Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 3, Thursday, 1-20

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Today, class was meeting in the Danger Shop, which was only because Alex's students might want to speak with individuals themselves. and so I can play with NPC icons

"Last night was a busy one, in your country," she said, once everyone had filed in to a replica of their usual classroom. "You asked the patrol guards to keep their eyes open for any suspicious or questionable activity, and they found a fair amount. The official tally is on the blackboard."

The tally, on the blackboard, was in no particular order and read as follows:

• Two men engaged in a barfight; both were injured, one seriously.
• An alleged would-be burglar entered the home of a resident. The resident fired a gun at the presumed burglar. The presumed burglar is in critical condition.
• A homeless man stole several food items, at gunpoint, from a grocery store.
• A woman discovered her husband in bed with another woman, and stabbed him.
• A CEO hired an assassin to kill the CEO of the company's chief competitor; the hitman succeeded.
• Two adult siblings engaged in what both claim was consensual sex.
• A woman has been printing and mailing out a newsletter which insults you and spreads lies about your regime.
• A man gave a prostitute money in exchange for sexual favors.

"The patrol guards placed these people in separate cells. This is where the real fun starts. None of what happened last night was, technically speaking, illegal. We haven't instituted a formal rule of law yet. That doesn't mean we can't punish any or all of those people, if we see fit to do so, but it does remind us that we might want to put together some laws, and announce them to the populace at large. The populace won't automatically follow all of your rules, but it's nice for them to at least know what's against the law, and what punishment is assigned each crime.

"Leaving aside the issue of retroactive legality -- this is a thought experiment, so we can do that easily enough -- which of these people broke the law last night? What mitigating circumstances do we want to take into effect, when issuing punishment? And what exactly are we going to punish our citizens with? Death? Exile? Imprisonment?"

Alex nodded to the doorway on the side of the room. "We can summon anyone you like, for you to speak with, in case you'd like to get a clearer view of the facts of these cases. Next week, we're going to talk big picture, putting down rules and coming up with guidelines, instituting a police presence and determining the fate of criminals. This week? We're going to handle just these cases. Who broke the law, what law should we have in place to guard against that behavior, and what punishment should the guilty receive?"

Comments

Re: Discussion - Crime and Laws - NAT03

[glacial_queen]

"Then this is something we need to address and quickly," Karla said. "While it's not going to be the habit of this government to dabble in sex and solicitation, we do need to make sure that the people who feel they have no other option to make money with their bodies are taken care of mentally, emotionally, and physically. There are too many risks to allow the current system to continue, both to the prostitutes themselves and to the general public. And if we get the right educational programs in place, we won't have to worry about people falling into prostitution because they have no other options."

Karla drummed her fingers on the desk. "In addition to letting him go, maybe we could draft something up, promising free physical screenings to any prostitute so inclined, along with letting them know that they'll face no legal repercussions for coming in. Start talking with my Court about programs we can set up, for health and welfare, for education, to protection. Hmmm..."

Out came the notebook with Karla busily writing down ideas.

Re: Discussion - Crime and Laws - NAT03

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Please excuse Alex if she needed a moment wherein she was going to smile fondly at her own TA. Prosecuting sex crimes had shown her how many people were completely uninterested in the plight of sex workers. They made good victims, because society didn't care much what happened to them.

"Screenings are good," she said, her face serious again. "Handing out condoms, to prevent disease transmission, and offering treatment for those addicted to drugs. Legalizing prostitution, or at least decriminalizing it, will make it easier for women to come forward if they've been abused by a client."

Re: Discussion - Crime and Laws - NAT03

[glacial_queen]

"Which is why it needs to be regulated as well," Karla said, shyly grinning back. "If their clients are known--even by an alias--charges can be brought against someone who harms one of the prostitutes. This will need to be done in steps, obviously, because I can't overhaul the system overnight--" pity "--but we can start by offering more protection to the workers themselves, for both health and safety. Following that up with programs to help the ones who've just fallen into the trade because it's easy, unskilled labor. After that, we can start focusing on licensing and taxation and really make them part of the workforce. Hopefully by then, the majority of prostitutes will be the people who want to make their living that way and we can go from there."

Re: Discussion - Crime and Laws - NAT03

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Around that point, you'll have an outburst from those morally opposed to prostitution," Alex said. "It will look to them like the government is condoning, if not supporting, something that they feel the government should use its resources to discourage. Some people view sexuality as too sacred to be bought and paid for like any other service."

Not to say that Karla was wrong, either, so much as warning her about the coming pitfalls.

Re: Discussion - Crime and Laws - NAT03

[glacial_queen]

"They are certainly entitled to their beliefs and my government will not do anything to dissuade them from believing so," Karla said with a slight tilt to her chin. "They may continue to teach that to their children, preach that in their churches, and affirm that in their daily life. But regardless of their beliefs, my government has no place in the bedrooms of consenting adults, whether or not money was paid to gain entrance to said bedroom."

She thought that was an excellent party line, actually. Well, the first half, anyway. And once the press conference was over and everyone had gone, Karla would probably add a very mature 'Nyaaah!' to the end of that, too.