Of the many values that hold civilization together--honesty, kindness, and so on--account-
ability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law--
and, ultimately, no society.
My job as a polioe officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows,external controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.
Fortunately there are still communities--smaller towns,usually--where schools maintain
discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: "In this family certain things are not
tolerated--they simply are not done! "
Yet more and more, especially in our larger citis and suburbs, these inner restraints are
loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what
he wants, including your life if you enrage him.