Are most criminals generally good people who turn situationally bad? Or are there people that are just born bad?

You’re assuming, I think, that nonviolent criminals always know that what they’re doing is illegal. I would not be entirely surprised to learn that I had committed a nonviolent crime in the past week or two.

Commission of some crimes does not necessarily mean that someone is a “bad person”, does it? If you pick up a wild bird’s feather in your yard, does that make you bad? It’s a crime, after all.

Have you ever lied? (Really, NEVER? That would make you decidedly odd.) But when Martha Stewart went to prison – for lying to an FBI agent – did that mean that she was a “bad person” for the lie? I can agree that she might be unlikable for any number of reasons, and maybe she was lying about something even worse that she had done… but she went to prison “for lying”. I’ve lied; I hope I never meet another FBI agent with an agenda. (I used to coach soccer with one, and I liked him, but we were on the same side there.)

The fact is that we have enough laws on the books – for nonviolent offenses – that ANYONE can be prosecuted for any number of reasons by someone (or a party of someones) with the means and the agenda to do that.

Does anyone not yet understand that this is the only reason that Hillary Clinton has NOT yet been prosecuted for her obvious crimes? Because if the Trump administration prosecutes her then there is a 100% certainty that – no matter what else he does in his administration – he would spend the rest of his life in jail, too. (This is why the Civil War was settled without mass executions, by the way – and that was a violent conflict, as I recall.)

Generally, people are “bad.”
Most of what we consider “crime,” is normal behavior of other creatures in nature…

Are some people “born bad?”

Some are inherently prone to having undesirable traits. I have known a few father/son duos, to be terrible people. Sometimes, it seems to run in the family…

Paul Manafort laundering $30,000,000.00 for the Trump campaign? You’re asking if he was “generally good” before that crime? Well, looking at his bio on Wikipedia I see he’s a “lobbyist, political consultant” and campaign manager of Trump’s election campaign. And “He was previously an adviser to the U.S. presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bob Dole.”

He “co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Black, Manafort & Stone” – let’s check what that is – hmm, representing the interests of dictators, big tobacco, drug dealers…

I’m going to go with “he was probably an nasty piece of work well before 1980.

I don’t know that anyone is born bad. In my experience, almost everyone I’ve known well or heard share intimately/candidly (which actually includes quite a few people) has a good core self, but everyone also picks up some nasty angry/scared/terrified layers that are messed up and that can and do lead people to do awful things and even develop evil identities, even if there’s something good/human deep inside. All of the cases I know of where someone did horrible things (from murder and molestation up through white-collar crimes and bad relationship behavior), it’s had some roots in traumatic/abusive experiences during childhood. People who don’t get healed and then have kids dump that shit on their kids in multiple ways, leading to kids messed up by that. Our whole culture is full of it, and I put asshole corrupt white-collar criminals in that same category. I think most of them are raised to it, though I think also some people get corrupted one way or another along the way when they get into high political office and megacorporate positions.

In some cases they could be relatively blameless, like they get in office and then learn their family members may be killed off unless they vote for certain pro-corporate bills when requested. Or not even that – it may just be that they’re privy to other more subtle information about how it won’t work out if they are outspoken or take a stand on certain things. (Personally that’s my guess about Obama – he seems very sharp and well-intentioned but then repeatedly quietly failed to stand up for what he supposedly stands for in many cases.)

One aspect is how much respect and empathy someone holds for others, and that varies a lot.

Some people don’t mind hurting others, or don’t even consider how their actions affect others. “What can I gain or lose?” is their sole consideration.

I know people like this. They will cut corners and cheat and weasel out of obligations. Whereas other people are conscientious and dependable.

Of course situations also mean a lot, but in the population there are absolutely people who will err on the side of caution and those who are more easily tipped into criminal behavior.

I think it’s relative. Al Capone was a real sweetheart where his family was concerned.

I think most white collar criminals are probably worse people than the average kid from the slums who turns to drug dealing or theft out of desperation.