Today, Rodolfo Esquivel was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was penalized for stealing a woman's car after holding her at gun point. It is reported that he even fired a stray bullet to prove that "This is real." The victim was returning home when she noticed an unfamiliar car lurking outside her home. She approached the car which was concealing Esquivel's accomplice, who made a hasty excuse and drove off. Afterwards, the woman turned toward her home when Esquivel emerged from her garage. After it dawned on him that his 'friend' had abandoned him, he held up a gun and asked the woman for her car keys. The woman called the police from a neighbor's house shortly after the incident. Fortunately, no one was harmed. There are a lot of people who steal things and rob places and this story is just one out of millions. I started wondering why people in Esquivel's situation even bother to commit crimes in the first place. I managed to narrow it down to three different reasons: because of the way they are raised, they are desperate for what they're stealing, or they are being forced to thieve under a superior, which is a rare case.
Millions of people are born every day. All of these children are born to different people under different circumstances and around different milieus. Some, unfortunately, are born in crime-ridden neighborhoods with irresponsible parents who most likely also engage in crime. When a baby is born, its first instinct is to imitate what others are doing. But when everyone around a new born is committing crimes, what's the child to do? The kids are raised to mimic their surroundings. Under so much of these influences, a person's morals begin to diminish and they are less capable of differentiating wrong deeds from wiser ones. While others, who manage to maintain their ability to differentiate, simply ignore their conscience because everyone else's doing it. When you are raised to engage in drugs, bear arms, and participate in violent fights, breaking and entering a house seems like nothing. This rings true in Esquivel's case, as he is a former convict who was arrested two times before for illegal drugs. If there is no one to tell you what's wrong or right, how should you determine what you do? Instinctively, we do what is in our best interest. If all morals are stripped away, survival is all that's left, which brings us to our next reason for thieving.
As I stated earlier, people are born into multiple diverse situations and being born into poverty is not an exception. Many people lack what is necessary for survival- food, shelter, water, and heat- and in effect, they turn to stealing it. If earning what is a basic need is not possible or not enough, what are you meant to do? Allow yourself to die? Many destitute people are faced with this dilemma and most, not surprisingly, choose survival. In order to carry this out, a life of crime is accepted. Some people are swept away in the joy of finally having sustenance and decide to 'borrow' frivolous items as well, which leads to a more frequent habit of thieving which results in higher chances of being caught. It can be argued that these people are simply taking what they deserve, after all, they wouldn't have to steal had the richer helped. Some people use this excuse to justify themselves however, under all lights, it is wrong. If you are not given what you need upon request, it is immoral of you to take it by force. Among the poor, there are still kind hearted people who wish to survive without having to harm others. These people are forced to find different methods of providing an income and some of these methods result in others being harmed, ironically, weather the destitute person is aware or not. One such example, a rare one, ties in with my next point- thieving for a superior.
Drugs are distributed in multiple ways, all surreptitious. People find that a lot of money can be made from this business and, if more people's effort is involved, profits augment. Soon, with multiple people collaborating, a hierarchy develops. At the top is the leader, the one who organized the whole system. At the bottom are the insolvent people. These people join to make a profit but soon find that once they are in, they cannot back out. The leader may ask the needy workers of many risky and illegal tasks and has his threats to enforce his orders. Many of these tasks require stealing from others for their profit. Another situation is not as dramatic. In this one, a profit-seeking soul entangles himself/herself in a debt that cannot be paid off. In order to get back the money, the lender may threat the person with his/her life and ask the debt-burdened to steal an item with high value to redeem his/her debt. The list of scenarios continues however, in each one, the minority is risking imprisonment due to one faulty mistake- placing himself/herself under the authority of the tyrannical superior. This reason for stealing may also be attributed to people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and get entangled into other people's criminal lives. This reason for crime applies to more people than the previous two because of bad circumstances that may befall anyone.
There are, of course, multiple other reasons that a person may take refuge in a life of crime. These, I believe, are the three most basic and general reasons that can be applied to a majority of situations. Esquivel may have been under any one of these circumstances which drove him to enter the woman's house. Esquivel's demise should show us that no matter how bleak a situation seems, it can always get better by doing the right thing. Resorting to crime always leads to a more complicated life and a far less enjoyable one, no matter what the reason for crime may have been. Esquivel's conviction is important for us to study so that more fates such as these may not befall others. His case can be applied to many others as well so that we have a deeper understanding of the criminal mind, the force of evil that rings in all of us every once in a while with different volumes, subjecting us to different crimes ranging from little white lies to what Esquivel has done.
-Jalees N.
Sources:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/i-will-kill-you-buford-man-gets-15-years/nSnmM/
Millions of people are born every day. All of these children are born to different people under different circumstances and around different milieus. Some, unfortunately, are born in crime-ridden neighborhoods with irresponsible parents who most likely also engage in crime. When a baby is born, its first instinct is to imitate what others are doing. But when everyone around a new born is committing crimes, what's the child to do? The kids are raised to mimic their surroundings. Under so much of these influences, a person's morals begin to diminish and they are less capable of differentiating wrong deeds from wiser ones. While others, who manage to maintain their ability to differentiate, simply ignore their conscience because everyone else's doing it. When you are raised to engage in drugs, bear arms, and participate in violent fights, breaking and entering a house seems like nothing. This rings true in Esquivel's case, as he is a former convict who was arrested two times before for illegal drugs. If there is no one to tell you what's wrong or right, how should you determine what you do? Instinctively, we do what is in our best interest. If all morals are stripped away, survival is all that's left, which brings us to our next reason for thieving.
As I stated earlier, people are born into multiple diverse situations and being born into poverty is not an exception. Many people lack what is necessary for survival- food, shelter, water, and heat- and in effect, they turn to stealing it. If earning what is a basic need is not possible or not enough, what are you meant to do? Allow yourself to die? Many destitute people are faced with this dilemma and most, not surprisingly, choose survival. In order to carry this out, a life of crime is accepted. Some people are swept away in the joy of finally having sustenance and decide to 'borrow' frivolous items as well, which leads to a more frequent habit of thieving which results in higher chances of being caught. It can be argued that these people are simply taking what they deserve, after all, they wouldn't have to steal had the richer helped. Some people use this excuse to justify themselves however, under all lights, it is wrong. If you are not given what you need upon request, it is immoral of you to take it by force. Among the poor, there are still kind hearted people who wish to survive without having to harm others. These people are forced to find different methods of providing an income and some of these methods result in others being harmed, ironically, weather the destitute person is aware or not. One such example, a rare one, ties in with my next point- thieving for a superior.
Drugs are distributed in multiple ways, all surreptitious. People find that a lot of money can be made from this business and, if more people's effort is involved, profits augment. Soon, with multiple people collaborating, a hierarchy develops. At the top is the leader, the one who organized the whole system. At the bottom are the insolvent people. These people join to make a profit but soon find that once they are in, they cannot back out. The leader may ask the needy workers of many risky and illegal tasks and has his threats to enforce his orders. Many of these tasks require stealing from others for their profit. Another situation is not as dramatic. In this one, a profit-seeking soul entangles himself/herself in a debt that cannot be paid off. In order to get back the money, the lender may threat the person with his/her life and ask the debt-burdened to steal an item with high value to redeem his/her debt. The list of scenarios continues however, in each one, the minority is risking imprisonment due to one faulty mistake- placing himself/herself under the authority of the tyrannical superior. This reason for stealing may also be attributed to people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and get entangled into other people's criminal lives. This reason for crime applies to more people than the previous two because of bad circumstances that may befall anyone.
There are, of course, multiple other reasons that a person may take refuge in a life of crime. These, I believe, are the three most basic and general reasons that can be applied to a majority of situations. Esquivel may have been under any one of these circumstances which drove him to enter the woman's house. Esquivel's demise should show us that no matter how bleak a situation seems, it can always get better by doing the right thing. Resorting to crime always leads to a more complicated life and a far less enjoyable one, no matter what the reason for crime may have been. Esquivel's conviction is important for us to study so that more fates such as these may not befall others. His case can be applied to many others as well so that we have a deeper understanding of the criminal mind, the force of evil that rings in all of us every once in a while with different volumes, subjecting us to different crimes ranging from little white lies to what Esquivel has done.
-Jalees N.
Sources:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/i-will-kill-you-buford-man-gets-15-years/nSnmM/
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