Criminal Entitlement

I have insisted since my arrest that the reason I did what I did (kidnappings, raping and murdering children) was mostly in order to get revenge, or "poetic justice", for what society in general did to me as a child. I realize how pathetic this sounds as an excuse. But, I'm not saying it to make an excuse for what I did. In fact, I have also said over and over, and even in court on several occasions, that there is no excuse for what I did. The only reason I insist that I was "punishing society" for what it did to me when I was vulnerable and asking for help is because it represents a critical element in my crimes that I could have easily been defused long before I ever became violent.

In fact, I believe it underscores a critical element of all crimes that is almost always completely ignored even though it could effectively stop crime, all crime, in its tracks. I'm talking about the element of entitlement.

The one thing that all so-called "bad guys" have in common is an immediate sense of entitlement to hurt, take from, or otherwise violate another person. In fact, this sense of entitlement is so prevalent in crime that it could be used to define wrong doing in general. I have often hinted that "punishing" criminals is no more than answering crime with more crime. And, unlike fighting fire with fire, all it does is cause more pain and destruction while at the same time providing a further sense of entitlement to the so-called criminals. All "criminal justice" accomplishes is insuring the need for more "criminal justice".

The author of IN DEFENSE OF CHAOS, L. K. Samuels, spends a considerable amount of time in his book developing this same idea. He writes, "Nobody sees himself as evil" (p. 99). And he gives several examples from criminals to dictators who all believed, as I once did, that they were entitled to do what they did.

But, the problem is that our culture is built upon the principle of entitlement. Our most fundamental and basic laws themselves are a list of entitlements that we call "rights". And, every conflict that has ever developed, from who gets the "Eggo" from the toaster to world war, has been an argument over entitlement. Everyone feels entitled to do what they do, no matter how "criminal" or "heinous" it seems to someone else. And that's the problem.

What if nobody felt entitled to anything? Where does the sense of entitlement come from to begin with? What would happen if instead of telling (lying to) people about all the "rights" they have we simply informed them of their "responsibilities" instead? Like the responsibility to protect our loved ones, instead of the so-called right to be safe from harm (which is just Orwellian doublespeak if you think about it). I think there are real and meaningful answers to questions like these, and, that those answers could lead us to a better, freer, and far more compassionate reality.

(J.D. February 4, 2015)