Thread: Crime

Originally Posted by gregs656

I think they should have a fair shot at it, yes. I think society needs some level of crime. I think that anything other than 'a fair shot' just ends up not only corrupting the people protecting the innocent, but also has a negative impact on those they are protecting.

I have a hard time believing you would feel that way if your son or brother, wife or girlfriend, mother or father, were murdered, raped, killed by a drunk driver, or killed by some street-racers.

I don't know what it's like for you in Sussex(and I know there is a lot of fear-mongering in the UK about knives and stuff), but I'm currently working with at-risk youth in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Abbotsford is the crime capital of Canada, beating out Toronto our biggest city.
I can tell you that there is definitely a level of crime and that there will always be a level of crime regardless of how lax, or how tight the laws in a country are.
To do what you are suggesting just seems irresponsible to me.
When some drug-lord down the street is getting teens to beat up other teens, because they suddenly decide they want more money, I have a hard time processing the idea of them deserving a chance to not go to jail.

To give criminals a "fair shot at it" then that would have to be the case with all criminals, regardless of crime, otherwise that would be discrimination. Therefore the pyro who keeps burning down buildings with people in them should be allowed to get "a fair shot at it" and get away to burn down another building with people in it. The rapist can rape again. The murderer can murder again.
Your thinking works great for farming sheep, but not for a country, not with law-abiding people involved.

Maybe you live in a place with not much crime, but criminals around here do not need "a fair shot at it".

Originally Posted by WongKonPow

I have a hard time believing you would feel that way if your son or brother, wife or girlfriend, mother or father, were murdered, raped, killed by a drunk driver, or killed by some street-racers.

Maybe you live in a place with not much crime, but criminals around here do not need "a fair shot at it".

That does not mean it would not be true.

It sounds to me like there is a lot of corruption in that city. Where crime rages because they can afford to pay off who ever they need. I'm not suggesting that is an ideal, I simply think that in a just society, the police should not be hiding in plain sight, waiting for people to slip up. I can't imagine living in a society where the government punished every one who broke their laws. I don't think it would be a particularly great place to be.

For the "you don't have anything to fear if you are innocent" crowd...

L. Gordon Crovitz: You Commit Three Felonies a Day - WSJ.com

I'm sure you can find equivalent problems in fields other than telecoms... basically there are so many laws, some very ancient and obscure, that all the population can be considered criminals by adhering to the letter of the existing laws.

The worst criminals fear no cop, plain clothes or uniformed. They operate from behind desks in corner offices of corporate headquarters. They are running the show. They are running the world.

Originally Posted by icedog

They operate from behind desks in corner offices of corporate headquarters.

OMG! That's me, that's me! How did you know I had a corner office?

Are you stalking me?