Ever wonder why children eventually learn not to repeat bad behavior? That is, if the parental unit decides to implement consistently strong discipline? It’s because we are taught as toddlers that continued bad behavior will generate consequences.
Toddlers and young children dislike painfully uncomfortable consequences. Therefore, eventually they stop doing bad things because they don’t like the punishment. We can use this same model to assess why there’s been such a sudden surge in crime across the U.S.
Criminals in America are sort of like toddlers. First, they’re inherently spoiled. Second, they have some degree of entitlement that makes them feel as if they don’t deserve to be punished. Like a toddler, gradually harsher consequences can have a profound effect on bad behavior.
But that’s not the new “progressive ideology” for dealing with crooks and criminals. Crooks and criminals are now labeled as “the victim”. This isn’t something new to America. Progressive liberals have been labeling criminals as victims for decades.
However, there’s never been a wave of unhealthy sensitivity towards crooks and criminals, as we see today. We’re setting a deadly precedent. Just look at the spike in violent crime across virtually every Democrat-run U.S. city. It’s frightening.
But why’s it happening? It’s because weak-kneed liberal prosecutors are acting like that annoying parent seen all-too-often in the grocery store. The mom or dad who thinks ignoring a spoiled brat is a wise parenting solution. It’s not. It never has been.
Children will learn to do as much as they can successfully get away with. The same theory holds true for criminals. A crook will steal until the consequences of his actions make getting caught too painful. It’s called punishment. But Democrat-run cities no longer believe in punishment.
One New York City shoplifter is a textbook example of prosecutors behaving like bad parents. Harold Gooding has been labeled a “serial shoplifter.” Even NYC Mayor Eric Adams refers to Gooding as New York’s “Recidivist No. 1.”
He’s like the poster child for NYC’s new revolving door criminal justice model. It’s not working. In NYC, prosecutors act like bad parents. When the consequences are weak, or virtually nonexistent, criminals will act like toddlers.
The 53-year-old Gooding has been nabbed 101 times for shoplifting. Gooding keeps getting arrested, but New York’s insane bail-reform laws continue to release him back on the street. What do these people expect?
According to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Gooding has served time on three different robbery-related convictions. He is a career thief. Despite a lengthy criminal history, the new NYC laws keep letting Gooding out of jail in a matter of hours.
In February, he pleaded guilty to petty larceny. Did Gooding get any jail time? No, he did not. He received a conditional discharge, a release which required him to “stay out of trouble.” Gooding was also told to return to court periodically.
This sounds to us like a perfect example of the “idle threat parenting model.” If it doesn’t work for children, how do we expect it to work on criminals? After being rearrested in July, on the same charge, the “be a good boy, Henry” orders were extended.
This person isn’t a penny anti thief, either. Gooding’s hauls from his robberies have been estimated to be over $2,000. Harold Gooding is not a good person, despite what his mother thinks. “Not my Harold,” she told the New York Post.
If our judicial system continues to perform like bad parents, rewarding bad behavior with idle threats, our crime problems will persist. Criminals think they can get away with anything they want. America needs strong, tough-on-crime conservative prosecutors.
We require prosecutors who will enforce the laws, not radicals who ignore bad behavior or use idle threats. America needs to once again reinforce the adage, “if you do the crime, you’ll do the time.” Anything less is just an idle threat.