From: Billy Brown (bbrown@conemsco.com)
Date: Tue Mar 09 1999 - 08:15:21 MST
Delvieron@aol.com wrote:
> Should the guiding principle for sentencing be limited to punishment and
> protection of society, or should it be the redemption and reclaimation of
> those who our society have lost.
Do we believe in personal responsibility or not? If we hope to create a
society in which people are free to direct their own lives, we must
recognize those people as independent actors. By reducing criminals to the
role of passive victims of their experiences we dehumanize both them and
ourselves.
A society that sees its criminals as mere victims of social influence will
soon see its law-abiding citizens in the same light. If a murderer is not
responsible for his actions, then neither is a drunkard, or a philanderer,
or a luddite. If we can not condemn our vandals, thieves and murderers, how
then can we praise our artists, philanthropists and statesmen?
This is a road we should not take. It leads inexorably to a political
philosophy in which freedom is mere illusory nonsense, and the wise servants
of the State have free reign to ply their healing arts on anyone who
deviates from their vision of the ideal citizen. The end of that road is at
best a sterile, universal conformity, and at worst a complete end to
personal identity.
I say, let us live as free individuals, and expect others to do likewise.
Let us praise the men who risked their lives to smuggle Jews out of Nazi
Germany, and let us condemn the man who murders his neighbor for pocket
change. Above all, let us build a legal system that acknowledges an
individual's right to make his own choices, for good or ill.
Billy Brown, MCSE+I
bbrown@conemsco.com
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