ABSTRACT
Differentiation is necessary between an original learning process and a reclaiming of ground lost during the process we call brutalization. The latter is a reaction to circumstances that are persecutory, perhaps through their seductive temptingness, as with drugs, alcohol, perverse or in other ways unwise sexuality or aggressive behavior that has stirred a powerful counteraction by agents of the law. None of us is ever completely free from the processes of brutalization, though they occur mostly in far less dramatic ways. Sometimes the reparative activities are not nearly so dramatic. Group brutality certainly intensifies violent, sadistic, and uncivilized practices, but the fact is that there are group or gang leaders with ingrained, often very severe, character disturbances. Detachment during rehabilitation and reattachment to a nondelinquent group with subsequent loyalty to the nonbrutalized leader is often successful.
