A rash of burglaries in my upper middle-class neighborhood in Houston recently, and now there are robberies at gun point as the robbers follow victims as they pull into their driveways. Makes me wonder about the people doing the crimes. Do you think these people are just plain lazy, or are they desperate because they can't get a job or feed their family? I don't excuse it either way, but just trying to understand the motive behind the crime. And how do you combat the problem in either event? We homeowners are getting a little desperate ourselves, and some bad things are about to start happening, where some people are going to start getting killed. We'll see if it's the robbers or the homeowners who get gunned down first.
Over christmas my neighbor's door got kicked in. He has an alarm and everything. The thieves kicked the door, ran in, grabbed his TV, and ran off. Why did they do it? I think it happens because it's so hard to catch the people who committ them. I'm sure people give themselves all kinds of excuses for why it's OK to steal-- they have insurance, whatever. It's just sad. I was a witness to my niehgbor's break in. They were just kids-- high school age. Why would they do it? Simply b/c they won't get caught and don't give a **** about who they hurt.
A rash of burglaries in my upper middle-class neighborhood in Houston recently, and now there are robberies at gun point as the robbers follow victims as they pull into their driveways. __________________________________________________ This has been happening for years in Briargrove and Tanglewood areas. Normally, they try and follow old ladies home, steal what they can, then beat the poor soul they have stolen from. These stories only make the local neighborhood news letters, not the papers. God forbid Houston loses its status as a sanctuary city.
Bored kids Desperate folks trying to help their family Lack of job skills Lack of morals Any combination of the above.
Desperate folks trying to help their family ______________________________________________ I can by that...if they try and steal food from a store.
What the OP described isn't just stealing, it's robbing. To me, there's a difference. Stealing is when you take something from a store without paying, or you eat someone's lunch that was in the office lunch room. There's no face to the victim, so it doesn't seem to the thief like anyone's getting hurt. I think a lot of people do this just because they can and because they're too lazy to think of the connection that it belongs to someone else. Hell, stealing is often not premeditated. A lot of people will go into a store for a legit reason, see something, think "Hey, I could just take this," and they're home before they even think about it. Robbing is when you break into someone's house, mug, carjack, or something like that. You're definitely taking something directly from someone. There was probably even someone there to see it, or there was a good chance there would be. These people, I think, have an even greater lack of morals because it's so obvious that their benefit comes directly from someone's demise. There's more malicious intent, and it requires premeditation to do it.
I think Meth addicts are supposedly revolutionizing crime across the country. Police in Oregon recently reported that meth addicts were behind 90% of the theft in Portland- where the drug addiction is at its worst- and spreading across the country.
I grew up desperately poor and was involved in some gang activity in my youth. When you are poor, you have nothing to be proud of. This puts a chip on your shoulder, and you want to prove your value in some way. Pride & value is created by breaking laws or acting “gangsta”. When I did it, I had no empathy for the victims. I really didn’t think they cared because they had so much money; I didn’t think I was causing any stress or pain. Most children don’t know how their actions or their words can hurt people, and I was no different. You gain empathy with experience and maturity.
When "Slick Willie" Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, Sutton simply replied, "Because that's where the money is." The funny thing about this quote is that it makes such perfect sense, but misses the point of the question. I think most common robbers don't think about much except the most obvious and direct way to get money.
CrazyFoo hits close to the mark, in my opinion. I grew up under very similar circumstances. Fortunately, while good "friends" of mine were deeply involved in burglarizing homes and cars, I was able to avoid anything beyond peripheral involvement, for the most part. That said - For me, frankly, and those I knew who engaged in it far more than I did (and eventually paid the price, to some extent) it was also simply that I wanted something immediately that I didn't have the money for, and didn't want to undertake the effort to work, save, and wait to try and obtain something the right way. Plus, being dirt poor (not an excuse, just a circumstance), I had no understanding, or at least any meaningful appreciation, for the fact that those who "had" may actually have had to work hard to get what they had. And, honestly, part of me was just jealous that they had the means, and had obtained something that I wanted - be it a money or a good of some sort. In the end it boiled down to little more than being self-absorbed, and foolishly placing my own desires (vs. needs) ahead of what I knew to be right and wrong. Fortunately, I came to the realization that that was not the kind of person I was, or wanted to be, and that I needed to stop hanging out with people like that, or I was going to be headed down a long, unpleasant road.
