Immaturity the source of many crimes

The more I work in the news business, the more I learn.

I do the police blotter every week, so I get to read a lot of police reports. Recently, I noticed something. With few exceptions, it seems, petty crimes are committed by “children” in adult-sized bodies. These are folks whose physical maturity belie their lack of their emotional maturity.

Assault? Reading the reports, these cases often sound like a temper tantrum. Usually committed by someone who never learned the lessons of “keep your hands to yourself” and “don’t hit.”

Shoplifting? It seems like it’s often committed by folks who somehow missed the day they covered “you have to pay for things in stores.” You think I’m kidding? I’ve read reports of shoplifters who literally brought large black contractor-sized trash bags to fill with merchandise, did so, sauntered slowly out of the store and were then surprised when they were caught. Somehow the rules, if they actually acknowledged their existence, were miraculously supposed to be suspended that day, perhaps just for them. Or store security was supposed to be so stupid as to not be suspicious of a person suddenly carrying a large contractor-sized bag out of the store without making a stop by the cashier on the way out.

Of course, there are times the victim, while not to blame for the crime, definitely helps make it easier. A recent rash of car thefts in Wilson proves that. Police said many of the cars that were stolen were taken while they were left running, unattended by their owners, with the doors left unlocked and the keys inside. It got so bad the police gave notice through the press that owners of cars stolen in that manner would also be cited for breaking a state law about leaving a vehicle running while unattended—a $100 fine.

Recently there was a car theft where the victim left the car unlocked and a spare key in the ashtray.
Then there are the truly petty crimes.

Vandalism? Not nearly as fearsome as the real Vandals were. This crime is committed by ninnies who never got the lesson, don’t write/draw on the walls.

More serious crimes, of course, are far more consequential. But still, I think, they have a lot to do with folks who, for one reason or another, didn’t get some of the basic lessons of life we take for granted were ingrained early in life. Maybe, if we took more care to make sure our children did learn those basic lessons, many of which are really basic manners, they, and we, wouldn’t be wondering what went wrong later.

(Originally published in The Easton News, June 29, 2006)