Rosalie Young
April 19, 2010
Story 8 Poll Story






Look around. In the gas stations, delivering packages, praying in the church pew, walking down the grocery aisles and possibly even next door is a criminal. Merriam-Webster’s definition: one who has committed a crime. The question that follows is: what is a crime? Under the main Webster’s entry, the definition reads: a gross violation of law or something reprehensible, foolish or disgraceful.
In a poll taken from people across this country, old, young and on diverse socio-economic levels; the idea of criminals and their closeness to the law-abiding public is disturbing. Half of the polled persons do know a criminal. When asked if most people would allow a criminal to live in their household, 57 % would not.
Are criminals genetically inclined to do evil? Seventy-one percent said no. This opinion contradicts the findings of a study of twins by Thalia C. Eley, Paul Lichtenstein and Jim Stevenson in 1999. These child-development researchers stated, ”This study found that 49% of the variance in teacher-reported aggression was due to genetic factors, with no influence of the shared environment…” In their summary of collected data, Eley, Lichtenstein and Stevenson wrote, “There are good theoretical reasons to expect aggressive antisocial behavior to be heritable and the limited empirical evidence suggests this is so.” Predisposition to do the evil, rather than the good is not a popular opinion. Our poll takers emphatically stated that criminals can choose to do good by 93%.

America has faith in the prison systems. Sixty percent of those polled believe that a criminal can be rehabilitated. When opening the forum for the relating of experiences, one person shared that he had been in jail. He felt that he was rehabilitated just fine. His opinion is that some people make mistakes in their youth or when they are desperate, but that doesn’t make them evil. However, he also believes that some criminals can’t be rehabilitated or don’t want to be. When asked if the three-strikes-you’re-out law has kept the streets safer, over 54% of our poll takers said yes.
Should an employer give a job to a felon? Half of the respondents would give the criminal an opportunity to work for them. One respondent stated that he had worked with a convicted felon at a deli and had a very negative experience. He caught the man stealing on a number of occasions and lying to managers and co-workers. Our pollster ultimately left this position because the thief had spread rumors about him and made him fear going to work.
What does it take for a law-abiding citizen to become a criminal? One poll responder shared that many people are profiled for their dark skin and then searched, then the police find a nugget of medicine. Oops, off to jail. If they had previous infractions it could spell a felony and mean a very long time in jail. For the hard criminals, there may be little chance of reformation, but in jail everyone gets a Bible, so there’s hope.
Does a person have to go to jail to be a criminal? Eighty-six percent of those polled say that a person does not have to be incarcerated to be considered a criminal; they just have to break a law. Summer Young summed it all up by saying, ”I believe people can change, for the good or worse, at any time.”
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