I'm sure I've heard almost every excuse for every type of crime that can be committed. The problem is that none of them make sense. For every excuse they make for breaking the law, the people who think they have a good reason for doing so will be the same people who think anyone else breaking the same law for a different reason is a criminal. What it all comes down to is there are no excuses for breaking the law. Anyone who does something in opposition to the law can be labeled a criminal.
      You don't have the money to afford your medicine, stealing is not the answer. Someone killed your friend, killing that person is not the answer. You're running behind schedule and late for work, running through stop lights is not the answer. You're irritated or angry with your spouse/mate or children, abuse is not the answer. You can't stand the pain of some injury, illegal drugs are not the answer. You feel you're not getting paid enough for the job you do, skimming the till is not the answer. Your neighbor's dog is constantly using your yard as it's "toilet", poisoning the dog is not the answer. You're angry someone ran into your car while parking, beating them up is not the answer.
      If you've ever used one of these or any one of the millions of other excuses for breaking the law, you're not alone. If you think your actions are or were acceptable because of the given situation, it's perfectly acceptable for someone else to treat you in the same way. It's not? Why not? People don't want anyone else telling them what they can or can't do, yet they suddenly become the victim of crime when someone else follows the same "look out for number one" rules they do.
     And it's time to stop playing the blame game. No one can force you to do something you think is wrong. You sit there and demand that the dealer who gave your kid the drugs be thrown into prison, but you think your child shouldn't be punished in any way for possessing and reselling the drugs. You demand that your government officials enact laws which would put abortion doctors in prison for murder, but you think you should receive an award instead of going to prison for killing that doctor to stop the abortions. Drug dealing is drug dealing and murder is murder no matter what excuse you come up with for why you did it yourself.
      The law is the law, whether or not you think those laws apply to you. The reason people have to make up the excuses is because they don't want to have to wait and/or go through the proper channels to resolve their problems. Some people even feel, and some rightly so, that the system is stacked against them. The fact remains, everyone is subject to the laws where they live. A person moves from being the victim of a crime to the ranks of the criminals when they decide to take the law into their own hands. Let me say that in a better way. The person is still a victim if someone commits an unlawful act against them, but they're also a criminal and subject to fines or imprisonment if they resort to breaking the law in order to resolve a problem.
      It's true that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Taking the law into your own hands or making up what you feel are logical reasons for breaking certain laws is even worse regardless of any excuse you might create to explain why you did so.