The Dilemma of Crime and Punishment.
More than a decade ago, I watched Syllvestor Stallone's movie , “Cobra". It is an action-packed movie with a touch of sarcasm. However, these were not aforementioned aspects that made me appreciate the movie. Instead it was the central idea that appealed me.
The movie imposes a question on the criminal laws where felons are protected under the claim of human rights.
In the movie, Stallone, playing the character of Cobra has been displayed as a tough cop. He shows no mercy to murderers. While he is condemned by his fellow officers for being unlawful, Cobra is clear and loud about his sense of justice which means to protect innocents by punishing the wrongdoers.
The final conversation between Cobra and the villain, Night Slasher is remarkable. While I don’t remember the exact dialogue, there is something like Night Slasher makes fun of the cop and the law. He tells even if he is caught he will be out in an year or so to commit the same crime. He taunts Cobra saying that he cannot shot him because he has rights.
“This is where the law stops and I start,” saying these words Cobra impales the serial killer on a large hook, bringing the justice to the innocents murdered at his hand. Also, protecting victims to-be.
At this point, I think it’s important to mention that I am not in favour of a person taking law in his hand and being a judge on his own. Never the less, I want to emphasize the importance of laws and the justice system to be strong enough to ensure the security and safety of its citizens.
In the last few decades, there has been a great advocacy for human rights of criminals. Following the virdict, many countries have abolished capital punishment also gather. In such a situation, high profile criminals are either released after putting into rehabilitation centres or are sentenced till death. Both aspects appear problematic to me.
Bearing the burden of a sentenced criminal via the money of taxpayers is a burden on society. On the other hand, a criminal released after a shorter sentence is likely to repeat the same crime if they know that their crime is not going to bring them serious consequences.
The question of whether or not spending money on rehabilitation of criminals is worth it can not be answered in a direct Aye or Nay. It is a complicated matter and involves a lot of insights and wisdom.
The severity of the punishment ought to be decided not only on the basis of the severity of the crime but also on the basis of the reason behind the crime. For instance, a theft to satiate one’s hunger or other basic needs may be forgiven compared to the theft meant to fulfil one’s lustrous desires.
On the other hand, there are more severe crimes like murder and rape. For rapists, I feel no mercy. Be it out of a medical condition, intentional or unintentional, this crime deserves to be punished in a way that becomes a lesson for others. The punishment must be severe enough to settle a fear in collective unconscious of the society, so that nobody would even think of committing it unconsciously.
In case of murder, I opine that the reason behind the murder should be assessed. At times, the murder is purely unintentional such as a consequence of a brawl or something like that. At other times, it may happen as a result of severe oppression and self-defence.
In such cases, putting the convict in a rehabilitation centre is lightly to yield beneficial results. Nonetheless, in such a case also, I am only convinced to give a second chance. If the crime is repeated, giving another chance is likely to be unjust. As Paulo Coelho mentioned an Arabic proverb in his novel, The Alchemist, “Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”
For serial killers or a murder committed for personal gains, I have the same opinion as that for rapists. They should be punished with a death penalty as soon as their crime is proved. Putting such people in a rehabilitation centre is likely to inflict others with the similar kind of depraved mentality.
In conclusion, justice system needs to be designed wisely to maintain the balance between human rights and the protection of its citizen. the laws must be designed to ensure that the rights of victims are not overshadowed by those of the perpetrators.
While certain offenders may be benefitted by rehabilitation programs, felony like rape and planned murder demand to be punished stringently for deterrence of such a crime; and also to reduce the financial burden of incarcerating such criminals.
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Finland has really good policies for criminals. When they release criminals from jail, they provide shelter, space and job to that particular person. In this way, they prevent the repetitive cycle of crimes by same person. That's how, Finland is most happy country in the world.
I didn’t know about Finland providing these facilities. Thanks for the info.
You raise some really interesting points here. Not easy to answer.
The thing with killing a murderer is that modern people who never fight, never get hurt, never put themselves up to really dangerous situations and life threatening people, have a dilemma:
They lack this form of experience but of course, they prefer being it that way.
They do not hurt, push and hit others and therefore think that any form of corporal punishment is bad because they themselves have been spared from being hurt, pushed and hit. They believe they are right to refuse corporal punishment, since they don't think they can demand that others do the work for the general public. (I personally don't agree with this, as I can't extrapolate from myself to others).
Like doing the actual killing, where the death punishment exists. If I am unable to kill myself, even though the death sentence is in the law, I might want to change that law, instead of further bring death to criminals.
The thing is what one thinks of the executives and the justice system oneself lives in. Do the organs work properly? Do they judge thoroughly case by case? Do they care to work to their best conscience, ability and high standards of their education? Are they paid well? Do they earn to be honored? Is the general public appreciative of what they do? How can one find out? Do the statistics correspond what is generally perceived? Like, maybe what is generally perceived (through media sensations) might not match the statistics. And so on.
... For some, the death sentence might not be the worst to be afraid of. It might be worse to sit life long imprisoned. For others, death would be the worst. I really don't know and I have no information about our German prisons and statistics.
Death is inevitable, whether or not one fears it. Being mortal is the thing there is no escape from.
However, woth regards to punishment for a crime, I think it is not merely the concern of an individual's life. It has an affect on the society in multiple ways.
For instance, I read this post by terganftp. He mentioned of a case in which a convicted murderer of 6 women and probably more was punished with life time sentence. The amount spent on him during his imprisonment was 2.5 Million Dollar.
It's quite a big amount to spend on a convicted murderer and rapist collected from public's taxes. Doesn’t this money deserve a more productive use.
So, I think punishment should be decided based on the greater interest of humanity.
One amount spent on one side is an amount received on the other side. It's a cynical system, one might say; depends on how you see it. A prisoner is indirectly the work giver of many peoples. Those who administer the prison, those who work there as security staff, those who clean there, those who deliver food, those who bring clothes, the electricity company, tech tech company, the fence company, the street builders and even the politicians, and so on and so forth. Citizens are also an indirect beneficiary from prisoners. The after prison procedure again, give work for peoples in the social sector and so on. Police force "needs" crimes in order to be justified as protectors or preventers from criminal acts. Judges and courts live from crimes coming on trial. It's all a huge inter-woven complex.
You could say that the prisoners pay indirectly back for what crime they have been convicted. And so they are worth more alive than dead.
Do you actually have the death penalty in your country?
The greater interest of society is not unified, and it's actually not bad in total that it is not unified in all questions. Conflict is always a chance to debate and debate is being in touch, and being in touch is to find answers to questions. Or to be earnest and honest about the things that cannot be changed, for example.
Haaaaah! I didn't think of it from this perspective.
Makes sense and opens up debate demanding deeper insights.
It's tricky. They lift it whenever they want and impose it whenever they want.
In 2008 executions were halted. In 2014 they lifted the ban.
Nevertheless, there aren't many cases where the criminals were executed.
Well, in a corrupt system like ours the corporal punishment is highly susceptible to be misused. From top to bottom all the sectors are corrupt. Justice system is among the toppers.
Every system is corrupted, I think. Meaning, that people can be corrupted, either through what is called major sins (pride, envy, wrath, greed, lust etc.) or through their life being threatened or they being blackmailed.
Have you ever been tested yourself? Were you, let's say, in a position where you were offered a privilege but in order to be given it, you needed to do something in exchange which went contrary to your principles? And where you said "no"?
To be in a responsible position makes you constantly the target of many people and interests. The more responsibility you carry, the more people will try to influence or manipulate you.
The governed as well as the governors need to be in full knowledge of the principles of not sinning and need to be tested.
Someone must be of high integrity to withstand and he must be a very mature combined with skill in his expertise. Without being tested you never know how strong you are.
True. Misuse is a widespread phenomena.
To have the full picture, one would need to know about the amount of the correct use of the law.
Naturally, if you belong to a group or clique, you'll be less inclined to have one member of it to be convicted of a crime, in particular, if this person provides the others with both financial and reputational benefits. That does not excuse it but it does explain it.
Government has actually no power over its many peoples. Since there are not enough resources to have each and every single one under control. So what a determined government does, if it wants the people to obey, is to make people themselves the force; ergo people controlling people on an individual basis. To divide them amongst each other. Fear is a powerful 'weapon'. If the people fall into fear, they are easy to be managed.
Other deadly sins the bible calls out, are inertia and gloom, things which make people ignorant towards what's going on.
Each and every trait can be found below and above. To master life under the human conditions is not easy but difficult. To expect it to be easy, is a whole other chapter.
Lolz. Seems like it's the confession time. I was once in a position of responsibility and I committed an act that made me realize how strong one needs to be to say "NO". Though it didn't have larger implications but I felt myself in a position of doing injustice.
I agree. I was 18 years old when the case about myself I mentioned above happened. It let me put myself behind the bars. Not only I realized the pressure that comes with responsibility but also the importance of precision between right and wrong (at least one's own right and wrong). Maturity is needed to withstand our position. However, with the passage of time I also realized thst maturity has different levels and the life keeps on putting us different test with various levels of difficulties demanding different skils. We might be mature in one way but be amateur at the same time.
Well, while I accept corruption is a human phenomenon, the frequency with which it exists in my country is quite higher as compared to other societies.
Here, you have to go through an illegal path to get s legal work done. For instance, for filing a case against a crime, you are supposed to bribe.
From the door of the court to the judge you are supposed to fill the hands of several public workers.
Government servants keep on getting salaries whether or not they appear at the workplace.
The convicted criminals of Billions of Dollar corruption are easily released.
There is much much more to the story.
I do agree. Difficult but not impossible
HaHa!! Thanks for letting me know then. :D
In Germany, when you lose your purse and you have your ID in it and your drivers license, you are actually supposed to file an official crime. So that when your documents appear somewhere else they are registered as stolen.
I had mine once stolen and told the police lady that I just want to tell but would not file a case against the thief. She looked at me as if I was insane and for a moment I felt like a criminal myself - LoL. That was quite a strange situation since I was not anticipating such a strong reaction. For me, it was just money and my own fault, since I had forgotten my bag on the back of my bike.
It's odd that officials want to be bribed for letting you into the legal system. Here, denunciation seems actually to be encouraged and for that, you have to report a violation to the officials.
I never came across someone who opened his hands to receive money. Though I am confident that similar things happen here like "one hand washes the other" in terms of business contracts and favors exchanged.
🙈🤗
The same is the supposition here. !LOLZ but here one needs to go through another headache for filing the crime. They ask for some money before filing it.
I am amused by the incident 🤣
So you may imagine the level of corruption here. I feel embarrassed. Perhaps, greed has topped everthing else in the hearts of people.
Lemme tell you a case. Lately, the bike of our relative was snatched. There was s tracker in it. He instantly reached the police station and asked them to catch the robbers. He stayed 2 hours there tracking his bike, trying to convince the officers to make a move, but they refused saying that the bike was out of reach.
Well, it's a norm here. No news.
Here in my country people often use a sentence as a general pray. "May God protect everyone from police and hospitals."
These are not the criminals who pray to avoid the police but the victims who are more fearful.
Every sector is equally corrupted, not just police or hospitals. 🙁
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