Why People Commit Crimes?

There are different points of view of what is criminal behavior. Of course, each person has it own opinion. Crime is the human conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction that has the power to make such laws, according with Schmalleger. The criminal behavior is the antisocial acts that a person commits for different reasons. This means that the person violated laws constantly for a long or short time period. There are many reasons why criminals commit crimes. Some of the criminals commit crimes for necessity, others for mental illness, and others for bad influences or just wrong decisions. To get a better understanding of why criminals commit crimes and why they follow a criminal behavior I interviewed three people. I interviewed two law enforcement officers and one offender. Of course, each of the law enforcement officers have different experiences with criminals, so each of them have different opinions about it. In the case of the offender, he obviously answered something different than the law enforcement officers. All of them think differently about why criminals commit crimes? Why do criminals continue committing crimes after they are released from prison? And do criminals know what they are doing?

Carlos Marin is the first law enforcement officer I interviewed. He has twenty-seven years old. Carlos is a city police officer. He was enrolled in the Marin’s for four years. He now is a veteran of Iraq’s war. Last year he received an honor award in Washington D.C. for his combating in Iraq. He worked for three years as Deputy at the Sheriff’s office. Now he has two years working as a city police officer in the Calexico Police Department in the city of Calexico, CA.

Carlos is one of our best police officers that look for our safety. I asked him some questions concerning what he thinks about criminals, and why criminal commits crimes. Carlos believes that criminals are people that make bad choices. Moreover Carlos believes that because Calexico is a border city with Mexicali the rank of delinquency is a little bit high. The most committed crimes that occur in Calexico are vehicle theft, burglary, and drugs trafficking. Last year (2008) there was a total of 488 vehicle theft. For criminals it is easier making the wrong decisions, more in a border city like Calexico, anywise “There are numbers of reasons why criminal commit crimes,” Carlos said. Some criminals think what to do before committing a crime; others just take advantage of the opportunity to commit it. I asked Carlos if criminals commit crimes to gain money, power, or/and respect? He answered, “Criminals commit crime more for respect than another thing, but sometimes the three applied.” Moreover, he believed that the majority almost all the criminals have mental insanity. He said, “In some of them there is something wrong psychologically.” In addition, in his opinion criminals know what they are