# Keeping yourself from committing horrible crimes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042 "2013-03-26T20:58:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/1 "2013-03-26T20:58:21Z")
I’ve been thinking of all the horrible violent crimes that have been in the news lately, and I’ve heard all sorts of people offering opinions about the causes. But I’d like to look at this from another viewpoint: the reasons why most people DON’T commit these acts. What keeps most people on the straight and narrow? So . . . What keeps you from walking into a classroom of first-graders and opening fire? What prevents you from pointing a gun at a baby’s face and pulling the trigger? What keeps you from raping a girl who is too drunk to give her consent? What keeps you from ringing someone’s door bell, then shooting the guy who answers? What prevents you from shooting your lover, stabbing him multiple times, then slitting his throat? Is it fear of getting caught? Fear of retribution? Belief in a religious moral code? Belief in a secular moral code? Desire not to hurt your family? No access to a weapon? Can’t stand the sight of blood? Or is it simply the lack of a reason to do these things? . . . and if someday you do have a reason, you will act on that? I suspect that our reasons not to commit these crimes are as complex as the reasons why some people do. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/2 "2013-03-26T21:08:47Z")
I wouldn’t say I have a strong moral code, but I’ve never considered doing these things because they just seem wrong to me. I wouldn’t even say it’s because of a lack of reason to do so. I’d never consider raping a woman or buying a gun and shooting people, nor do I see myself in any circumstances where I would consider such a thing. I view these as very antisocial acts and I’m not antisocial. It’s not that I’d be afraid to get caught or punished, it’s just not in my nature, and I find these kinds of acts and the people who commit them to be very repelling. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/3 "2013-03-26T22:37:20Z")
Empathy. Also, most of those things are unappealing to me. I need a reason not to, say, rob a bank, because money is very appealing. I don’t need a reason not to commit random acts of violence. Why would I want to in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/4 "2013-03-26T22:47:40Z")
God told me not to. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/5 "2013-03-26T22:49:23Z")
I don’t know. The Alyssa Bustamante case has haunted me because we both come from screwed up family situations, have dealt with depression, borderline personality disorder, self harm, and morbid fantasies. She killed the neighbor kid and I didn’t. I don’t really it’s automatically a matter of good people vs bad people. It’s just that we’re all a few seconds away from making a bad decisions. Normally we’re smart enough not to, but some people are stupid enough, evil enough, or mentally ill enough to do so . ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/6 "2013-03-26T22:52:56Z")
Mostly its fear of going to jail. I know myself. I know that there are probably things I would do if I knew I wouldn’t be punished. But jail is such a horrifying prospect to me that it scares me straight. Call it doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, but since we’re not likely to lose the rule of law anytime soon, I think I’m safe in this regard There are people, however, I would risk going to jail to kill. But they deserve it. I have a low tolerance for unjust punishment. When I see good guys getting captured in movies or TV and getting tortured or something, I feel bad on a visceral level. However, I have happily dreamed of bad guys, people I feel deserve punishment, being horribly treated. That kind of thing doesn’t bother me at all ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/7 "2013-03-26T22:55:05Z")
Even if I could get away with such things, my conscience would probably bother me about it and force me to confess. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/8 "2013-03-26T22:55:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve been thinking of all the horrible violent crimes that have been in the news lately, and I’ve heard all sorts of people offering opinions about the causes. But I’d like to look at this from another viewpoint: the reasons why most people DON’T commit these acts. What keeps most people on the straight and narrow? > > So . . . > > What keeps you from walking into a classroom of first-graders and opening fire? > What prevents you from pointing a gun at a baby’s face and pulling the trigger? > What keeps you from raping a girl who is too drunk to give her consent? > What keeps you from ringing someone’s door bell, then shooting the guy who answers? > What prevents you from shooting your lover, stabbing him multiple times, then slitting his throat? > > Is it fear of getting caught? Fear of retribution? Belief in a religious moral code? Belief in a secular moral code? Desire not to hurt your family? No access to a weapon? Can’t stand the sight of blood? > > Or is it simply the lack of a reason to do these things? . . . and if someday you do have a reason, you will act on that? > > I suspect that our reasons not to commit these crimes are as complex as the reasons why some people do. What keeps me from doing these things? Empathy for others coupled with respect for myself coupled with there being more important things to me than money or orgasms. Shooting a baby in the face is inconceivable to me. I’d never do it for any amount of money or to save myself from any fate. I’d much rather the dead than do that. Likewise shooting first graders, committing rape, etc. Whether I’d get caught is irrelevant. I would rather be dead than be the person who did that. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/9 "2013-03-26T23:09:48Z")
Empathy. Like everyone said. Well, most people. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/10 "2013-03-26T23:14:59Z")
Also, I don’t want to shoot people or rape people. I don’t have any reason to, and I’m not a mean person. ---
**Author:** ![huck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@huck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/huck)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/11 "2013-03-26T23:15:33Z")
As to crimes like those described in the OP, I can’t take any credit for resisting as physically harming another person is an abhorrent thought. I know I couldn’t do it unless I had to to defend my kids or possibly myself. As to crimes that might hurt someone by depriving them of property, I suppose I don’t do these things because I believe it’s wrong, against my religious beliefs, and likely to cause no end of trouble for my family and myself, in that order. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/12 "2013-03-26T23:38:20Z")
I don’t do those things because I serve a generic, secular Good. Or at least I hope I do. Most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/13 "2013-03-26T23:50:29Z")
Laziness. I already have too many hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/14 "2013-03-27T00:01:01Z")
I have no desire to hurt anyone. Even their feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/15 "2013-03-27T00:13:31Z")
None of the acts you listed would have any benefit for me, so I’ve never considered them as options. More realistic possibilities (bank robbery, theft, fraud) require analysis of the probable cost versus potential benefit. I have yet to encounter a case where the latter outweighs the former, so I live a mostly law-abiding life. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/16 "2013-03-27T01:09:44Z")
i can’t imagine killing anybody just to kill them. Why would I want to have sex with someone who doesn’t want to have sex with me? It’s kind of pointless. Empathy. I remember watching some show about a native tribe in South America. It was a sexually open tribe where the women were encouraged to take lovers. The men were asked about rape and they had no concept of rape. When it was explained to them some of the men had tears in their eyes and the response was ‘every woman is somebody’s mother and just as I wouldn’t want that done to my mother I couldn’t do it to someone elses mother’. As far as theft and property crimes. Well if I steal from you and you steal from someone else who steals from someone else you are just setting up a pointless cycle of negative behavior. It’s just not logical for people to behave that way. So I guess a combination of empathy, guilt, conscience, logic. I never want to go to jail, and I never want the shame and embarrassment of being caught. So add fear and shame to the list. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/17 "2013-03-27T01:23:24Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > God told me not to. > > Regards, > Shodan This is pretty much it. If not for God saying otherwise, We’d all be baby-slaughtering puppy-kickers. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/18 "2013-03-27T01:27:00Z")
**panache45** : You’ve started two odd threads about violence recently: this one and [Going out in a blaze of glory](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=685166). Is everything OK with you? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/19 "2013-03-27T01:28:22Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > This is pretty much it. If not for God saying otherwise, We’d all be baby-slaughtering puppy-kickers. So God Bless You Always…_if not, well. :mad:_ ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042/20 "2013-03-27T01:40:57Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I… > What keeps you from ringing someone’s door bell, then shooting the guy who answers?.. Because the man I want to do this to is in another country and living his own hellish existence. Killing him would give him an easy out. I still hope he dies a slow, painful, and lonely death. And that he doesn’t kill any more of other’s loved ones on the way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keeping-yourself-from-committing-horrible-crimes/654042.md?page=2)