Do you believe the recession is an alibi for crime?

Reuben Goldstein	Hi Buddha, The fact of the matter remains, that were you have social disparity you always have crime. It is that simple. While the newspapers and the media bring the spotlight on the petty criminals that you talk about let us not forget that the real crimes that have a more adverse effect on people are the so called white collar crimes. The bankers, the politicians and the big businessmen are really the ones up to there eyes in the crimes that have the most adverse effect on people. But those crimes are never focused on. The undeniable fact is that poverty and crime are inextricably linked as Fred Astaire is to Gingers Rogers. I respect your observation that in the post war years when times were tough, petty crimes were not as rampant as they are now. However I would also invite you to observe my reflections from having experience of the prison service and I can state without fear of contradiction that the vast majority of all inmates in prison are from highly dis-advantaged backgrounds in the first place. Society keeps wanting to swerve that issue because of the uncomfortable conclusions that you are forced to draw from it. Also if you look at all of the recent child abuse cases, how many families involved the abuse were from the upper middle classes or even the middle classes for that matter ? The Tories and others don't want to admit that poverty and crime are linked but it is irrefutable. The other thing that has to be taken on board is that unlike your generation, the generation you have before you now is far, far more egoistic than your generation. Your generations desires are not nearly as visceral as the desires of today's generations and all of the problems in the whole world are down to our desire to receive pleasure for ourselves, that only considers ourselves and does not consider the well being of our fellow man. Just like the petty criminals that you talk about. Have a look at the following link. It spells out what we need to do in order to change things: http://www.laitman.com/2009/06/inequality-is-the-source-of-all-societys-problems/

Mu1	I dunno - if i could rob one of those stupid banks which started this whole problem....without getting caught....I would!

hamed m	If you are stealing because you need something to eat,your act is justified and there must be a solution , not a punishment.However we are living in the UK and there is no starving people because of recession.Social benefits are saving people from famine.I think you are great Buddha in not stealing in all your life.However cutting hands as a punishment for stealing is a very unjust, inhuman and barbaric thing.I myself believe in Christianity in this aspect.God bless real Christians.

golden	I believe crime is the cause of recession and is also orchestrated for a bigger purpose.Petty crime is a bye product of erosion of society where everything is somebody/something else's fault.The criminals running the country into the ground for a higher purpose have been exposed as fraudsters and thieves that don't have to answer for their crimes.When you remove or dilute responsibility to such a degree you end in Anarchy

Ding says New labour snouts out!	It's an excuse in a world which increasingly turns against morality. Of course, the present situation was indeed perpetrated by political and financial crooks. It is some believe the work of the NWO.

erskine	Hi Buddha Desperate people resort to desperate measures. We have lived through the greediest decade ever where people have become used to having everything now. Teenagers invited to have store credit cards with extortionate interest rates. Most things replaced each year even though the original item is still serviceable. This is not an excuse for criminal behaviour but it is an explanation for why it will occur.

s c	The figures are largely true. Firstly let me say that I agree with you. It is not an excuse but you will always get someone trotting out the old 'I need to steal to feed my family' excuse. Although I am sure that in some cases this may be true it is a very, very small number of people who are forced to do this and does not largely affect the crime figures. What a recession does do is increase the number of 'would be criminals' in a number of ways. NB I am not talking about hardened criminals here but the many on the periphery. One thing we know about crime is that when wages and employment levels for low-skill workers are high, crime goes down. Most people with criminal tendencies (or no conscience) will not steal if they are employed and earning enough to get by. If they have the consumer goods they want then the hassle of being caught, arrested or simply the worry experienced during theft will put them off as they have no need. A recession brings about redunancies and job lay-offs (without compensation) and therefore makes more criminals of those who would not normally steal. Other effects of a recession are that less people are out and about and therefore there are less 'eyes on the street' and there are less police around as public spending budgets are slashed. Most police forces in the UK will face large budget cuts in the nest year or two and the easiest way (sometines the only way) to save BIG money is in wages, national insurance contributions, pension contributions etc etc. Whereas seemingly wealthy people sometimes fail to report minor thefts because it's hassle and they don't need the money people out of work report many more minor crimes as 1) it's suddenly a big thing for them 2) they will try to claim much more on insurance and 3) they suddenly have the time to do so. These things combined raise the crime rate (albeit some of it is artificial) and it becomes self perpetuating - at least for a while. Hopefully we'll all pull out of it soon. :)

John D	Unless you are absolutely destitute there is no excuse for theft. Those that thieve would complain if they had something stolen from them, so why try and blame something or someone else for doing it.

Grillparzer	It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. There is a difference. An excuse is a mitigating factor that should be considered during the trial and sentencing. An explanation is a reason for the crime, not a justification.

Michael C	Right and wrong does not change because of the state of the economy.

jupiteress	I fully agree with you. People have what they need or want and no one should have the right to take that away. Crime up. could be due to the longer drinking hours. As for cruelty to children, do they mean the reports are up.

Stuart	I agree entirely. BUT... I lost my job in 2007 and it hasn't been easy because I was sacked (so no reference) for something I didn't do. The thing is, when you are actually skint through no fault of your own, small-time thieving can be really tempting. Plus there's the "what do I have to lose?" aspect. It's difficult to know how cold the water is until someone pushes you in.