le sort de les avoir fait naître

Je crois que le nombre de criminels potentiels est grand et que beaucoup d'entre nous doivent remercier le sort de les avoir fait naître et vivre dans un milieu excluant la possibilité de l'acte catastrophique.

This is difficult for me. Are 'we' among the potential criminals or not?

If not maybe the following is okay.

Anything else I could improve?

I believe that the number of potential criminals is high and
that many of us are fortunate that these have been born and
raised in an environment excluding the possibility of an
appalling act.

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on May 11, 2015 at 1:58am

It does seem confusing . The "les" in "le sort de les avoir fait naître" seems to refer back to "beaucoup d'entre nous" and so I would change your translation to this:

"I believe that the number of potential criminals is high and
that many of us are fortunate that these to have been born and
raised in an environment excluding the possibility of an
appalling act"

or, more literally "I believe that the number of potential criminals is high and
that many should thank the good fortune to have been born and
raised in an environment excluding the possibility of an
appalling act"

In the French "le sort" (fortune) is used as the subject of "faire naître " but I think we have to turn the expression around and use a passive form here .(the good fortune to have been born)

Does that make sense? In any case my translation seems to have a more logical meaning.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Cronin on May 11, 2015 at 9:47am

That makes sense.

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Vedas on May 11, 2015 at 1:15pm

Hello,

in "de les avoir" "les" refers to "criminels potentiels":

many of us are fortunate because thanks to fate/ the good fortune/ potential criminals were born in a nice environment.

I believe that the number of potential criminals is high and
that many should thank the good fortune that they were born and have been
raised in an environment excluding the possibility of an
appalling act"

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on May 11, 2015 at 1:38pm

Oh yes , you are right I didn't see the alternative meaning.

(well it is the same as Joseph first suggested but it seemed too convoluted for me at first and not how I had previously encountered the idea)