Paul said, "All men have sinned." Are all men therefore criminals?
What constitutes a criminal? Was Cain a criminal before he slew
his brother? Legally? Morally?
Was Cain's motive in the worship of God truly religious or merely
mercenary? This portrait of Cain illustrates the fact that formal
religious worship does not necessarily deter a man from becoming a
criminal. Sometimes men prominent in religious work become
defaulters or commit other crimes. Does this story suggest the
fundamental reason why great crimes are sometimes committed by
religious leaders? The motive rather than the form is clearly the
one thing absolutely essential in religious worship.
Was the slaying of Abel the result simply of jealousy or a sudden
fit of anger or of a gradual deterioration of character? Compare
the gradual development of the criminal instincts in Shakespeare's
Macbeth. Think of the different influences tending to make
criminals! Most criminals are made before they reach the age of
twenty-one. The development of the criminal is the result either
of wrong education or the lack of right education. Parents by
their failure to guard carefully their children's associates and to
develop in them habits of self-control, respect for the rights of
others, and a sense of social and civic obligation, are perhaps
more than any other class responsible for the growth of criminals.
In what ways does the State through its negligence also contribute
to the making of criminals?