For instance, if I were going to commit a crime, I wouldn’t touch anything that would be used in the crime without some cheap vinyl gloves, and I would wear a hair net and maybe even shave my whole body so as not to leave physical evidence. I might even buy some disposable shoes and clothes that I could get rid of after committing the crime.
Is this just me having a Hollywood influenced view of crime lab capabilities or are people just dumb? Or are criminals really just impulsive and risk tolerant?
Comments
Criminals are generally stupid.
Most crime is not planned, but opportunistic
First, most criminals are not very bright. Second, many think they won’t be caught because they’re too smart. You can see how these two things might conflict and cause them problems, such as not actually planning out the crime they’re going to commit or not planning it out very well if they do any planning at all.
There’s a reason that true crime stuff focuses on cases with surprising twists or criminals who actually did plan the crime thoroughly. They focus on those types of cases because they’re the exception as opposed to the other 99% of criminals who may as well leave the crime scene and turn themselves in at the nearest police station because they did such a poor job that it’s obvious they’re the guilty party.
A startlingly large amount of crimes are spur-of-the-moment decisions by stupid criminals.
They’re going about their day, see something expensive, and can’t help themselves. They snatch it, and inevitably get caught because they took absolutely no precautions to prevent it.
Grand “heist” type thefts are extremely rare, because generally people intelligent enough to plan something like that are also intelligent enough to make good money in a legal way.
Depends on what area you live in. Lots of criminals are just let go so why even bother trying to hide it.
Criminals tend to be stupid.
Because many criminals are opportunistic junkies.
i’d rather them be dumb.
Desperate times lead to desperate measures. If your fingerprints and DNA aren’t on file anywhere, you have a lesser chance of being caught, barring cameras and shoes with weird treads.
smart ppl dont commit crimes
and if they do, they are smart enough to not get caught, therefore you couldnt know that they even commited a crime, thus they must not be doing crimes? 🙂
No one said criminals were smart. There are very few “criminal masterminds”. Plus much crime is a result of an emotional reaction to a situation. Someone pissed off enough to wanna shoot someone, they aren’t gonna stop and look for some gloves to put on first.
Criminals smart enough to do that won’t have a record of criminal behavior because they don’t get caught
So I watch a lot of fictional crime media and a lot of true crime media. The disappointing truth is that most real life criminals are dumb. Not only do they make mistakes, they make the same mistakes that I’ve seen in about 15 other cases. For example, people absolutely cannot stop googling how to commit murder before they do it. It’s in so many cases, it’s embarrassing. They also cannot stop applying for life insurance policies weeks before they off their spouse. Even though that is how murderers have been caught countless times, they keep doing these things because the average person is dumb.
A few things I wonder about …
Why not have two pairs of the same clothes. If you’re caught on video in a white polo shirt they’re going to check that for blood. So go home and dispose of the old one and put the new one on. Make sure it’s washed and not brand new. “See, no blood on it.”
And don’t talk to the police, ever. You’re either confirming what they know or telling them something new. Neither of which helps you, at all.
Hell, if my wife disappeared I’d still call a lawyer. They’d think I was guilty anyways so why not protect yourself?
Most crime happens spur of the moment. A prepared criminal is significantly harder for the police to catch. Police generally catch the stupid ones. It is why it took literal decades to catch the Long Island serial killer. It is why financial scams go on for so long, the skill required to pull off a good financial scam can also be used to avoid detection.
Cops aren’t geniuses, they aren’t especially stupid either. As a result, smart criminals are seriously dangerous.
Confirmation bias. We only hear about the ones who get caught.
Because not all crimes are premeditated.
Contra TV, Police and related almost never fingerprints or take any forensic evidence unless there’s a murder.
IME, the most accurate depiction of how reporting a robbery goes down was on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” when 2 cops come over after the bar is robbed. Cops take a report for insurance purposes then leave. They laugh at Mac when he asks if they’re going to take fingerprints.
Burglary, mugging, and petty theft is typically drug-related. People on crack aren’t really good planners.
Lack of intelligence.
“they don’t catch the smart ones”
The glove may fit, preventing the acquit.
Either it is a crime of opportunity or more likely is that the police don’t bother checking for that stuff. Fingerprints are not really a thing police will do for a “normal” crime, unless you kill someone they are not taking fingerprints from a crime scene
They don’t catch the smart ones. Smart criminals do take precautions against getting caught. They also know when enough is enough and stop before the heat gets too high.
Other than what’s already been said. Some DNA is hard to control the spread of. Sometimes people rely on the clean-up. Also I’m not an American but apparently half of the murders in America go unsolved.
you don’t hear about the “smart” ones
Intelligent ones dont get caught.
Yet even them at some point talk to someone to brag, confess…
Because criminals aren’t that smart. And the cops don’t actually give a shit most of the time unless it’s like murder (and even then…
The ones that do don’t get caught
When you commit a crime most people think it’s the person you least suspect. Typically it’s the person you most suspect.
Anyone smart enough to consider all these things is also able to reach the logical conclusion that their actions will have consequences both seen and unforeseen and then decide not to do it.
Prisons are filled with short-sighted men of low intelligence who possess poor impulse control and lack empathy. This is not hyperbole.
Easy, they catch the stupid ones. The ones that don’t wear gloves, not the ones that do.
Most criminals don’t take basic precautions like wearing gloves because, honestly, a lot of them just aren’t that smart. Crimes often happen in the heat of the moment/spur-of-the-moment decisions with zero planning. Many are opportunistic, acting on impulse when they see a chance. Others are under the influence and not thinking clearly. And some just don’t care about the consequences at all. They’re not thinking long-term, they’re thinking right now.
Only the bad crimals get caught (mostly). There’s plenty of crimes commited by pros, you don’t get to hear how they got caught, cause they didn’t.
The smart ones don’t get caught. The dumb ones are in jail. For instance, the guy who allegedly shot the Health Company CEO did a lot of things that he shouldn’t have done and got caught. The result is that his face was out there and a guy in McDonald’s rolled him up.
The ones that do, don’t get caught.
UK: Burgalars and car thieves do not need to worry (unless they steal; a very expensive car, or burgle a rich person) as the cops will give it a once over and just provide you with a crime number; 20 years ago, speaking from personal experience, someone broke into my garage and my car, didnt get anything maybe a specuilative break in.
The police sent a fingerprint officer round who looked for prints etc.
Today they mostly never bother- in the North East, if the damage is less than £500, they often dont even come out and provide a crime number over the phone.
TL;DR UK burgalars and thieves mostly will never be caught unless they are captured at the scene of the crime.
Weird as multiple Governments have used invasive laws regarding camera footage to claim they help catch criminals..
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess your average criminal isn’t the brightest bulb in the box.
Most crimes are opportunistic. Meaning they didn’t plan the crime, they just saw an opportunity.
Most Criminals are not particularly smart, and almost all of them entirely terrible at long term planning/risk benefit analysis.
Tbf “most” of them might.
You only catch the dumb ones.
Evidence of premeditation can and will bite you in the ass if you get caught.
Won’t anyone think of the criminals?
I would imagine that criminals who take precautions are less likely to get caught and therefore are less represented in confirmed crimes.
Hollywood also way over plays the whole csi thing. Somehow they always get a full print, or make a match from a partial, they spot that one hair fiber in the carpet, they can match a blade of grass to a specific park, theres semen everywhere.
In real life, Its not nearly that awesome.
Not all criminals are smart nor plan ahead
Your sample size is one of criminals who have been caught.
You overestimate criminals
Both. Hollywood way overstates the effectiveness and availability of CSI techniques and most people who commit crimes don’t think too hard about it.
Because a lot of crimes are crimes of opportunity rather than an oceans eleven grand heist.
Also forensic science is a thing that exists. Even something as insignificant as a small fiber did a shirt can place the perpetrator at the scene
Most robbers, murders, etc are stupid. It’s really that simple. They are not intelligent people.
The way most murders are solved is the cops show up and arrest the guy holding a gun and shouting “HE MADE ME DO IT”
Criminals are generally stupid
“Criminals” are a very broad class of individuals. They have a wide variety of motivations, backgrounds, and so forth.
A lot of “street” criminals are both not very bright, and have problems with impulse control and planning. This is pretty well studied…. It’s been found that an inordinate percentage of individuals incarcerated for violent crimes have a history of trauma to the frontal cortex of the brain. This is the area that is responsible for those things… Anger management, impulse control, planning, etc.
But that’s just one type of criminal. Folks involved in the many varieties of “white collar” crime are generally well-educated and take pains to hide their activities. Quite a lot of crime these days is carried out electronically, and involve a very different type of “fingerprints” that require forensic IT techniques to track down. A lot of smaller police departments don’t even have any facilities to investigate such crimes.
Even career criminals don’t take all the precautions.
The real gangster Tommy DeSimone (played by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas) took his mask off during the Lufthansa heist, which was one of the most famous robberies in US history.
People who plan out their crimes do this frequently. Most crimes are not planned out. Murders especially tend to be crimes of passion done in the moment. Minor crimes are not usually the subject of detailed forensic investigations so shaving your whole body is rarely necessary.
The thing that most criminals have in common is that they have poor impulse control. They see an opportunity, they take that opportunity, and don’t plan ahead nor consider the consequences of their actions. It’s why increasing the punishment for crimes doesn’t tend to decrease crime really, because most criminals aren’t weighing the value of a theft versus the odds of getting caught multiplied by the punishment time, they just don’t think it through that way.
The clever ones do. That’s why there are no clever criminals in prison
Possibly it escaped your notice that most criminals are not very bright
I used to work at a family business, one of the cousins was a full-time Chicago PD tactical officer. He had all kinds of fun stories, and in every one of them, he referred to the perpetrator as ‘the goof.’
It’s because 99% of crimes are crimes of opportunity, and the average criminal is a complete idiot.
Criminals are not smart. This is why we have prisons. Prison is a cage for stupid people.
Super low IQ.
I think the people who get caught are the ones who make mistakes. I don’t think there’s any way to tell how many people do exactly what you’re saying and don’t get caught
Survivorship bias. You only see the ones that get caught.
Criminals be dumb
The smart ones do and never get caught hence you never hear about them.
Funny how cops and robbers is a de escalation of intelligence.
Dumb criminals dont need smart cops. If the cops got smarter, then the criminals would level up and we would need better, smarter cops also.
90% of crimes aren’t planned. From thefts to murders, they’re almost always spur of the moment decisions where opportunity meets desperation or passion.
I’m not killing Mackenzie Macavire after carefully deliberating over where the body will go, and how I’ll dispose of the body & blood. I’m killing her because she’s decided to start a shouting match for the 17th time when I told her that her dog needed to be on a shorter chain, and she happened to be standing in front of a staircase when I got angry
They do. How many crimes do you think go unsolved?
I don’t think you’re considering the general intelligence level of most criminals.
Many criminals are not the brightest bulbs in the string.
The criminals who get caught are idiots and don’t take the necessary precautions. In the US it’s only like 57% of homicide cases get solved. Plenty of people get away with shit all the time because they plan it out properly. The opportunistic criminals are the ones who get caught.
Criminals don’t tend to be smart people who are good at planning. At least, not the ones who get caught.
anyone who can put that much effort into crime could get a day job
Not the cream of the intelligentsia that go in for burglary is the basic problem