Criminal Law and Criminals of Authority Discussed

It seems that every day we read in the newspaper where someone of authority was caught embezzling money from a government agency, or there was a dirty cop involved in the crime. I suppose any time this happens it makes the newr, because it is rather an ironic situation, and shows the hypocrisy of authority. Here the United States we have freedom of the press, and we rely on the press to point out things that go wrong in the government, and in many regards that is a safeguard keeping our Republic strong.

Some say there are more and more people in government who are committing crimes. I'm not so sure that is true, but I do believe we are better at detecting it, and the media is always on alert to dig up dirt. In fact, it seems like major media outlets compete with each other to dig up stories like this. Not long ago, there was an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times where someone in the police department had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parking ticket violations.

No, I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone, but it is a good case in point. There was an interesting story that same day on the East Coast where a schoolteacher was having sex with one of their underage students. We are taught in the United States to respect authority, but criminals know and realize that once they can get into an authority position, they can really benefit from the situation. I'd like to point out three areas where criminals can advance their careers fastest, and why we need to be on the lookout, to protect ourselves as citizens.

1. Some Criminals Become Cops
2. Smart Criminals Become Lawyers
3. Smart Criminal Sociopaths Become Politicians

Obviously, most police officers join the force because they wish to protect people, and do something good for our society. However, some reports show that 33% of those that go through the police academy are less than ethical in some way. Luckily, most of the bad ones get weeded out during training, or in the first few years on the force. That's a good thing, but you can understand if someone was of a criminal mind, why they might like to be a police officer in the first place.

Now then, if someone was a criminal and they wanted to become a lawyer, they might make quite a bit of money. Of course, the good thing is that most criminals are lazy, and it takes a lot to go through law school, get a law degree, and pass the bar. Then there are the super smart criminals who are also sociopaths, sometimes they become politicians, and this can cause absolute havoc for the jurisdictions they control, and their constituents. If we get too many of them at higher levels of government, it becomes a real problem for our society and civilization. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
About this Author

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,444 articles by September 4th at 4:44 PM will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..