When You Criminalize Every Aspect of Society, You Make a Nation of....Criminals

Oh my, those rebels in the UK. The Daily Mail reports on the lawlessness of British subjects:

Many may not know they have done anything wrong, while others simply might not care.

But the average person breaks the law at least once a day, a survey has found.

Speeding, using a mobile phone while driving and dropping litter top the list of rules and regulations regularly flouted.[...]
While some of these crimes can have fatal consequences, 58 per cent say they are not very important.

Another 20 per cent say that because everyone is up to it, they don't even see the actions as being illegal.

Only 5 per cent of Britons say they never break any laws .

John Sewell, spokesman for www.onepoll.com, which carried out the survey, said: 'It's worrying to think that so many people are breaking the law on a daily basis.

'And it's an even bigger concern that many aren't at all bothered about it.

Yes, it is worrying to think that so many people are breaking the law on a daily basis; but only because it should be worrying that there are so many laws to break on a daily basis. Let's take a look at some of the most commonly broken laws.

• Cycling on pavement
  
• Eating or drinking while driving
  
• Parking partly on pavement
  
• Taking your child out of school for a holiday with out the head's position
  
• Smoking in a public place
  

Murder, rape, robbery, and theft were conspicuously missing from the list. I'm not an expert on the dynamics of British society, but I'd be willing to guess those crimes are missing because in fact, Britons as a whole are generally law abiding people. It's when you begin to criminalize all aspects of society that you create a general apathy towards the law, or downright disrespect of it.