RE: Is theft becoming impossible?

From: Emlyn O'regan (oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au)
Date: Thu Sep 04 2003 - 21:18:01 MDT

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    Adrian Tymes wrote:
    > --- Emlyn O'regan <oregan.emlyn@healthsolve.com.au>
    > wrote:
    > > Adrian Tymes wrote:
    > > > Also, consider that most criminals give no thought
    > > to
    > > > what happens if they're caught. In the same
    > > defiance
    > > > of rational thought that leads them to believe
    > > crime
    > > > pays in the long run, they usually simply believe
    > > they
    > > > won't be caught. (There are exceptions, of
    > > course,
    > > > and for some criminals - usually the ones who
    > > think
    > > > clearly enough about this that they do not, in
    > > fact,
    > > > get caught - crime does pay. But that's a small
    > > > fraction of the cases, since most people who think
    > > > that clearly tend to find far more profitable uses
    > > for
    > > > their time.)
    > >
    > > Are you sure that's a small fraction of the cases?
    > > People always say that
    > > criminals are dumb, but I think the sample might be
    > > skewed by only being
    > > able to measure those who are caught. So much
    > > property is stolen, for
    > > instance, and never returned, so that it seems to me
    > > that most theft is
    > > actually completely successful.
    >
    > The only reliable source of the numbers is law
    > enforcement officials themselves - and one could
    > easily suspect that data of being forged, deliberately
    > or not, towards lower-IQ criminals.
    >
    <snipped excellent reasoning on why crime doesn't pay in the long run>

    That said, I think you still must explain organised crime bodies, especially
    long standing ones. I think there you get criminals who can become
    extremely, persistently wealthy. They most likely include the more
    intelligent members of the set of criminals, although probably contain a
    goodly number of bozos too (like legitimate business).

    I think there are probably strong psychological reasons for there to be
    intelligent, uncaught criminals; I'd bet there are people of extreme talents
    with a taste for risk, who are drawn to it. I wonder if they tend to either
    be eventually caught, or drop out after a little while?

    Emlyn

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