I often wonder about people’s motivations and the factors that cause people to commit crimes. That could be the WWW in each of the three stories this week. Why, why and why? Criminologists and psychologists can debate the reasons people commit crimes. In the stories this week, the answer seems to be greed, stupidity and dishonesty.
Where’s the beef or in this case, the William?
Let’s start with greed.
A Wendy’s manager in Pennsylvania was recently charged with theft by deception (basically fraud) for paying herself an extra salary by creating a fake employee. William Bright clocked in each day, but he was never at the drive thru window, he didn’t salt any fries, nor did he oversee the pot of chilli. He was a ghost employee created by manager Linda Johnson. She punched him in and out and collected his pay. He didn’t exist.
This was a complicated scheme, and one wonders how many times this has happened in businesses of all sorts. Clearly the motivation was greed with somewhat clever dishonesty.
To tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God
Dishonestly itself may not be a motivation. In the next story we see dishonesty and a desire avoid responsibility.
Janet Nale was confronted by the police after some truly terrible behaviour at a water park. When questioned by the police, she claimed that she was a “Christian woman” and would therefore never do such a thing. She also claimed her name was “Jennifer Lee Miller” and she provided other false details about herself. She was arrested for obstruction after the officer confirmed that she had provided false information.
It is interesting to note that in court we still have the practise of people swearing to tell the truth on the bible. There are anecdotal reports among my colleagues of apparently religious triers of fact being more likely to accept evidence from people who claim to be religious. As this example shows, claiming an adherence to a faith is still a method used by some to attempt to avoid responsibility for bad behaviour.
Not cops in a donut shop but donuts at a cop shop
A tried-and-true reason many crimes are committed is stupidity. Take, for example, this story out of Columbus Georgia.
James Bryan Brown was arrested and charged with two counts of stunt driving. That is not unusual – those are common offences. He was apparently “doing donuts” in his vehicle. What was unusual is that he drove in this manner right in front of the local police station.
Yes, he did donuts in front of the cop shop. Can there be any other possible reason than stupidity?
