Former criminal here.

I got started dealing drugs in high school because I was the only freshy with a hookup for the green stuff. Of course over time people asked for more than just the Devils lettuce and even thought the dude I was buying from didn't have the hard stuff, the guy he bought from did so he hooked me up with that guy. Next thing I know I have a week to sell about 1500 dollars worth of hallucinogens and give this dude back 1000 of it, now if I didn't I was going to be sorry. Now as a smart business man I sold these products at exactly double the going rate to ensure that I would get the amount required, and since I was the only one with access people would pay.

I got robbed by some dudes and they took everything, so I exacted a brutal revenge robbery in which I pistol whipped a kid with a realistic copy of a desert eagle. Now the reason this is relevant is because I never intended to even sell drugs at all. It just happened. One day someone asked me if they could buy because I was the only guy with the goods and I hooked him up. So he told his friends who to go to, the money was nice and I could smoke for free if I sold some so it was a win for me to deal.

But it isn't a win to be a dealer, people in that business are shady and tough. I ended up not selling after that because I felt so shitty about robbing some kid, even though him and his buddies robbed me first, even stole my shoes. The guy that fronted me the stuff I sold was cool because I was 14 at the time and he had somewhat of a heart for the youth of the nation.

A little while later I got fucked up on a skateboard and got hooked on painkillers. This put me into a spot where i was now buying pills of shady dudes in the worst parts of town, pills are expensive so I started selling again to minimize my own personal spending. Right back in the hole I was lucky to get out of once all ready. At a certain point I would have rather been pulled over for a minor infraction that turned into a big bust because it would free me from the horrible life I was living and at least i would be smart enough to take full responsibility and disclose no info about my connections which would keep me safe on the inside.

In what is both the worst and best thing that happened to me a girl over dosed on an item that I was distributing and she was my friend. Now it was horrible because I lost some one close but it was good because it caused something in my brain to just snap and I quit that life on my own terms. All of that was before I even graduated highschool.

I guess the point is that sometimes those guys aren't stupid for getting caught on some minor shit that could be avoided, because shit like that gets you out of the system a little more safely than the alternatives of a criminal life style. People just disappear and no one talks about it because everyone knows why, and everyone knows what happened to them. But like I said, if you bite your tounge and take the sentence you won't be a rat, but rather praised for your loyalty to someone that would kill you without hesitation. However I would say many of those people don't mean to get caught as a means of exit but for the most part it is the best thing when considering the alternatives.