Paola Perez

Evidence: my sense of justice

a) Some people are biologically predisposed to become criminals.
I agree with this statement. However, this is not the only factor that
conditions someone to become a criminal. Recent studies on twins show
compelling evidence that both genetic and environmental factors contribute
to antisocial behavior. However, genetic evidence indicates that there is not
a single gene, or even a small number of genes, that predict an increased
risk of antisocial behavior. Where there have been some effects, the
increased risk associated with antisocial behavior is modest.

b) Crime is a consequence of poverty.

I disagree, but I believe that crime is not only due to poverty, people can
also become criminals for other reasons such as mental illness. However, I
consider poverty to be the main reason and I will explain why below. Poverty
causes many crimes, because if a person were not poor and had faith in
himself, he would not face the idea that he should look for other ways to get
money. Being poor, which can be caused by different reasons, makes a
person feel unhappy, unable to earn enough money, to buy what they want
or at least something necessary. Poverty determines a certain stereotype in
a person's thinking, and he doesn't see any constructive solution to the
problem, since he wants to choose the easiest way to get money, even
harming other people. Poverty has an enormous psychological influence on
people, who become depressed, despair and then decide to commit a
crime, since they have not found anything that can legally get them out of
that situation. Too many problems that a person faces in modern society
makes him angrier about the whole situation and look for the new way to
solve his problem. The desperate economic situation in any country and,
consequently, the lack of workplaces especially for young people creates
criminal thoughts and actions. Without guarantees from the government and
without adequate help to people who are poor, it leads to chaos and
misunderstanding, where the only way out is to commit a crime.

c) A criminal cannot be reformed.

I do not agree with this statement, because, I believe that a criminal can
reform himself, how? Make social reforms to give them another chance. The
main problem that offenders face when deciding on a criminal career or life
is that many criminals are excluded from the traditional career path due to
their criminal records, often from an early age. A new system needs to be
put in place so that the background check, especially for minor offenders, is
only relevant to their career path. For example, people caught selling drugs
cannot work as pharmacists, people accused of fraud cannot work as
 accountants or financial advisers, people accused of sex crimes cannot
work in residences, public toilets, etc. These are just some examples. I
knew someone who was moving from the private sector to the public sector,
working in prisoner training. He was in his thirties and despite having no
other convictions, he was denied the job because he stole a watermelon
from a market stall when he was sixteen. This is clearly ridiculous. If you are
arrested for being in possession of a joint at eighteen, that may prevent you
from getting a decent job in the future.

d) To reduce crime, we just need more police.

I totally disagree with this statement; Police are important, but not sufficient,
in the crime reduction effort. Police experts and criminologists say that
increasing the size of a police force does not guarantee a decrease in crime.
They said other issues need to be weighed, such as what roles existing
officers were fulfilling and whether adding officers would cause additional
stress in communities where tensions between police and residents were
already high.
On the other hand, crime is a clear consequence of the lack of opportunities
and access to the educational system. When a person from childhood
cannot access education, most of the time they find no other option to
survive than life of crime. We can clearly see that in countries like Finland,
where access to education is easy, crime rates are so low, on the contrary,
countries like, for example, Somalia have a high crime rate.

e) Some criminals deserve the death penalty

I agree, in the case of dangerous criminals, the death penalty is necessary.
It sounds very cruel, but there are several criminals who show no regret for
their actions. I believe that the death penalty is especially necessary for
offenders who have committed crimes against children. That is
unacceptable to me.