British Columbia consistently has high rates of police reported drug offences. 654 incidents per 100,000 population which was more than double the rate in Saskatchewan, the next highest province. In accordance with the province as a whole, relatively high rates of drug offences are found in the metropolitan areas of Vancouver, Victoria and Abbotsford. A large majority of these places are where drug users and their kind alike tend to gravitate towards. There are many of them, that is why I feel that more come from far places to be around a larger faction of people in relatable states and situations.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-users-can-access-illegal-drugs-in-minutes-1.1188472 - Vancouver users can access illegal drugs in minutes (head line, published in 2012)
This link above shows just how bad the recent drug issues in British Columbia have gotten
I think that there is a large direct connection between the experiences of ones' childhood/adolescents and where they will take their lives. If you were to see a interview with some of the people who are addicted to drugs and may not live on the streets but look like it and they are asked about experiences that have got them there. 9 times out of 10 there is a story of a wrecked home life, abuse (physical/sexual, emotional), a stage of rebellion where they met someone who seriously took their life down the wrong path (a 'bad boy/girl'). There are 2 'movies' ('Through a Blue Lens', and a follow up 10 years later, 'Tears For April: Beyond the Lens) that are shot by the RCMP officers who policed down town East Hastings Street and the surrounding areas. These interviews support my thoughts.
I think that there are many reasons as to why crime happens and why people decide to take part in breaking the law. I don't think there is some magic recipe that cooks up bad ideas in the brain and generates the need to do them. There are many factors when it comes to the act of committing a crime. A neighborhood could be knee deep in illegal activities and that's just how the inhabitants of that neighborhood get by in their everyday lives. Family life; a person may not come from the wrong side of the tracks but their home life could not be the best. They could have an abuser in the home, parents could be going through a divorce, infidelity issues, maybe a loved one unexpectedly passed away. A large portion of why crime happens in my eyes comes down to the basics. They may not be what the average everyday person views as a basic need but in a distorted view of someone who is suffering in more ways then one, committing a crime may be the only way they see of fulfilling those needs. I think a big activist for that would be drugs. When someone is on drugs or is addicted to drugs so heavily that they need to mug someone, sell themselves to support their habit, rob a store or break into houses and pawn the stolen goods to use the money to buy their next hit. That would be an extreme urgency to a drug addict and the fact that what their doing is wrong in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of themselves and the people around them, doing the same things, its just everyday life and a way to get themselves through the day. I think that we may not need crime. There's a saying that you can't have light without the dark and I believe that's true. We may not need it, but it will always be there. Inevitably, there will always be people trying to survive the only way they know how, support an addiction, trying to get the attention of an authority figure, executing the plans of an easier way out with lower risk and higher reward. You could name a million different reasons of why crime happens and why people commit them, but until your in that situation where you see crime as no other option, reasons are only ideas until they become your reality.
