The progression to Criminality - Part 2

What was left out.*

Sometimes Fogy gets a little distracted, slides out of context, and ends up in a shitload of trouble.

In the first part of this subject, Fogy got stuck into the concept of statistics and forgot to address the subject at hand.

What is this progress to criminality?

Cause and effect. Is it? Or are some people naturally born to be criminals?

So much speculation surrounds environmental impacts and fragmented family structures that many within these environments tend to accept the inevitability of crime in their future—very much like those who believe their behaviour is dictated by the star-sign they were born under.

There are aspects here that influence outcomes, and so much effort is spent making those involved believe such things. Why? Because outcomes then become more predictable, and responses easier to implement.

But we don't need to act the way our star-signs dictate. We are free to be who we are, naturally. So why should the underprivileged comply with such scripts? They can become top performers and reformers in their own right—when given the incentive to do so.

But what of those who can’t?

When your environment is prescribed to be strictly one way, then the view from the inside becomes something like this:

• I will never be rich

• I will never be educated

• I will die young

• What have I got to lose?

And this is where the “live the life I want, as long as it lasts” syndrome takes over.

I want something I could never have—even if I worked my whole life. Steal it, and I can have it now: an iPhone, a motorcycle, even drugs.

I will use a gun, and I will kill people—because it doesn’t matter. I’m going to die young anyway, so what’s the worst that can happen?

I will be seen as a hero among my peers, because they value nothing else.

And my family? They’ll have to understand—because they’ve never had anything. At least I had a little of what they never did.

So now to the other end of the spectrum.

The privileged, have-it-all extreme. Why do they become criminals?

Opportunity, greed, and addiction. That first paycheque can feel like an insult—so much work for so little return. But when the opportunity arises to inflate that value by doing simple tasks (legal or not), addiction sets in. It's hardly distinguishable from greed.

Addiction breeds contempt, and the undying certainty that "they’ll never know" or "nobody will catch me" prevails—until the inevitable happens.

And I guess now’s the moment to mention: many of the so-called criminals harboured by our justice systems are not necessarily different from so many others. They simply represent those who’ve been caught. Others, doing the same things, often react with hypocrisy—while continuing the very same actions.

But enough of that. Let’s move on.

Are criminals born to be criminals?

A whole series could be written about the probabilities of that being true. Yet some criminals—those who truly are—seem to have been born without the genes that help them understand social rules, ethics, or how to control their inbuilt animal instincts. And make no mistake—we all have them.

Just as some people are born with innate skills that enable them to perform acts above and beyond what’s considered normal, perhaps some criminals are born with innate tendencies too—albeit extremely anti-social, contrary to the common good, and worst of all, in conflict with the biblical standards understood by so many.

Born or not, criminality is an open MBA course—uncertified, available to us all—and like so many professions, subject to the same consequences the underlying risks represent.

Cheers

👁️ Views (0)

We have bars everywhere and never know which side we are on.