Not US culture, subculture.
There are people for whom education, honest work, and paying your own way is a matter of pride.
There is also the glorification of violence and crime. Not "cowboys and indians", "cops and robbers" games, but video, music, etc. showing realistic crimes just like you could carry out on your own street. Our "freedom of speech" means such media is unquestionably allowed. For some reason, some people have also adopted such conduct (most of us could watch "Death Wish", "Ocean's Twelve", "Hawaii 5-0" whatever crime and violence movies unaffected just as we did "Bugs Bunny".)
There are subcultures who think driving without a license, drinking while driving, racing on the streets, is normal.
There are subcultures who think car jacking, robberies, selling drugs is admirable.
I think we got here by crime not being sufficiently cracked down on.
Some misguided individuals believed the problem was poverty and homelessness, so they created the "Projects" massive government housing which became a place Policemen feared to Tread.
en.wikipedia.org
The question is how to turn that around. Oakland has a solution - performing criminal background checks on prospective tenants is illegal, because it discriminates against racial minorities.
I think the basic problem is uncertainty. Most people have no ability to comprehend statistics. If an individual knew with 100% certainty that committing an armed robbery of a convenience store would result in his being blasted with a shotgun by a cop or shopkeeper waiting in the back room, such crimes would virtually stop overnight.
Low certainty of apprehension and punishment is no deterrent. Anyone who kills or maims another individual during a robbery, rape, kidnapping should be swiftly executed after conviction. It won't be a great deterrent, but it will significantly reduce recidivism. Anyone who commits a robbery, rape, kidnapping with a deadly weapon but doesn't cause serious bodily injury with that weapon should be exiled from the country forever to a penal colony. I propose the enlightened community you live in, where he can be rehabilitated.