Crime for survival or recreation?

Firstly,i want to correct this;a lazy person cannot be a criminal!For someone to be a criminal,he must be very sharp,hard working and very fast, i think,so if you think that a lazy person can become a criminal,forget it,my dear!
With my little experience in security,i can rightly tell you that those people that rob or steal cars do it for plesure most of the time,they want to show that they are hard and that's why most of this money are given away or spent lavishly.When you talk of grocery shop stealing,well this majorly does not have anything to do with your financial status, i have seen so many times rich people coming into big stores to steal,this is because they don't want to pay,not that they don't have the money.Well, may the Lord protect us all!

I have gotten to where i feel that the welfare system is just another form of stealing. I pay taxes that takes money away from my family to where we can't afford insurance, or name brand stuff, but the welfare community continues to take that money and buy name brand stuff, has GREAT health insurance, gets aid on their rent, and have money to get their hair, nails, etc done.

If something doesn't change in our society soon I do see crime rising for survival, and when that happens the "just because" crimes will go up as well. It won't be pretty and very much scares me with a 2 year old...

Well, I wouldn't say it is right to steal or rob to meet a need. It is more than recreation. Imagine in the developing countries where a minister who earns an av. $15000, no small money huh! Same person sells a public property for $500 million but pockets $300 million. This robbery without violence, would you still call it a recreation? I think people who steal or rob have a problem.

yeah now that i think of it i would have to agree that a lot of our crime in usa have really no value and no real good reason (such as im gonna starve with my children for this loaf of bread type thing) which makes all of it that much scarier

relundad hi great discussion. I think most crimes like robbing
banks and stealing cars is all about just plain stupid greed, they never get enough and dont want to work for wages like a decent person would do, so they committ crimes, I dont think here in the US that criminals do it for survival as there are so many ways to get help, they do it for greed and I guess for recreation in a way. I think that most people who are in trouble and havent a way to get his wife to the hospital will search for
nonviolent ways perhaps calling a neighbor or a friend,in fact in a lot of hospitals, I know this as I had to use it, the hospital has a special van it will send out to pickup a patient who needs to go to that hospital and it costs nothing at all.So stealing a car sure isnt for something like getting a wife to the hospital but just because the crook can and he wants to brag to his criminal buddies. thats my opinion anyway for what its worth. i hate
these greedy crooks. One night I went to my ready teller to deposit acheck and while Icame up to one not in use three men got out of a black car with no license and started towards me, I had walked there but now I knew these guys were up to no good so I ran next door to burger king and asked the guy at the counter to call the police and tell them three men were waiting to hold up someone at the atm machines at the bank and theysent a car unmarked and caught these guys just as they were robbing an old lady at the atm machine. I was so glad to see the police as those guys had scared me something awful.

I totally agree with you! Most crimes committed are not
for the purpose of anything but to wreck havoc! You made
an excellent point. If someone is hungry, they would rob
a grocery store. Unfortunatly, most serious crimes are
committed for recreational purposes like you said stealing
cars, getting money for drugs, stealing electronics, robbing
banks and convenience stores. The worst part of this is that
innocent people get hurt of killed. It is true that there are
people that would prefer to commit a crime rather then go
out and get a job. There are a lot of sick lazy people in this
world who feel that they are owed something and don't need to
work like the rest of us. How sad is that!

I agree with you. There are possibly a very small percentage that actually do it for survival. I think people like to jump on that excuse, but having to steal a $200 pair of tennis shoes for survival, yeah I'm not buyin it!

well I would say alittle of both. For instance where I work we have alot of shoplifting but we have no security cameras for proof and since there is usually only one person in the store we can not very well run out after them and even if we could why should I risk my life doing that for minimum wage when they have a $75 appliance stuck down their saggy pants. I say that is recreation and probably alittle anger. A long time ago when we had National Foods here I had a friend that worked at security. There was a senior lady who came in every few days and would buy a pace, apple or bananna AND also she would picke up a few cans of cat food. She would pay for the fruit and one of the cans of cat food. They all knew it and ignored it. The employess had a fund for her they would put their extra change in. The lady had no cats......she ate the cat food as it was cheaper than people food. That is survival. I heard one of the checkers say they thought she was homeless because they saw her sitting on a bench at a bus stop around midnight long after buses ran a long time ago.

Hi relundad!
In my opinion, greed is the basic reason that most crimes are committed.
I feel it's greed that motivates most people.
As for some people being lazy, that can also be true, i think some people have the ability to work but choose not to.
I for one would rather ask for help or even beg before i steal, in my opinion there's no shame in asking for help, but i'd rather die than be labled a theif.
What angers me is when people work hard and sacrifice for the things they want, and someone comes along and think it's their right to take what another has.
There are so many forms of stealing, and most if not all, cannot be justified.

This post contains content of a mature nature. You must be Signed in or Registered to have the option to view this content.