Causes of Crime

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by finnbow

That is nurture (i.e., the environment in which a child is raised, as opposed to his genes).

There has been ample research on the negative impacts of domestic violence upon children in the home.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...adb_story.html

Seems to me the report supports both theories, as the parents may have created said environment because of genes that they then passed on. As I indicated, I don't see why the nature/nuture argument is often either/or. There is evidence for both, and no reason to think that one rules out the other.

[ZeroJunk]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Spend a few days at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin and it may change your opinions about entitlements. It's an awesomely inspiring place.

The passage of "entitlement" legislation was indeed political, as is every single piece of legislation. That doesn't make it wrong/bad.

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

- Mahatma Ghandi

I don't have a problem with entitlements in general. To the extent we don't end up with a 17 trillion dollar debt . But, if you have people living longer and longer you can't continue to have retirement at 65, 66, 67 and pay them 30 years.

Welfare or whatever they are calling assistance to the poor these days really is not a huge driver of the debt.

[ZeroJunk]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Someone needs to tell the Dutch, the Danes and the Swedes that they are doing the impossible.

If everybody had a strong work ethic we wouldn't have any problem with it here.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

If your parents have stuff you inherit it. If your relatives own or are in high positions in small business which is where most job creation is they hire their relatives' and friends kids.

If you quit school or even finish and don't learn anything of value to any employer whose fault is that. Oh, the schools of course.

There is your blind spot Zero, the function of our schools should be to teach young people how to think for themselves. It is not their function to produce mindless robots for Corporate America. Especially as so many corporations get sweetheart deals that excuse them from paying school taxes like the rest of us must..

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

If everybody had a strong work ethic we wouldn't have any problem with it here.

Really, so are you suggesting that we have full employment? Hardly likely to happen when it is the Fed's job to keep unemployment at around 5%.

Pull your head out once in a while and take a look around.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I just don't buy that anyone goes into a life of crime.........simply because his mother fed him on food stamps. To my mind it's a ridiculous notion, regardless of who wrote however many pages about it.

And the obvious attempt of American rightists to tie criminal behavior to "entitlements" in such a broad sense is nothing more than mass manipulation with a purely political end in mind.

Dave

On top of that rich people commit way more crime than poor people.

The difference is poor people go to the slammer, rich people get bailed out.

Take that $700 Billion dollar bailout the Wall Street Banksters got in 2009.

In 2009 the average convenience store hold up netted $761.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_store_crime

So that bailout was the equivalent of 919,000,000 convenience store stick ups. 919 MILLION. That's 3 convenience store stick ups for every man woman and child in the US. Hows that for an entitlement?

[icenine]

Originally Posted by finnbow

That wasn't at all the point of that article. If anything, it makes the argument of nurture over nature.

Actually Finnbow it is a lame attempt by the Plain Dealer to sort of excuse the shooting of a 12 year old boy with a toy gun by the Cleveland Police department.

[piece-itpete]

The PD is a leftie rag.

If we should be nurturing our citizens feel free to send me a check

Thanks DQ.

Pete

[Tom Joad]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/20...-cheat-rest-us

The word 'entitlement' is ambiguous. For working people it means "earned benefits." For the rich, the concept of entitlement is compatible with the Merriam-Webster definition: "The feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges)." Recent studies agree, concluding that higher social class is associated with increased entitlement and narcissism.

The sense of entitlement among the very rich is understandable, for it helps them to justify the massive redistribution of wealth that has occurred over the past 65 years, especially in the past 30 years. National investment in infrastructure, technology, and security has made America a rich country. The financial industry has used our publicly-developed communications technology to generate trillions of dollars in new earnings, while national security protects their interests. The major beneficiaries have convinced themselves they did it on their own. They believe they're entitled to it all.

Their entitlements can be summarized into four categories, each of which reveals clear advantages that the very rich take for granted.

continue

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by finnbow

He sure makes you seem like an idiot blowhard, though most others do too.

Number one, you and your bagger buddies do not constitute "most others".

Number two, I have less respect for ya'll than I do for the people who stick their gum under their seats in Movie Theaters.