Why is being safe a crime?

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My bad. I guess there's more than one kind of victim blaming going around.

In the insurance industry the criminals responsibility is irrelevant. If they find you pretty much left your stuff out there for the taking, they'll find you negligent (or even fraudulent!) and won't pay you a dime in claims. Insurers take things like deadbolts on doors and security screens on windows into account when calculating your premium too (lesser risk of claim = lower premium). All I'm saying is if you don't take the precautions you create a higher risk of a bad thing like that happening. Said girl who has to walk home alone at night through the bad streets can catch a taxi instead or carry a form of personal protection with her (pepper spray, knife, gun, an alarm etc). It certainly will be her hypothetical rapist's responsibility for the crime, but I also think the girl will feel regretful for not taking an alternative route/alternative transport home.

there are so many variables in the world that the above post doesnt really touch on.

sure we should do what we can for safety, but we shouldnt sacrifice life for safety.

But the precautions people expect this hypothetical person to take aren't always an option. If she is dirt poor and working a minimum wage job and can barely afford to pay her rent and eat she certainly won't be able to afford a cab to and/or from work every day.

You can't expect people to take so many precautions that they can't even live their life.

The insurance industry is irrelevant. They're operating a business, not assigning blame.

I think it's more about trying to make it the victim's fault when a crime is done against them, if they didn't lock or otherwise make safe, whatever the situation was, prior to the crime. Doing that is wrong, IMHO. If someone fails to practice common sense, such as to leave a roll of cash in plain sight, that's an act of carelessness, but it's not wrong and not a crime, and id does not CAUSE the thief to steal it. The thief is the bad guy, and the victim is the victim. People sometimes are very careful, but might forget to lock a back door, or might unknowingly drop their car keys on the way into a store, etc. No victim of any crime is to blame for the crime. If a victim has done something careless, which let them be more exposed to that crime being committed against them, that's simply a mistake or a lack of knowledge or lack of prudence. Common sense is far from paranoia, and there is a middle ground. I believe it's wise to lock your car, but on the other hand, to spend 10 minutes to remove your coat, umbrella, or any other personal effects from view in the car, and go lock them in the trunk (or painstakingly lug them around with you), is going a bit far. After all, if someone is going to break into a car, they're going to do it anyway, locked or not. Many times, I have read how people come out to find their car window busted, and items taken, AND they had not locked one of the doors, and can't understand why the busted window. Thieves are often dumb...

Security and safety is an individual thing. Everyone should have the right to practice it to their own satisfaction, and without being blamed in any way, if something happens. But of course I'd stop short of telling a 90-year-old lady to walk around a tough Detroit neighborhood at 2 in the morning with a Gucci hand bag, and go to the ATM. That's just common sense. And on the other side, I'd stop short of buying expensive house locks and putting bars on windows, and all that. Again, if they're intent on getting in, they'll get in; with a $7 lock or a $5,000 security door with Medeco lock, and wireless alarm to the police dept.

Personally, I don't ever lock the house, and neither do our neighbors. In fact I don't even think the back doors have working locks on them. I never lock cars when home either, and I leave the keys on the seat in plain sight. Nobody steals around here, or at least nobody has lived to get out of the area with anything they've stolen . Yes, somebody might come and steal something at some point, as it can happen anywhere. But if they do, that's the price paid for a lifetime of relaxation and not having to hunt for keys and worry about being burned alive in a fire behind window bars that have rusted-shut emergency levers, etc. Oh yes, and of course we all have guns here, and are very proficient with firearms and home defense. The criminal element knows that, and they go elsewhere than this zip code. When I go somewhere in the city, I do lock the car, but that's just common sense. Not only criminals, but pranksters are out there, and might put a snake or throw trash in an unlocked car, etc. It has happened.

Charles

So it's about them wanting emotional support, not logical support so when you try and give them advice about what to do next time, they feel you are blaming them as the victim. I once left my purse in the cart at Goodwill and I was at the mall when I realized what happened so I had to put my son back in his car seat and the stroller back in the trunk and drove all the way back. I was hoping someone didn't take it. I arrive back at the store and see my purse is missing. I ask one of the cashiers about it and she calls for security and he asks me questions about my purse and he goes to the back and gets it and asks me for my name. I check inside it to make sure everything is still there and they both start lecturing me about what I should be doing like check my cart next time before I leave. I think they were just helping me so I won't have it happen again because maybe next time I won't be so lucky. I was lucky a honest customer turned it in. I honestly did feel stupid about this whole thing because I left my purse in the cart and how could I have forgotten? But did I get upset with the employees? No. But I was glad I got it back and nothing was taken and I got over it and decided to always double check my cart before leaving any store. I just have to be more careful.

I missed this thread. I agree that if people need to take as many precautions as they do, that society is out of control (in a bad way). I think it should be possible to get things under control to the point where people don't feel obligated to lock their doors etc. I think that could be accomplished through increased enforcement and SHARPLY increased penalties, e.g. limb amputations for theft and robbery. The political balls to do that will never exist in the US though.

Where I come from, people are too precautious. I even got told off at my volunteer job once for not putting my bag in the provided lockers, instead I left it laying around for all to see. I suppose I know what they mean, but it just so happens that I don't happen to be as precautious as they are.

I remember we used to not have to lock our doors when I lived in Montana. Then we get these new renters and we found out their kids were coming in our home and playing with our toys we had up in the playroom while we be on our trip and away from home for the day. Nothing was taken of course but it still bothered my mother so she said "I can't believe we have to lock our doors now from our neighbors." But to me it was no big deal because just lock the doors and she was like "But we shouldn't have to do that so now we have to now, it's so ridiculous."


Then there are people who have to live in unsafe areas because they have no choice so they have to have bars on their windows, and alarms in their home, have fire arm and I find that so sad because they have to do all that stuff to be safe. Luckily people who live in safe areas don't have to do that stuff except lock their doors. But there are some places where people don't have to lock their doors because there is rarely any crime. Everyone is just honest and they don't go in each others home to take stuff. But I never mind locking the door. For me it's security.

that is just sick, sorry but physical punishment never worked as a deterrent alone and it is unethical.

i also think you are overstating just how dangerous the world is, america maybe but you arent forced to live there.

I do not for a second believe that limb amputations are ineffective as a deterrent against burglary or robbery.

I'm not sure I'm as gung ho about it as I was yesterday though.

Exactly. This thread is all backwards. Victim blaming isn't like "why do you have security screens on all your windows and an alarm system and a guard dog and a gun next to your bed?"
Victim blaming is "well it's your fault you got robbed and assaulted in your own home coz you left yourself vulnerable" or "Trayvon Martin deserved to get shot coz he was wearing a hoodie" or "Girls who go out looking like sl*ts are asking for trouble". That is victim blaming.

I would hope that we've gone past mutilating criminals, as a society. For one thing, amputate an arm and you've made someone disabled for life, they won't be able to do a lot of things we take for granted and will probably need full time care.

I actually had a home intruder last night. He picked my lock on my door. I am buying more locks and being even more careful. He was a friend but is no longer one. As part of my new security measures, i refuse to let people know my address anymore. I feel so unsafe in my house now.

Looks like he took it back the next day. New York City has been going the other way for the last twenty years or so with less punitive punishment and a focus on rehabilitation of criminals and it seems to be more effective than the rest of the U.S where incarceration has increased along with harsher punishments, not decreased. More severe punishments doesn't seem to teach people a lesson it just makes their environment worse through the industrial prison complex. People interested could check out a book about New York's relatively successful war on crime called 'The City That Became Safe'. Over the twenty years of high visibility policing and less punitive punishments New York has had the steepest drop in all serious crimes of any major city in world history ever, a total of 80%.