I was unable to attend the interview of Criminal psychologist, Christian Perrin, but after listening to recordings I believe it can be safely said that this would have been one of the more “extreme” interviews in terms of how serious of a topic it was. Dealing with criminals was described by Mr Perrin as being harrowing as he provided examples of times where he felt “mentally unwell” and times of mental breakdown. This reminded me of Katie Powell Rachid’s interview, as she specialised in the counselling of sexual victims and had periods in her life where she needed a break to work on her self and was unable to consistently work as a councillor for an extended period of time. The way these two jobs compare was quite interesting to me, as one of the things that Mr Perrin focussed on included deciding the rehabilitation of criminals in Changi Prison whereas Ms Rachid worked with people on the other side, the victims, and helped them deal with their trauma. It really opened my eyes to how dealing with topics as serious as sexual offenders and sexual attacks would be how traumatising it can be for everyone involved. How just listening to stories is enough to impact someone until mental breakdown.

During the tape, he mentioned an incident where we interacted with a criminal who at first glance seemed entirely normal and who he may have bonded within an alternative situation, but he had done some really vile things. The thought process of knowing that these criminals can really be anyone just completely messed with his mindset. This surprised me as that was something I had already come to terms with. It didn’t occur as odd to me that anyone can be a criminal and it caused me to wonder what different experiences we may have had that have caused us to think this way. Would it be because I am a young girl, so I am automatically cautious around strangers, especially men? Or because he grew up in a safer part of the work, a more trusting environment? Or maybe because I have grown up with a different environment in terms of access to the internet, so I have been exposed to things that have caused me to be less trusting. I still haven’t figured it out. He had stereotyped criminals to fit this style and the realisation that, that is not reality really hit him hard and made him “go crazy” for a bit. (Josh’s Post)

When I was reviewing the portfolio posts of my peers to get a better understanding of what the overall response was, the mention of an encounter that Mr Perrin had stood out. He mentioned how there was an incident where “a child rapist frightened psychologists by vividly describing how he raped a baby” (Josh’s Portfolio Post). This stood out because hearing something like that may have caused some graphic thoughts and just reading it made me feel uneasy. I couldn’t imagine sitting there to have to hear that and completely digest the fact that even a professional still suffers from trauma.

To summarise, I admire the work he does as I do believe it must take a strong sense of self-control to sit there and not act out in anger towards these criminals. I am also glad I chose to listen to this interview, it taught me a lot about how the criminal system works and provided me with a reality (however harsh) on what criminals are truly like and the impacts of that.