Crime Pays - that's Why People Won't Stop Corruption

By Alfred Massaquoi

Introduction

It's not me who first discovered that crime pays! Credit must be given to many socialogists and legal scholars. For a matter of fact, the expression, "Crime pays," was once said by Woody Allen: "I think crime pays.The hours are good and you travel a lot."*

Today, many people have misconstrued believing that crime intrinsically evil, threatens their individual rights, civil liberties, or the very foundation of society.¶

So, to protect themselves, they lock their doors and Windows, insure their properties, and avoid dangerous situations and places because crime is alien, which exists outside organized society.¶

And the popular media portray crime as prostitution, street crime, violence and theft, but what their reportage ignores is the fact that crime comprises thousands of different types of offenses hidden behind the cameras, and often from even the ordinary person's view.¶

White-collar crime in action

Corruption - a White-collar Crime
Consequently, what crops up is one of the most hidden crimes in human criminology, the word,"Corruption" known as "White-collar crime." It is the illegal activities most businesses practice alongside their legitimate everyday business or profession, such as "billions of dollars yearly in price fixing, embezzlement, restraint of trade, stock manipulation, misrepresentation, bribery, false advertising, and consumer fraud. The economic toll from white-coller crime well exceeds the dollar losses from all known robberies, burglaries and other theft - it is rarely considered.¶

Nonetheless, the legalistic origin of the word crime is rooted in Latin called "Crimen," which means "judgment, accusation, or offense."¶ Yet, although there are many definitions of crime offered by social scientists and legal scholars, within the legal scope, Lawyer and Sociologist Paul W. Tappan's definition of crime, for this piece, could be quite easy to understand the theme: 'Crime Pays - that's Why People Won't Stop Corruption.'

Crime an Act or Omission

According to him, "Crime is an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law (statutory and case law) committed with defense, justification and sanction by the state as a felony or misdemeanor."¶

In my view of Tappen's definition of crime as regards the phrase, "Act or omission," you don't commit a crime if you're not caught redhanded in the act, or, if caught, the prosecution failed to convict you "beyond all reasonable doubt."

To explain further, for instance, one by law, is not punished for his thought, say, you said, "I'm going to steal." Therefore, if there's to be a crime of theft, equally, there must be an act or omission or an act that is legally required.

We take yet another situation: you actually committed the crime when you put to action your thought, for instance, you said you'd kill your wife for cheating on you - and there would be no crime unless you killed her, or the attempt to kill her occurred. To put in another words, you deliberated to kill your wife or husband, and the killing occurred - it's murder at forethought. And the court would look at the facts and law and convict you for murder, perhaps, for first degree murder.

What then do I mean 'Crime Pays - that's Why People Won't Stop Corruption? Do I mean that since crime pays - when you're not caught - people must go about committing corruption? 

What does this mean in the context of God? Does God think the crime we commit everyday is a good thing because it pays? Then, what do I mean crime pays? What payment now and forever do we yet from committing crime? In perspective, what's the consequence, and how can we guide against such disgraceful folly?

In the illustration, the man who killed his wife was not caught redhanded in the act; for example, there was no evidence levied against him he killed his wife. 

Proof Criminality Pays

Even though all attempts failed to convict him, it does not mean, he has won a major court battle - because he's not free before God. The Bible says,  "All things are naked before God's eyes." 

The murderer gets off scot-free without evidence - thus, he has no remorse because to him it was a good thing he murdered his wife to end the cheating. To him, the crime of wife murder pays off - to him, he gets revenge - a satisfaction and pleasure from murder against infidelity whilst he goes unpunished. 

Similarly, crime pays for a dishonest or corrupt person, or for the commercial sex worker who gets paid for sex. She's happy for sexual gratification, yet happier because of what money can buy, otherwise, she wouldn't have spent time in the streets laning into car windows, prowling on corners and flagging down motorists.

Today, corruption is so rampant because most corrupt practices in government, business and individuals are swept underneath the carpet - yes, carefully hidden from public view. In short, people get away with corruption or white-collar crime with impunity.

The irony is that the poor often gets into trouble. He doesn't get away with corruption, especially, when he's caught, unlike the rich and powerful who often bribe their way out of trouble unharmed.

It's the poor man who is unfortunate when he steals a goat, for example, and when he's caught, he goes to jail in a twinkle of an eye to serve his prison term, but the bigshot who embezzled millions of dollars of tax-payers' money, tends to escape prosecution, especially, in Africa, and Liberia, my country, for that matter.

Dishonesty, lies, theft, misrepresentation, price fixing, kickbacks, fraud, bribes and many hidden crimes frequently go unpunished. Hence, crime pays; for those who commit crime would stop were they caught and punished severely.

Criminals have accomplices

 Another reason people are not caught frequently for committing corruption is that abettors¶ are to blame. They, themselves, enjoy the fringe benefits from corruption. 

How? These would go at great length to cover-up every traces of the crime, else the money or other support would cease coming forth. Thus, abettors, with the requisite criminal intent, encourages, promotes, instigates, or stands ready to perpetuate the crime.¶

A said abettor can also become an accessory of the fact in that although he abets the crime, he wasn't present at the time the crime was committed. Further, this abettor can become an accessory after the fact, when he knows about the crime or felony committed, and receives, relieves, comforts, and assists the felony to hinder apprehension or conviction.¶

Wherefore, people become parties to corruption, when they assist, aid or abet, incite, or otherwise encourage others to commit crime.¶

As we have seen, there's a criminal intent (mens  rea) when a person's awareness of what is right and wrong under the law with an intention to violate the law.¶ 

More Evidence that Crime Pays

Now, from the foregoing exposé, one can fully understand why corruption pays for most criminals. However, this other brief illustration can help you understand yet better: a rich married man because of sex, pays a prostitute whatever, such as furnishing her apartment house, buying her a new car, and giving lots of spending money - commonly practice in Liberia.

Yet, we all know from the Bible's standpoint adultery and funication are wrong, but it's perpetrated by individuals because of the happiness or pleasure they derive from sexual immorality. The married man enjoys sexual gratification, while the young woman enjoys either sexual gratification or the financial benefits that comes with illicit sexual intercourse.

Another illustration will drive home the point: the benevolent pastor sets up a church for financial gains than to please God. One of the strategies they employ today is to tap on your belief of witchcraft. 

Once you believe evil spirits are out to harm you, in respite, you would seek supernatural powers to fight back, which obviously would lead you to the church where much money exchange hands. And the pastor would exploit the situation or your belief in witchcraft in demand of money or what have you for his financial rewards. 

He drives an expensive car, owns a villa, and an air-conditioning in his bathroom,  can afford a jet, and anything money can buy, makes the pastor happy that his material wants, and his ability to financially care for his family are being satisfied in addition to the prestigious title, dignity and authority, being a pastor.

These illustrations go to explain why criminality cannot be stopped, but can be minimized if not put under check - where there's a deterrent against the violator, there's some sanity in civilized society. 

Sadly, in today's sinful world so full of trouble, talking about crime pays makes the scrupulous squeamish and makes criminal happy to hear that, but from God's standpoint, criminality is abhorrent that the person deserves to die for serious felony. God is the 'One and 0nly' person that can eradicate criminals from the face of this earth. Humans cannot, because we're imperfect! We too commit crime, granted the writer of this script too, is a sinner.

Bible Proof Crime Does Not Pay

However, what should be checks and balances in our imperfect lives, and put us aright with God, is the consideration of biblical accounts of how individuals and whole nations were punished by God for corruption, will remain in us a food for thought and a morbid fear of God to want to please him by turning aside from corruption.

The last of the account we shall read is Achan; he was a thief. He committed corruption. We shall see what became of him. But first let's read in detail the following scriptures below about other criminally corrupt individuals in the Bible that thought that corruption pays.

Gehazi 

2Ki 5:1-26

“Go in peace,” Elisha said. And Naaman left.

He had gone only a short distance, when Elisha's servant Gehazi said to himself, “My master has let Naaman get away without paying a thing! He should have accepted what that Syrian offered him. By the living Lord I will run after him and get something from him.” So he set off after Naaman. When Naaman saw a man running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him, and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Gehazi answered. “But my master sent me to tell you that just now two members of the group of prophets in the hill country of Ephraim arrived, and he would like you to give them three thousand pieces of silver and two changes of fine clothes.”

“Please take six thousand pieces of silver,” Naaman replied. He insisted on it, tied up the silver in two bags, gave them and two changes of fine clothes to two of his servants, and sent them on ahead of Gehazi. When they reached the hill where Elisha lived, Gehazi took the two bags and carried them into the house. Then he sent Naaman's servants back. He went back into the house, and Elisha asked him, “Where have you been?”

“Oh, nowhere, sir,” he answered.

But Elisha said isn't I there in spirit when the man got out of his chariot to meet you? This is no time to accept money and clothes, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, or servants! And now Naaman's disease will come upon you, and you and your descendants will have it forever!”

When Gehazi left, he had the disease—his skin was as white as snow.

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11:

But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them. But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles. 

Peter said to him, “Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property? Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people—you have lied to God!” As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified. 

The young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him.

About three hours later his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. Peter asked her, “Tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property?”

“Yes,” she answered, “the full amount.”

So Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband decide to put the Lord's Spirit to the test? The men who buried your husband are at the door right now, and they will carry you out too!” At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and saw that she was dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹The whole church and all the others who heard of this were terrified.

Naboth Killed by Jezebel for land

1Kings 21:1-28:

Near King Ahab's palace in Jezreel there was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth. One day Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard; it is close to my palace, and I want to use the land for a vegetable garden. I will give you a better vineyard for it or, if you prefer, I will pay you a fair price.”

“I inherited this vineyard from my ancestors,” Naboth replied. “The Lord forbid that I should let you have it!”

Ahab went home, depressed and angry over what Naboth had said to him. He lay down on his bed, facing the wall, and would not eat. His wife Jezebel went to him and asked, “Why are you so depressed? Why won't you eat?”

He answered, “Because of what Naboth said to me. I offered to buy his vineyard or, if he preferred, to give him another one for it, but he told me that I couldn't have it!”

“Well, are you the king or aren't you?” Jezebel replied. “Get out of bed, cheer up, and eat. I will get you Naboth's vineyard!”

Then she wrote some letters, signed Ahab's name to them, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the officials and leading citizens of Jezreel. The letters said: “Proclaim a day of fasting, call the people together, and give Naboth the place of honor. Get a couple of scoundrels to accuse him to his face of cursing God and the king. Then take him out of the city and stone him to death.”

The officials and leading citizens of Jezreel did what Jezebel had commanded. They proclaimed a day of fasting, called the people together, and gave Naboth the place of honor. The two scoundrels publicly accused him of cursing God and the king, and so he was taken outside the city and stoned to death. The message was sent to Jezebel: “Naboth has been put to death.”

As soon as Jezebel received the message, she said to Ahab, “Naboth is dead. Now go and take possession of the vineyard which he refused to sell to you.” At once Ahab went to the vineyard to take possession of it.

Then the Lord said to Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe, “Go to King Ahab of Samaria. You will find him in Naboth's vineyard, about to take possession of it. Tell him that I, the Lord, say to him, ‘After murdering the man, are you taking over his property as well?’ Tell him that this is what I say: ‘In the very place that the dogs licked up Naboth's blood they will lick up your blood!’”

When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, “Have you caught up with me, my enemy?”

“Yes, I have,” Elijah answered. “You have devoted yourself completely to doing what is wrong in the Lord's sight. So the Lord says to you, ‘I will bring disaster on you. I will do away with you and get rid of every male in your family, young and old alike. Your family will become like the family of King Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of King Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have stirred up my anger by leading Israel into sin.’ And concerning Jezebel, the Lord says that dogs will eat her body in the city of Jezreel. Any of your relatives who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and any who die in the open country will be eaten by vultures.”

(There was no one else who had devoted himself so completely to doing wrong in the Lord's sight as Ahab—all at the urging of his wife Jezebel. He committed the most shameful sins by worshiping idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the people of Israel advanced.)

When Elijah finished speaking, Ahab tore his clothes, took them off, and put on sackcloth. He refused food, slept in the sackcloth, and went about gloomy and depressed.

The Lord said to the prophet Elijah, “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Since he has done this, I will not bring disaster on him during his lifetime; it will be during his son's lifetime that I will bring disaster on Ahab's family.”

Achan's Sin

Joshua 7:1-26

The Lord's command to Israel not to take from Jericho anything that was to be destroyed was not obeyed. A man named Achan disobeyed that order, and so the Lord was furious with the Israelites. (Achan was the son of Carmi and grandson of Zabdi, and belonged to the clan of Zerah, a part of the tribe of Judah.)

Joshua sent some men from Jericho to Ai, a city east of Bethel, near Bethaven, with orders to go and explore the land. When they had done so, they reported back to Joshua: “There is no need for everyone to attack Ai. Send only about two or three thousand men. Don't send the whole army up there to fight; it is not a large city.” So about three thousand Israelites made the attack, but they were forced to retreat. The men of Ai chased them from the city gate as far as some quarries and killed about thirty-six of them on the way down the hill. Then the Israelites lost their courage and were afraid.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes in grief, threw themselves to the ground before the Lord's Covenant Box, and lay there till evening, with dust on their heads to show their sorrow. And Joshua said, “Sovereign Lord! Why did you bring us across the Jordan at all? To turn us over to the Amorites? To destroy us? Why didn't we just stay on the other side of the Jordan? What can I say, O Lord, now that Israel has retreated from the enemy? The Canaanites and everyone else in the country will hear about it. They will surround us and kill every one of us! And then what will you do to protect your honor?”

The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying on the ground like this? Israel has sinned! They have broken the agreement with me that I ordered them to keep. They have taken some of the things condemned to destruction. They stole them, lied about it, and put them with their own things. 

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They retreat from them because they themselves have now been condemned to destruction! I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy the things you were ordered not to take! Get up! Purify the people and get them ready to come before me. Tell them to be ready tomorrow, because I, the Lord God of Israel, have this to say: ‘Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things!’ 

So tell them that in the morning they will be brought forward, tribe by tribe. The tribe that I pick out will then come forward, clan by clan. The clan that I pick out will come forward, family by family. The family that I pick out will come forward, one by one. The one who is then picked out and found with the condemned goods will be burned, along with his family and everything he owns, for he has brought terrible shame on Israel and has broken my covenant.”

Early the next morning Joshua brought Israel forward, tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was picked out. He brought the tribe of Judah forward, clan by clan, and the clan of Zerah was picked out. Then he brought the clan of Zerah forward, family by family, and the family of Zabdi was picked out. 

He then brought Zabdi's family forward, one by one, and Achan, the son of Carmi and grandson of Zabdi, was picked out. Joshua said to him, “My son, tell the truth here before the Lord, the God of Israel, and confess. Tell me now what you have done. Don't try to hide it from me.”

“It's true,” Achan answered. “I have sinned against the Lord, Israel's God, and this is what I did. Among the things we seized I saw a beautiful Babylonian cloak, about five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent, with the silver at the bottom.”

So Joshua sent some men, who ran to the tent and found that the condemned things really were buried there, with the silver at the bottom. They brought them out of the tent, took them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and laid them down in the presence of the Lord. Joshua, along with all the people of Israel, seized Achan, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, together with Achan's sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned; and they took them to Trouble Valley.

And Joshua said, “Why have you brought such trouble on us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you!” All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and possessions. They put a huge pile of stones over him, which is there to this day. That is why that place is still called Trouble Valley.

Then the Lord was no longer furious.

Today the Criminal  Justice System is robust. 

Conclusion

As we have seen many take to crime today because it pays them ( the satisfaction or joy it brings to seek wealth, happiness, fame, sexual gratification, and other fringe benefits).

Evidently, in Bible times crime did not pay off many corrupt individuals, such as Gehzi, Ananias and Sapphira, Jezebel and King Ahab, and Achan. They died. This serves as a warning example today that no sin goes unpunished. After all, crime does not pay, as it were - that's why you must stop corruption!

________________

*Inciardi, J. A. (2005).CRIMINAL JUSTICE(Seventh 2004-2005 Update ed., Crime and the Nature of Crime - p. 25-34). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

#All scriptural quotations from the Good News Bible

Copyright @2017 Alfred Massaquoi

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