When Greed Leads to Criminality

 A relative of mine discussed greed and despite its destructive nature people don't really have a grasp of it from a criminal vantage point. While some of us know that greed is a moral hazard there are others that relish in the ability to engage in theft without concern for others. While greed is part of our lives our laws should help to protect us from such behaviors through investigating credible threats. Without this protection of the law  those who engage in greed are likely to do so again. 

Its amazing that while we know people have the propensity of greed we often don't follow up to find the causes of illegal behavior. For example, harassing someone and engaging in aggressive behavior could sometimes be a result of financial crimes and the need to keep such behavior undiscovered. Other times such behavior could have other causes. Its much easier to justify behaviors against people who are seen as less worthy by the perpetrators.

The problem is that when we don't follow up on these issues we have given a green light for people to commit these behaviors again. While I do understand limited time and budgets it is highly important to ensure that illegal activity is uncovered and prosecuted accordingly. When these crimes are mixed with threats, rumors and aggression they should take even more precedence in our legal system.

Greed isn't an innocent act but is based in something deeper as the person devalues the rights of others. A study found that "trait greed predicts selfish economic decisions that come at the expense of others in a resource dilemma." (Mussel & Hewig, 2019, para 1). It is not a one off event but based in a lack of internal feedback or ability to adjust behavior to environmental stimuli. 

That means selfish people will display other selfish behavior that seeks to raise their social status. In the example I'm familiar with, the person who engaged in theft also engaged in ethnic intimidation, put children in harm's way, constantly seeks to attention, and places herself at the center of nearly every social situation (always with a catch). This narcisstic behavior goes unchallenged. 

I've learned a few things. Not following up on theft, greed, and criminality may encourage others to engage in similar behavior due to a lack of consequence (Such behaviors have a social root). It doesn't take much for people to "catch on" that certain crimes will not be considered important and people may decide that the punishments and the low level of detection bank in their favor. 

Mussel, P., & Hewig, J. (2019). A neural perspective on when and why trait greed comes at the expense of others. Scientific reports, 9(1), 10985. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47372-5