For most of a man’s
life, his choice to follow or disobey the law is not based upon fear of
retribution or any sort of otherwise correctional action by the institution of
justice in his society. Rather, his choice to follow or disregard the law,
whether in part or in whole, is based upon what he has been taught by
his life experiences. As a child a man will either experience punishment for
disobeying the rules, or he will perceive that he can get away with breaking
the rules, whether in part or in whole. And it is this perception, which so
rarely affected by the institution of justice, and undeniably altered only by
personal circumstance or the hand of God, that shall be the guiding light for
his actions in the future.
This is true, shown not only by testimony of human
experience, but by principle of psychology as well. Let us therefore cease the charade
that the punishments handed down by the justice system are intended to “stop”
or “prevent” crime by their severity or lack thereof, and instead focus on the
true purpose: the system of law is meant to bring order to a world otherwise
defined by chaos. In this, we know that a man who commits murder may face a
trial worthy of his crime, and that a man whose crimes are less detrimental to
society will face a punishment worthy of his lesser impact. Indeed, our system
of crime and punishment in this place is simply a larger, more complicated,
slower-moving, and less informational version of our simpler, more
impressionable system of crime and punishment under our watchful parents as
children.
In this sense we realize that a man who grew up under a severe hand
as a child will have learned to fear (and perhaps disdain) the law. A man whose
formative years were spent with elders who were supportive yet firm and clear
with their enforcements will have learned a healthy respect and even admiration
for the law. And finally, a man whose experience as a child was that of
constant successful disrespect and disobedience towards his parents, who found
he was able to get away with his destructive actions in his young life, will find
no problem in similarly shunning the dictates of the law in favor of his own
impulses, whether they be for gain or destruction, and to the detriment of all
whom he encounters. In this is a simple truth: If you wish a man to have a
respect for the law, it must be taught at a young age. If you want a man who
has not learned this at a young age to respect the law to do so simply on the
basis of that he will get punished if caught, then you are in for a sore
awakening.*
Under this train of
thought, two questions arise. The first is simple: if the justice system does
not prevent crime in and of itself, then why does it exist? The second follows
naturally: what can be done about those men who, whether by circumstance or by
raising, have learned to disdain and act contrary to the laws set in place to
govern the impulses of man?
The answer to the first,
of course, is simple in theory: the justice system exists for the same reason
that a mother’s or father’s household rules exist, and that is there must be
order. There must be a standard by which one man addresses and interacts with
another man, a standard of respect and civility and dignity. In theory, the
justice system simply enforces the same life principles endorsed by father and
mother, but on a much broader, society-wide basis. In this, it is extremely
important that government’s creation of laws and enforcement thereof match the
values and beliefs of society. It is also in this that the importance of the
Representative Republic comes into view. The justice system is the stabilizer
of society. It activates the paradigm of interaction in a man that was taught
him by his parents on a societal scale; without that paradigm man’s actions
will quickly relapse back to his inner urges, and the society which once was
held so dearly to man’s heart, will fall. This is the importance of the justice
system. And it is through this that we see the ultimate importance that a man first
learn how to treat his fellow man, and then how to respect the law set above
him. And of course it is the hope of this writer that every man will learn such
respect, that the law will be upheld and that every man may prosper.
It is clear though, that
this is not the case. And for this we turn to the second question. How may the
justice system teach that which has not already been taught? This is not so
easy, but in some ways it can be done.
It must be impressed
upon those who have committed crimes that their punishment is for their crime –
they are not being punished because they were caught, they are not being
punished because they had poor lawyers, no – they are being punished because
they chose to partake in a society with rules, and they broke those rules. And
now they must face the consequences of breaking those rules. It is for this
reason that the court must ever strive to be as objective and impartial as
possible. No man, whether rich or poor, black or white, or of any condition
irrelevant to the crime at hand, may receive a punishment for anything other
than his exact crime in proportion to the severity of the crime committed if we
are to maintain that the justice system has any value whatsoever. The justice
system must be stable; flexible enough to account for the varying nuances that
life and circumstances bring to any given case, and yet hard and rigid in
enforcing the laws thereof.
The justice system does not teach man to behave
himself in society; it is merely the society-wide version of what he has been
taught as a child. If he has been taught as a child to respect the authorities
above him, then he will do so. If he has been taught otherwise, then no power
aside from brute force and sheer exercise of power will be able to stop him
from behaving otherwise, until such a time that he learns to change his way of
behaving. And such a time is rare in this world. That is why the justice system
must be swift and just in its work, that it may as closely approximate the
scolding and punishment given by a parent as much as possible. It must be clear
on why it is dealing the punishment that is being given, strive to make sure
the receiver of the punishment understands his mistake, and deal the punishment
in a fair and appropriate manner. In this, we can hope to bring back to society
those who have been formerly disgraced from its entrance thereof, and thus mute
the effects of sin and evil in this world. *Fin.
*It is in
this statement that we find truth to the statistics long plaguing society:
those brought up in broken, impoverished homes are also those most likely to
find themselves at the mercy of the justice system. One source may be found
here, but the author suggests a great deal more research be conducted before
stating a conclusion on the matter.
Further reading: An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, by Cesare Beccaria, 1764
