How poor have you got to be before you've got an excuse to be a criminal?

Question

How does this question presuppose that all crime is financially motivated?

This question is not about all crime.

Answer 1

I have lived and worked with some of the poorest people you will ever come across in Africa and the vast majority would never turn to crime.I've seen them beg and scrape and apply for every job possible to feed their families and a lot of them will take work even though they may be away from their family for long periods and just send money back to keep their family so the answer is NEVER TOO POOR.I can turn the question on it's head and say how poor do you have to be before you have an excuse to try to get work and come out of poverty

Answer 2

This question presupposes that all crime is financially motivated. It isn't. It also presupposes that all crime is judged to be crime purely because the government has made a law against that particular behaviour. That is a very narrow vision.

To look at crime this way, is to ignore moral crimes, such as huge corporations making illicit profits off the poor which are allowed by law. And what of emotional blackmail: this is totally immoral but not illegal.

Answer 3

This question is a lot like asking "how long can you oppress people before they have a justifiable right to revolt." First you have to prove that they are indeed oppressed. In your question, you must prove that the person who is poor is so, because of some injustice or oppression, not simply because of laziness, and unwillingness to work. Otherwise the second part of your question presumes the above in lieu of any evidence.

However, ASSUMING that the poor person in question is in that condition because he or she is simply not permitted to live in anything but poverty with no hope of ANY type of escape, then human survival instict will take over and it no longer becomes a question of needing an excuse, it becomes a question of needing to survive, which requires no justification.

Excluding this scenario, I suppose that you could make any kind of argument you like with respect to crime being a consequence poor economic opportunity, but I find it interesting that their are communities of people in the world right now, that live in nearly prehistoric conditions that dont have even a quarter of the crime rate per person that the US does. So in my humble opinion I believe that the argument is bunk.

I believe that the crime problem is far more about culture, than it is about prosperity. Also, as an additional point. If crime indeed can be reliably traced to a wanting economic environment, then how is it that we have situations like Enron, and other sinister crimes perpetrated by people who have probably never had a poor day in their life. I am telling you the argument doesnt wash. Anyone who reads even a little bit into the various patterns of crime world-wide would have to come to the conclusion that it tends to mirror the "culture" of the community in question, not the economic prosperity. In the US there are literally thousands of different definable cultures and sub-cultures in virtually every city and community. Each one has its own unique set of tolerances to various types of crime.

Answer 4

There's never an "excuse" to be criminal, no matter how poor you are. There may, however, be a REASON you commit a criminal act, but it's still not an excuse.

BTW, the biggest criminals seem to be those with the most money, not the least.

Answer 5

There is never an excuse for stealing. In the US there are plenty of public and private programs to help those "down on their luck." There are also plenty of jobs if you don't think you are too good to work "menial" jobs. Most poor people are honest, so it is obvious that poverty doesn't make people become criminals.

Answer 6

You don't have to be poor! Ask Bush!

And as far as me, I think people should obey the law, however, if I lived in a rich country where only a few own all the wealth, and I could not feed my children, I would do what I had to do to feed them or clothe them!

One-half of American families filing tax returns earned less than $25,000 a year and almost 1/2 of the homeless have full-time jobs! Yet those earning between $800,030 and $26.5 million a year got the bulk of all the tax cuts! That is robbing from the poor!

Something stinks!

Answer 7

well i was 17 flat broke, no job, no prospects, and no dole money... we lived in chefs square shaped soups, which were 10p, (1 pint of soup) and half a loaf of bread a day...between us.

i did this for three months, one day i found 50p, and walked into the butchers and bought a family sized shepherds pie, we scoffed it straight off... we were living in a stolen car, and ducking and diving 24/7...

i didnt need an excuse to be a crim, my stomach said FEED ME... and as the dole had forked everything up, i had no choice... i stole a loaf of bread... closely followed by 19 000 pounds worth of other assorted goods... and i got 12 months... and they didnt recover one penny...

that was 30 years ago.. wow, where does the time go?

Answer 8

the answers thus far are interesting morally the answer is never. the reality of it is its ok unless u get caught. a better question is why are all attorneys crooks?, and how could we clean up the criminal waste that our government exponentially commits every day, with honest, (governmental law) abiding citizens hard earned money?

Answer 9

Great Britain considered every American "patriot" to be a criminal. It really depends on the justness of the law and how it is applied.

Answer 10

I don't care if your are homeless there is no excuse to be a criminial. I understand what you are saying though when you are poor especially if you have kids you will do anything to feed and cloth them and pray you don't get caught