Citizens tend to become criminals when laws enacted with good intentions are essentially restrictive rather than being regulative of natural human activities.
Take the simple instance of banning a movie or a book, by the government .. or even the regional "authority", which may be a gang of criminals and/or a political party. It is a sure fire method of gaining more publicity and making the item more sought after. In fact, some smart cookies are known to go out of the way to create controversies. It is sure to draw attention and attract eyeballs to a worthless movie, or book, ensuring some degree of financial success of the venture!
Take for instance, the laws dealing with prohibition, prostitution, pornography, smuggling or gambling.
The laws are meant to prohibit activities, which every "law abiding" citizen indulge in, in one way or another. These are all otherwise normal activities that are enjoyed by normal people. We know by experience that these laws are mostly flouted than observed in those communities that had them. In effect, it tends to criminalise normal people who would like to call themselves law abiding citizens.
On the positive side, rarely does anyone get convicted on the above charges. Essentially these laws are framed in a loose manner and generally, the evidence available is far too flimsy to withstand scrutiny in a court. Even if convicted the, punishment is so trivial that it hardly matters to a habitual offender. All it does is to make a criminal out of a normal citizen. The law is often misused by the authorities entrusted to enforce it. They use it as a tool to harass, intimidate and implicate otherwise peaceful citizens. This is extensively practiced to extort money and further corrupt society and the system.
Existence of such laws does not mean that these activities are curbed. In fact, they only drive these activities underground where it spreads its tentacles and become far more dangerous. The risks become great and the stakes become high. The administration becomes corrupt and is forced to feign ignorance of these activities. This gives rise to a multiplicity of other related crimes that are brushed under the carpet - because the system feeds on the booming economy that this creates and by default encourages it to grow and thus stay in power.
In the last century, prohibition in some of the states of the US
Somehow, we never to learn, and all well intended laws have tended to create monsters with such financial clout and muscle power that they threaten to consume those whom it is meant to protect! In our own land we have created the Dawoods and his ilk, many of whom are adorning our very law making bodies in the assemblies of state and union!
And who are the greatest abuser of this system? The very people who are meant to enforce this law.
And who are the greatest beneficiaries of this? The very law makers who make these laws. The trickle up theory!
Still, we blunder along - knowing full well that the resources needed to create and implement these laws could have been well utilised to educate people and create living conditions that can well regulate these activities to minimise it's ill effects.
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