Some of us, voluntarily or involuntarily, are predisposed to certain actions that contradict the ideas of society about the rule of law and morality. Why do people commit crimes? The reasons for this are very mixed. Let's try to figure it out.
Crime and Responsibility
To begin with, we define in terms. Why do people commit crimes? In legal literature, a crime is interpreted as an act that is socially dangerous, and as a violation of legal norms established by laws. Moreover, for the commission of this act bear criminal or administrative responsibility. Despite all the measures taken by society, which, as a rule, are aimed at encouraging citizens to comply with laws and life according to the rules, many people violate them almost daily!
And often it’s most difficult for us to understand why one person committed a crime and another didn’t (in the same situation).
Social conditions
The social environment plays a paramount role in the formation and development of the criminal. Why do people commit a crime? First of all, it is necessary to take into account the different processes taking place in society. For example, the weakness of power as such or, even worse, the legal imperfection of laws.
Consumer society
The pursuit of wealth at any cost in the world today is also one of the reasons why people commit crimes. Some want to get rich by any means, others want to consume more and more. And individuals, somehow and in some way “moved away from the feeding trough”, also want to live “richly”. But it’s very difficult to achieve these goals legally!
A family
The family plays a priority role in the formation of antisocial behavior . Why do people commit a crime? There are many factors that determine the origin of an illegal act. For example, the application of a system of punishments on an ongoing basis, the insufficient authority of parents for a child, the inconsistency of domestic requirements for the youngest member of the community, the absence of one of the parents (family inferiority). All this complicates the normal development of children in terms of public morality. As a result, a misunderstanding of the norms of behavior and the emergence of conflicts first in the family, and then in society.
School
Of course, it makes sense to talk about behavior contrary to the norms of society only in relation to persons who have reached a certain age (no earlier than six to eight years). A very young child does not know how to control and be aware of his behavior sufficiently, and also to correlate it with existing social norms, because only in school (and partly in kindergarten) does he really encounter the requirements of the adult world, behavioral rules and laws. Thus begins the stages of personality socialization . And from that time on, the actions of children are viewed through the prism of law. Antisocial behavior can be manifested as a violation of school discipline, deceit, hooliganism, petty theft, escape from home.
In adolescence (twelve to seventeen), these are more and more certain acts. The boys have theft, hooliganism. Girls have prostitution. Recently, drugs and weapons trade, racketeering, fraud, pimping have been added to the list. Alienation from family and school is the beginning of a criminal “career”. The next step is joining a criminal group or gang and, finally, committing a crime.
Gender differences
Strange as it may seem, they also determine (and substantially) the features of an illegal act. There are many more male criminals, this is well known. There are crimes specific to one sex or another. For example, women are most often engaged in prostitution, and men are stealing cars. There are typical "male" crimes. Rape, for example. But there are mixed types of illegal actions that are equally accessible for both men and women: theft, fraud, murder, the so-called business scam.
Bottom line: why do people commit crimes?
An essay on this subject (Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”) is written at final or entrance exams in Russian literature today! It is very multifaceted and relevant. It is difficult to predict how a normal person will appear at first glance in a difficult situation for him. Moreover, some people are potentially ready to commit a crime, although they know about the punishment provided for him.
The mystery of what prompts a certain individual to act (illegal) or why people commit a crime remains unsolved. Each criminal is consistent with their motives and realities of the perception of the world. So, as they say, "from prison but from the sum" ...
The main thing is to remember that we are all human beings (in no case justifying what the criminal has done), and where you can forgive - try to do it with maximum humanity.