> [WS:] To expand on this thought, most criminals are poor suckers who
> hoped
> to profit at someone else's expense
Perhaps that's true at the state and federal level, but I strongly doubt it's true at the local level. Thumb through the police reports and the court dockets, and you mostly see penny-ante lifestyle violations--public intoxication, disorderly conduct, having a bad attitude, that sort of thing.
> That is, unless it is someone you know, which is a different story.
I was thinking of my older best friend's son, who recently became a felon by virtue of two simple misdemeanor pot possession charges (one fifteen years ago, once recently) and a couple public intoxication charges . He missed a court date the week his mother finally died, and the judge decided that meant he needed to be a felon. He's now on four years probation, and I just know he's not going to make it without being sent to prison. If he'd been able to afford a lawyer at that hearing, perhaps it might've been different, but no--he's going to be fed to the machine, and he'll probably come out a criminal, which is good business for the court system.
Moloch and Mammon--they make such a lovely couple.