The Losing Battle Against Crime

“CRIME could be controlled overnight if everyone was prepared to make the effort,” a former head of the Metropolitan Police was quoted as saying in England’s Liverpool Daily Post. Indeed, if everyone obeyed the law, crime would disappear.

Yet, in most places crime is on the increase. Words uttered thousands of years ago apply to our time: “The earth came to be ruined in the sight of the true God and the earth became filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11)—See box on opposite page.

Crime Starts Small

By breaking the law in little things, one can be conditioned to breaking it in larger things. To impress this fact upon her students, a teacher explained: “Bank robbers start out by stealing pencils at school.”

Later, what often happens in the workplace? People stay home from work because of alleged sickness and then accept benefits to which they are not entitled. This dishonest practice is more common than one might think. In Germany, for example, 6 percent of sick days reported by workers fall on Wednesdays, 10 percent on Tuesdays, and 16 percent on Thursdays, but a whopping 31 percent fall on Mondays, topped by 37 percent on Fridays! Are people really sick more often on Mondays and Fridays, or is this just another form of theft?

Who Are the Criminals?

Of course, criminal acts committed by ordinary people do not usually have the same repercussions as those committed by people in positions of power. In the early 1970’s, the United States was rocked by a political crime of such gravity that the name connected with it even became part of the English language.

“Watergate,” according to the Barnhart Dictionary of New English, is a “scandal, especially one that involves an attempt to conceal damaging information or illegal activities.”a It then adds: “The Watergate affair left a strong imprint on the language of the 1970’s. The word spawned various coinages and the combining form -gate, used to denote scandal or corruption.”

Since that time any number of Watergates have demonstrated that crime is widespread, even among those who should be exemplary in upholding the law. In Japan political corruption became so widespread that new laws had to be passed in the early 1990’s to combat it. In 1992 the president of Brazil was brought down on corruption charges.

Isn’t it obvious that the wrongdoing of those in positions of authority, including parents, schoolteachers, and law-enforcement officials, contributes to the criminal activity of the masses?

Good Intentions Not Enough

Most people would agree that governments want to eradicate crime. Yet, a retired official noted about his country: “The government has done too little toward making the machinery of justice work speedily and efficiently. There are not enough judges, so the few we have are overworked. The police force is understaffed and underequipped. Policemen are sometimes not paid their salaries on time, making it very tempting for them to take bribes.”

The Italian magazine La Civiltà Cattolica bemoans “the State’s impotence in the face of organized crime” and then notes: “Commitment on the part of law-enforcement agencies and the judiciary in fighting crime is recognized, but it is apparent that organized crime is not influenced in the least; on the contrary, its strength and power grows.”

Governments’ good intentions to combat crime are clearly not enough. Anita Gradin, European commissioner for immigration and judicial affairs, rightly observed: “We need better, more effective working methods for co-operation in the battle against drug smuggling and trafficking, the smuggling of human beings and illegal immigration, organised crime, fraud and corruption.”

How Committed Are Law Officials?

Some question the extent to which authorities are really committed to fighting crime. The former inspector general of police in one country notes that everybody, at least publicly, “condemns corruption and economic crimes.” Yet, he says, there is not a genuine desire by all to eradicate crime and corruption. A growing number of people—including law officials—apparently view bribery, fraud, and stealing as acceptable ways of getting ahead.

The fact that many “who commit crimes go scot-free,” as a customs officer expressed it, is doubtless one reason for the rise in crime. For example, a Russian publication speaks of “the ease with which criminals get away unpunished.” This, the publication adds, “seems to inspire ordinary citizens to commit the most brutal of crimes.” This is just as the Bible writer stated some 3,000 years ago: “Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad.”—Ecclesiastes 8:11.

It is no exaggeration to say that governments are fighting a losing battle against crime. The German newspaper Rheinischer Merkur comments: “Public fear of the increase in crimes of violence is deep-seated and can be put to rest neither by the usual party-political bickering nor by statistics suggesting that the situation is not as bad as it might seem.”

Rather than crime not being as bad as it might seem, the reverse is more likely to be the case. Yet, there is room for optimism. A crime-free world is drawing ever nearer, and you may live to see it. The next article will show why we say that.

[Footnote]

[Blurb on page 6]

Many people view crime as an acceptable way of getting ahead

[Box on page 5]

An Earth Filled With Violence

BRAZIL: “In reaction to a mounting wave of violence, hundreds of thousands of people filled the downtown streets [of Rio de Janeiro], expressing fear and anger over crime that has made a captive of their city.”—International Herald Tribune.

CHINA: “Gangsters are staging a comeback in China and major crime seems out of control. . . . Chinese experts say the number of gangs and ‘secret societies’ are growing faster than the police can count them.”—The New York Times.

GERMANY: “The gap between readiness to resort to violence and the occasion that prompts one to do so has grown steadily narrower. So it is hardly surprising that violence has become an everyday occurrence.”—Rheinischer Merkur.

GREAT BRITAIN: “The threshold of violence has gone up and there’s an increasing likelihood the offender will use violence as a first resort.”—The Independent.

IRELAND: “Mafia-style criminal families have taken root in inner Dublin and in its poorer western suburbs. The gangs are increasingly well-armed.”—The Economist.

MEXICO: “Crime has risen so fast in such a short period of time that it is alarming.”—The Wall Street Journal.

NIGERIA: “The family unit, churches, mosques, schools and clubs have failed in their duty of preventing youths from crime, according to police spokesman, Mr. Frank Odita.”—Daily Champion.

PHILIPPINES: “Six of every ten families in the Philippines say they don’t feel safe in their homes or on the streets.”—Asiaweek.

RUSSIA: “Mafia-like gangs have transformed a city that in Soviet days was one of the safest in the world into a virtual criminopolis. . . . ‘In my 17 years on patrol,’ says police lieutenant Gennadi Groshikov, ‘I have never seen so much crime in Moscow, nor have I seen anything as vicious.’”—Time.

SOUTH AFRICA: “Unbridled and virtually uncontrolled violence is threatening every one of us, and everything we do—and something radical must be done.”—The Star.

TAIWAN: “In Taiwan . . .  rising rates of robbery, assault and murder have trickled into society . . . Indeed, crime rates are creeping up and in some cases surpassing those in Western countries.”—The New York Times.

UNITED STATES: “The U.S. is the most violent nation in the industrialized world. . . . No other industrialized nation comes close.”—Time.