On Civil Society And Acts Of Crime

Posted: 9/24/2018

Introduction

This blog post is primarily focused on Western democracies, but, I suspect, my discussion here has some relevance to other parts of the world as well.

Definition Of Crime

Theft, fraud, physical violence resulting in injury or death against humans (includes eg. poisoning), physical violence against or damage to property. Negligence or recklessness which harms others.

A crime committed to (purportedly) correct another crime or a previous crime is still a crime.  

Not every crime defined by law is actually a crime. This is a very important point to keep in mind!

Premise

In a civilized and under the rule of law society there are basically no justifications for crime! There is absolutely not justification for career criminals!

Many Pseudo & Wrong Justifications Of Crime

Plenty of pseudo, but influential justifications for crime were promulgated and steadily promoted over the centuries. Unfortunately, they have gained great popularity and familiarity.

Robin Hood excuse: To steal from the rich and give it to the poor often with the implied or insinuated accusation that the rich themselves are thieves and that is why or how they got rich. Perhaps, there was some truth to this excuse centuries ago or when it comes to uncivilized societies or societies without the rule of law. Most of the times, thieves steal for themselves only and rarely give anything to the poor.

Social or environmental causes of crime excuse: This is a very popular excuse especially among lefties! It is  society or environmental circumstances are at fault why some members of society choose a career of crime. How convenient is that to explain away and to absolve individual responsibility! Once you accept this excuse, its proponents demand a Big Government to take care of it by expanding e.g. the welfare state.

Poverty as excuse: This is a particular lame excuse! There are many non criminal and voluntary ways available in a civil society to overcome or reduce poverty. Many individuals in a civil society are willing to provide voluntary help or relieve to those in poverty. Crime as a means of taking justice into your own hands is not acceptable.

Substance or other addiction excuse: Poor addicts cannot help themselves but to commit crimes to sustain their lives of addiction or so it goes. In prison, addicted criminals could receive medical treatment for their addiction. Whether to legalize drugs is another topic. How to deal with intramural (in prison) drug dealers is another question.

White collar versus blue collar crime excuse: This is another one of the famous, often repeated excuses. The excuse tends to go like this that white collar criminals:

1. Face much less law enforcement
2. Rarely go to jail
3. Can afford to hire much better attorneys for their defense
4. Evidence against them is much harder to come by

These arguments are flimsy and do not hold up to scrutiny, e.g. the victims of white collar crimes are often very sophisticated themselves and should have better known or the victims do not even choose to indict the criminal for various reasons.

Opportunity makes a thief excuse: Yes, of course, put the blame on the victim of a crime. Good defenses against crime often do not come cheap and these defenses need to be constantly updated and 100% maintained 24 hours year round, while a criminal (like a terrorist) has to succeed only once at a time, manner, and place of his/her choosing. A very asymmetric advantage of a criminal.

The Economic View Of Crime

To summarize:

1. Criminals are rational, planning, and calculating like other humans.Criminals constantly weigh the benefits and disadvantages of committing a crime versus a law abiding life
2. Criminals tend to fear or avoid crimes punished with harsh sentences
3. Criminals tend to avoid strong crime preventative measures
4. Crimes pays very well for some career criminals. Therefore, many try to become such criminals themselves
5. The very asymmetric advantage of a criminal, because he exploits human trust and wish to live in peace and harmony. The huge advantage of a criminal of choosing where, when and how to commit a crime

Ultima Ratio Justification

One of the very few acceptable justifications for crime would be the threat of imminent starvation of the person or a loved one of the person. E.g. the person steals food, because the person tried everything humanly possible to obtain food legally, but the person failed due to no fault of his or her own.

Widespread Complacency About Crime

It appears, there is a widespread complacency about crimes in Western democracies:

1. There will always be some crime committed. Crimes cannot be completely eliminated
2. Criminals should be given more opportunities to become a law abiding citizen and a valuable member of society
3. It is society’s fault at large that we have criminals. So let’s treat criminals as human as possible

In a civil society, (not even petty) crimes should never be ignored or taken lightly. Crimes undermine the foundation of a civil society. Crimes encourage further crimes.