The economy made me do it.

Criminals now have a ready excuse for their illegal acts -- the economy made me do it. The big headline in last week's news was "Economy pushes unlikely suspects to edge." The article cited several examples of what the reporter deemed fine, upstanding citizens being driven to steal by the country's financial status.

Sounds a lot like the excuse Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Jesse James, and others of their ilk used. But that excuse doesn't garner any of my sympathy. Those selfish crooks robbed mom and pop operations and small town banks. They took money from honest people who were just trying to scrape by like everybody else. They took cars from people's driveways. They were not what they claimed to be -- Robin Hoods who took from the rich to give to the poor. When it boils down to it, they were just scummy thieves.

One of the cases the newspaper reported was the case of Bruce Windsor. He was a deacon and a youth soccer coach. February 26, he put on a mask, wig, and sunglasses and tried to rob a bank. After a ninety minute stand-off, he surrendered to a SWAT team. As it turns out, they probably shouldn't have used him as an example. Number one, if he was a faithful church member, he knew for sure what he was doing was wrong. Number two, the reporter admits that he was having financial trouble even before the recession hit.

Other cases include a Georgia minister, a police officer in Illinois, and a single dad in St. Louis -- all, according to the article, blaming the financial situation for their arrests. I beg to differ. They weren't arrested because they were hurting financially. They were arrested because they robbed banks! Another case cited was that of Barbara Joly who was sentenced in February to nine years in prison for bank robbery. But she had to do it! Her adult son had fallen on hard times, and she couldn't afford to give him any more of her money, so she took some other hardworking person's money to give to him. If he's an adult, he should be looking after himself! What's wrong with saying, "I wish I could help, son, but I'm broke myself"?

These people have more problems than financial ones. They have some deep-seated character problems, no matter what kind of facade they've previously presented to the public!

"Economy pushes unlikely suspects to edge." The Dallas Morning News; May 6, 2009; p. 7A.