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Op-Ed: Why Do Criminals Break The Law? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jeff Garvas   
Sunday, 27 February 2005

Larry Pratt, executive director of the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America, has published an excellent opinion editorial at CNSNews.com.

Following are the opening paragraphs:

    Criminals are as much a victim as those they have victimized, right? After all, they do what they do because of poverty, or bad parenting, or lousy peers, mental illness or the availability of a gun, right?

    Well, no, says clinical psychologist Stanton Samenow, author of the book Inside the Criminal Mind. He says criminals are the way they are because that is what they choose to do.

    From his experience, Samenow argues that even if criminals have a mental illness, they commit crimes because they want to do so. Lots of people have mental illness, but very few of them commit crimes.

    Samenow warns that criminals are not stupid. If they score low on IQ tests, that is usually because they could not care less about learning the kinds of things in school that are measured by such tests. They are quite adept at picking up on what will help them -- the law being a favorite course of study behind bars.
Later in his op-ed, Pratt points out what Samenow's research reveals as to why criminals are undeterred by laws intended to deter them:

    Criminals like the excitement of doing what is prohibited. It is a characteristic they demonstrate often very early in life. Normal living is boring. Breaking the law is fun.

    One predator told Samenow: "If rape were made legal, I would find some other law to break." They lie not out of uncontrollable compulsion, but for the excitement of manipulating and controlling other people.
Finally, Pratt brings the results of this study home to gun ban extremists:

    And, sorry gun control advocates -- criminals don't care about your gun control laws. They know that gun control is only for suckers (their word), not for them. What does that make those who support gun control laws? Aiding and abetting criminals is a term that comes to mind.
Click here to read Pratt's entire commentary at CNSNews.com.