>Let's recognize the influence of social institutions and
>simultaneously hold people accountable for behavior that is an
>inextricable part of those social institutions?
So where do you draw the line? I don't really know the answer, but a pure determinism is no more satisfying than an ethic of total individual responsibility. I characterized Zeynep's piece as "provocative" not as a journalistic cliche, but because it really is.
We can say poverty breeds crime, but would you object to the prosecution of murderers, rapists, and thieves on that grounds?
Doug