1.5.10.5.2 Societal Interventions – Common Drivers

Version 1.0 October 2022                             (Previous Version)

Here we discuss a number of drivers of inappropriate behaviour that are in some places and times are extremely common, but are often overlooked in a superficial consideration of offending. 

·       In a few places, perhaps Scandinavian countries in recent times, many of these drivers have been addressed roughly as indicated below so they are less common than elsewhere.  In most of Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas these drivers are probably the dominant causes of criminal behaviour.  And more recently there seems to be a trend towards more nationalistic and intolerant policies of major political parties even in Scandinavia: unfortunately they can go backwards!

Common Drivers Summary

We know, and cannot forget, overlook or ignore, that a lot of offending comes from

fear, desperation, stupidity, ignorance, thoughtlessness or insanity;

and the appropriate responses often are

empowerment, equity, guidance, education, self-control and medical aid. 

So the interventions to minimise such offending involves social justice, and services such as welfare, health care, education and counselling.  These interventions must be provided, based on need, to actual offenders, but also to potential offenders (which includes most of us).  Actual offenders often need incentives to encourage them to make use of the interventions, which reasonably include actual or threatened fines, community work, restrictions on movement or activities, and, as a last resort, prison.

It is well established by scientific research that the earliest possible social intervention produces the greatest benefit, and at a mundane level, is extremely cost effective.  This includes minimizing unwanted children, promoting pre-pregnancy caution for a healthy baby, pre- and post-natal care, infant welfare support, ongoing (free and accessible) health care, strongly suppressing domestic violence, normalizing gender and sexual equality, and high quality child care, kindergartens and primary schools.  Each dollar spent on early child welfare saves perhaps tens of dollars in later life.

In practice, we are more likely to forgive bad behaviour (see Subsection 1.5.8.6) when there are explanations of its causes showing it was essentially out of our control.  We are less forgiving if more could have been done prior to the offending to redress the inadequacies leading to the bad behaviour.

Common Drivers Detail

We cover these drivers in more detail below.  We need to consider each of these with reference to our core values, and the fundamental conundrum (see 1.5.10.1) of causality or chaos versus free will.

*    Desperation can arise out of poverty, illness, oppression, bullying or suffering.  If we can't feed ourselves or our family, or find adequate shelter, or escape from abuse, then we may be driven to steal or lie to satisfy these needs.  Many people fall on hard times through no fault of their own – injury or illness, war, domestic violence, or sudden job loss.  (Some people think the poor are only poor because they are lazy but this is demonstrably untrue for most of the poor.)  Sometimes the desperation is due to one or more bad life decisions, but even when that is the case, they don't deserve a lifetime of suffering.  Few if any people choose the end up in a desperate situation, but sometimes, perhaps not often, it happens as a result of poor life decisions, but they also may be due to even earlier disadvantage.

*    Stupidity is the unfortunate condition of very low intelligence, which may be innate or acquired as a result of brain injury or illness, or perhaps excessive drug use.  It means that the individual simply doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to reasonably evaluate alternative actions.  So what should be an ethical choice may effectively almost be a random choice, because the person can't keep the relevant issues in their mind at the same time.  Many stupid people are easily misled, and sometimes others take advantage of them, perhaps simply for amusement, or more cruelly so that the risk of harm or criminal conviction is unknowingly taken on.  Stupid people need simple guidelines to follow, and others around to help them choose appropriately.

*    Ignorance often accompanies stupidity: at the extreme, without the intellectual ability to learn we remain ignorant.  But in practice everyone can learn basic rules, and morality is often more an emotional response than an intellectual decision based on facts.  Valuing Life, Love, Equality and Responsibility can be understood by the most simple among us.  On the other hand, in this context, usually the individual of concern does have sufficient intelligence to work things out, but they simply don't know relevant facts, such as the consequences of some actions or the availability of alternative options, or what the affected people prefer.  This ignorance may be due essentially to laziness, or hastiness, where the individual can't be bothered taking the time to discover the relevant details, and in that case bad behaviour is harder to forgive.  Some ignorance is forgivable, but some is not: anyone undertaking extreme action, where there is a great potential for harm, is obliged to inform themselves of the relevant facts – in history and science as well as those related to the affected people – and ignorance is no excuse.  On a day to day level, we should all strive to be as aware and informed as we can be about human psychology and social issues, because that is the stuff of life, but also about basic science and history to the extent these impact on political decisions and personal relationships.

*    Thoughtlessness arises when the risks or consequences of an action simply didn’t enter our heads.  In the case of negligence we should have had the thought, and should have taken action to allow it to come (like pausing to think or check safety procedures).  Thoughtlessness and negligence could be due to being drunk or high; angry, hurt, guilty, embarrassed or jealous; impatient, over-excited or excessively enthusiastic; too single-minded or ambitious; or in a group setting where group members egg each other on.  So we make the wrong choices, with bad outcomes that we didn’t intend.  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. It’s similar to the difference between murder (which involves intent to kill) and manslaughter (in which there was no intention to kill, even though their behaviour was bad).  Society cannot permit people to act thoughtlessly without them suffering appropriate consequences.  If we did, then every offender could plead Sorry, I didn’t think of it: we often have to be able to say You should have!

*    Insanity, in this context, includes psychotic states, hallucinations and delusions, where the individual cannot discern what is real – they are detached from reality.  They may perceive a person approaching to be the devil or a monster, who has to be killed if they are to survive. They may be excessively paranoid about government or authority, or completely deluded about the world and society.   In this state people cannot properly make ethical choices.  Some psychoses are temporary and medical treatment and counselling, or just the passage of time, may overcome them.  Some psychoses seem to be permanent so we need control mechanisms to ensure the individual does no harm, to themselves or others.

Although we distinguish between these drivers, often many influences are involved, and the drivers change according to circumstances.  None of us can take much comfort from not fitting in to one of these categories at present, because our lives can change suddenly: we are all at risk of physical or mental illness, and environmental or economic disasters.  We can all be thoughtless at times, perhaps when we are under stress.  None of us know everything: we are all ignorant of almost everything, and we are often unaware of relevant social contexts when we blame someone for their behaviour. 

All of us, even the most gifted, have to overcome our own limitations.