One of the books that I am working my way through is The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer, the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine.
In it he points out that evolution has programmed us to believe in caution. That is, if you are a primate in the jungles of Africa, a million and a half years ago, and you hear a rustling in the leaves, you have two choices - you can believe it is the wind or you can believe that it is predator.
Actually, you could believe that it is way more things than just those two - but the argument is essentially that you can believe that the thing making the leaves rustle is either benign or that it is harmful.
If you believe that it is the wind (benign) and it turns out to be a predator (harmful), then your genes are eliminated from the gene pool. If, on the other hand, you believe that it is a predator and it turns out to be the wind, no harm done. And if you believe that it is a predator and it turns out to be a predator, well, at least you are prepared to defend yourself. Your odds of survival go way up.
We are the product of millions of years of evolution for behaving in a cautious or, some might even say, a fearful fashion. Caution has evolutionary advantages and our ancestors were the ones that survived by being cautious. That is what allowed them to produce the next generation and eventually us.
Not surprisingly, then, we respond to possible threats in a very visceral fashion. Walking alone on a dark street, the sound of footsteps brings a chill to the spine. Our breathing increases, our heart starts to pound, and we get ready for action. It is instinctual.
But we don't have many dark streets anymore. We live in a different environment than our ancestors from even a century ago.
Still, we fear the unknown.
This is seen in so many ways. The news of a serial killer in Prince George has brought a chill to a number of people - particularly women. Questions of how and why this person was able to get away with his crimes are on people's minds. After all, as one commentator put it, he looks "just like any other guy."
The answer is that there are bad people in the world. There always has been and there always will be. And, as of now, there really isn't any good method of telling who they are. Even the best criminal profiler makes mistakes in both directions.
The consequence of this is that women will be walking a little more fearfully. They will take precautions. Their lives will be compromised. And they will look to someone to tell them that the rustling of the leaves is just the wind and not a predator.
Local government will need to respond with safer street initiatives. In this light, the news this week that the downtown presence of the RCMP has dramatically decreased crime is welcome news. Obviously having constables on patrol is an effective method. Finding the money to expand the service should be one of the priorities of the next council.
But fear can also be used in ways that are detrimental - to just scare people. Federally, the Conservatives have introduced their massive multi-part crime bill.
Their argument is that we need to do something for the victims. Their bill increases punishment and mandates minimum sentences for some crimes. It increases the number of prisons and prisoners, at a tremendous cost. Presently, incarcerating a criminal costs around $125,000 per year.
Their arguments are based on fear, though. Fear of criminals. Fear of crime. And they are hoping that will overrule logic and reason.
Crime has actually been on the decline in Canada for the past decade - although there are indications that it is not declining as rapidly under the Conservative government. We are safer than we have been for a long time despite recent events.
But even so, the big problem with the crime bill, as introduced, is that it is about punishment and not prevention. Punishment doesn't really help victims.
Yes, there is a certain sense of moral satisfaction in knowing that the perpetrators have been caught but no amount of punishment will bring the victims back to life, return damaged property or put lives back on track. All punishment does is ensure that the criminals will not commit the crime again.
We are hardwired to fear the unknown and the potential predator in the night. And we will until we live in a society where prevention ensures that predators don't arise. That is where we should be spending our money - more constables on patrol and not prisons.
