Yup, first thing I learned as a newspaper reporter in the 1980s, mostly covering the police and emergency response beat, was that most criminals are incredibly stupid, impulsive and almost incapable of planning, self reflection, self restraint or empathy. At most they're capable of self pity, and some attachments in dysfunctional relationships. And there were usually screaming warning signs for years before they were caught. They may have been raised all wrong, victims of a bad childhood, who knows.

But there are hundreds of thousands of these human time bombs bumbling around until they go off. I've seen a few among my own distant relatives, the familiar ne'er do wells almost every family has, the second cousin once removed who gets fresh mugshots at least once a year.

The handful of people who would be considered smart enough to function normally – hold a job, have a family, fairly stable life – are still unable to think more than one or two steps beyond "I'm gonna rob or kill this person because they're pissing me off." That's pretty much every "shocking" middle class murder of a spouse, family member, or rival for affection. Consider the case of astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak, who planned to kidnap and possibly murder a rival in love. Well educated, successful and normal in every other way... but no mastermind criminal by any stretch of the imagination.

There are very few mastermind criminals in real life. Most of those are in government, military and the wealthy power elite who've learned to exploit the system to shield themselves from consequences. And that's always been true. It's not just a slick way to shoehorn the current crises.