Dr Christian Perrin had a very interesting story that not only covered some serious and dangerous encounters with both sexual-offenders and murderers but also an amazing accidental journey that led him into the profession of Criminal psychology. Though he seemed like a regular person, he had many fascinating experiences that gave him a unique perspective on life and society.

Throughout his long talk, something that stuck with me was to not always judge people by what they do and how they act. He talked about how he met many sexual predators and murderers and even though sometimes they were unchangeable and would manipulate them, most of the time they would change. They would regret their previous decisions and try to change. One specific program was based on peer support called “Listeners scheme”, where prisoners would help each other going through hardships and help each other resolve problems. This made me empathise with them, as even though they committed some horrible crimes they had acted humanely and helped each other grow as people.

Sometimes these criminals can be treated unfairly when released in public, and one of the main reasons he hypothesised was because of the media. Many times, the media tend to vilify these criminals and make them seem like monsters or inhuman in order to get more clicks or more attention for them. Through this one of the biggest lesson, he taught us was to not judge a book by its cover. Though very important to his story, I think it is a lesson that is taught to everyone for a reason, it is very relevant in our daily lives. We tend to make quick judgements of people which prevents us from getting to know them and sometimes distance ourselves from people we could possibly be good friends with. So something we could improve on as a society would be to be more open-minded and accepting of others who may seem a bit different.