Crime and punishment

By William R. Jones

In January 2020, The Korea Times graciously published “Siamese twins” in which I presented binominal pairs (expressions having two terms usually joined by the conjunction 'and'). I mentioned a few of these irreversible fixed/set phrases that you are familiar with: safe and sound, peace and quiet, short and sweet, etc.

They permit you to express a lot with only a few words. Recently in U.S. news, a binominal pair originating and popularized from an old 1937 British film of the same name has resurfaced: “smash-and-grab.” Of course, you understand that it means break and take, except with a bit more damaging force and intimidating violence.

The French-owned Louis Vuitton luxury stores, the British-owned Burberry stores, the American-owned Apple, North Face, and Bloomingdale's among many, many other retailers have been commercial victims of this specific kind of burglary. A robbery wherein the persistent perpetrators do not mind store cameras and day hours wherein they are seen and heard, loud and clear. Their operating style is brazen and unskilled.

Some of the problems are 1. Very little if any police response, 2. Insurance companies make nominal payouts, 3. The cost of loss in profits is passed on to us the consumers, and 4. It is cultural social toxicity.

I wish not to speak “out-of-school,” however, there can be a remedy, aside from increased security measures. The traditional “under lock and key” is no longer effective. The researchers Mirrlees-Black and Ross published, “The police and insurance companies were the most common source of advice on crime prevention, followed by specialized help from security companies. Nearly all retailers had some form of security hardware, but only 58 percent had instructed personnel on dealing with incidents of crime.”

Personally, my strategy would make a clear determined decision to give maximum sentence to those who can be apprehended. Too, I would increase law enforcement presence. Most certainly, I would not promote defunding the police at all, but increasing law enforcement budgets. Too, there would be no misdemeanor charges rendered.

It appears that most of the looters are organized into crime rings. Consequences should therefore be dire. Law and order (War on Crime) should be paramount for all citizens and residents.

I do not entertain ethos theories or labeling theory (stereotyping and stigma) giving rise to cause and effect. I do agree with economists, cognitive psychologists along with the criminological mainstream that it is unambiguously chosen purposeful behavior. It is crime-as-choice!

An old police detective TV series starring Robert Blake titled Baretta, that is, “Tony” Baretta the character spoke the catchphrase “Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.” This is not a Robin Hood story about heroic outlaws having partisanship or allegiance to the common people in the sense of robbing the “haves” and giving to the “have-nots.” This breaking and entering, burglary, larceny-theft are listed by the FBI as “Index crimes” meaning they are among the eight crimes that are quite serious, and do compose the majority of the Index crimes. They are a large part of the workload of the entire criminal justice apparatus.

I would not appease or make concessions to or take interest in sociological origins of the thieves' behavior. They are covetous, greedy, and grasping. The unacceptable selfish hard crime deserves hard time therapy. Period!

The author (wrjones@vsu.edu) published the novella, “Beyond Harvard,” and teaches English as a second language.