crime and punishment
One tenet of justice is that the punishment should be proportional to the crime. A murderer can be hanged, but a pickpocket cannot. I have reason to disagree.
Punishment is a deterrent. If a pickpocket has to spend a night in jail, or two weeks, that is not a strong enough deterrent.
But I can see we are going to have a tough time answering tough questions. So let me sum it up for ya.
What is a crime? Or what should constitute a crime? So far, there have been many reasons to call something a crime. For example, smuggling is a crime, dealing drugs is a crime… whereas they are actually not. These acts are classified as crimes because someone thought so. As far as I can say, if you are doing what you will, you are doing no crime. However, if part of your “doing what you will” involves stopping others from doin g what they will, that is a crime.
Wonderful. We are already coming up with holes in that one. What if the other person wants to kick me… if I stop him, i am a criminal? Lets keep this real.
First off, there is the tenet of freedom. Absolute freedom. Nothing you can do can every be a crime. If you say, what about murder? I ask you back: what about murder? or better still: what is murder? Taking somebodys life? Do you think that murder, but the definition of taking someones life should be a crime? Well, I would agree only if it is an absolute crime. An absolute crime is if it applies to everyone… every single one. There is no “license to kill”… a soldier will also be guilty of this crime. No one can kill.
So if someone is coming to kill me, I can’t kill him first? Well… you should… if you want to stay alive! So, even though you murder, you are not committing a crime. Self defence is usually the excuse for having killed someone. And a soldier is doing self-defence on behalf of us. So… whether it is in self defense or not, taking someones life, is a crime… or not? If you want to make it an absolute crime, I am game… but I am sure that there are exceptions to when murder is not a crime… or should not be a crime.
(contd…)
