Aswad
Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: deadbluebird
1. a rather nasty idea? i don't understand that statement at all. the jail is not there only for offenders that are poor. i dont think people who break the law should be punished differently just because they have money. this isnt about giving her a "step down" from the glamorous life she is used to, its about punishing her for breaking the law.
What I was trying to get across, was that people shouldn't be punished any harsher for having money, either, not that she should be punished less. And putting her in a regular jail is just begging for something "above and beyond" to happen, which is "harsher".
Is equality issuing a fine of $100 to a guy making $1K/mo and a guy making $1M/mo for the same offense, or making it $100 and $100.000, respectively? The former is an equal measure, the latter is an equal punishment. Which swings both ways.
More importantly, the latter is an equal discouragement.
Which is what the law should be all about, IMO. Punishments should be a means to an end, or else you're just feeding the downward spiral. What has been said for violence in this regard, equally applies to jail.
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2. do you honestly believe that the wardens would treat her in any way that the law does not allow? dont you think if she was treated in any way that was inapproperate she would be on the phone to her father? in fact i Highly doubt she would be in the general public at any time.
First off, it's not exactly unheard of (some would claim it is, in fact, common) for wardens to overstep the boundaries of the law.
Second, keeping her from the general public of the jail is the only thing I was getting at. I just didn't realize that US prisons had the capacity to do that, except through solitary confinement, which is, again, worse than regular jail in the general case.
Third, her father is dead, though I'm guessing her lawyer would substitute.
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3. i think it will improve her attitude that she is above the law.
I'm not sure she has any real awareness of the law, and how it applies to her, and I don't think this is going to correct that. If the actual problem is that she regards herself as above the law, however, it might correct that, granted.
However, if one wants to go after the "above the law" attitude, the place to start is busting Hollywood stars getting high off the "good stuff", rather than the small-time people that are the current focus of law enforcement world-wide.
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4. i dont find that to be justice at all. it isnt about making her happy. the goal of punishment is not to make the offender happy.
First off, I consider punishment a tool of a judicial system, not a goal (I think I erroneously said "justice system" first time around). "Justice" is too abstract and vague a term to go into here, IMHO. Society should be concerned with prevention, not retaliation.
Second, I never said the goal should be to make her happy. I said the goal should be to make her not repeat the offense.
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5. on one hand i feel bad for anyone who is experiencing anything unpleasant. on the other hand untill the system is changed All should face the same consequences for their actions.
I can certainly sympathize with feeling bad for anyone experiencing anything unpleasant. I myself feel bad for any being experiencing something unpleasant that they did not give informed consent to up front, to the point where swatting a wasp is a problem for me.
However, I don't think the right way to go is to say that everyone should face the same consequences. Let's say the punishment was chopping off their right hand instead. A person missing their right hand would then never be treated equally to one who didn't. Equality, to my mind, is equal impact (straight equality), or equal deterrent (equal preventative effect).
I've never meant to state or imply, in any way, shape or form, that some people are above the law, or conversely that a law should only apply to some people. It is my firm position that, provided the law is handled in a manner similar to what is typical in western societies today, it should apply to all citizens, regardless of status.
Hope that clears things up somewhat.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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