To think all criminal activity comes down to motive plus opportunity?

[SharpMintBeaker]

People talk about crime in complicated ways - upbringing, environment, desperation, but at the end of the day, doesn’t it all boil down to motive + opportunity? If someone has a reason to commit a crime (whether it’s greed, revenge, necessity, or thrill-seeking) and they see a way to get away with it, they’re more likely to do it. That’s why crimes happen more in certain situations - lack of consequences, easy targets, or people feeling like they have nothing to lose. It makes me wonder, is morality just about never having the right mix of motive and opportunity at the same time?

No. I'm very far from angelic, but there are so many crimes I could easily commit with reasonable expectations of getting away with them, that I simply wouldn't and don't, because they go against my own moral code.

We have consciences. There are a variety of reasons people commit crime. Or wrong acts. There is a difference. A variety of reasons people can override conscience and others just operating under entirely different moral codes. Usually utilitarians. These people can justify the gravest evils.

Some crimes are reckless. I have cautions. None of what you have said applies to me.
Anyone can end up a criminal in certain circumstances.

is morality just about never having the right mix of motive and opportunity at the same time?

No, the reasons for not committing a crime when you have motive plus opportunity might be down to your internal moral compass; they might be unrelated to morality and involve other factors instead.

I'm not generally a thief, but I've always thought that if I had the chance to steal a bag of diamonds, I wouldn't. Where could I possibly sell diamonds, and how would I explain suddenly having a lot of money?

Maybe. My otherwise mild mannered sister keyed her ex husband’s car because she had plenty of motive and a rare opportunity. She wasn’t sorry.

In theory yes those are the factors HOWEVER how prepared someone is to take the opportunity or how strong the motive is for them is hugely influenced by all the things you’ve mentioned.

This is a good example.

even with the same motive (I assume he did something to really hurt her) and the same opportunity, some people still wouldn’t key the car.

He was utterly awful to her. I wouldn’t have done it, but I bet why she did.

I wouldn’t have done it in case he didn’t realise it was me that did it. I wouldn’t want someone else to get the credit. But then scrawling “Fuck you, From Libby” is too incriminating. A life of crime is hard, we concluded.

Coming from an environment where crime was the norm. Imagine coming home from school to find 57 cases of bubble gum for example in the lounge. It's motive that's key rather than opportunity to my mind. You can create opportunities if you want to commit crime, but the driving force is the thing that creates the act.

The motive usually is money, it was in my father and virtually everyone around us. Sometimes it's the thrill, that little buzz you get when you do your photocopying at work for example. Sometimes it's power, to achieve it over others or to feel it in a life devoid of agency.

Occasionally you meet someone who can't help themselves, they are addicted to crime. That I put down to that buzz, it's the same for gamblers or people who jump out of planes.

Crime is never victimless though, someone always loses. So despite our house being filled with all sorts of stolen or at least questionable items, dad would never take anything stolen from an individual, just from businesses or the government!