CommenTerry, August 23rd, 2007
I get so tired of elitists constantly complaining about measures aimed at reducing crime being either biased against the poor or disproportionately burdensome on them. The attitude behind such complaints is a kind bigotry of its own. They seem to think that those who are poor can’t help but become criminals. While it is true that the majority of those who are incarcerated by our penal system are poor, laws are not written to punish the poor, they are written to punish criminals. If most of them happen to poor, so be it.
At any rate, there’s nothing about poverty that forces anyone into a life of crime, although this may come as news to those that have bought into the liberal agenda. I know firsthand. I grew up as very poor child in the housing projects. While some of my cohorts did indeed become addicted to drugs and/or became career criminals, many of the rest of us decided not to do so. We grew up to be productive, law-abiding citizens. Yes, it was a decision – one that could have just as easily been made by those who turned to drugs and crime. That’s why they get no sympathy from me.
But now it seems that a larger portion of poor children turn to crime than they did when I was growing up. I believe this has occurred because the liberal response to crime, i.e., making excuses for people, has backfired. People generally live up to the standards that are expected from them. Kids from poor families are told over and over again they just can’t help themselves from falling into crime and furthermore that society expects them to become criminals. Why are we then surprised when these kids oblige? I think it’s high time we return to higher expectations and a little old-fashioned law and order across the entire spectrum of society.
