It makes you wonder, you know, what put me on one side of the bars in those four years in top security prison when I was interviewing someone when maybe with a different life course and other factors in my life it could have flipped just the other way around? I’ve got a low resting heart rate. I’m a bit of a stimulation seeker and, yes, I’ve got a brain scan like a serial killer. I had poor nutrition as a kid. … What stopped me [from] becoming a killer, for example, or becoming a violent offender? I was anti-social from the age of 9 to 11. I was in a gang, smoking cigarettes, setting fire to mail, letting car tires down. …
But I’ve been intrigued: why didn’t I stay on that pathway? And it’s an area that we need to do so much more on: protective factors. What protects some people who have some of the risk factors from actually becoming an offender? I think in my life, for example, I had parents who sort of loved me. I always felt loved. There was always a roof over my head. There was always a secure environment. And I got on with my brothers and sisters. You know, and maybe that’s the critical ingredient: some love.”