Page 8 | To think criminals are very common?

ChicJoker · 2025-09-22T16:35:06+00:00

I see lots of threads on here claiming moral high ground and pearl clutching for example about people not correcting large company’s on a billing mistake. All very tsk tsk tsk “that’s stealing” etc. it got me thinking, I’m sure it’s dependent on your region but I don’t believe there’s a single person where I’m from that doesn’t either know or have a relation to a criminal in some way. If mums net was a true representation of the public, surely criminals would be shunned from communities and the holier than thou would reign free. where I’m from, everybody, and I do mean everybody - either knows someone directly or are themselves involved in illegal activity in some way. Even if it was historically. It’s astoundingly common. Anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or incredibly naive. what are your thoughts? How do the whiter than white cope in life? FWIW there’s absolutely not a chance on this earth I’d correct for example Tesco on sending me a free online shop by mistake. I’d actually find it more morally inferior TO correct them.

TheBucketWomen · 22/09/2025 21:40

I agree. Criminals are so very common!

MasterBeth · 22/09/2025 21:29

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:23

Okay to give more of a spectrum as I seemed to have gone down drugs route off the top of my head I know people (know as in I could contact them directly) guilty of the following

cash machine robbery’s
car robbery’s
countless drug dealers
money laundering
murder
fraud
prostitution
blackmail
firearms offences
countless assaults
countless driving offences
assisting an offender

these have all been convicted and have spent or are spending time currently.

god knows what else.

but I also know to call right now

consultants and surgeons
barristers
solicitors
directors
doctors
nurses
scientists/researchers
social workers
very successful entrepreneurs
pilots
police officers
deacons

Most of whom in my family. so no I don’t think it depends on social circles

Your "social circle" is just another way of describing the people you mix with.

Your social circle is full of convicted criminals.

My social circle is not.

Maybe you know a lot of people. I suppose you do if you knew everyone in the city you lived in...

BrickBiscuit · 22/09/2025 21:28

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:15

Well no, not tainted. I’m not saying it’s negative to be associated. I’m just astounded that so many people don’t think they have rubbed shoulders with criminals at some point

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Perhaps depends if they get to know them well enough to find out, while rubbing said shoulders. I’m sure most of us have without knowing. I worked in forensic custodial care with serious offenders, and often bumped into ex-clients 'on the out’ just being normal. As per another recent thread, I have committed a serious offence myself (though not one with any victims, whether direct or indirect). I don’t tell people when we rub shoulders.

notnorman · 22/09/2025 21:27

I know a highly regarded businessman … who is off to prison for fraud

gudetamathelazyegg · 22/09/2025 21:27

Just to say I don't think knowing criminals or being related to criminals is a good thing - I'm NC with my dad, not because he's a criminal primarily but he's not a good person and I am very glad he was at least convicted of one crime (not in the UK). I think what I'm trying to say is knowing or being related to someone like a dealer, robber etc was just a fact. They're normal people with family and friends.

If you expanded criminals to drug users (I don't personally) then I do know a lot of criminals now as well. Coke is rife where I live sadly and quite normalised - weed too but then I'm pro legalisation on that one

fairydustt · 22/09/2025 21:26

I kind of agree, I’m a very law abiding citizen, dad was a police officer growing up, I’ve never done drugs, never stolen anything, never been in a fight, I did once accidentally drive 36 mph in a 30 and had to do a speed awareness course but that’s as rebellious as I’ve got and event I know people who are criminals.. they aren’t my friends or family, but I do know them, mainly it’s a couple of my friends partners who I know have dealt drugs, my husband has a few hometown friends from his school days who have been done for drink driving, and one who’s been done for assault. So, not people that I hang around with but people that I know in some capacity

notnorman · 22/09/2025 21:25

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 18:40

Speaking from the whiter than white, moral high ground I can assure you, as far as I’m aware I have only ever met one person in my private/social life who has been convicted of a crime. Even he is in another country and I’ve only met him once and I met him before the event, and no I would not meet him again if the opportunity arose. I have lived in the South East of England, rural East Anglia and now Yorkshire and apart from that one person above the only criminals I’ve met have been, due to work, in Court or Prison, not my private/social life.

I don’t believe I’m either lying or incredibly naïve, unless you count a few parking or other minor traffic infringements as criminal. I have not committed any crimes (or traffic infringements).

I have been saddened by some of the views in the recent Tesco thread; not surprised about them but saddened by the quantity and apparent ratio of them.

OP, it seems obvious you and I will not have a meeting of minds regarding morality but I will watch this thread with interest.

Oh, you asked how we whiter than whites cope in life. Well, in my experience, we just get on with it, obey laws and deal honestly. I also manage to get through life without pearls to clutch 😊 If that sounds prissy or holier than thou – tough.

How can you possibly know?

Original poster

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:24

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 21:18

Interesting definition.

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What’s yours?

OP posts:

Original poster

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:23

Okay to give more of a spectrum as I seemed to have gone down drugs route off the top of my head I know people (know as in I could contact them directly) guilty of the following

cash machine robbery’s
car robbery’s
countless drug dealers
money laundering
murder
fraud
prostitution
blackmail
firearms offences
countless assaults
countless driving offences
assisting an offender

these have all been convicted and have spent or are spending time currently.

god knows what else.

but I also know to call right now

consultants and surgeons
barristers
solicitors
directors
doctors
nurses
scientists/researchers
social workers
very successful entrepreneurs
pilots
police officers
deacons

Most of whom in my family. so no I don’t think it depends on social circles

OP posts:

MasterBeth · 22/09/2025 21:22

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:12

Hit the nail on the head.

to those that are in doubt, I know very high ranking people in legal roles in the public sector iyswim and many people in certain forces. All of which frequently buy cocaine and many engage in prostitutes.in the private sector, a ceo I know of a particularly VERY well known insurance company was having an affair with a prostitute (also known to me) for a long time, always taking coke and speed together!

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I don't think anyone will be surprised that some wealthy people are involved in crime

But you were claiming that everyone in a city you lived in was involved in crime. Everyone is not involved in crime!

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 21:20

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:15

Well no, not tainted. I’m not saying it’s negative to be associated. I’m just astounded that so many people don’t think they have rubbed shoulders with criminals at some point

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Rubbing shoulders and knowing are different things.

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 21:18

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:14

Organised crime I would say. Or going out of their way to discreetly avoid the law

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Interesting definition.

MasterBeth · 22/09/2025 21:17

GarlicPint · 22/09/2025 20:26

Everyone knows someone who uses recreational drugs. Might be a bit of weed for their stress, a line of coke once in a blue moon, a little social something for the young, but they all get it from somebody. That somebody is a dealer, who has a supplier, who has a distribution network.

This gives you six degrees of separation from a big-time trafficker. And it's reproduced with each different kind of user/substance.

If you think you don't know anyone in the UK who uses, you either don't know anybody or they're carefully not mentioning it around you.

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How the fuck do you get to "If you think you don't know anyone in the UK who uses" from me saying that 100% of a city population is not involved in drugs?

TofuEater · 22/09/2025 21:16

OK I'll 'fess. I come from a very middle class family, all university educated and some of us went to private schools. One of my brothers has a conviction for theft when he was a teenager and another for obstruction at a demo though I imagine both pass DBS checks. I'm several years younger and I didn't know about the theft at the time. So you may have criminal records in your own families and not know about them (I imagine most people would try to keep quiet if, for example, their teen was caught shoplifting)

Original poster

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:15

ChangingWeight · 22/09/2025 20:43

To be honest, when I was at school & uni I think a couple of people there dealt drugs. But I don’t personally consider myself as an associate of a criminal, I don’t know them and I never was friends with them. I think you’re taking a really exaggerated view of “everyone knows of a criminal”, like it’s a really tangential link isn’t it? By your logical everyone who ever comes across a criminal becomes permanently tainted.

Well no, not tainted. I’m not saying it’s negative to be associated. I’m just astounded that so many people don’t think they have rubbed shoulders with criminals at some point

OP posts:

TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater · 22/09/2025 21:15

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 21:13

Someone who has committed or been convicted of a crime.

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When are they no longer a criminal?
I have cautions on my DBS that will be on there forever.
My boyfriend ended up in court for something and his DBS will be clear in a few years like nothing happened.

Original poster

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:14

TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater · 22/09/2025 20:43

Who do you define as a criminal? Someone who constantly breaks the law or someone who was in a bad situation and ended up with a record for a one off thing?

Organised crime I would say. Or going out of their way to discreetly avoid the law

OP posts:

grumpygrape · 22/09/2025 21:13

TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater · 22/09/2025 20:43

Who do you define as a criminal? Someone who constantly breaks the law or someone who was in a bad situation and ended up with a record for a one off thing?

Someone who has committed or been convicted of a crime.

Original poster

ChicJoker · 22/09/2025 21:12

gudetamathelazyegg · 22/09/2025 20:13

My cousin is a drug dealer, my dad used to help people rob department stores and generally helped move stolen goods, he committed insurance fraud at least a few times that I know of and was convicted of elder neglect. Where I grew up the drug dealing cousin is standard - I think most people I grew up with would say they had a dealer somewhere in their family (and my cousin has never been arrested, never mind convicted).

My DH grew up what I considered posh (just Southern really but to me feels posh), one of his uncles was a bank robber and another one worked for the Met

I do think MN is another world, particularly stuff like stolen and counterfeit goods. To be fair as an adult I don't know any criminals!

Hit the nail on the head.

to those that are in doubt, I know very high ranking people in legal roles in the public sector iyswim and many people in certain forces. All of which frequently buy cocaine and many engage in prostitutes.in the private sector, a ceo I know of a particularly VERY well known insurance company was having an affair with a prostitute (also known to me) for a long time, always taking coke and speed together!

OP posts:

JackRobinson · 22/09/2025 21:10

I'm interested by all these people who are adamant they don't know any criminals. I'm confident that nobody I know would think of me as a "criminal" - I'm well educated, well spoken, middle class, in a respectable profession that requires a DBS check... but over the course of my teens I probably shoplifted a couple thousand pounds worth of stuff. Then at uni I had a little stealing to order business. I've also done a little trespassing and distributed some drugs for a friend. It's long since behind me now, but it's only by luck that I didn't get caught and can now work in the field I work in. My friends would be absolutely horrified if they knew my past.

GarlicPint · 22/09/2025 20:53

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated 8.8% of people aged 16 to 59 years (approximately 2.9 million people) and 16.5% of people aged 16 to 24 years (around 971,000 people) used "any drug" in the past 12 months in the year ending (YE) March 2024.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/drugmisuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024

That's one in eleven people under 60, one in six if they're under 25.

The CSEW is likely to underestimate the level of drug misuse in England and Wales because of these possible limitations.

Drug misuse in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

An overview of the extent and trends of illicit drug use. Data are from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/drugmisuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2024

MasterBeth · 22/09/2025 20:50

Somersetbaker · 22/09/2025 20:37

In the sense that they've never tried to sell drugs to you possibly. In my working life I knew of many people who used "recreational pharmaceuticals", I suspect that some of them were also dealers. They don't waste time on people who don't want the product or might shop them,

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No, in the specific sense that the OP stated:

Dealers who have done nothing but that their whole lives and roam free.

I don't know any people whose only job has been "professional drug dealer."

TheSpiritofDarkandLonelyWater · 22/09/2025 20:43

Who do you define as a criminal? Someone who constantly breaks the law or someone who was in a bad situation and ended up with a record for a one off thing?

ChangingWeight · 22/09/2025 20:43

To be honest, when I was at school & uni I think a couple of people there dealt drugs. But I don’t personally consider myself as an associate of a criminal, I don’t know them and I never was friends with them. I think you’re taking a really exaggerated view of “everyone knows of a criminal”, like it’s a really tangential link isn’t it? By your logical everyone who ever comes across a criminal becomes permanently tainted.

outingouting · 22/09/2025 20:42

I am always amazed at the posters here when it comes to crime, drugs and fraud. I personally know many people committing benefit fraud (am related to a couple), know lots of others who take class A drugs regularly. Or people who don't declare income.

A reasonable number of friends / family have been arrested for drugs and violence. Most have been cautioned or NFAd - no jail time.

That said, they are in the minority of all the people I know.

I feel like I'm on another planet when people consider returning a shop / money to tesco cos they weren't correctly charged.

I'm middle class now but raised working class in a city.