Crime Is A Choice

Some social scientists treat the cause of crime as a scientific mystery, a natural outcome determined by factors that we don't yet completely know. They avoid the word "choice" -- speaking instead of "precursors," "influences," and "correlates" of crime. Not surprisingly, they find that troubles and social pathologies are loosely associatied.

But in Crime, a collection of scholarly essays edited by James Q. Wilson and Joan Ptersilia, the late Richard Hernstein (co-author of The Bell Curve) says:

• The real cause of crime is "people for whom the positive side of the ledger sufficiently outweighs the negative side and who have the opportunity for breaking the law."

• And that "Most individuals with the early precursors of criminal behavior do not become serious offenders..."

This suggests crime is a moral choice, not a contagious disease or involuntary compulsion, and that criminals are rational -- but immoral.

That is the approach taken by the writers in Criminal Justice?: The Legal System Versus Individual Responsibility, edited by James Bidinotto.

Bidinotto says ordinary citizens are right to believe individuals are responsible for what they do, while the experts -- whom he calls the Excuse-Making Industry -- have twisted the purpose of the criminal justice system from punishment of wrongdoers to their treatment and rehabilitation.

• The experts' fundamental error is determinism, the "billiard ball" theory of human action.

• To them, free will or volition sounds "causeless" and therefore unscientific.

• But since humans have the additional capacity to think and are goal-directed, we are causes, not just effects of biological, psychological or social forces.

Thus "Punishment is an affirmation of the autonomy, responsibility, and dignity of the individual," write essayists John DiIulio and Charles Logan.

Source: Morgan O. Reynolds (director, Criminal Justice Center - National Center for Policy Analysis and professor of economics at Texas A&M University), "Crime-Stoppers' Textbooks," Reason, August/September 1995, Reason Foundation, 3415 Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 400, Los Angeles, CA 90034, (310) 391-2245.

Poverty Of Values Causes Crime

But new evidence suggests that crime exacerbates poverty, rather than the other way around. Crime may be driven by a poverty of values, high levels of illegitimacy and fatherlessness, and social pathologies which grew even as America prospered and the welfare state expanded.

• It is estimated the war on poverty has cost more than $5.4 trillion in 30 years.

• Resources poured into the fight have grown more than fivefold in less than 30 years.

• The federal government aims 77 major means-tested programs at the poor, and hundreds more exist at the state and local level.

Yet over the same 30-year period, the national crime rate has doubled.

• Crime began to rise in the mid-1960s, and peaked in 1974 with 10.2 homicides per 100,000 -- compared to 4.7 in 1961.

• In 1993, the homicide rate was 10 per 100,000.

• Crimes against property have grown 259 percent over the past 30 years, but violent crimes have increased 560 percent.

• The poor are two to three times more likely to be victims of violent crime than those above the poverty line.

Source: Matthew Robinson, "The Real 'Root Causes' of Crime," Investor's Business Daily, November 10, 1995.

Rights Without Responsibility

Social attitudes and welfare programs eased the way for unmarried, immature women to bear children with no father or other male authority in the home. The result is children who join gangs that stand in for families, where they learn violence as a way of life. Evidence of the social pathologies set in motion in the 1960s can be found in journalist Edward Humes's No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court.

Reforms in the 1960s transformed the juvenile justice system:

• It had been based on the idea of parens patriae -- decision making by wise adults in the best interests of a minor.

• Now it gives juveniles all the protections of the adult criminal system -- legal representation, exclusionary rules and other due process requirements.

• However, it doesn't have the adults system's serious sanctions and still promises confidentially.

The juvenile justice system is incapable of contending with the remorseless young armed robbers and killers of Los Angeles detailed in Humes's book. It fails to rescue those who can be salvaged or restrain those for whom it is too late.

Hard core repeat offenders are less than 10 percent of the nation's criminal young; yet the juvenile system focuses its attention and resources on them. Scholar John DiLulio and New York City Judge Judy Sheindlin (in her book, Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining) agree that intervention can save many younger children. For them, the best antidote to the alienation and lack of empathy typical of young criminals is an adult presence that tempers affection with firmness.

Source: Rita Kramer (author, At a Tender Age: Violent Youth and Juvenile Justice), "The Young and Lawless," Wall Street Journal, February 27, 1996.

Kids Say Crimes O.K.

Half of California kids ages 10 to 14 claim they have broken laws and 44 percent admit to breaking school rules, according to a survey of 600 youths throughout the state by the California Bar Association. But only 1 percent of the preteens are involved in gangs, using hard drugs or carrying guns.

The study found that many children have misconceptions about the law:

• According to 17 percent of the kids, it is legal to beat or hit a family member; 17 percent don't think it is illegal to break into someone's locker; and 16 percent think it's legal for minors to smoke cigarettes.

• About 10 percent believe it is legal for minors to keep or store stolen goods, carry a gun and drink alcohol.

• And 10 percent think it is OK to break the law for revenge.

One in ten had skipped school, smoked cigarettes and shoplifted. However, almost all the youngsters understand that shoplifting, buying drugs, using marijuana and carrying a concealed weapon are illegal. And some 68 percent say they would like to see laws passed against joining a gang.

Many of the children saw no connection between breaking the law and consequences, according to the Bar Association.

Source: Leslie Goldberg (San Francisco Examiner), "Half of Youths Surveyed Have Broken the Law," Houston Chronicle, May 2, 1996.