In this City Journal podcast, Dalrymple joins Rob Henderson and Rafael Mangual for a wide-ranging discussion on the real drivers of antisocial behavior and crime, the growing disconnect between policymakers and the communities most affected by violence, and how elite “luxury beliefs” shape public narratives around criminality.
What I found was that most criminals were actually certainly at one level resistant to the idea of themselves as feathers on the wind of circumstance or as just vectors of forces. So one day a repeat burglar came to me… He said, “Do you think, doctor, I burgled because of my childhood?” And I said, “No, I’ve got absolutely nothing to do with that.”… And he said, “Well, why do I do it?” And I said, “Well, you’re lazy and you want things that you’re not prepared to work for.”