Is There Any Point in Prosecuting Someone 25 Years After They Committed a Murder?
I've seen quite a few of their episodes where someone committed a murder 'crime of passion' 25 years ago or so and who, towards the end of the show is invariably shown happily signing their confession so that afterwards they may go to spend their last years of life in a prison. They are invariably portrayed as being relieved to be finally caught and facing a just punishment.
Meanwhile it may likely that they have lived their life as a respectable citizen, crime-free (maybe a speeding ticket - but nothing violent) - their crime of murder might have been an isolated moment of passion and rage and their one and only lapse of reason in an otherwise crime free life. They may even have since been active, valuable and contributing members of society - a model citizen who may have been working as a volunteer in some vital community organization.
They may also have lived with awful guilt for having committed their crime. Perhaps in every day of their lives some time is spent wondering if they will get caught. And perhaps they have spent much of their life grieving the loss of their loved one. I ask you's - is it necessary to incarcerate them? Perhaps much of the purpose that could be served by the imposition of a prison term has already occurred except the isolation of the prison term. Perhaps their life has been modified in a positive way so as to make sure they never put themselves under any form of suspicion and that as such they have been extra careful to be completely law abiding.
Do they deserve to 'rot in prison' for the rest of their lives?
I'm not saying that I endorse murder; not at all. In fact I often say that the only reason I am interested in violence is that I believe in, and aspire to peace and that as such it may be important to understand the nature of violence.
What I'm asking you to do here is to examine the purpose and/or nature of 'justice'.
Published by Jaahda Jinnah
Jaahda Jinnah is a wise old crone who knows much about all sorts of things. Try me ! View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentJustice issues, wouldnt it be nice if it was parctised fairly all around.
i enjoyed reading your content
great work
ill be back
love me happy grandmother...xxx
i better go write something to get you fired up then Deez;-)
I used to be an avid reader and writer on AC but not so much any more. I still do however, drop in from time to time. I have a feeling I'll be back writing again someday. Keep up the good work and I'll keep reading.
Ahahaha Deez!! Wondered where you were! Glad you're still around. I actually don't have an opinion re such a case - I just thought that it posed some interesting questions about justice in general :-)
Restorative justice! When I say "Restorative Justice" I mean to restore some sense of justice to the family and loved ones of the the murder victim. Crime should never go unpunished. It sends the wrong message to those thinking of committing a crime. I think what your hinting at here is that if I'm really smart and I murder someone, then spend years covering up this evil deed, I deserve to go unpunished! Sounds like some liberal ACLU bleeding heart crap to me.