This blog is my opinion based on many years of observation about crime.
The shooting at the school in Uvalde has captured the attention of the USA and most of the world, but the discussion leaves out some very important points and I will share what I think those are in this blog. I look at crime as part of the human experience and for that reason, it will always be here. We can not eliminate it, but we can minimize it. In the end it is a compromise that we all have to accept. I divide this problem into just three areas and what are those?
(1) Prevention by making the subject of the crime more difficult.
(2) Fear of punishment along with certainty of fast and effective punishment.
(3) Fear from effective pier pressure and social pressure.
If you look at the three items above, it is clear that we can easily do more in each area, but in the end it will still be a compromise. I will now get into my thinking in each of these areas
First off, think of a bank where you keep your money. They have vaults with strong steel doors and locks that are almost impossible to defeat, yet bank robberies still occur. It has to be clear that a school could never act like a bank, but even that would not be 100% effective. Notice that I did not mention guns here? Bank robbers use all kinds of things to rob banks. Look at the ATM machines. Some robbers have driven their cars thru the front door of business and have actually stolen the whole machines. Look at your own home and the locks that you have on the doors, yet you have glass windows. Would you give up your glass windows? I don't think so, but you could do something.
Now look at fear of punishment. This has been the corner stone of our legal system for centuries and it still is. Have you noticed that more and more of our criminals do not appear to be very concerned about punishment. I have blogged in the past about the Muslim radicals who carry our terrorist attacks. They have zero fear of punishment because they end up killing themselves in the process. How effective do you think the concept of fear of punishment is for those guys? Not very, but for most people it is. Notice that we have been softening our whole punishment concept? We have zero bail in many cases and longer and longer delays before the person is tried or sentenced. In the case of illegal immigrants it could be years if ever that they come before a judge. Time is critical as part of the certainty of punishment. If the average age of a criminal was 30 years old and their life expectancy was 60 and did not get punished for 15 years what would be their fear? I think that you can see that we have clearly been going in the wrong direction.
I have not heard anyone speak about the pier and social pressure not to commit crimes, Have you? If you look at the Asian population and to some extent our population 75 years ago you will see that social pressure is and was a very big deal. Children or any person of a family's biggest fear was bringing some kind of shame onto their family. Why was that? It was because the children were raised in a family that was responsible and had both a father and a mother who had the highest concern about the well fair of their children and other members of those families. Where has that gone? Did we pass the buck to our schools or the government? Did we excuse fathers who just screwed and took no responsibility for their children? Historically when a child committed a murder, their family was also punished. If it was not official, at least society shunned the family for their failure. Why is that so bad? Now if a child commits a crime, the family is excused. Why is that? The family failed that child.
Now looking at my three factors, where do you think we need the most help and change? It is, you and me and our social system that looks the other way when we see a girl with a big belly who is not married. Just feeling sorry for the girl and the baby is not the solution. It is part of the problem. It takes a person with some real character to do the right thing, even if it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Not to pressure those around us who violate our social standards as well as the law only makes the situation worse. You know what I am talking about and you know that it worked in the past and we have now changed for the worse. It is this last factor 3 that is the most important if we want our children to be safe in our schools and we also have to be sure that our schools are teaching what we parents want. The schools and our government may think they are doing the right thing, but it is only you and me who really know.
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