In a country where over half of us believe that crime is a serious and present issue, we seem to overlook the power that we hold, as citizens, not only as an individual but as a collective.
Crime isn’t always the result of desperation, duress or malicious intent — sometimes, people commit crimes for trivial reasons, such as the thrill of committing a less serious crime or the sense of prestige that comes from breaking the law.
When we facilitate this notion that certain crimes are just “harmless fun,” we erode the respect for laws and the institutions that uphold them, contributing to a larger culture that trivializes crime.
One prime example of our culture trivializing crime is the encouragement of stealing from large corporations.
Most of us have probably heard about serial thieves from large corporations such as Target, Wal-Mart or Victoria’s Secret. People often justify — and even encourage — theft from these places due to the large size of their corporations.
This also contributes to higher levels of production in order to cover for inventory that is stolen, creating more product waste and having a negative effect on the environment. This also contributes to lower-quality goods as higher demand for production calls for more cost-effective resources.
Some justify theft from corporations due to the overpricing of lower-quality products. For example, many people have long agreed that purchasing clothing from Victoria’s Secret is not worth the high prices, and, in response, have begun to steal from the company en masse.
Others proclaim that stores hold more lenient theft policies, such as Target’s $50 or more rule, and state that as long as you are not stealing more than the minimum amount to prosecute, you are fine to do so.
Obviously, this behavior is unacceptable. The secret that Victoria keeps is not that it’s okay to steal from her stores, and Target’s policy does not give you the right to steal under the ‘recommended amount.’
Another major example of the trivialization and glorification of crime in our society is the popularization of music that promotes criminal conduct. While modern rap seems like a prime example of this, other genres like metal do the same.
By promoting crime, doing jail time and committing abhorrent acts within songs listened to by the masses, celebrities of influence fail in their duty to promote general welfare amongst their fans.
One example of this — among many — is seen in Juice WRLD and Young Thug’s “Bad Boy.” In the song, one line states, “Smith & Wesson .45 put a hole in his heart better not play with me / Killers they stay with me.”
Lyrics that incite violence against others are just one of many examples of how music can trivialize and incentivize criminal conduct.
True crime is another major part of the idolization of crime or, more accurately, the romanticization of violent crime. The stories of Ted Bundy, The Zodiac Killer and Jeffrey Dahmer are given far too much attention to be considered just ‘promoting awareness.’
It is not farfetched to see people not only promoting content that details the atrocities committed by the criminals but also to see people pining for the criminals themselves.
Just as Bundy had a fan club at his trials, hordes of people today seem to romanticize these criminals.
All of these instances and more contribute to a larger ‘crime culture’ that the justice system alone cannot fix. This leads us to the notion that we must rise to stem this issue.
All of these phenomena seem to impact younger populations much more than older populations. As university students in the prime age that the “crime culture” is affecting, we must work to hold our peers accountable and set an example for the following generation.
If we continue to disregard even “trivial” laws, we will slowly begin to lose respect for the institution of law itself and begin to disregard even more serious crimes. Where do we draw the line?
