I loooove threads like these. I wish my history/writing classes discussed things like this. This is probably full of grammar errors I really do not feel like correcting.
Fortnox has actually made me think about things. nuttzy's view of an eye for an eye would be invigorating had I had the chance to kill the person who would have murdered my family member. But such a black and white idea seems so...neanderthal for us now.
I do not think killing is always wrong. I do not support the death penalty because it's not 100% full proof. The courts can't simply say "oops, our bad" when they kill an innocent. If the only way to protect yourself from harm is to kill the assailant, then do what must be done. Revenge on the other hand...I think it does make you feel better. Movies (yes, movies) sometimes make it seem like "oh hey you got your revenge...But it does not make you feel any better", no I think you would enjoy it. But not every case is so simple like that.
I agree that the American justice system, and the same goes for probably the entire world, is immensely flawed. It is the job of the accuser to come up with enough evidence to
convince the jury/judge that the defendant is guilty. Sometimes it's a no brainer, and then sometimes it's extremely sketchy. Then you have human bias, intimidation, etc. If every action in the world was recorded by some sentient being who would come down in an Italian suit to every court hearing to show what exactly took place, then that would work. But of course it is impossible, so we leave a person's life up to a flawed system, to which its excuse is "the best we got for now".
But regarding fortnox's notion of rehabilitation. Like he said, it would work great in theory. In a logical world. As society, would we want a man who has raped and critically injured a 15 year old to be "assisted"? That reminds me (note, this is not a direct analogy) of a dog murdering a baby and then saying "bad dog", hoping to teach him not to do it.
I feel there
is evil in the world, not just "misguided" people. A civilized world has standards. In a logical world, we would want to teach people how to live by these standards and if they stray away, try to help them.
But we are not robots. Let's say the man who killed my family, who just happens to be a sociopath, gets taken in and is enrolled in a process to teach him not to do that. What if he is just physically not capable of understanding that random murder is wrong? He must be locked away since he is unfit to live in our society.
But then you have me. I no longer have a family because of that man. I want that man to suffer. My most raw feelings want my hands around his neck. And yet, as advanced as we are, shouldn't I feel comfort knowing that he can not harm again? That I must move on since his suffering will not bring my family back? I must hate him, but I must bottle up that hatred. That takes a lot of will power to move on with life and be content with the "rehabilitation" of the killer.
As sick as this sounds, the reassurance that the perpetrator got his just deserts works for many of us still. It taps in to the most primal of out emotions, but we are animals. We're pretty damn advanced, but are we at the point to ignore such drives?
And crime is not always due to poverty. The rich commit crimes too, so what is their excuse? More wealth/power? I do not think humans could live in a long term society where everyone made around the same amount of money and had the same life styles (wait a tic, doesn't Sweden or Norway or someplace do this?). Suburbanite kids steal all the time, and yet they have everything they need.
The prison/death penalty punishment idea is a "don't do this or else" strategy, and like Skiwan said, many people do not plan on getting caught. I would be all for going after the source so that these rapists, thieves, and murders are not created. But that is a tremendous road to pave and you need to do more than throw money at it.
I do not rape. I do not kill. I do not rob people. I can sit back in my suburban house on my Macbook Pro and say that easily. Stealing is a necessity if you are in poverty sometimes. Killing can be a desperate measure to obtain what you feel keeps you alive. Rape can be a product of loose morals bred trough such a life style and just another concept of power. But no one in their right mind would dare pity people who perform such acts.
"I'm just doing what I have to do to survive" is not a valid excuse for killing a person for their iPod or raping a woman in an alley. But if we can not kill this person, we lock them up. I find it funny that people feel that another human has no right to take a life away, but has the right to bar a person from freely "living" his life.
Dear me I am just spurting out things from my brain...In Closing---
If we could eliminate poverty and hunger, the majority of crime in the world would vanish obviously. If the world was a simulation program, it would work. But people would have to sacrifice for others to have. Many of us live relatively comfortably I bet, and if everyone were to have the same life styles, the wealth would have to be spread around. The "every man for himself" is an insufficient strategy. But right now, we DO have poverty and we DO have crimes, ranging from negligible to horrendous. I think "no one has the right to kill" is a black and white idea in itself. The government should not have a right to orderly decide that it is okay to stop a life, but things like war and self protection are different.
The "punishment" system is inadequate on paper...But again, we can visualize logical worlds, but we may not have the mindset to carry them out yet. The more technology improves, the more civilized we become. I never liked the "turn the cheek" ideology because it can not work yet. It's one thing to protect the rest of the innocent from a currently dangerous criminal, but this world has consequences, such as jail, for doing bad things. Throwing drug dealers and muggers in to jail does not halt the process, so I think stronger security is only part of the solution. We need to stop spending all this money trying to kill one person with a needle and direct it towards neighborhoods and programs that are designed bring communities to levels where murder and rape are no longer options to certain residents.
But if you commit a crime, you should not get off scott free just because you are sorry and have "seen the light". You should be punished.