If You Believe, I Need You to Believe in Love Right Now

Very few robbers operate in a lonerlike capacity. Instead, they interact with others members of the criminal element, rubbing shoulders, jointly partaking in illicit underground markets (exempli gratia, drugs, stolen property systems), and exchanging communications. This attachment to a criminal subculture means that many robbers operate in a colleague-like fashion. The same cannot be said about the robbers who work in groups. These individuals internalize the “safety in numbers” motto and choose to gang up on their prey. More often that not, conspirators rely on a loose network of fellow thieves, switching on and offer between collaborators as theft opportunities present themselves. In this regard, the social organization of most conspiratorial robbers is best described as peerlike—they do not get too cozy with one another but are willing to work together to achieve a mutually beneficial end. There is, however, a select minority of the offender population that interact in a much more stable and collaborative capacity. Movies such as Heat or Point Break depict robbery crews that forge long-term criminal associations with a clear set of roles and a well-defined division of labor. A teamlike social organization exists among some robbery specialists, particularly bank robbers. Those robbers who are active participants in the criminal subculture (id est, colleagues, peers, and teams) are provided ample opportunity to draw upon a host of socialization scripts that serve to shape and advance their criminal agenda. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

Implicit and explicit messages serve to reinforce robbery as an acceptable means of survival. Street thugs are not explicitly tutored in “ways of the badass,” but rather come to internalize these norms and behaviors through imitation and street-level informal interactions. Robbery generally receives a firm formal response from the criminal justice system. The Model Penal Code classifies robbery as a second degree felony. If convicted, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to 1 to 10 years in prison. When the offender threatens or achieves “serious bodily harm,” he or she is likely to see the charge elevated to a first degree felony. In most jurisdictions, an armed robber, especially one involving a firearm, will result in this more sever statutory designation. A person charged with a first degree felony faces anywhere from 1 year to life in prison. A robbery must first be apprehended before facing these stiff penalties. Unfortunately, most offenders get away with their crimes. In 2022, law enforcement authorities reported a meager 25 percent clearance rate for the crime of robbery. If items are not marked with recorded serial numbers and no one knows who stole and sold them, they are hard to find, as well as the thieves. That means that roughly 75 percent of all robberies that are reported to police go unsolved. The 2022 Uniform Crime Reports reveal that law enforcement authorities made 108,400 robbery arrests that year, which translates into a per capita arrest rate of 39.8 per 100,000. When called upon to year robbery cases, our nation’s court system responds with considerable care. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

Robbery cases comprised 7 percent of the total court dockets that were studied. It was discovered that the vast majority of the accused robbery offenders (87 percent) were offered some sort of pretrial release option (exempli gratia, bail), with the median bail amount observed at $25,000. Despite these release options, only 39 percent of robbery defendants were able to gain release prior to the final disposition of their case. Of those released, roughly one third (34 percent) violated the conditions of their release order and 22 percent were rearrested before their original case could be resolved. This is particularly disturbing when one considers that two thirds of the cases were resolved in less than 6 months. A review of the available adjudication data suggests that courts follow through a relatively hardline stance toward robbery offenders. We found that 70 percent of the robbery defendants in our sample were eventually convicted. A full 90 percent of convicted robbers face some sort of incarceration. While the median sentence was 5 years, nearly one in five were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Among all felony offenses, only murder and rape experience higher felony conviction rates and/or longer median sentences. On average, an imprisoned robber can expect to serve a little less than one half of one’s sentence behind bars before being paroled. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

It appears that informal social control plays a large part in the dynamics of robbery. Interviews with known offenders reveal that many stick-up artists specifically target other members of the criminal underworld. Some are even targeted for repeat victimization. These can include drug dealers (id est, drug robbery), pimps, prostitutes, or the run-of-the-mill street thug. These persons tend to have money or valuables (id est, cars, clothes, jewelry, drugs) in their possession and, more importantly, are not inclined to report their victimizations to the police. This sets the stage for “street justice” or vigilantism. A single robbery victimization can set in motion a contagious of violence in which escalating vendetta cycles get played out over extended periods of time. The origin of these cycles of violence goes largely undetected by police and usually spill over to other community members. Much lip service has been paid to the criminal motivation, yet very little systematic understanding has emerged on the topic. A need for money services as the primary and most immediate motivation for robbery. However, unwritten conduct norms of the street serve as the critical secondary motivator for these habitual offenders. A constant flow of cash is needed to finance a carefree lifestyle that includes new clothes, endless partying, and the never-ending ability to impress themselves and others. Over time, the cyclical pursuit of money and free spending transforms robbery into a central feature of the person’s everyday life. These observations thus provide valuable insight into both the proximate (day-to-day) and distal (long-term) aspects of robbery motivation and behavior. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17

Motivation is the central, yet arguably the most assumed, causal variable in the etiology of criminal behavior. Obviously, persons commit crimes because they are motivated to do so, and virtually no offense can occur in the absence of motivation. Though the concept inheres implicitly or explicitly in every influential theory of crime, this is far from saying that its treatment has been comprehensive, exhaustive, or precise. In many ways, motivation is criminology’s dirty little secret—manifest yet murky, presupposed but elusive, everywhere and nowhere. If there is a bogeyman lurking in or discipline’s theoretical shadows, motivation may well be it. Much of the reason for this can be located in the time-honored, positivistic tradition of finding the one factor, or set of factors, that accounts for it. Causality has been called criminology’s “Holy Grail,” the quest for which makes other disciplinary pursuits seem tangential, sometimes inconsequential. The search typically revolves around identification of background risk factors—behavioral correlates—that establish nonspurious relationships with criminal behavior. A panoply of such factor have been implicated over many decades of research—spanning multiple levels, as well as units, of analyses. They include, among other things, anomie, blocked opportunities, deviant self-identity, status frustration, weak social bonds, low self-control, social disorganization, structural oppression, unemployment, age, gender, class, race, deviant peer relations, marital status, body type, IQ, and personality. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

Common to all such factor, however, is their independent status from the “foreground” of criminal decision making—the immediate phenomenological context in which decisions to offend are activated. Though background factors may predispose persons to crime, they fail to explain why two individuals with identical risk factor profiles do not offend equally, why persons with particular risk factors go long periods of time without offending, why individuals without the implicated risk factors offend, why persons offend but not in the particular way a theory directs them to, or why persons who are not determined to commit a crime one moment become determined to do so the next. Decisions to offend, like all social action, do not take place in a vacuum. Rather, they are bathed in an “ongoing process of human existence,” and mediated by prevailing situational and subcultural conditions. While the decision to commit robbery stems most directly from a perceived need for fast cash, this decision is activated, mediated, and channeled by participation in street culture. Street culture, and its constituent conduct norms, represent essential intervening variable linking criminal motivation to background risk factors and subjective foreground conditions. Now, the Gospel records refer repeatedly to the workings of evil spirits. They how that wherever the Lord moved, the emissaries of Satan sprang into active manifestation in the bodies and minds of those they indwelt, so that the ministry of Christ and His apostles was directed actively against them. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

Again and again we read: “He went into their synagogues through all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons” (Mark 1.39); He “cast out many demons, and He suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew Him” (Mark 1.34); “Unclean spirits whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God” (Mark 3.11). Then came the sending out of the twelve chosen disciples, and again the spirits of evil are taken into account, for “He gave them authority over the unclean spirits” (Mark 6.7). Later He appointed seventy other messengers: they too, as they went forward in their work, found the demons subject to them through His name (Luke 10.17). Are we to conclude that Judea, Galilee and Syria were in reality overflowing with people who were insane and epileptic? Is it not evident, rather, that the Son of God dealt with the powers of darkness as the active, primary cause of all sin and suffering of this World, and that the aggressive part of His and His disciples’ ministry was directed persistently against them? On the one hand, He dealt with the deceiver of the World and bound the “strong man”; on the other, He taught the truth about God to the people, to destroy the lies which the prince of darkness had placed in their minds about His Father and Himself (2 Cor. 4.4). We find, too, that the Lord clearly recognized the devil behind the opposition of the Pharisees (John 8.44), and in the “hour and power of darkness” (Luke 22.53) behind His persecutors at Calvary. He says that His mission was to “proclaim release to the captives” (Luke 4.18), and He revealed who the captor was when, on the eve of Calvary, He said, “Now is the judgement of this World: now shall the prince of the World be cast out” (John 12.31). #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

The theologian is a committed man, committed to the gospel message and committed to his task of interpreting it. He is a believing, self-surrendering, answering man. The theologian and the philosopher of religion have some things in common. Both of them are committed in the sense that even their most scientific efforts are directed by a mystical a priori—and immediate experience of something ultimate in value and being of which one can become intuitively aware. Examples of the mystical a priori and being-itself, universal substance, identity of spirit and nature, absolute spirit, and cosmic person. If, after scientific investigation, this a priori is discovered, it is only because it was present and operative from the very start. At this stage both theologian and philosopher are within a philosophical circle described by their mystical a priori, but there is no petition principii, for spiritual things can be understood only in circular fashion. However, the theologian steps inside the theological circle of commitment to the gospel message. The philosopher deals in the abstract, with universal concepts. The theologian works with a concrete message that claims historical uniqueness. The radius of the theological circle is shorter than that of the philosophical one. Since it is necessary that the theologian places oneself within the circle of Christian commitment, the problem arises: What is the touchstone for commitment? Who can be sure of one’s commitment, of one’s faith, one’s justification? Acceptance of the word of Christ as depends on one being ultimately concerned with the Christian message. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

Our finite concerns about our work, our science, our money, and our nation will be taken from us by the melancholy law of transitoriness. However, everything seems the same and yet everything has changed, for we are grasped by the one thing needed, by the infinite. Ultimate concern is the abstract formulation of the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with al your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you might” (Deut. 6.5). Concern not only means that one is related to or interested in something, but it also implies an existential element of anxious solicitude. Thus, man is concerned about many things—food and shelter, knowledge, art, social problems, politics—with varying degrees of urgency. However, a concern becomes ultimate only when it demands total surrender and promises total fulfilment. Ultimate concern is unconditional, total, and infinite. Any concern less than this is a preliminary concern, for it is conditional, partial, and infinite. Preliminary concern can be related to ultimate concern in three possible ways. First, by a mutual indifference ultimate concern can be placed beside preliminary concern so that the former loses its ultimacy. It fails to transcend; it becomes secularized. Secondly, preliminary concern can be “elevated to ultimacy,” but in so doing it becomes demonic by usurping the place of the truly ultimate. Thirdly, preliminary concern can become a vehicle of the ultimate concern without claiming ultimacy for itself. It points beyond itself; it is transparent to the holy. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

Extreme nationalism is one of our favorite examples of an ultimate concern—a demonic one to be sure, but all the more indicative of its unconditional character. In the name of the god Nation, all other concerns are ruthlessly sacrificed and systematically subordinated. However, unconditional demand is balanced by unconditional fulfilment more or less vaguely expressed in such symbols as the greatness of the nation or the conquest of the World. Exclusion from the promised fulfilment is a threat which reinforces the demand. The above points to the ambiguous nature of ultimate concern. Ultimacy and holiness go together, for the holy is the quality of that which concerns man ultimately. Only that which is holy can give man ultimate concern, and only that which gives man ultimate concern has the quality of holiness. When this holy, ultimate concern is directed toward the infinite, the unconditioned, the truly ultimate, then it is divine. When directed toward the finite, the conditioned, the preliminary, then it is demonic and its holiness is idolatrous. However, even in the latter case, the holy which is demonic is still holy. The ambiguity of ultimate concern lies in the fact that ultimacy consists of a demand for total surrender and a promise of total fulfilment, and even the demonic can demand sacrifice and offer promises. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

Ultimate concern constitutes the basic credentials for admittance to the theological circle, this can be further refined by the theologian’s basic commitment by formulating two criteria for the theological statements. They are formal criteria, that is, abstracted from the content of the whole system. The first criterion states: The object of theology is what concerns us ultimately. Only those propositions are theological which deal with their object in so far as it can become a matter of ultimate concern for us. This principle distinguishes theology from other sciences, for it rules out preliminary concern. The second criterion handles the content of ultimate concern: Our ultimate concern is that which determines our being or not-being. Only those statements are theological which deal with their object in so far as it can become a matter of being or not-being for us. In this statement, “being” does not refer to a man’s life in time and space, but to the whole of human reality, the structure, the meaning, and the aim of existence. When it comes to joint venters, the issue arises in personal partnerships just as in business ones. Imagine a working couple, both of whom dislike cooking but cannot afford to ear out more than one a week. They start with an implicit or explicit understanding that they will split the cooking chores equally—three days a week each. However, the wife, says, knows that the husband is not likely to walk out just because she cuts her share down to two days. She is tempted to discover essential work that demands her presence at the office for an extra hour on some days, making it impossible for her to get home in time to fix dinner even though it is her turn. The husband in turn should look ahead to this and try to arrange the initial deal in such a way that the wife’s future temptation is reduced. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

Of course the personal and long-term aspects of a marriage often suffice to ensure that the parties do not try such tricks, or that they resolve such disputes amicably when they do arise. Businesses partnerships are less influenced by personal emotions, and the dollar amounts of the temptation to cheat are often higher. Therefore the kinds of contracts we will discuss are more relevant in this setting, even though the marriage analogy sometimes makes for more striking and amusing stories. What are the essential features of this class of situations? First, these situations involve projects that require simultaneous participation by two or more people or firms. Each side must make some investment up front—a stake it stands to lose if the relationships is terminated—or else the other side’s walking out will be no threat at all. Second, there must be some uncertainty about subsequent events that acts as a justification for reopening of the agreement, or else a simple clause that provides large punitive damages for any breach will serve the purpose. China and the United States of America are in a relationship. Globalization has entered a critical stage, as the ongoing economic disruptions have prompted many of us to reexamine its promises. The World today is characterized by pronounced fragility and heightened uncertainty, fed by external shocks and multiple crises that are dangerously reinforcing. Against the backdrop of these unprecedented challenges, we are witnessing an economic and geopolitical power shift from the developed to the emerging World. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

By 2030, most of the World’s largest economies will be non-Western and more than half of the World’s 1,000 largest corporations will have their origins in the emerging countries. This will directly impact the way globalization work. As emerging economies rewrite the rules of globalization, the West is overly advocating more protectionism. One of the main criticisms made of globalization by its detractors has been that it is Western-drive and Western-centric—in other words, that the West calls the shots and that most benefits go to Western players. Yet, as globalization was gathering momentum, it assumed new and striking features that ran contrary to that Western-focused characterization. Non-Western players start to emerge as vital sources of energy and initiative in globalization; they have become its new engines, and their companies are strengthening their global position at an unprecedented pace. Chia is the leader of the emerging World. In the year 2022, its share of the global manufacturing exports reached 28.7 percent, this is up from 12.1 percent in 2009. The trend is likely to persist in this decade. Eventually, China will reach a point at which mounting labor costs trigger declining shares in low-end exports, offsetting gains in the mid and high-end value segments. However, we are not there yet. China’s goods are more high-end than before, but it is still predominately a labor-intensive, export power, excelling in production of commodities such as clothing, textiles, footwear, electronics, medication and toys. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

However, the future of exports from China will be led by equipment manufacturers, and, although they may not be penetrating Western markets, coemption in third markets is intensifying. The greatest shock that might face European and U.S.A. manufacturers is the full-scale export of Chinses manufacturing capability similar to that of the Japanese entry into the U.S.A. and European markers several decades ago. China wishes to establish its global image as that of a benign power in many sectors, but it will not be perceived as mature if it doles out money to spent causes. It brought into the U.S.A. debt, perhaps fueling too much credit and inflaming U.S.A. purchase of cheap Chinese-made goods. It will have learned that hard lesson, and now Europe has to behave in a more relevant way than the old United States of America did in order to be creditworthy in China’s eyes. That seems fair. The China-West rivalry (economic wars) are in particular fields: trade/currency, environment, natural resources, technologies, and company acquisitions. China is not only a World factory, but also a World research lab and leader in green business. China is an undisputed leader in export volumes of electrical/electronic products and light industry goods. Its presence in other merchandise export markets is much smaller. Having joined the ranks of important exporters of services, it still remains far behind the United States of America and other leading services nations. The Chinese state is emerging as effectively the World’s number one financial powerhouse (soon you will feel it stronger, as Beijing will become a key emergency lender for cash-strapped Western governments), but China’s private investors are still relatively new and financial assets of its households growing. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

One more country looked upon as a new great economic power comparable to China is India. No doubt, as the second-largest emerging economy, India is becoming increasingly important, but compared to China, it is in a different weight category and the global impact of its growth is much smaller. Compared to Western economies, China looks better in terms of not only average growth rates (this may be natural as economic development stages are different), but also growth stability. The rise of a new media system, corresponding in form with the requirements of a wholly new way of creating wealth, challenges those in power, giving rise to new political methods, constituencies, and alliances. Just as people at, say, the beginning of the 18^th century could not imagine the political changes that flowed from the spread of a smokestack economy, so today it is almost impossible, short of the science-fiction-style speculation, to foresee the political uses to which the still emerging media system will be put. Take for example, interactivity. By allowing TV viewers to use, rather than merely view, the screen, interactivity could someday change political campaigning and candidates. Interactive media make possible far more sophisticated opinion polling than ever before, not simply asking yes-no questions, but allowing respondents to make trade-offs among many options. However, the possibilities go beyond polling. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

Would a candidate, once elected, trade off jobs for environmental improvements—and if so, how many? How would the candidate respond to a hostage crisis, a race riot, or a nuclear disaster under differing sets of circumstances? Instead of trying to test the values and judgment of a potential President by listening to thirty-second commercial, the interactive video users of tomorrow could tune into a program, or insert a diskette, that would virtually show the candidate discussing and making decisions under a variety of conditions programmed in by the voter. Political platforms could be issued in a spreadsheet format, so that the voters could manipulate their underlying budgetary assumptions and ask “what if” questions. If large numbers can participate in a mass-appeal game show like Jeopardy with a computer tallying their responses, it does not take too much imagination to see how similar technology could be adapted to political polling or collective decision-taking—and political organizing of a new kind. Futurists, simulation experts, and others have long speculated about the possibility of organizing very large numbers of citizens in political “games.” Professor Jose Villegas at Cornell University developed models for such activity as far back as the late 1960s, including games that less affluent residents and transient populations could engage in as a form of political education—and protest. What was missing was the technology. The spread of networked interactivity will place the tools for political “games” in millions of living rooms. With them, citizens could, in principle at least, conduct their own polls, and form the own “electronic parties” or “electronic lobbies” and pressure groups around various issues. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

One can also easily imagine electronic sabotage, not as the act of individual hackers or criminals, but for the purpose of political protests or blackmail. At 2.25 P.M. on the afternoon of January 15, 1990, engineers in Bedminster, New Jersey, noticed read lights flashing on the seventy-five screens that display the status of AT&T’s long-distance telephone network in the United States of America. Each light indicated trouble. “It just seemed to happen. Proof, there it was,” said William Leach, manager of AT&T’s network operations center. That “proof” assed up to a massive breakdown in the U.S.A. long-distance phone system lasting for nine hours, during which an estimated 65 million calls were blocked. AT&T investigators concluded that the breakdown resulted from a faulty computer program. However, they could not “categorically rule….out” the possibility that it resulted from sabotage. It so happened that January 15 was the national holiday celebrating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It also happened to be true that some racist Americans bitterly hated King and were outraged that a national holiday should commemorate him. The AT&T “blackout” may simply have been a random occurrence. However, it does not stretch credulity too far to imagine electronic political protests and sabotage in the future. One need not engage in sci-fi speculation, however, to recognize some of the profound social tensions already arising from the introduction of a new form of economy—problems relate to the way knowledge is disseminated in society. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17