Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Why they do it
The Times reporting on the murder on lawyer Thomas ap Rhys Pryce, have done a side feature called Why they do it here. Basically reporting on a study by the Economic and Social Research Council, which seems to have involved asking muggers for the motivation for their crimes.
Now I'm not one to presume that just because you ask a question you'll get an honest answer, but the five main motives seem to have some kind of "ring of truth" about them:
"To have a good time"
"Keeping up appearances"
"For the buzz"
"A desire to fight"
"Informal justice"
This is of course a blow to leftie criminologists. Surely they were motivated by social inequality? Perhaps being unable to progress in an oppressive capitalist atmosphere, due to a denial of opportunity, they turned to crime as they had no choice. Or maybe it's really a cry for help.
Well in their own words, it appears not so. Let's face it they know what they are doing and they've given us the reasons; which are quite close to what some of us have suspected for some time. They commit crimes to "have a good time" etc, strong harsh punishments are what will deter them, and if the punishment doesn't deter, then it must teach a lesson. The lesson it must teach is that when you are caught you will have to pay for your crimes with interest, and that the crime is your own responsibility, the fault lies with the perpetrator and solely with the perpetrator.
The next time anyone is tempted to think of socialist excuses as reasons for crime, I hope they remember that in the words of the perpetrators, these are the motivations:
"To have a good time"
"Keeping up appearances"
"For the buzz"
"A desire to fight"
"Informal justice"
Now I'm not one to presume that just because you ask a question you'll get an honest answer, but the five main motives seem to have some kind of "ring of truth" about them:
"To have a good time"
"Keeping up appearances"
"For the buzz"
"A desire to fight"
"Informal justice"
This is of course a blow to leftie criminologists. Surely they were motivated by social inequality? Perhaps being unable to progress in an oppressive capitalist atmosphere, due to a denial of opportunity, they turned to crime as they had no choice. Or maybe it's really a cry for help.
Well in their own words, it appears not so. Let's face it they know what they are doing and they've given us the reasons; which are quite close to what some of us have suspected for some time. They commit crimes to "have a good time" etc, strong harsh punishments are what will deter them, and if the punishment doesn't deter, then it must teach a lesson. The lesson it must teach is that when you are caught you will have to pay for your crimes with interest, and that the crime is your own responsibility, the fault lies with the perpetrator and solely with the perpetrator.
The next time anyone is tempted to think of socialist excuses as reasons for crime, I hope they remember that in the words of the perpetrators, these are the motivations:
"To have a good time"
"Keeping up appearances"
"For the buzz"
"A desire to fight"
"Informal justice"
Labels: Crime
