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Is crime good for society?
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Yes it actually is, it holds our society today together. This is because the majority will point to something (such as a murder) and so that is disgusting and wonder how someone could do such an act. It is the one thing that holds the majority of people together.
Parable of the broken window comes to mind.
Yea, I think it is to a point. Depends on the crime though.
I have a confession to make here. I spent over 30 years of my life in law enforcement.
Believe me when I say that crime, in and of itself, is not good for society.
Without going into booring details, criminals are basically stupid people doing incredibly stupid things for no intelligent reason whatsoever.
The things that people are capable of doing to each other is nothing less than mind boggling, and that is why you have so many guys like me that just pull the pin and walk away from the job before it ruins our lives permanently.
No, crime serves no good purpose for society.
This one is my EXPERT opinion!
I do not understand how something that could destroy another person's life could be good for society.
Yes it is. When Rosa Parks didn't move on the bus, that was a crime. Hell, the continental congress (the founders of the United States) were seen as criminals for opposing British rule. Fuck the police, fight the power and all that.
I understand where you are coming from but you have to look at this question from a sociological view point and not a physical one. I know there are some grisly crimes that take place, but it is this level of repulsiveness that keeps our society (the ones who are normal) together.
Check my above reply to papadawg.
I checked it but I don't see how it keeps the people together. After a friend of mind was robbed last year by a person who the cops never found, the people in my neighborhood didn't band together. They all became afraid and stayed inside their homes and drank Dos Equis.
Sal that is sick. I don't refrain from butchering people because of social pressure.
Sociological viewpoint? Please tell me, Sal, just how do criminals benefit our society?
I offer you the crimes of rape, murder, burglary, grand theft, child molestation, purse snatching and general muggings to name just a few. Now throw in the Bernie Madoff's of the world. Just how in the sam hell is all that beneficial to society?
Gang bangers take over complete neighborhoods to the point that those who live there live in total terror. Just how the sam hell is that beneficial to society?
What IS beneficial to society is civil disobedience – I allude to the below reference to Miss Parks – against a custom or law that is detrimental to society, or protestations of government activities that are not beneficial to society like what is currently happening all over our country(and being ignored not only by the news media, but those in government as well).
There never has been, nor can there ever be a sociological benefit to crime!
You mean the broken window fallacy?
If you're talking Bastiat (and not the more recent "broken window" theory of crime), yes.
It is a fallacy to presume the act is of benefit, but lots of people like to think that all the activity and money involved in preventing destructive acts, or cleaning up after them is a net benefit. It is an opportunity cost preventing creative acts instead.
Indeed I am referring to Frederic Bastiat. It is a fallacy to consider only the benefits from crime prevention/clean up when discussing crime's consequences. The resources used for this activity could have likely been better used for something else more constructive. So, crime actually makes us all poorer by channeling limited resources to less constructive activities than they would have been otherwise.
This is the most ignorant comment on this website that I have ever read. And I've read a lot of comments from you and Jared…
Crime is never good for society.
Crime indeed holds together OUR society. But no crime (Which we all know is impossible) leads to a utopian society.
It is nor an ignorant comment. You just don't understand it; maybe you should take a sociology class. Sal's answer is absolutely valid. Sociologist Emile Durkheim stated that deviancy, including crime, is functional and exists in all societies because it is needed to establish moral boundaries and to distinguish between those who obey and those who disobey society's rules.
I believe that crime is functional and I don't mean that it is good or that I encourage it, it just helps establish moral boundaries.
No, of course crime is not good for society, nobody wants crime but, it provides a sense of propriety and feeling of righteousness for those who do not commit crimes because they share moral indignation about those who do violate society's norms. Crime allows for a social change. It prevents a society from having too much rigidity and from becoming too soft in its obedience to norms.
Are you trying to be silly?