Larceny Sense Essay

877 Words2 Pages

There are certain skills and attributes that enable fences (or thieves) to cope with the economic, legal, and moral problems associated with participating in illegal activities. The main requirements mentioned in the reading include larceny sense, connections to the underworld and beyond, and charisma. Larceny sense refers to the ability of individuals to perceive and capitalize on less legitimate activity that may be advantageous. It is part attitude, part knowledge, and the author states that it is something in the “heart” that allows individuals to be unobstructed by conventional, normative beliefs about the right thing to do. An important component of larceny sense is street smarts, knowing how to maneuver underworld society and how to …show more content…

Criminal attitude and learning of dealing skills begins long before people become full-fledged thieves. Most have shady pasts that has influenced their intuitions about criminality and hustling, and this background often informs them of the best ways to evaluate information and situation. In Sam’s case, his experiences in jail were where he learned the most. Being around people with a similar ingenuity is crucial for fostering criminality. Ingenuity refers to the ability to actively exploit one’s environment by creating and controlling opportunities. It’s a furthering of larceny sense and springs from the street smarts retained with interactions with the underworld. It takes initiative to manipulate persons and resources, and a certain combination of cleverness and …show more content…

Charisma is uncommon persuasive skills and powers to attract others to them that informs their personality, social skills, talking ability, and ability interact with a variety of people. This skill is key to hustling, and after the fact, it plays a core role in establishing and sustaining relationships. It contributes to the “must have a heart” qualification in the book, a set of traits that are a combination of courage, coolness, tenacity, self-assurance, and most importantly the ability to perform under pressure. This inspires confidence and respect in an individual’s ability, and demonstrates that they are reliable and can handle their business. A vital aspect of this, as with most underworld activities, is violence. It is an indispensable resource for inspiring respect among associates, and it enforces the promises that in general society would be upheld by laws and the

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