Headline Aug 16, 2014/

''' THE PERCEPTION​S OF 

POTENTIAL CRIMINALS '''

THE HURTING TRUTH is,   that the leaders and the powerful have offered and are offering, is basically a historic   ''cold war porridge''   *reheated*   for every new audience that cares to come along

''' The society  -the world over remains a  hostage.'''   To the ramparts then, O''Sires!

To soak this subject completely within me, -for many decades, I have lived, observed and documented,  -alongside these criminals, and watched them manage their perceptions in a holistic manner.

A closely related view is that the actual degree of poverty or the actual degree of inequality is less important than the  ''perceptions of potential criminals", and that those perceptions-

Have been have been greatly affected say, in the United States by some of the very technological developments that have been most responsible for the increasing well-being of the population at large

Notably in communication and transportation  -television, radio, and the like.

Television programs, it is discerned and said, provide a picture of a life-style that the poor cannot hope to achieve by honest labour, yet is presented  as something that everyone has a right to or that everyone can attain.

No doubt that such perceptions do contribute to crime. After all, it would be inconsistent to regard the advertising that television carries for products as effective but ignore as ineffective the advertising that it carries for life-styles  and moral standards.

Nonetheless, one finds it hard to believe that a change in perceptions is more than a minor contributing cause of the enormous expansion in crime that has occurred in the past few decades.

Two factors seem to us more important factors that we have associated with the growth of government in general.

One is the change in the climate of opinion, since the time of the  New-Deal, about the role of government. That change shifted emphasis from individual responsibility to societal responsibility.

It encouraged the view that people are  the creatures of their environments and should not be held responsible for their behaviour.

In its extreme form, the view is that there is no such thing as  "crime,"  that what is called criminal activity is a form of    ''illness"   that calls for treatment rather than punishment.

If people who are poor hold the view that poverty is not their own fault  but the fault of   society at large,  then it is perfectly understandable  that their reaction is:

"Since Society is responsible for my Poverty, I have every right to act against society and to take what I need or want."

Similarly, if they come to believe that the well-to-do  whom they see on TV, or observe in high-income neighbourhoods, are  well-to-do   not because of their own efforts   -not because they work hard or saved-

Or in some way contributed to society  -but simply because they happened to draw winning tickets in a social lottery,  then it is easy to understand their believing that nothing is wrong in correcting the outcome of that lottery by taking property from others.

A closely associated development has been the change in the character of the family.

    

Statistics on estranged marriages, divorce, one-parent families, demonstrate that the nuclear family is losing its traditional role.

Moreso in the developing world,  -the family no longer serves as fully as it once did as an  integrative institution,  as a vehicle for  instilling values and developing standards of behaviour.

Sadly and tragically for the world, Nothing has taken its place.

As a result, an increasing number of our youth grow up without any firm values, with little of understanding of

What is  "right"   and what the hell is  "wrong".

With few convictions that will discipline their appetites.

This is all the more significant,  as criminologists  have long emphasized, because   -the world over,  crime is disproportionately an activity of the young, some very young.

The Honour and Serving of this very important Post continues. Thank You for reading and don't miss the next one as I take you behind the crime scenes.

With respectful dedication to Freedom, Democracy, and Dignity of every student, every human in the world.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on  !WOW!  -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' The Seismic Shift '''

Good Night and God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless