Friedman (fgcu): Contemporary Criminals

23. January 2010 by student.

While the dictionary definition of a criminal is a person who is guilty or convicted of a crime; the actual definition may vary depending on the person.  Take murder for instance.  Murder is the least likely to be committed by a stranger.  Three out of four victims are killed by members of their family, by their lovers, friends, neighbors, or other acquaintances.  So, criminal, a definition we think of as distant and cold may be more than likely to hit close to home.

Can it be possible that our society, our free country, breeds criminals by leading examples from crime shows such as C.S.I, and news segments that follow every detail on a crime investigation, such as 60 Minutes.  Or is it possible that criminals are just born innately evil with an urge to rebel in their blood?  Upbringing and childhood incidents can also lead to a person becoming a criminal.

If this is the case, we can prevent crime by keeping conversation about it on the down low.  Take this into consideration:  a person, striving for attention, for fame, for recognition, whether it is positive or negative, sees all the time and energy we spend on crime on television.  They see the criminals face on the screen, they see red bars with their name flash on the bottom of the screen, and they see their picture under the Most Wanted section in the newspaper.  Could someone striving for recognition commit a crime for the attention?  This leads to a problem of motives versus actions.  Is it a person’s motives that make them a criminal or a person’s actions?  This is a question we must ask ourselves to determine the true definition of a criminal.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »