fandomhigh | Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #2, Jan 12]

"Welcome back," Alex said, nodding at her students. "Since last week went so well, I thought it best if we dive right in. So this week we're going to be discussing capital punishment. Capital, in this case, refers to the head. As in, your head, and the State's ability to separate it from your body. We're talking about the death penalty: a government executing its own citizens."

They could have started with something more dry and theoretical, but Alex was more a fan of practical applications of the law. And nothing stirred discussion like the death penalty.

"Most countries have a history of some kind with the death penalty. It's a quick way for the government to silence dissent, and to deal with those citizens that the rest of society has deemed unfit. It's fallen out of favor in most countries in this world, but there are those which still practice it. Including the United States, the country that Fandom is adjacent to."

She was still a touch unclear on whether the US had any jurisdiction over Fandom. She would imagine not so much, all things considered.

"Proponents of the death penalty will say that it functions as a deterrent. If Joe Citizen knows that murdering his neighbors could end in his death, maybe he'll think twice and put down that hacksaw. Advocates also say that it provides an appropriate punishment to the crime. It fills a psychological need for retribution, and it gives the victims' families closure. It guarantees that that criminal will never re-offend. And as a prosecutor, I will add that it gives me a certain amount of leverage in dealing with a suspect. Many criminals are willing to confess or hand over important information if I take the death penalty out of consideration. They'll still be in jail for the rest of their lives."

She lifted her shoulders. "That's one side of the issue. People on the other side say that the death penalty is barbaric, and that a government shouldn't be involved in revenge killings. Critics say that it's not effective as a deterrent, and that life imprisonment fulfills all the necessary conditions of punishment. Those against it will also note that it's rarely implemented in a fair manner: in most countries, the poor, the ethnic minorities, and the underclass will make up a majority of those put to death. And this is before we get to the much thornier issue of what happens when an innocent person is wrongly convicted. A life sentence can be commuted; if the prisoner's already dead, then the government has innocent blood on its hands."

"So let's talk about capital punishment. Whether the government has the right to take a life, and what that means for a free society." As an afterthought, she pulled out her class roster and squinted at it. "And ... Karla and ... Kurt? Congratulations, you're going to be my teaching assistants. If you strongly object to the idea, see me after class to lodge a complaint."

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"Terrorism, perhaps?" suggested Bod. "I don't think that could always fall under treason since I could go and commit a terrorist act against another country and I wouldn't be betraying my country of origin, really. It still means I'm intentionally out to harm people or destroy property due to political motivations."

"Should the motivations themselves come into play?" Alex asked. "If you go blow up a government building, that's terrorism. It's also terrorism if you blow up a make-up company's research lab, because you object to the company testing on animals."

"And what makes the people inside the animal testing lab any less innocent just because they do something a select few disagree with?" Bod countered easily. "I don't think they're working there because they want to cause harm to animals maliciously."

He hoped not, at least.

"I'd still say that it'd be classifiable as an offense worthy of the death penalty, motivations aside. Disagreements in ideas and ideals don't mean you have the right to go kill another group of people."

"Fair point," Alex said. She liked consistency, and she liked people who argued their points well. "So the line for terrorism, for you, is when people kill one another to prove some kind of a point?"

"I confess to not knowing a lot of the specifics about what constitutes terrorism," said Bod, rubbing his chin before clasping his hands together.

"Mostly because the definition seems to change so often. I think going so far as to kill to prove a point would be one where the death penalty would be deserved. And while I don't know if it's truly considered terrorism, I could see forcing people out of a particular area because their religious, political, miscellaneous views don't agree with yours might fall there too."

"Placing the ideals above human lives?" Alex asked. She drummed her fingers lightly on the desk before continuing. "Terrorism's a hard subject for me to be unbiased about. I lived in New York City, and was at work on a day when it was attacked by religious extremists. Thousands of innocent people were killed, and I wanted not justice, but revenge."

"I don't doubt that and I doubt you were the only one to feel that way." Bod didn't know how he'd feel in a similar position and he hesitated to try and imagine it because it was impossible to imagine that kind of hurt.

Bod paused, taking a breath before saying, "And I think those people that committed that atrocity should probably be dealt the same punishment. Just in the matter of which crimes should be liable for the death penalty, why should they get to live out long lives, prison or not, while those thousands of people you mention don't? I know there were incidents during World War II where people of a certain religion were placed in camps because they were different. It doesn't seem right that those who agreed with the idea of those camps and supported them in whichever way should be allowed to have long lives when those that were confined sometimes didn't."

"So where do we draw the line?" Alex asked. "With those camps. Someone who knew but did nothing? The workers at the camps? Who deserves to be put to death, in the face of that sort of atrocity?"

"I think all deserve some sort of punishment," he said after taking a few moments to roll those questions over in his head. "Someone who knew but did nothing is probably least likely to be punished. While knowing and doing nothing is awful, there's really no law broken there. They could have been protecting themselves from reciprocation from the ruling party there. The workers there? I think, if they contributed to the suffering and death, then yes, they would deserve it. The creators of those camps? Yes. If there was a direct traceable line from the suffering in those camps to different people, I'd say they deserved the death penalty."

Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #2, Jan 12]

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Re: Discussion: Which Crimes - JST02

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