Getting Away with It...

I often wondered why 'bad' people do 'bad' things...
Today I came a bit closer to understanding...

I thought back to when I was naughty as a boy, and part of the reason was that I got away with it.
One particular memory is of taking money from my mum's purse, and I think if mum had caught me, I would have most likely never done it again...
Regrettably, however, it did happen more than once...
Fortunately, despite never being caught by mum, my conscience eventually caught up with me, and I did stop...

So, if you get caught, often you may not try again, especially if you're young...
If you end up catching yourself, again you may not try again...

What further complicates this though, especially for older wrong-doers is that they may have got away with it so much in the past, or thought of ways to minimise being caught, that they think they can escape without being caught...

Even when someone thinks they might get caught, still then they act, but in that case, it's often of compulsion, perhaps in the case of a drug addict, or someone more jaded, who simply cannot help themselves...

To help truly catch someone, you may need to work within their definition of right and wrong...
I thought of a time where banks were not owned by international companies, but were simply the 'town bank'... If a thief robbed this bank, they would be taking from an entire community, and the bank would have no way of replacing the money... Surely, that sounds more serious than ripping off a portion of profits of what some people consider almost heartless profiteers...

I sometimes wonder what must be going through the minds of criminals, but don't get far until I get too uncomfortable, and try and think of more pleasant things... Occasionally though, I do feel I have got a bit closer to understanding how they got where they were, and even more rarely, how we could bring them back...

Any thoughts on how to reach the heart of someone far gone in crime?