Tuesday, July 7, 2015

'Don't Ask Me Crimes'

'Don't ask me crimes' is the topic of an article in the Kyeongyang magazine written by a psychologist who has studied the issue in depth. He discusses the origin and details of these crimes. In 1982 we had one of the first of these crimes: the rampage shooting and killing of 62 and wounding 33 villagers by a policeman, angry with his live-in girl friend. 

We have the case of a man in 1991 who lost his job because of poor eyesight, and in revenge drove his car recklessly, deliberately killing 2 and wounding 21.  Another case in 2008 of a person who was angry at his living conditions, and  set fire to the houses in a cheap area of the city where students were studying for exams and he himself was living. Besides setting fire to the houses he killed in a knife rampage six, and wounding seven. These three examples are the kind of crimes  called 'don't ask me crimes'.   

In all these cases we are not dealing with a vindictive crime in which one has a grudge with another but  indiscriminate violence fueled by anger on those one doesn't even know. These kinds of crime puts fear on all the citizens. In recent years in examining these kinds of crime for a two year period from 2012 and 2013, we had 109 of these crimes and 45 percent where committed by persons with mental problems. He lists three conditions for these crimes: motives are hard to determine, the victims are not those with whom the wrongdoer is acquainted, violence is perpetrated. A study showed discontent and anger or mental problems as the cause.

Only one woman was involved in these rampages. The study of those who vent their resentment on persons they don' t even know are from dysfunctional families, and did not receive the family love that one would take for granted. They often did not see the sunny side of life in their formative years, and 75 percent of them where unmarried.

The majority of these persons had a history of crime and the writer feels that we should be doing a better job in the education of these wrongdoers early on, when they are in hospitals, welfare facilities, prisons and homes for delinquents. More effort needs to be shown in our education of the young people. More interest should be taken in preparing a society with an atmosphere  helpful in raising families. Efforts would do much in preventing these kinds of problems in society.