|
A crime is whatever goes against the laws of the society. There is a huge debate on whether or not there are universals. I kind of think thats just a bitch move to get out of being held accountable. There are certain things like human sacrifice or stealing other peoples shit that are wrong, and fuck the backwards society that think otherwise.
Going off a societal basis, a crime is violating someone elses right to property, happiness, liberty, security. When you violate someone elses rights you are effectively giving up your right to the same thing. Instead of raping a rapist though, we throw them in prison.
It isnt as much of a punishment as a removal of a harmful element from society from the society standpoint. There are efforts at rehabilitation during their time there, but no punishment. They are there AS punishment from their standpoint, though, not to be punished during their time there.
Certain crimes such as murder give up your right to life. Whether or not a society, using an imperfect system that often gets innocents and lets guilty people go, wishes to act upon that loss of rights, is up to them.
A balanced society is one that focuses mainly on rewarding the good citizens, and quietly removes the criminal element away from the main body. Its a hard system to impose, and degrees of penalties is up to the moral conscience of the society.
Does a crime based on legality deserve a punishment? the drinking laws and smoking laws are retarded here, I dont abide by them. I feel the punishment for them is way too harsh anyway, plus, it something that doesnt cause harm to ones self or society any more at a younger age than an older.
So, on certain level, your average law is an antiquated piece of conservative legislation.
On the other hand, there are certain things that have been illegal in the sense that society will punish you for doing them for a long long time. Murder, theft, treason. These are ideas that have been hated for a multitude of reasons, and never go unpunished. The question is why. Its mainly dealing with a sense of violation that goes with these acts that leads to the action. Either a certain inalienable right such as the right to your life, liberty, and/or the pursuit of happiness (My God, our framers were brilliant) has been attacked, or its something that is an attack to the wellfare of the nation/people of the nation.
These tend to get punished. If the question is do they deserve punishment, yes they need that element removed. The philosophical approach as to why punishment is necessary spans from giving a sense of revenge, vindication, or "justice" to an actual attempt to compensate for the damage or remove a dangerous element from society.
Im all for it in most cases, but we have courts and judges for ad hoc decisions, and they are ultimately the ones we entrust to such decisions.
|
