Is Crime a Real Threat to You?

Have you ever been mugged, or do you know someone who has?

Are you afraid to go out on the streets once the sun has set? Or if you do, do you take precautions?

Do you avoid taking the subway or public transport at certain times of the day? If you have young children, do you warn them about talking to strangers?

Are you worried that your children might be attacked at school?

Do you have more than one lock on your door? Do you have a burglar alarm or a special locking device on your car? Do you lock your bicycle if you park it out on the street?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you perceive crime as a real threat to you.

IN RECENT years people have become more aware of crime. Why? Because it has affected their neighborhood, their friends, their family, themselves. As The New York Times headlined it, “Fear of Crime Is Now Woven Into the Fabric of City Lives.” The article went on to say: “For New York City residents, wealthy as well as poor, crime is no longer something that happens to other people. It pervades the city, and it has forced changes​—some subtle, some dramatic—​in the way people live their lives.” And that applies not only to New York but to many other cities around the world.

Crime​—A World “Growth Industry”

INDIA: Crime is by no means just an American problem. It is a world plague. For example, the magazine India Today spoke of the northern state of Bihar as a “Kidnappers’ Kingdom.” Said a brother of one kidnapping victim: “There is total terror. We have stopped coming out of our houses after sundown. We live under constant fear.” Another press headline was, “Organized Crime a Growth Industry in India.”

ITALY: Italy has its crime problems too​—and not just with the Mafia. There is also “the Camorra, a criminal empire founded over a century ago along the lines of the Sicilian Mafia, a state within a state,” according to The Washington Post. This criminal society “is believed to have been responsible for nearly 1,000 murders over the past three years,” says the same source.

JAPAN: Crime is a cause for concern in Japanese society. One paper recently reported that Japan has 2,330 crime groups known to the police, with a total of nearly 100,000 gangsters.

CHINA: The government has taken drastic measures in an effort to cut back on its own “mounting crime problem,” according to the Far Eastern Economic Review. Murderers and rapists are sometimes executed publicly, and other criminals are paraded through the streets with placards hanging from their necks announcing their names and their crimes.

BRAZIL: A poll taken in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro indicates that 65 percent of the population deliberately avoid areas known to be dangerous; 85 percent no longer wear jewels or carry valuables when they leave home. Over 90 percent of those polled believe they could be attacked at any time.

NIGERIA: Crime is also a part of life in African countries. Writing in the New Nigerian, correspondent A. Adamu explained: “Burglary, armed-robbery, arson, murder and mayhem, the hideous cruelty with which these are carried out in this country today leave one dumb-struck and at a loss for how best to describe the state of terror and frenzy crime has created on the popular mind.”

The truth is, fear of crime stalks most major cities. This widespread perception of crime inhibits the law-abiding segment of society. And people are tired of being intimidated and of having inadequate protection. So when a citizen strikes back against the criminals, he receives an initial ground swell of sympathy.

But why do so many people turn to crime? Could it be that, contrary to the old saying, crime does indeed pay?

Does Crime Pay?

“Nobody goes out and commits a crime because they are hungry today,” stated New York’s Mayor Koch. “So why do people overwhelmingly commit crimes?” He continued: “Because you have better odds of not getting caught than you do at the race track. If you have 500,000 or more felonies committed, only 100,000 of them end in arrests and only 2 percent go to jail. Those are . . . good odds.”

OF COURSE, the opinion of Mayor Koch is only one aspect of a very complex problem​—the causes of crime. Nevertheless, it is a valid point. If the criminal class in any country believe that there is little possibility of being caught, they are likely to continue in their lucrative career.

Often the basic motivation for crime is the desire for money. Stolen property is quickly turned into cash. And what is one of the biggest single cash movers in the world today? Here is a clue: “If there were one corporation marketing cocaine today in the United States, its $30 billion [$30,000 million] annual revenues would place it seventh among the Fortune 500 corporations.” (The New York Times) And that represents only one drug​—cocaine! If we could combine all the money moved in all drug trading worldwide, the figure would be mind boggling. Crime and drugs are paying fat dividends to people all over the world. Drug millionaires are building expensive villas and luxury homes for themselves. For them, crime does pay. But how do they get away with it?

Why Does Crime Thrive?

Among the various reasons that crime thrives, one is fundamental​—a flaw in the judiciary system of many countries. What is it? The Bible states: “It is because sentence upon a wicked act is not promptly carried out that men do evil so boldly.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11, The New English Bible) That ancient maxim is perhaps even more valid today, when in many parts of the world the slow legal process favors the criminal. One California lawyer stated: “One of the best defences is delay.” Memories dim and sometimes motivation to prosecute diminishes because of all the trouble caused to the victims.​—See page 6, “The Criminal Injustice System.”

For many, crime is paying off​—handsomely. And who pays the price? The general public does, especially the lower income levels of society who are the least protected. U.S. Senator D’Amato stated in a letter to fellow New Yorkers that there was a “small dent in the crime rate.” But he added: “We still dead bolt our doors. We still live in fear of going out at night, even to the grocery store or church or temple. When we do go out, we make sure to walk where there are plenty of people and, more and more, we make sure to carry some ‘mugging money.’ There are so many things to worry about now, things we never used to fear. Sometimes we are so afraid that we become prisoners, while those who should be locked up go free.”

But why do some turn to crime as a way of life? Are poverty, hunger, and unemployment the basic reasons?

[Box on page 6]

The Criminal Injustice System

The following comparison of the effects of a crime on a criminal and on his victim are based on a chart published in The Daily Oklahoman and prepared by Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Turpin.

THE CRIMINAL

Has a choice​—to commit crime or not.

Arrest

1. Must be informed of his rights.

3. Is provided with a lawyer if unable to afford one.

4. May be released on bail or own recognizance.

Pretrial

1. Is provided food and accommodation.

2. Books, TV, and recreation available.

Trial

1. Is provided with state-appointed attorney.

2. Can plea bargain to obtain lesser sentence.

3. Can delay the trial and change its venue.

Sentencing

1. May not go to prison​—there are numerous alternatives.

Sentence

1. If sent to prison, has free food and accommodation again.

3. Can improve education and develop job skills.

4. Numerous rehabilitation programs available.

5. With good conduct and work, can get early release.

After Release

1. Aid programs and loans available.

End Result

Large proportion return to a life of crime.

THE VICTIM

Has no choice​—involuntary victim of crime.

Arrest

2. Is responsible for replacing own property losses.

3. Is responsible for economic problems resulting from crime.

4. Loses time in cooperating with law-enforcement agencies.

5. Is generally not informed of progress of case.

Pretrial

2. Is still kept in the dark on case progress.

Trial

1. Again must arrange for and pay for transport and parking.

2. Must pay baby-sitter or other home costs.

5. Has no right of appeal, even if criminal is released.

Sentencing

1. Has no say in decision, pleas, or sentencing.

2. Is often not even called for the sentencing.

After Release

1. Is often dissatisfied with criminal “justice” system.

2. Is in fear of released criminal(s) and retaliation.

3. Trauma may continue for rest of his/​her life.

End Result

[Picture on page 5]

Drugs​—one of the biggest single cash movers in the world today

What Makes a Criminal?

“I BELIEVED that criminal behavior was a symptom of buried conflicts that had resulted from early traumas and deprivation . . . I thought that people who turned to crime were victims of a psychological disorder, an oppressive social environment, or both. . . . I saw crime as being almost a normal, if not excusable, reaction to the grinding poverty, instability, and despair that pervaded their lives.” (Inside the Criminal Mind) (Italics ours.) That was the view of psychiatrist Stanton Samenow before he started to interview hundreds of criminals.

In an effort to explain why a person becomes a criminal, psychiatrists and other experts have put forward a variety of reasons​—unemployment, poor education, harsh family background, nutritional imbalance, and psychological pressures, among others. While these factors can be an influence, another fact cannot be ignored​—millions of people endure these circumstances daily without turning to crime as a solution.

Criminals​—Victims or Victimizers?

After lengthy investigation, Dr. Samenow adopted a different approach. He writes: “The essence of this approach is that criminals choose to commit crimes. Crime resides within the person and is ‘caused’ by the way he thinks, not by his environment.” (Italics ours.) “Criminals cause crime​—not bad neighborhoods, inadequate parents, television, school, drugs, or unemployment.”

This led him to change his viewpoint of the criminal mind. He continues: “From regarding criminals as victims we saw that instead they were victimizers who had freely chosen their way of life.” Therefore, he infers, instead of spoon-feeding excuses to the criminal for his conduct, we should make him conscious of his own responsibility.​—See page 9, “Profile of a Hardened Criminal.”

Judge Lois Forer of Pennsylvania, who advocates a change in the U.S. sentencing system, writes, “My conclusions are based on the belief that every human being is responsible for his acts.”​—Criminals and Victims, page 14.

Why Choose Wrong in the First Place?

Regarding this question, Dr. Samenow arrives at a simple conclusion: “Behavior is largely a product of thinking. Everything we do is preceded, accompanied, and followed by thinking.” Therefore, how can criminal behavior be altered? He answers: “The criminal must learn to identify and then abandon thinking patterns that have guided his behavior for years.” (Italics ours.) This simple conclusion accords with the Bible’s teaching.

For example, the Bible writer James explained: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin.” (James 1:14, 15) In other words, the way we act depends on how we think. A wrong desire is the result of the thought process. A sin or a crime is the outcome of an incorrect desire and a bad choice.

Paul directs attention to the thought process as fundamental to a change of personality by referring to “the force actuating your mind.” (Ephesians 4:23) The Jerusalem Bible renders that passage: “Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution.” Likewise today, there has to be a radical change in thinking, since “crimes result from the way a person thinks.”​—Inside the Criminal Mind.

This still leaves the question, How did the criminal acquire his antisocial thinking patterns in the first place?

When the Seeds Are Sown

“Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) This Bible maxim goes to the heart of the matter. The key is to ‘train the boy,’ not the young man, but earlier​—the boy. Why is it necessary to start when the child is so young? Because thought and behavior patterns are established in infancy and childhood.

True, some negative traits are built in at birth because we are all born imperfect. (Romans 5:12) As the Bible says: “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy.” However, that scripture adds: “The rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him.”​—Proverbs 22:15.

Many criminals try to justify their conduct by harking back to childhood influences, blaming their parents, teachers, and others. Dr. Samenow draws a different conclusion: “Criminals claim they were rejected by parents, neighbors, schools, and employers, but rarely does a criminal say why he was rejected. Even as a young child, he was sneaky and defiant, and the older he grew, the more he lied to his parents, stole and destroyed their property, and threatened them. He made life at home unbearable . . . It was the criminal who rejected his parents rather than vice versa.”​—See page 8, “Profile of a Budding Career Criminal.”

Yes, the seeds of criminal behavior are often sown in childhood and sometimes are unwittingly nurtured by overindulgent parents. Dr. Patterson, psychologist at the Oregon Social Learning Center, believes that “most delinquency may well develop due to ineffective parenting skills.” He refers to parents “who are unable to maintain clear rules, monitor compliance and handle even minor violations with nonphysical punishment.”

Dr. Samenow concludes: “The criminal child’s departure from parental and societal expectations involves more than isolated acts. Beginning as early as during the preschool years, patterns evolve that become part of a criminal life style.” (Italics ours.) As a consequence, some psychologists are now turning their attention to the field of crime prevention in childhood by offering help to those parents and children who have a potential delinquency problem.

Crime, its causes and possible solutions, is a complex subject. Would increased employment and an improved environment change the picture for some? Are more and bigger prisons the answer? Would more police on the beat cut down crime? In fact, is there any practical solution to crime at all in our present human society?

[Box/​Pictures on page 8]

Profile of a Budding Career Criminal

As a child, the criminal is a being with an iron will, expecting others to indulge his every whim. He takes risks, becomes embroiled in difficulties, and then demands to be bailed out and forgiven.

The parents become the first in the criminal’s long string of victims.

The child constructs an increasingly impenetrable barrier to communication. He lives a life that he wants to hide from his parents. What he does he considers none of their business.

The delinquent lies so often and so long that his lying appears to be compulsive. Yet the lying is totally under his control.

The child has contempt not only for his parents’ advice and authority but for the way they live, no matter what their social and economic circumstances. To him, having a good time is what life is all about.

When there are other children in the family, they are victimized by their delinquent sibling, who bullies them, helps himself to their belongings, and blames them when any discipline is about to be meted out.

The delinquent chooses to associate with risk-taking youngsters who are doing what is forbidden.

The delinquent refuses to subordinate himself to anyone else’s authority. He chooses instead to engage in something more exciting, often illicit.

The parents of these children often do not know where their offspring are, not because of negligence but because of the youngster’s ingenuity in concealing his activities.

The delinquent takes but rarely gives. He does not know what friendship is because trust, loyalty, and sharing are incompatible with his way of life.

Part of the delinquent youngster’s social scene is alcohol use, which begins even before adolescence.

The criminal rejects school long before it rejects him. He exploits the school, using it as an arena for crime or else as a cover for it.

What others consider getting into trouble, he perceives as a boost to his self-image.

(Please note that one or two of these factors alone may not indicate that a child is a budding career criminal. But where many are combined, there is a basis for concern.)

[Box on page 9]

Profile of a Hardened Criminal

Criminals are at heart antiwork.

The criminal’s most pressing business is crime, not a regular job.

He is positive that his expertise and unique talents distinguish him from the common herd.

He values people only if they bend to his will. Even his appraisal of his mother vacillates from saintly to satanic, depending on how readily she does his bidding.

A criminal does not regard himself as obligated to anyone and rarely justifies his actions to himself.

His pride is such that he adamantly refuses to acknowledge his own fallibility.

The criminal does not want his conduct questioned by other family members.

The criminal knows right from wrong. When it suits him, he is law-abiding.

As with everything else, the criminal exploits religion to serve his own purposes.

The criminal carefully tailors his story to provide what he hopes will be a convincing account of why he did what he did.

The criminal does not regard the victim as a victim at all. He himself is the victim for having been caught.

(The profiles on pages 8 and 9 are based on Inside the Criminal Mind.)

Crime​—Is There a Solution?

SINCE crime affects all of us, directly or indirectly, the question remains, Is there a solution? Judge Richard Neely of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals suggests: “Getting at the root causes of crime implies a reordering of society of a magnitude that few are willing to undertake.” (Italics ours.) He argues that “there is neither the scientific knowledge nor the political will to eliminate the root causes of crime.”

Why would that be? He reasons that the people most affected by crime, those who “live in ghettos or declining working-class neighborhoods,” are the ones with the least direct political power. Judge Neely states: “Crime victims, it should be noted, are not an organized interest group.” Therefore they have little or no political influence. Those with political power live mainly outside the sphere of common criminal activities​—they do not use public transport or live in slum dwellings. And in some cases, he argues, increased law enforcement would endanger their own white-collar crime. This is basically true for most parts of the world. Thus the lower-income masses are more often the victims of crime and political hypocrisy.

But another vital factor impedes progress in the fight against crime​—human nature itself. “Lust, avarice, aggression, and self-aggrandizement are inherently part of the makeup of people,” says Judge Neely. That fact has been evident ever since Cain murdered his brother Abel.​—Genesis 4:3-11.

However, the factor of evil in human nature is a problem that modern psychology refuses to face. In an interview with Awake!, Dr. Samenow stated: “By and large, an awful lot of people in the mental-health field really have not confronted the problem of evil.”

However, many criminals do not want to cast aside their ‘lust, avarice, and aggression.’ Therefore they refuse to respond to therapy and to rehabilitation programs. In California, for example, the prisoners have fought any therapy approach. “The prisoners’ argument is that therapy is an illusion because of insufficient scientific knowledge about rehabilitation . . . Regardless of why they stop [being criminals], the argument goes, it will not have been a result of any prison therapy.” They argue that “the object of prison is punishment, short and sweet. Accordingly, they want every convict to know exactly how long he must serve when he enters the joint so that he will not need to play the Kafkaesque [irrational] rehabilitation game.”​—Why Courts Don’t Work, Judge R. Neely.

Can a Criminal Change?

Yet some criminals have been willing to cooperate in reform programs. In the program of Drs. Yochelson and Samenow, a drastic approach was used. They report: “We make it clear that from our point of view nothing of the criminal’s way of life is to be preserved. Putting on new clothes over old and stained ones is not enough; the old clothes must be regarded as contaminated and diseased and then discarded and destroyed. The criminal must eliminate his old patterns and become responsible in every way.”

Similarly, in the Bible the apostle Paul counseled: “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”​—Colossians 3:9, 10.

The fact that changes can be made is evidenced by Paul’s own comment after listing the types of persons who will not inherit God’s Kingdom​—fornicators, thieves, extortioners, and others. He says: “Yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean . . . in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Today there are nearly three million active Jehovah’s Witnesses, most of whom have had to make changes in their way of thinking. Some led a criminal life until they made the change.

One case is that of a former diamond thief whose story appeared in the Awake! issue of October 8, 1983. He was a career criminal in London, England. When he eventually accepted a study of the Bible and put on “the new personality,” he gave himself up to the police and confessed his crimes. After serving a five-year prison sentence, he came out to live a reformed life. Was it easy for him? He answers:

“The change in my outlook on life was not easy to make. Apart from fighting, the hardest physical work I had ever done was washing my car. Now I had to settle down to working eight hours a day . . . I had never bothered about routine in my life. Now an orderly way of life was important. I had always proudly scorned discipline of any kind. Now it was necessary to accept the fact that my way might not always be right.”​—Compare with “Profile of a Hardened Criminal,” page 9.

But he made the changes. Was it worth the effort? “I do not pretend that it has been easy,” he answered. “But certainly it has been worthwhile.”

But why should anyone want to change his life to conform to Bible principles? Because there is a strong motivation​—the opportunity for everlasting life on a paradise earth. That is the promise that Jesus made to the criminal who was dying by his side when He said: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) Of course, the evildoer could not remain in the earthly Paradise as a criminal but only as a repentant, changed person.

But no matter how successful a reform program might be, the old adage is still true: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” The majority of career criminals are not interested in change. Then is there no answer at all to the world crime problem? There is a solution​—a drastic one.

How Crime Will End

The Bible indicated that a time would come when there would be an increase of calamities upon the human race. In such, Jesus included an “increasing of lawlessness.” (Matthew 24:12) The apostle Paul prophesied that “in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, . . . disobedient to parents, . . . disloyal, having no natural affection, . . . without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness.”​—2 Timothy 3:1-5.

While mankind has always been afflicted with crime and evil to a greater or lesser degree, it is since the crucial date of 1914 that Bible prophecies relating to the end of the world’s corrupt system of things have come to remarkable fulfillment. (Compare Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, and Revelation 6:1-8.) Therefore, the time is near for God’s righteous Kingdom government to enter into action against his enemies on earth. These include criminals who deliberately choose crime as a way of life, for “unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom.”​—1 Corinthians 6:9.

So if a person is not willing to change, what is the alternative? The Bible answers: “Evildoers themselves will be cut off . . . Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more.” Yes, soon the earth will be cleansed of all criminal elements​—whether religious, political, or social. God’s cleansing war of Armageddon will leave alive on earth only “those hoping in Jehovah . . . the ones that will possess the earth. . . . And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”​—Psalm 37:9-11; Revelation 16:14, 16.

This is the only way, for as the Bible states: “Though the wicked one should be shown favor, he simply will not learn righteousness. In the land of straightforwardness he will act unjustly.” (Isaiah 26:10) God’s “new heavens and a new earth” in which “righteousness is to dwell” is the only viable answer to mankind’s problems of crime and sin​—and in that system only those who choose righteousness will dwell.​—2 Peter 3:13.

[Blurb on page 10]

“Getting at the root causes of crime implies a reordering of society of a magnitude that few are willing to undertake”

[Blurb on page 11]

“An awful lot of people in the mental-health field really have not confronted the problem of evil”

[Blurb on page 11]

‘Nothing of the criminal’s way of life is to be preserved. He must eliminate his old patterns and become responsible in every way’