5. Are criminals made or born?

Every day when we turn on the television or read the newspapers to catch the latest news,
we are always startled by the same pieces of news. “ Five men got slashed for cash, ” or “ Young girl
murdered at old building. ” Crime surrounds us daily, in every shape or form, from a cruel blood-
bath to stealing a piece of candy. Every time a particular vicious or heinous crime occurs that shocks
the general population, everyone asks the same questions, “What could make a person do
something so horrible?” or “How did their parents teach them?” Are criminals made or born? Was it
nature or nurture that caused such an outburst of violence and inappropriate behavior? Was it
something the criminals were raised and taught to do, or was it genetic?

All these questions surround us. No one can be sure of the answer. However, I feel that
criminals were not born. Everyone is born with a good heart, I believe that the first human being was
not a criminal, therefore nobody is born a criminal. It is how we make use of our heart that will
change its colour. Greed, hatred, jealousy, these are the harmful items that would change our heart
from white to black. All these feelings caused the heart to turn from good to evil, thereby allowing
the human being to do crimes. People are influenced by these feelings to commit crimes for their
own interests, or they might commit them out of helplessness.

Being a criminal is not something you are born with, it is something you turn into gradually
over time. The effects of child abuse, single parent families, and the environment in which they grew
up make criminals. Children who have been abused are more likely to grow up to be criminals.
Abused children grow up with a large amount of hate that they do not know how to deal with. Their
hate is usually focused on the abuser, however, they are not able to retaliate. One way to cope with
the way they feel is to be violent towards everybody else. Single parent families also have a higher
rate of criminals. Children need the tender loving care of both the mother and the father. In most
cases, the mother has the responsibility of raising the children on her own. Mothers are generally
more passive, giving the children the illusion that they can do whatever they want and pay no
consequences. The environment that the children grow up in plays a key role. If the children see
drug dealers on every corner, it is only a matter of time before they get confronted. Once they get
hooked on drugs and cannot afford to pay, they steal for them. There are many ways that criminals
are made.

However, if you say criminals are born, it would mean that at the moment that that person
was born, he or she is already a criminal, which is impossible because, what crime can a baby
commit? The most that human being has done when he or she was born was to cry and breathe.
And that, is not a crime.