohol induced fog was lifted he could not get the
scene out of his head; he tried to justify his actions but was unable to do
so. He got little sleep on nights when
he committed murders. Kody earned the
nickname Monster after his failed attempt to rob a man which retaliated with
hand combat, once his crew arrived and subdued the man, Kody beat the man so
badly that he was disfigured and in a coma.
The police stated that whoever had done this to that man had to be a
monster. With this new name Kody had a
reputation to live up to. Always angry
Kody main mission was to protect his set from opposing gangs and to execute as
many bloods as humanly possible. Kody
entered the judicial system at age 13 and would be a frequent participant
throughout his lifetime. Collectively
Kody has spent at least 15+ years of his life caught up in the system. He worked with the crooked police on a
reoccurring basis. They would inform
Kody and other Eight Trays of the whereabouts of rival gangs then inform them
of how much time they could give them to “get the job done”. Kody begrudgingly obliged with the cops for
his own survival. After being set-up by
some neutral females he began to suffer from symptoms of PTSD, but did not feel
that a man should suffer from anything so he never sought treatment for this
condition. Instead he relinquished
himself to the re-occurring nightmares that accompanied his condition. He would often use drugs and alcohol to fall
into a stuper and thusly a dreamless sleep.
Kody’s actions were often so monstrous that they would repulse even
fellow gang-members. His overall goal
was to reach O.G status. This was cut
short by an extended prison sentence for attempted murder, where he met Muhammad
Abdullah and sub-sequentially tried to change his life from being a gang member
to becoming an advocate against gang violence.
His reputation has not allowed for him to be very effective with this
approach and he is often harassed by the LAPD and has recently (in 2006) been
sentenced to prison for a car-jacking that he claims he had nothing to do
with.
Working
Conceptualization
Kody
Scott has the following problem behaviors.
Anger
Kody
has shown signs of extreme anger in his interactions with other human
beings. He took his first life when he
was eleven and continued through his teenage years. Kody has a heightened sense of awareness when
it comes to rival gangs and complete disregard for their lives or the lives of
anyone that happens to be in company of any of his enemies. He treated his mother with disrespect and
initiated his younger brother into the same gang that he was in. Kody was also
eager to please others with expression of his disregard for human life and
would often “suit-up” and ride around with a loaded gun “mean-mugging”
individuals to get a response so he could justify harming them.
Alcohol
and Drug Use
Kody
has been using drugs since he was eleven years-old. He and his fellow gang-members would often
smoke marijuana before and after “missions”.
They would drink alcohol before they faced their rivals on the
battlefield and was an avid user of PCP.
Kody has never been treated for his drug addictions and does not admit
to having a problem. He has been
ambushed on occasion due to his lowered sense of awareness caused by the drugs
and alcohol.
Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder
Living
in a proverbial war zone can be extremely challenging for the most adjusted of
individuals. Kody has not only been a
victim of extreme violence he has witnessed it and has partaken in the violence
as well. He has re-occurring nightmares
which he has tried to silence with drugs and alcohol. After suffering multiple gunshot wounds Kody often
woke up screaming and sweating.
Other
Underlining Problems
1)
Conduct disorder
2)
Inadequate work skills
3)
Poor cognitive functioning
4)
Low educational attainment
Treatment
Plan
Aggression
Replacement Therapy along with anger, aggression intervention will be the first
stage of treatment with Kody Scott. This
decision was made because Kody has exhibited extreme anger and disregard for
human life. Kody fist needs to undergo
anger control therapy where he will first identify the internal and external
triggers that cause him anger, what situations cause you the most anger, what
happens when anger occurs are the questions that we will focus the first
sessions on (Milkman & Wanberg 2007).
Then we will begin to explore his physical reactions to the anger once
it has been established. We would then
go through his anger reducers and how he can reduce or control his anger in
high risk situations, this is followed by self-evaluation and thinking ahead. To obtain these goals Kody must be taught some
social skills which will include; a) giving a compliment b) understanding the
feelings of others c) preparing for difficult conversations d) dealing with
someone else’s anger e) keeping out of fights f) helping others g) dealing with
accusations h) dealing with group pressure i) expressing affection and j)
responding to failures (Milkman & Wanberg 2007). The interventions that Kody will go through
will increase his coping skills and thusly decrease his anger reaction to
subsequent stimuli. The Phoenix Gang
Intervention and Prevention program has laid out an effective curriculum that
addresses anger and aggression as well as gang violence from a cognitive
behavioral therapeutic approach. This
curriculum has twenty components that help gang members effectively gain coping
skills and self-efficacy to better engage them in behavioral management. This includes a) basic skills for better
communication b) becoming a better listener c) learning to be assertive d)
where does his anger come from e) where does his anger go f) keeping out of
fights g) when he is accused of doing something h) handling provocation i)
handling when someone is angry with you j) preparing for stressful situations
k) what to do when he feels the need to complain l) handling peer pressure m)
expressing support and appreciation n) offering specific help in situations o)
what to do when he has made a mistake p) assertion skills practice q)
protecting boundaries r) conflict resolution practice s) refusal skills and t)
using escape skills (Phoenix Gang Intervention and Prevention Programs, 2011). Some of the major social and life skills that
Kody needs to learn are; communication skills, assertiveness skills building,
improvement of relational skills, conflict resolution and aggression management
(Davis & Flannery 2001). Since CBT
focuses on external behaviors addressing Kody’s behavior may give him some
relief of his PTSD symptoms. One major
goal of Kody’s is to develop the skills that are needed to live in harmony with
the community and engage in positive behaviors that contribute to society and
guide him away from the judicial system (Frew & Speigler 2008).
Other
Aspects to Address
Through
all of Kody’s lifetime he has not addressed the drugs and alcohol aspect of his
behavior. Throughout the autobiography
Kody makes reference of heavy drug use and never seeks treatment for this, even
into adulthood. He addresses the gang
behavior and decides that his life would have turned out differently if he had
not been involved in this behavior. He
would have finished school and got a proper education and thusly been a more
employable citizen. Kody also talks
around the fact that he is a father of two girls who he had not been in their
life much. He was present for the birth
of his first daughter but in jail when the other was born. Because of Kody’s aggressive behavior the
only work that he is able to get is self-employment, and he is constantly being
harassed by the local police in L.A.
Kody may benefit from some reality therapy, to see his part in these
circumstances.
References
Davis
M. S., Flannery D. J. (2001) The Institutional Treatment of Gang Members. Corrections
Management Quarterly, 2001, 5(1), 37–46
Frew
J., Spiegler D. M. (2008) Contemporary psychotherapies for a diverse world.
Houghton Mifflin Company, Lahaska Pennsylvania.
Milkman
H. Wanberg K. (2007) Cognitive behavioral treatment: A review and discussion
for correctional professionals. National Institute of Corrections. Washington
D.C.
Phoenix
Gang Intervention and Prevention (2011) retrieved on October 22, 2011 from http://www.gangprograms.com/gang_violence.php
Shakur,
S. (1999) Monster: an autobiography of an LA gang member. Turtleback Books. N.P
