On 4 Jan 2005 21:54:32 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:
On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 21:39:27 GMT, wrote:
What all the ex-criminals agreed on was
Sorry, what exactly is an "ex-criminal"? Someone is either a
criminal, or they're not. Did you mean ex-convicts, maybe?
I mean people who had nominally (and in most cases actually) 'gone
straight'. They weren't committing crimes in any more. (Now one of the
guys had been helped to his decision by the fact that he was confined
to a wheelchair after he tried to rob the wrong storeowner.) Most of
them were addicts who had their addiction at least temporarily under
control.
Fortunately, this isn't at all uncommon. According to national
statistics something like two-thirds of offenders choose not to
re-offend after each incareration. They serve their time, finish out
their parole and move on to other things.
Even among the ones that aren't imprisoned, studies indicate that for
most people, crime -- especially street crime -- is a temporary
activity. If they survive long enough most of them give it up.
Now, would I swear that any of those folks never committed another
crime? Not only no, but hell no! I'm sure some of them went back to
it. Further, the minority that continue to commit crimes after they've
been incarcerated a couple of times are extremely dangerous.
I wouldn't want any of these folks living across the street from me,
but the ones who were candid were a very valuable source of
information.
--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.