This is going to be a very short post, but I just wanted to present an idea to the class and hopefully get some feedback.
In class we spoke about the various ways to validate the law or how to make sure the citizens follow the law, and one of the ideas that we commonly refer to is the presence of punishment upon committing a crime as a way to keep the people "in line". But beyond that we didn't talk that much about this idea.
During class I simply thought that the purpose punishing criminals to ensure that they won't perform whatever they did again, and to say to the rest of society "you see what happens when you do this". But the more and more I thought about this idea my feelings on it changed. I now believe that the reason we punish our criminals has little to do with the actual criminal, but is more of a way to show appreciation or to give a kind of reward to the rest of the people. To word it better it's almost like saying you didn't kill anyone so you don't have to go to prison; and then the citizens think we'll I haven't committed a crime so that makes me a good person and a good citizen. I feel as though that is the reason why we're inclined to follow the law, not necessarily the fear, but the idea that we're good people for not ending up in the back of police car.
So if anyone has any opinions on this idea I would like to see them.
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I am going to have to disagree with you. I do not think that our legal system has anything to do with appreciating or rewarding the people that have not commited any crimes. I think that if someone commits a crime and goes to jail they are being punished for the wrong thing that they did and trys to show the rest of the population that if they commit the same crime they are going to get punished too. However, just because someone commited a crime does not automatically mean they are a bad person. People make mistakes and can realize what they have done after the fact.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with the post also, i think we follow the law because we have to and no one wants to go to jail or pay huge fines. Furthermore, i think prison is a sham, it does no sort of rehabilitation, it just becomes a cesspool for murder and corruption (at higher security levels). I also agree with Joanna, just because you commit a crime doesn't make you a bad person; just because you don't commit crimes doesn't make you a good person either.
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