A Call to Order: Reflections on the Rhetoric of Evasion

In this article, Jack Beatty argues that the rhetoric of “root causes” for social and personal problems offers tacit permission to criminality. Beatty argues that bad—in the sense of wrong, immoral, predatory, vicious, or depraved—choices by individuals lie behind most crime, not the operation of root causes. Beatty concludes that even poor youths, even poor, illeducated youths, even poor, ill-educated youths who live in a society suffused by racism, must be responsible for their acts. The article originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.