We have spent trillions of dollars on the so-called root causes of crime in recent years. We've warped our entire legal system away from proportionate punishment. We've expanded the rights, so-called, of criminals against various forms of punishment or legal proceedings. Since 1960 crime rates per capita have tripled. Per capita violent crime rates are four and one- half times greater.
Recidivism rates are still right up there.
In 1776 in The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith asked a question that was very different from the ones that had been asked before. Two hundred years ago people were asking what caused poverty, why people were poor, and Smith stood the question on its head. He said that poverty is the natural condition of mankind. I would suggest two answers. We're not supposed to commit crimes because we have certain standards, and if we violate those standards, we feel guilty.