[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Why do people commit crime? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 1/28/2008 5:09:41 AM EDT
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Do you believe people commit crime of free will, ie...weigh the pros and cons, knowing full well that their intended action is illegal, but decide to do it anyway? Or do you believe that people are motivated by other influences outside of their control? Further, do you believe in punishment for the offender...or rehabilitation and treatment? And why? TIA  
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Every criminal has his/her own reason for commiting crimes. Most petty criminals never take the time to consider consequences. Some people consider the consequences and choose not to commit crimes. Punishment is the only logical goal. All of this "rehabilitation and treatment" bullshit has done nothing but confuse people about what the true purpose of prison is. Originally, prison was intended to be a place where prisoners were punished. Somewhere along the way, people started thinking that since the guys were in prison anyway, it would be great if we could get through to them and get them to stop commiting crimes. Today, this line of thinking has been transformed into the "goal". This is the reason that you see people arguing against the death penalty, because it isn't a "deterrent". |
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Free will, of course but there are other factors. Most life long thugs and career criminals don't have the same value system as regular people. They see nothing wrong with what they do. That's why everyone in prison is innocent. When it comes to crimes of violence such as assaults and murders, anyone is capable of that, under the right circumstances. |
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Money is usually the goal, lack of opportunity is generally the motivation. This isn't the case for premeditated high crimes, generally, when yo'ure talking about Peterson or something. You can almost always look back at a habitual criminal's parents and see why they haven't learned the norms of our society or developed any respect for law. |
Exactly. I saw an interview a while back with a career house-breaker. He basically said that he had to rob people's houses because without a job he couldn't buy nice clothes or pay for nights on the town. |
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I think for your average miscreant on the street, there's one simple reason: lack of impulse control. Their lack of impulse control makes it almost impossible to hold a job (Wake up in the morning and don't feel like going to work? I won't go! Boss pisses me off? Scream at him and storm out of the building - or punch him in the face). So when you can't hold a job and you want to buy something and you have no impulse control, what do you do? You STEAL! And if you can't steal it easily without anyone noticing, then you bring a gun. And if someone pisses you off along the way, you're going to kick his ass - or shoot him. Think of a three year old boy. The average criminal's emotional state is about the same. |
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This happened Saturday night, I drove by thinking it was a DUI Checkpoint because there were so many cops.. www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012808/met_241131914.shtml This idiot and his friend go out to the local shopping mall to steal some new clothes. One idiot ends up firing 12 shots at an off duty LEO then ends up getting killed himself. As stupid as these idiots seems, it was all about escalation. First he did'nt want to get busted for shoplifting, then he didn't want to get busted with a gun, then all hell breaks loose. I don't think the kid actually planned any of it 
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People commit crimes because: They think they will never get caught. It is a personal choice to commit any criminal act (except for the pizza guy in PA. that robbed a bank with a bomb around his neck). I speed because I think I can get away with it. If I get caught I'll piss and moan, but pay the fine. I don't rape, rob, or sell drugs because it is wrong and I don't want to hurt people. I don't kill rapist, robbers, or drug dealers because I don't want to got to prison. Prison is for punishment. The people in there have made a choice to not play by the rules. Some bleeding heart says society made them that way let's educate 'em. So they learn how to read and write and given job skills training. Finally after their time is up they are out. Now are you going to hire a sexual predator or thief to manage your business? No, why? The answer is simple they have proven themselves not to be trusted. Yes, they paid for their crime but there is always that doubt in the back of your mind that they will re offend. |
| The word "Crime" covers a wide variety of human behavior; but I have known people that just plain like to steal, and think everyone that works for a living is a chump. Perhaps they are right; when they are caught we taxpayers fund their trial, their "three hots and a cot" in prison, their medical/dental care, and their education. |
 Pretty sad when the cons have better health care than the cops who put them in prison... |
Criminals are assholes. Or if you want the long explanation, they don't give two shits about you and me. We rate about the same as cockroaches to them, except we're cockroaches with money attached. If they have to step on us to get it, well, that's too bad for us. It's simpler just to say criminals are assholes and be done with it. |
| Opportunity to get ahead without having to do honest work for it. Whether you're a poor crackhead who wants to steal something and sell it to get your next fix or you're a high-powered businessman who sees an opportunity to make some quick cash breaking the rules hoping not to get caught. Some people will bend their morals and take the opportunity and some won't. You never know until you've been in the situation and made the choice I think. |
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I will also add drugs play a large part in crimes other than the drug use itself. in the prison I work in I would estimate that over 80% of the men that are inprisoned there are there for commiting a crime while intoxicated on some drug. but we should legalize drugs right?  also education , or the lack there of, is also responsible for a portion of the crimes commited. most, not all, of the inmates in prison have less than a high school education. with little oportunity for a better life (ie; good paying job) crime is a natural way to "get by". 
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Depends what theory you subscribe to. Did they exercise free will (Classical School, the Rational Choice Theory for example)? Do they live in the inner city (Concentric Zone Theory)? Is their head oddly shaped (Lombroso's Theories)? I don't think any one theory covers everything. I personally believe that the Routine Activities Theory covers most crime though. It states that for crime to occur, the following 3 conditions must be satisfied: 1. Motivated Offender. Meaning you have to have someone who wants to commit crime. 2. Suitable Target. Someone has to be a relatively easy target. A weakling walking through the slums at 3AM could qualify. 3. Lack of an Effective Guardian. If there's no fear of being caught, or the person is unprotected, this qualifies. When all three come together, crime will occur. That's my take. |
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For the majority it's laziness and desire for life's rewards without any of the work. I'd say it's cultivated by the entitlement attitude these days compounded by what they see on TV portrayed as normal or better lifestyle. Couple that with the agrandizement of the hip hop/drug dealer culture making money that way and no wonder why people can't seem to see what is right and wrong. violence, drugs, theft, it's all normal on tv and in videos. I'm of the opinion that hunger is a proper motivator. You can go hungry if you don't work. In the days before government handouts if you needed help you often got it from the community. It was humbling and you got off it. Now there is no shame in taking "government" money. In fact for a lot of people there is no shame in most anything. Unfortunately hunger can be a strong motivator to commit crime as well. Only way to keep that from being the better option (assuming the person lacks a moral compass of their own) is to have a negative reward like prison. Correctional Institutions are not prisons, they are time out corners. A prison is a place where you work the road gang, the county farm, or simply bust big rocks into little rocks. It should be a bad bad place to be and not a rest home. Right now inner prison violence is the biggest negative in prison not the perfect world state prison experience that doesn't exist. ETA- Sorry to blur the line on crime and welfare lifestyle. I just see the two as frequently (but not always) intermixed. |
That might not be the underlying reason, but it's why people ultimately cross the line. When you're driving on the highway and deicde to exceed the speed limit, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? For most people it's probably not the consequences or the reason why, it's whether or not you'll get caught. When someone decides to knock over a liquor store, do they think about the time they'll do, or do they just look at whether they can get away with it? |
+1 Exactly that. Money, hatred, insanity. Take your pick. ETA: Punishment, for the most part. |
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All men - every last one of us - are born inherently sinful. We sin (read: commit crime) because we are, by nature, sinners. The concept is easy to grasp, but the very nature that enslaves us to sin (crime) makes it impossible for us to believe we're actually that bad. |
These are exactly what I brought up, the Classical theory versus the Positivist Theory...classical holding up free will and punishment, positivist supporting that people are pushed into crime by other factors outside their control and favoring rehabilitation and treatment. (Liberal)  Thank you. 
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I'm with Swindle on this one. As far as rehab vs. punishment? I favor punishment.I favor taking away the rights of people in prison...they infringed on the rights of others to get there, so, they should not have any while there. I also think the punishment should fit the crime: term should be relatively equal to the crime--- if given 10 years, they STAY 10 years. Unfortunately to do that means we'd have to build alot more prisons. |
Generally, but not all of the time, crimes are committed by anti-social personality types (in other words, sociopaths). People often mistakenly believe that sociopaths are just serial killers and people like that. They know what they are doing is wrong, they just don't care. The only limit on their behavior is their fear of getting caught, and one of the reasons they generally hate the police, or any other authority figures. Because, those are the only limits placed on their activities and behavior, and understandably enough, they don't like that, much. And, no, they can't be fixed. You can lock them up as long as you want, and they will be exactly the same way the day you release them as they were before. |
And then there are those people that are just Fucking evil and need to be deleted from the Earth. Jacksonville Police: 4 Men Kidnap, Rape 16-Year-Old Girl |
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There are so many things that are "criminal" now. . .I think some people commit "crime" just as a way of thumbing their nose at authority. Take the so-called AWB, for instance. Untold numbers of people broke that law. . .just because. How many SBRs are in existence unlawfully? Does anybody *need* an SBR? That's a toss up. . .but we want one because we can't (easily) get one. By cutting down a barrel, I can, in some small way, push back against a (seemingly oppressive) authority. To answer the question, I believe people commit crime out of free will, knowing full well that their intended action is illegal, but deciding to do it anyway. Rehabilitation? The rehabilitation with the highest success rate is religious (read: Christian religion), and since that is not an option I have to vote for punishment. That statement should get me lots of flames. |
This. When you think about it, there is a natural urge in all people to compete for food, status, money, mates, etc. Evil is simply competing without regard to the harm caused to other people. A good person wants sex and tries to persuade a willing female to accomodate him. A bad person gets a woman drunk/high and takes advantage of her. An evil person finds a 16 year old girl and rapes her. |
Personally I think that a blend of the two explains almost all crime. I believe that ultimately, people make a choice as to whether to commit crime. That being said, I think that a number of factors (such as upbringing, economic situation, maybe even some biological issues) can predispose someone to commit crime. There is still a choice to commit crime, but factors can lead a person to be more likely to commit a crime or not. |