To think criminals are very common?

[ChicJoker]

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.

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

Do you live in Albert Square?

I mean telling someone they should correct their Tesco bill is a bit different to shunning family/friends in real life, isn't it? 😳

Particularly as that person would've started a thread asking what people thought.

No idea how/why you know so many criminals though 😁

The stats say that something like 30% of men in the UK have a criminal record excluding motoring offences(!)

common as muck... misses point of thread

12.6m people have a criminal record, but it’s very skewed towards men. So c.33% of men and 9% of women.

One third of British men have a criminal record.
So if you know three men.....

I can't imagine anyone has never broken a law if you include things like underage drinking and exceeding the speed limit. There are degrees to anything.

One third of men have a criminal record. WHAT???

Well, I ain't bleedin' common!

I've got 6 'A' levels and 2 degrees - and I paid good money for them certificates. I got them from Abroad (that's a different country, not a lady, in case you're wondering). They send 'em in the post.

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.

Google tells me it's only 25%. So that's okay 🤨

It depends on what you mean by criminal, OP. I've broken the law many a few times in minor ways, but do steer clear of people I know to have committed crimes that would attract more than a small fine if prosecuted. And of sex offenders, even though they rarely get punished.

People rarely tell everyone they have a criminal conviction! All the same, Mumsnetters often seem amazingly - erm, naïve if posts here can be believed. They're not suspicious enough where it matters, yet see a benefit cheat on every corner. I'd love to know if the benefit watchers are the same people who never wonder where their kids get their designer gear, how their teacher friends can afford the big house and posh cars, or why their lovely male friend never has a girlfriend or boyfriend ...

I think its what you define as a serious crime or criminal and what the circumstances of the crime were maybe? Would I grass on someone who accepted a free Tesco shop, no, do I think someone who got arrested for smoking a joint in the park when they were 16 is a criminal even though its illegal, no I don’t.
Would I shun a sex offender and grass them up absolutely.
If my friend Jane went to prison for stabbing and killing someone who was trying to kill her, is she a criminal imo… no. If she did it in cold blood then yes she would be a criminal.

Obviously depends on your family and social circle but I don't have any criminal relatives or friends

Gosh, I didn’t even consider actual convictions!

i was thinking more along the lines of dealers who have done nothing but that their whole lives and roam free.

Given the types of people I've caught stealing from my shop I would say you're not far off the truth OP. I imagine that the friends and family of these thieves would never in a million years believe it. Not one of them looks like they are going around helping themselves to small businesses stock 🤬

I agree, criminals are everywhere

Are you living in the USA OP?

You probably live in a dodgy area. I can only think of one person who has committed a crime but it's my mum's friends son who I have never met, so hardly a close link.

25% of men have a criminal record??? Is that right? I don’t know anyone with a criminal record that I know about. I appreciate that a lot of people would keep it quiet, but are a quarter of the men I know keeping it so quiet I don’t even hear a rumour?

I think you're right OP. I think if people factor in people they know who take drugs then yes, pretty much every poster here will know a criminal because that's how widespread it is, even if the users have never been caught, let alone prosecuted.

I remember a thread here a while ago where someone was concerned that their kid's primary school teachers had been out taking cocaine at the weekend and the response was that it was none of her business and she was being totally unreasonable to be concerned about it - an illegal industry which causes untold misery all along the supply chain. And yet on the Tesco thread there are so many posters who are convinced that it's a terrible theft. I can't square it. To my mind drugs are much worse than accepting an accidental delivery from a huge supermarket company.

Here's my rather long Google search, very informative 🙂 I've looked up many of the linked sources because this data is very fragmented. All of them emphasised that a criminal record includes things like cautions and minor offences committed long ago.

Finding the correct number for actual convictions is even trickier. However, it does seem to be between 20% and 28% so, at best, you're looking at one in five (including very old convictions). And the vast majority are men, meaning the proportion of males is well above one in five.

The key phrase here is, as far as I'm aware.
You'd be surprised.

I mean, pretty obviously this depends on your social circle, life chances, background etc.

No, I don't know any professional drug dealers.

I do think it will be somewhat location dependent though. There will be zones where a really highly proportion of the men will have got a record and other areas where it’s low.
I find it hard to believe that one in 5 men living in rural villages and towns have a record , but it could easily be the vast majority in some inner city areas.

I live in a village and we know everything about everyone, going back generations. There’s no way people are getting criminal records round here without it coming to light!

lol. I don’t live in a dodgy area I live rurally so unless you class my land as dodgy and animals as criminals?

however the city I grew up in yes absolutely 100% of people are related to drugs in one way or another.