Downward Spiral
Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious
A/N: As I begin my internship at the probation office, I watch a training video that makes me realize something. The criminogenic needs and traits that can cause someone, unsupported and unhelped, to go down the path of criminality is something I have not capitalized on. So here you go, please enjoy this tale. We're going to see the "present day" first, but the story is primarily taking place in Trina's teen years. The "present day" just refers to when the criminologists begin talking with Trina as the subject, with her future unclear until the end…this may be my last Victorious story as well while I move back to iCarly.
Chapter 1 (Prologue: Case Study)
A woman in the middle of her thirties made her way towards a university classroom, prepared to give lecture over the insights of the criminal mind using a case study with the subject that inspired her to study criminology.
She had long dark hair which swept the middle of her back, and wore a professional outfit consisting of a navy blue, round collar shirt and a dark blue skirt that swept past her knees. Her brown eyes were like two dark specks on her pale complexion, and her red painted lips were flattened into a thin line below her slender nose.
Her black purse hung from her right padded shoulder, and she clutched a briefcase in her right hand so tightly that her knuckles were becoming white as the chalk on the board of the classroom.
The University professor stood almost leisurely against the desk in front of a room full of nearly one hundred students. His shoulders were perched up like the tips of mountains and his tanned face bore a tired expression as stress lines formed on his forehead.
His waist was against the edge of his desk and his hands were gripping the edge and his knuckles were just as white as hers. His familiar brown hair was longer and straighter than it was in his teens, and he had a thick comb-shaped moustache which bristled with every slow breath from his nostrils. "Ms. West," he introduced firmly before correcting himself. "Dr. West."
Jade slung her hair over her left shoulder and closed her eyes. "Good morning, Dr. Oliver." Beck taught the criminology course on campus, but he wasn't a criminologist; he was only a teacher within the university's criminal justice program. He reached out to her, inviting her to be a guest speaker in his class. "It's been a long time."
"Not long enough," she heard him whisper. She rolled her eyes and stepped in front desk, then turned towards the class. Beck pushed himself from the desk and clapped his hands while stepping alongside Jade. "Alright class, let me introduce Dr. Jadelyn LaClair West, renowned Criminologist and foremost forensic psychiatrist." Jade flashed a pleasant smile as Beck extended a hand towards her. "She is here as today's guest speaker and will educate you on a very important subject."
"I am here to talk to you about Criminogenic Needs and risk factors that can enable someone to fall onto the path of crime." She saw some eyes glaze over while other students hastily put their pends to their notepads. Jade set her briefcase carefully on the desk and walked towards the right. Her eyes flickered towards the clock on the wall and she took a slow, deep breath.
"I will also explain how it can be possible for people brought up the same way but yet one may become a criminal while the other will not." She heard Beck start to cough and raised an eyebrow. "I will discuss with you my personal case study which involves a girl that I knew personally some time ago, one whom I began to study to try and figure out why a girl raised by a cop father would go into a life of crime, but her sister would not."
Beck slid his hand through his hair and raised it. "Let me interject for the moment." Jade's eyebrows slid up and the students looked eagerly towards their teacher. "The girl she mentions is somebody that we both knew. That family is someone we knew twenty years ago." He frowned and turned his eyes to her. "We may have been partially responsible, according to Dr. West's case study."
"That is correct." She crossed her arms and her cheeks were indented by the corners of her mouth. "But I will get to this. The first thing you need to know is a 2010 study by Andrews and Bonta, who have singled out eight criminogenic risk and need factors."
Beck nodded and a student raised their hands, asking what was important to know regarding these. She smiled at the student and took a deep breath. "It's important for counselors, and even probation officers, to know these so that the know what level of treatment and what criminogenic needs are to be focused on. The goal here is to try and limit the risk of future criminal behavior."
Beck leaned back against his desk and folded his arms neatly against his chest. "You'll hear talk of the Central Eight, where the first four are said to have the greatest impact on the reoffending of crime."
"Correct. The second group of four have a little bit of a less impact, but still impacting enough."
Jade grabbed her laptop from the briefcase and hooked it up to the projector in the classroom while Beck set up the powerpoint for her. Once it was up and running, Jade grabbed the remote to change slides and turned to the first, which detailed each of the eight risk factors.
"Write these down."
The eight were as follows: A history of antisocial behavior, antisocial personality patterns, antisocial cognition, antisocial associates, family and marital circumstances, school and work, leisure and recreation, and finally substance abuse.
Environment and social groups were a heavy influence on a person, as well as their manner of thinking. For Jade's case study, she focused on Katrina Vega. Much of the girl's life she faced neglect and isolation from her family, and she did not have very many friends.
"The difference…" Jade put up the next slide, which showed a photograph of Trina and her sister, Tori. "…Between these two girls is simple: One was well loved by her parents and had a good circle of friends that gave her a positive environment for which she could grow and build positive interpersonal skills. The other did not have friends, was isolated from her family and her peers, was constantly belittled and made to feel as a failure."
Beck rolled his head to the right and slowly shook his head. "If I remember, we wondered why she still lived with her parents when she was nineteen, twenty years old. Katrina dropped out of high school her junior or senior year, unbeknownst to her family. Right?"
"That's right." Jade frowned and paced in front of the class. "Miss Vega did not have a network of people to support her or to push her to continue forward. She was often overshadowed by her younger sister, and she felt as though she did not have many talents, and multiple rejections caused this woman to feel as though she could not accomplish anything."
"When did it all begin?"
"Childhood, of course."
"No, I mean the crime."
Jade rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a circular motion. "This is a criminology course, Professor. The traits that establish a criminal mindset go far beyond when a person has committed their very first crime."
Another student raised their hand and pointed at the photograph. "That's Victoria Vega," the student quipped, "She's a big time pop star now, isn't she?" Jade looked at the screen and smiled.
"Yes. She was the successful one. Her parents did all they could to put her through college. Still, she was not the focus of the study. She is a part of it, however."
"We all were. You, me, Robbie, Andre, and even Cat. We were the circle of friends that Tori had, the ones that pushed her to keep going and make a name for herself." Beck crossed his right ankle over his left and narrowed his eyes at his students. "You see, both sisters grew up in a home that was filled with neglect and chaos. Both grew up feeling isolated from their parents and from their peers. Victoria was shy, Katrina acted out for attention, perhaps more so after she helped her sister get into a prestigious arts school."
"Correct. She met us." Jade's eyebrows bounced and her eyes slammed shut as she remembered the very moment Tori came into their lives. Her throat tightened and her head turned slightly to Beck. "Of course Professor Oliver insisted on us being friends with her." Beck's faint smile faded and his eyes darted to the door.
"Right. We pushed Tori to try for everything she could, to excel and do the best she could. Eventually we managed to convince her parents that they could be proud of her."
"Positive peers and a nurturing environment can help to prevent someone that has a recipe for a criminal mind to go that route."
"While we're at it, Dr. West…" Beck's fingers tapped his arm and his voice grew thick and rough. "Care to explain to the class our involvement?"
She straightened her back and raised her head so as not to appear affected in any way. "Yes." She wouldn't mince words. In all her years of research through criminology, she knew the impact that this group of friends had on Tori's sibling. "We hounded Katrina, we were part of the problem." Some of the tired students perked up and their eyes grew large. "When she would act up, we'd insult her. When she would do something to us, we would do something back-"
"To get her not to do it again." Beck's eyes closed and his muscles tensed as the stress creases on his forehead stretched out further. "Of course, we didn't start to realize we were doing anything wrong-or I didn't-until that time Robbie, Andre and I played that puppet gag on her and her father. I never thought I'd hear the guy tell his daughter to get as far away as she could, but he did, and when I went back to apologize, she was poking holes in the tires of her father's car…"
She nearly smirked at the memory. When this happened, David was clearly enraged, but he didn't think Trina was responsible. No one knew she was responsible until Jade began her study and Beck informed her of what he had witnessed that night.
In fact, the very next day David grabbed Robbie out of school, accusing him of the crime. Robbie had already been accused of stalking both the Vega sisters, among other crimes against the family he was suspected of, so David was sure he was the culprit.
"Poor Robert." Jade shook her head and curled up the corner of her lip. "Captain Vega interrogated him, almost illegally I might add, for hours." A chuckling scoff fell from Beck's mouth and he turned his head away.
"The guy had nightmares for days and couldn't go over to the Vega home for a while. Mr. Vega never found out it was his daughter, or if he did, I'm not certain what happened." He flashed a toothy grin and waved his hand in the air. "But I digress, please continue on with your lecture. We only have a few hours."
"She had a lot of anger that night, I imagine." Jade scratched at her chin and slanted her eyes. "Remember when Robert and Catherine told us about her smashing their guitar?"
"Yes. Some guy dumped her and made them sing it to her."
Jade clicked her tongue and hit the slide to show some information regarding Trina. "I started my case study in my Junior year of college when I began an internship at my father's probation department. I was shocked to discover Miss Vega on one of the officers' caseload. That's was when I determined to find out what caused this girl to commit the crime that put her on probation to begin with."
Beck coughed in his hand and stepped alongside her, still keeping his gaze away from her. "Or more appropriately." He rolled his head to the right and his eyebrows rose up slowly. "The crimes that she had committed, when she got involved in drugs and alcohol to find solace, and what it was that began the downward spiral of Katrina Vega."
"This is her story…"
There's a reason Trina's fate is left ambiguous here. Obviously you're not to know what her present day status is until the end. There's a lot of questions to be raised, and this prologue just explains a bit of how environment, socialization, and other psychological factors can cause such extreme wavering. As you see, Tori became a success, there's a reason for this despite that both girls grew up in a household environment where they would have been neglected and felt isolated from their family. The reason for Tori's end versus Trina's is quite easy if you think about it and once you realize where the distinction happened.
