Word: robber
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...finally to launch a search. Since the closure rate is fairly high when lookouts are flashed within two or three minutes of a crime, and increasingly low there after, speed is of the essence. Just as important, you have to apply some intelligence to the question of where a robber would be likely to flee. Even with speed and intelligence, the overwhelming majority of these searches will be in vain, and so there may be a tendency after a while to regard your role as that of a report-taker and nothing more...
...society's misfits to crime-free lives. But the rhetoric is so far from reality that perhaps 40% of all released inmates (75% in some areas) are reimprisoned within five years, often for worse crimes. Says Rod Beaty, 33, who began with a $65 forged check, became an armed robber, and is now a four-time loser in San Quentin: "Here you lose all sense of values. A human life is worth 35#, the price of a pack of cigarettes. After five years on the inside, how can you expect me to care about somebody when I get outside...
...little reason to respect state-upheld values. Even if he actually leaves prison as a reformed character, he faces hazards for which no prison can be blamed. In a Harris poll, 72% of Americans endorsed rehabilitation as the prison goal. But when it came to hiring an ex-armed robber who had shot someone, for example, 43% would hesitate to employ him as janitor, much less as a salesman (54%) or a clerk handling money (71%). This is obviously understandable; it also teaches ex-cons that crime pays because nothing else does...
...Personality, Psychologist H.J. Eysenck offers a fascinating discussion of how certain depressant or stimulant drugs can be used to make a patient feel sick whenever he commits a specific antisocial act. "Given the time and resources," adds Psychologist Barry F. Singer, "a behavior-therapy program could make a bank robber want to vomit every time he saw a bank, could make an armed robber shudder every time...
...Half an hour out of Sacramento, the man shoved a pistol into the ribs of the driver and ordered a passenger to go through the bus collecting wallets and purses. The haul was only $835, but it reflected a savvy knowledge of gambling odds on the part of the robber. He took his loot before the passengers had a chance to lose it to the casinos and make the return trip flat. Greyhound was, understandably, less than amused. Fads spread so virulently that the company fears bus robberies could become as routine as airline hijackings...