RESOLUTIONISM: JUSTICE, CRIME and PUNISHMENT
by Aaron Nordquist
It’s time to take a look at another area of society, to see how this new economic system could be used to save the world. Crime is a major problem in most societies. A crime is any action that is considered morally wrong, that is shameful, unwise, or unacceptable, especially any act that is prohibited by law. Law is the system of rules that is recognized by a community, as enforceable by established processes, and binding by the authority of that community. Law has developed and evolved over time, as the result of human customs and judicial decisions concerned with the rights and responsibilities of individual people, and the rights and responsibilities of the public as a whole. These accepted rules that govern communities and countries create a kind of stability and order by the observance and enforcement of the law. Violation of the law usually results in consequences for the society, or damage to the physical environment or injury to another person or other people.
Many people think that crime will never completely be a non-issue. There are so many different types and degrees of crimes, that it is impossible for me to go into detail on how to stop every individual offense. Rather, here will discuss how the economy can improve the indicators which lead people to commit crimes. Another reason why it is hard to discuss individual laws, is that there are just so many of them. Furthermore, every nation defines crime in their own ways. This is because we define our crimes by our countries laws, which are supported by the beliefs, norms, and cultural traditions of the people in those nations. What one person in one country might say is illegal, or immoral, might be perfectly fine to someone else in another country. The only thing that is the same in all cases, is the moment when a person decides to behave in a way that diverges from the laws or rules of a society.
Therefore, crime is a product of society itself, and is sociologically rooted in deviance, which I have gone into great deal about in many of my other articles, so here I'll be brief. The roots of crime are often involved in a cycle with many other problems. The fundamental cause, basis, or essence of crime; or the sources from which crime derives are many, but often they related to each other. When an individual gets caught up in a cycle in which problems lead to other problems, they may find opportunities available to them, of all kinds. If one of those options is to break the law, a person may decide that the solution to their troubles might be committing crimes. When a person is caught up in a cycle of accepting this rationale, they are much more likely to engage in future activities that accept criminal behaviour. Happily, when the initial problems of the individual begin to dissipate, and the pieces of the cycle are taken out, the individual will be less likely to engage in acts that society considers criminal.
In Resolutionism, we seek to eliminate all pieces of this cycle that lead to the sources of criminal behaviour, for the reason that we want to avoid any consequences for the society, or any damage or injury to another person. I think it goes without saying that The UE will also employ more police, to maintain public order, by uniformly enforcing the law, and making arrests. With our plan to strengthen security, social welfare, education, and our new economy making sure that people can afford the things they need or want, most of the crime in society will slowly fade away. Of course, there is a possibility that criminal activity will never completely disappear, with Resolutionism, it will be much harder to get away with. If you are a criminal, you will be caught.
Control Theory
Travis Hirschi, sociologist and author of Control Theory, pointed out some key traits that can help define today’s criminals. Some of these traits are: they are young, usually male, and most take a short term view of their lives. Law breakers, in Hirschi’s own words, are people who are “relatively unable to sustain a course of action toward some distant goal, whether that goal is education, friendship, employment, or criminal gain.” Another defining characteristic Hirschi points out, is low self-control.
Therefore, Hirschi argued that rather than locking up adults for committing crimes, society needs to focus resources on younger people, before they commit crimes. Specifically, he suggested that we have to teach our children, by a much earlier age than teenagers, the key trait of self-control. But this role, or this responsibility, is for the parents, and is not particularly suited for the government.
SELF-DEFENSE
However, a government can through any strategy, try to strengthen family bonds to foster the growth of more positive values. The United Earth also has a mission to develop strategies that empower individuals and their communities, to improve their safety, security, and general well-being. The UE can provide education, awareness, and training to the public to advance individual personal safety. Everyone on Earth has a legal right to defend themselves, through the use of reasonable force for protection of self, family, and property against physical attack. There are many techniques that are used to defend against physical attack, especially unarmed combat techniques such as any of the martial arts like judo or karate.
GANGS
I want to invite your attention to one area of criminal activity that has increased dramatically in the last few decades, which is group violence. Group violence can take many forms. When groups of ordinary people form behind some collectively unintelligent or irrational goal, we usually call this a mob. A mob is usually different from The Mob, with is a group of people who are involved in powerful ruthless large-scale networks of professional criminals, or such networks in general, in a world of organized crime.
Smaller, than organized crime rings, are Gangs which are usually groups of people who spend time together for social reasons, who may engage in delinquent activities, and typically perform deviant and often illegal behaviour. The groups that we are concerned about often make a living from criminal acts such as selling drugs or weapons. We often tend to think of gangs of adults, or even teenagers, but the latest problem with gangs is the troubling fact that many gangs are being infiltrated by, or formed by pre-teens from the ages of 7-12.
Kathleen Harris and the QMI Agency recently reported on the Canadian prison system which is currently under much stress with over-crowding problems. The report, which came out August 2010, showed that 9% of those offenders currently incarcerated in Canadian prisons were associated with gangs or criminal organizations. 2079 prisoners were allied with some kind of gang. 32.13% were affiliated with street gangs, 24.82% were associated with native gangs, 19.53% belonged to motorcycle gangs, 11.83% was involved in organized crime. 11.69% were allied with other gangs.
SOCIAL BONDING
People are hardly ever forced to become a member of a gang. However, if a person sees joining a gang as a viable solution to the problems in their lives, such as poverty, then they may voluntarily join. This may seemingly be the only remaining alternative for many people who join gangs who live in a disadvantaged community, and can’t afford to buy the things that they need. As a member of a gang, people may steal or sell drugs to earn a cut of the money, which is used to help feed, clothe, and protect their families. In many cases, gangs have resorted to heavy violence as a means of protecting their gang, or their family, or their entire neighborhood.
As we know, socialization is a process we go through in which it is suggested that we become “bonded” to particular cultural patterns, by accepting rewards and/or punishments from those surroundings. We absorb a “way of life” as we perceive each event as either “right” or “wrong” according to the surroundings, and then we behave accordingly. So, people who grow up in a bad neighborhood, where criminal activity is all around , where conditions don’t allow for much education, extra-curricular activities, or any positive influences, are more likely to be involved in a gang. This is the problem.
SOME KIND OF MONSTER
Few will dispute that an even bigger problem, is the idea that gang life is “cool,” or that it is any kind of a good thing in general. Sanyika Shakur, a.k.a. “Monster” Kody Scott, described a frightening portrait of gang life in South Central Los Angeles, in his book, Monster: An Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. After pumping eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun at a group of rival gang members, twelve-year-old Kody Scott was initiated into the L.A. gang “the Crips.” The Crips fight against another powerful L.A. gang called “the Bloods.” Scott was regarded with respect after committing acts such as extreme violence, theft, abuse, and even murder, but even more worrying is the fact that he was rewarded for these acts by his peers. In fact, Scott was treated like a King! He and his friends worked hard for the protection of themselves, their families and their neighborhood. They were trying to make their neighborhood a safer place by taking part in this gang war.
His life was in jeopardy, many of his friends were killed, and their neighborhood did not become a safer place. Scott quickly matured into one of the most formidable Crip combat soldiers, earning the name “Monster” for committing acts of brutality and violence that repulsed even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum-security cell, he wrote his autobiography in solitary confinement. Monster makes you see the despair and decay of America’s inner cities, and opens your eyes to what is really happening. People die for no reason at all. They kill each other, trying to protect each other.
A GANG SOLUTION
In order to solve some these problems, we have to give people more options, more plans, and more actions, directed at improving those neighborhoods, and the lives of those families who live there. If there are seemingly no available options to those people, it is up to us to give options to them. We will offer education, employment, and many other activities to promote alternatives to joining gangs. We’ll offer more sports, more literature, and more arts, which will foster more community events, that everyone could get involved in. At the same time, we will clean up the neighborhoods. We will literally clean up the whole world. No more graffiti, no more drugs, no more violence.
We can create stronger bonds of community, but many of the problems begin at home. So, we can also help strengthen family values, and give positive role models for children. We can also help parents teach their children the differences between right and wrong. We can make sure that people have less reasons to join gangs, by making sure that people are healthy, wealthy, and wise enough so that the gangs to lose their appeal.
Remember that Resolutionism and the United Earth are going to eliminate poverty in all forms. Remember that we are getting paid to live, work, and survive. More wealth equals less strife. Less strife equals more health. More health equals more happiness. With more pleasure, contentment, or joy in life, we can be closer to a peace on Earth, which raises the standard of living for all. To do this, we must begin by building more schools, hospitals, and more social arenas, and we must start cleaning up all of the neighborhoods of the world.
However, the United Earth is not simply a bouquet of hand-outs and donations. Our patience has worn too thin. We will no longer tolerate any illegal behaviour. We will strengthen our laws and judicial systems. We will employ more gang units within the police force, along with more drug units, anti-theft units, and so on. If the law is still not followed, we will be more strict in our punishments than ever before.
THE APPLICATION OF LAW
I’d like to take a moment to discuss a man who was hugely influential to the way the world works today, but is not as publicly recognized or as widely known as someone like Darwin, but one would say that he was just as influential.
Caesar Beccaria was an Italian youth who joined a group called “The Academy of Fists.” The Academy was a group of philosophers, during the time that is often called the “Age of Reason,” in the 18th and 19th centuries. They thought that they could pull themselves out of the dark ages; our of those hard and feudal times, by creating a reason-based system of thought.
The Academy handed out an assignment to each of its members, telling them to go out and investigate certain areas of social life. Using this reasoning they were supposed to try to come up with ways to fix the problems, or at least come up with a proposal for reform.
Beccaria’s assignment was in jails, crime, and punishment. He basically said that the way they did things; the way they decided who was guilty, and how they should punish them, in those feudal times, was completely wrong.
They had a judge who was available for anyone, if they wanted to make a complaint about somebody. The judge would ask, “Who did what?” After hearing the story, the judge would decide that that party is guilty, and creates a punishment for them. Then the police of their day would go out to the place the guilty party lives or works, or whatever, to drag the guilty away, possibly without even knowing what they were accused of.
Beccaria said that we have to create a new system with higher standards. He decided that the way to fix the problems was to have the following three step syllabus, that involved
1.) Legislative determination of the law, and judicial determination of guilt. Which basically means that you can’t just have a whole society going around blaming each other for everything. You have to have laws, and a judge who will determine if that law was broken or not. So, for example, the law says that stealing is a crime. When someone accuses another person of stealing, a judge or jury should determine whether or not that person broke the law. They should determine that the person accused is either innocent or guilty of committing a crime.
2.) Control the Act, not the Actor. This means that it doesn’t matter why you did the act. So, for example, if you are accused of stealing, you should be punished for stealing. Whether the act was performed for malicious reasons, or to feed one’s family, or whatever the excuse is, a judge and jury should only be concerned with the act itself, and if you are found guilty of breaking the law, you should get the same punishment for stealing, regardless of intent.
3.) Hierarchy of Punishments. This means that we need a system of chastisement which has more pain in the punishment than the pleasure of the act. If the pleasure of committing an illegal act outweighs the pain of the future punishment, then a criminal will commit a crime. The pain of the punishment must be higher than the pleasure of the act, so that you are deterred from wanting to commit the illegal act in the first place.
After Beccaria’s recommendations, countries all over the world soon created this systematic legal system. Perhaps it is time to reform “The Academy of Fists” for this new “Age of Reason,” in the 21st century. They thought that they could pull themselves out of the dark ages; our of those hard and feudal times, by creating a reason-based system of thought--can we?
JUSTICE SYSTEM
Those significant arguments changed the justice system, I believe it’s time to revise our methods of crime and punishment yet again. A criminal is a criminal. No race…no gender…and we must have no sympathy. At the end of the day, no matter what kind of excuses a criminal can come with; no matter what kind of abuse or hardship they had to endure, or what background they come from; no matter what kind of reasons a criminal has for breaking the law, they are a criminal. All those people who are pitiful excuses for human beings will only get through life by the mercy of others, but our patience for criminals has run out, and criminal behaviour will absolutely no longer be tolerated. No one, and nothing is above the law. All are to be held accountable.
We will build many more prisons and jails to help strengthen our imprisonment systems. We will build many more police departments to help enforce the laws, and to serve and protect all of the citizens, with observance of human rights. This includes the protection of the criminal and of the officers themselves. We must train these law enforcement officers to be more efficient and less violent. We must teach them to be conscious of the interests of all concerned. We must train them to be clever, and open-minded. We will set up Internal Affairs divisions within all departments that will maintain purity in crime prevention, and they will ensure that no corruption of the law takes place. There will no longer be any cases of police brutality or excessive force, as all police must also abide by the law or face criminal charges themselves.To eliminate the worst effects crime and the fear of crime, the United Earth will employ more police, build more courts, and prisons, and increase protection for everyone on the planet. The UE will have more gang units, drug units, anti-theft units, bomb units, Special Weapons and Tactics units, Central Intelligence Agency units, Federal Bureau of Investigation units, all kinds of military units, and more. This new economic system will allow for more production in all of these areas
Our courts have long stood as a forum, where justice is dispensed with honour. They are a tribunal for the truth, and not just a tool for the higher class. We need to strengthen our judicial systems, and have updated legislation, that truly reflects the global community’s values. Retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and social protection are some of the ways that we have justified punishments in the past, and these methods will continue to flourish. We can begin the transition to peace by beginning to eliminate the fear of crime or harm. We can protect ourselves through many means in the course of law.
However, we can not ultimately assume that the criminal justice system--the police, the courts, the prisons, etc.--will eliminate crime. Since crime is a product of society itself, society will have to change too. I've discussed how to change that over and over again as well in my work, so I won't bore you too much with that right now.
“The law is the last result of human wisdom, acting upon human experience, for the benefit of the public.”
--Samuel Johnson, Miscellanies CONFINEMENT and REHABILITATION
Although prisoners often must be removed from society to serve the greater good, we’re not just closing the door, locking people up, and throwing away the key. We’re not walking away from these criminals because offenders are human beings too. The United Earth upholds the principles of Resolutionism and the declaration of human rights, and we understand that confinement can be done without inflicting any more pain or harm to a prisoner than is necessary. If we are going to have peace on Earth we have to lead by example. By showing the better aspects of the human character, especially kindness and compassion, we can still show concern for the needs, well-being, and interests of all people, including prisoners.
There are many programs that can work for each individual prisoner. All of these options give prisoners a chance to better themselves. Most programs work on building the education of prisoners. We understand that everyone is different, and that we all learn different things as we grow. Everyone has been faced with a special situation or certain circumstances that might lead a person to a decision to break the law. Those reasons have to be discovered, and those problems need to be solved. From now on, all prisoners will become psychological patients, so that they can be examined and given treatment with the ultimate goal being rehabilitation.
To help us accomplish this goal, all prisoners will also become students. They learned the patterns of criminal behaviour, and they can un-learn those patterns as well. While some prisoners may never learn to be able to participate in society again, others may still have a chance. For example, if a prisoner hasn’t completed a high school education, while in confinement a prisoner can take courses, pass grades, and get a diploma. This not only improves a prisoner’s conventional academic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but this also will open up a prisoner to many new theoretical and practical aspects of life. Along with the scholastic knowledge, these prisoners will also learn many problem solving methods so that they have the ability to think and learn how to solve any problem for themselves.
When people are exposed to such intellectual insights, it increases their thinking and learning capacity, whether they are aware of it or not. People often learn to enjoy learning, and these prisoners might get real fulfillment out of learning something new. A prisoner might even take up an interest in a certain area of wisdom, and decide to continue their education by taking university level courses. However, the prisoners who have a hard time adapting to these processes will take a long time to get through a course. These people only require more detailed attention paid to them. For example, they may simply need help with the material, or they may require some more relevant adaptations of a problem in order to understand it. Most prisoners have little or no education, so all prisoners who do not know how to properly read or write, will be taught how to do so.
Other people have a good education, and are genuinely good people, but the reasons that landed them in jail might have been based on other localized factors, such as drug problems, especially if those problems lead to stealing or worse. These people may have had drug habits that literally ruined their lives. There are many highly-trained professionals who were reduced to committing crimes, and they are paying the price for it in prison. This is why we will have many quality detoxification programs, to get these people to clean up their lives so that they can get healthy and start making some better decisions.
On the other hand, there are some prisoners who have a very good education. We’ve all heard of the criminal genius, and these people usually have exceptional intellectual and/or creative ability. Often, these people commit crimes in hopes of gaining some kind of recognition for their crimes. These people need new a direction in life as well. We can offer that to them.
For those people who really have no excuses, such as a person who steals for greed, or the people that steal for fun, etc., these people need to be shown a better way for them to get their kicks. They get an adrenaline rush from stealing, so they steal just to steal. These prisoners may find that they can get that feeling, that rush, from something else. They might get the same feelings from accomplishing something else, or from achieving some other goal. Some people cook, some people grow gardens, other people turn to religion and they find their salvation in the pages of a book. We can help these people find a new joy in life.
On top of all of that, each prisoner will be taught life lessons. They will to make better decisions, and they will learn how to be responsible for themselves, and their actions. Each prisoner will learn the difference between “right” and “wrong.” Each prisoner will participate in logic and critical thinking classes to improve their decision making processes. They will take ethical and moral classes so that they understand such concepts as justness and fairness. They will take law courses so that they fully understand the rules of society, and why they can not break those rules. They will take behaviour and etiquette classes so that they fully understand how to act in society.
DETENTION
All people, of all ages, can be convicted of committing a crime. Anyone 18 years of age or older will be subject to a court trial, which will determine their innocence or guilt. Anyone who is under the age of 18 years will be subject to a sentencing policy of “Three Strikes and You’re Out.” This means that the law gives troubled youths a chance to turn themselves around, and mandates longer prison sentences for criminals with three misdemeanor convictions. If a youth commits a felony, they will subject to the punishment which is suited for their crime. A misdemeanor is a crime such as vandalism, that is less serious than a felony, such as murder, and therefore results in a less severe punishments.
After a youth is convicted of committing some illegal act, they will be subject to all the same processes as a regular criminal, but the First Strike might be enough to turn a troubled youth around, and scare them straight. A First Strike punishment would send these youths to a detention home for a week, and then they are sent home to their parents or guardians on House Arrest. House Arrest means the form of legal confinement in which people who have been arrested are not allowed to leave their own homes for a period of time.
A Second Strike conviction will result in more lengthy periods of detention, followed by supervised public service, such as garbage pick-up, which can be carried out in private, or in the public eye, so that the community can see that something is being done to protect them from such nuisances, and so that the offender can feel the intense scrutiny made by the public. After the public service, the offender is placed on house arrest for an even longer period of time.
On the Third Strike conviction, it is quite clear that this young person habitually and repeatedly breaks the law. The person charged with a Third Strike offense is sentenced to a Detention Home, where they will stay for a long period of time, like a prison sentence. After their detention term is complete, they will perform public services for the community while being under House Arrest for a period of time. After that, they will be on parole, monitored to make sure the person is acting in good behaviour, and regular reporting to the authorities for a set period of time
When young people aged 17 or under are convicted of committing a crime, they will also receive as much rehabilitation as we can give them, and rather than be sent to prison, they can stay in these Detention Homes, which are generally more safe than the regular prisons. They are similar to prisons, in that they are a secure place where somebody is confined as punishment for a crime, held in custody for long periods of time. Here they will receive the help they need to return to good health, or a normal life, because we can provide training and/or therapy. Once a youth turns 18 years old, they will experience the law as an adult.
Even with all of these rehabilitation efforts, prisons and detention homes are still a method of punishment, and they are not just a safe place to stay. It is very rough in there, and as part of the punishment for their crimes, they will have to endure the hardships. If you don’t think you’d like to find out how rough a prison can be, don’t commit any illegal acts, and you won’t have to worry about it. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
PRISONER CREDIT
If a prisoner realizes the errors of their ways, and they feel that they are ready to become a part of society again, they will have to prove it. All prisoners, of all ages, will be constantly evaluated, based on a number of things, but most important is a prisoner’s psychological case file. During their time in detention or prison, each inmate will have opportunities to rehabilitate themselves by taking courses, therapies, or programs aimed at recovery. Each opportunity that is taken, acknowledged, and accomplished, counts as a credit. Credits go in each prisoner’s case file, and this helps us understand and monitor their progress. If a prisoner makes no attempt to better themselves, they will never be eligible for early release.
Only if a prisoner has successfully completed a minimum of 40 credits, and passed all the life courses, and has shown good behaviour, may the prisoner be eligible for early parole. Parole means the conditional early release of a prisoner, if they have been adapted on good behaviour, and have promised to fulfill all set conditions outlined in the terms of parole, including regular reporting to the authorities to ensure compliance, for a set period of time. Even if you are eligible for early parole, that does not mean you will get it. If you don’t belong in society, you don’t go back. We are more strict about this than ever.
GOOD RIDDANCE?
For those people who, after extensive rehabilitation and treatment, still can not abide by the laws of our new global society, we shall have very little patience. Those who commit criminal acts will be punished, and guided towards a better path. Those who can not, or will not walk on that path, must be detached from the general public. If they present a danger to themselves, or others, they must be completely removed from society. We have discussed several methods of removal, but we haven’t really ventured into the area of capital punishment.
Capital punishment is the term for using execution as a punishment for a person who has been convicted of committing a crime. This form of punishment is the ultimate removal from society, but lately it has become a questionable topic. In many people’s opinions, the death penalty should be allowed as the highest form of punishment, to rid the world of such a disturbance. Yet in many other people’s opinions, the death penalty is a course of action that is not respectable or morally acceptable, for the simple logic that if it is not morally right for people to kill, it is not acceptable for anyone to kill anyone, under any circumstances. So let’s discuss a few options.
Everyone has the right to life, and I do not think that anyone has the freedom or liberty to take it from them. Therefore, I can not promote the death penalty as a reasonable way to remove the person from society. Furthermore, I believe that the death penalty is letting the criminals off too easily. In my opinion, the death penalty is ultimately self-defeating in a number of ways. The person dying won’t learn anything from dying, they just end their existence, and no real lesson was learned. Some people see death as honourable, and most people see death as a release, so the death penalty is simply doing them a favour.
However, many people believe that justice must be proportionate and the punishment should fit the crime. So, this leads us to the question: “Should a murderer be killed?” For such a moral issue, I think this is a decision that can not be made by one person, one state, or one nation. This is the kind of decision that the entire world must make. Some of you are saying that the world has already made this decision. The law says that it is not acceptable to kill, so we can’t kill killers. That’s logical. Others are saying that the world has made the decision that is acceptable. Therefore it is essential that we come to a global consensus on this situation, and we must test that consensus often. We should hold a global referendum, a vote by the whole world on this specific question, and we should do this often, to see how the world feels about it. When we all decide, it should then be put to the United Earth or similar governing bodies, to determine whether or not the death penalty is a reasonable punishment. If the world decides that we can kill killers, then governments can choose for themselves whether or not to enforce it the death penalty. If the world decides “no,” then we must find a better way to remove these people from society.
EJECTION
Our tolerance for criminal behaviour has been stretched to the limit. To remove those people from society, I invite you to consider building a new place for the worst of those people to go. A place you do not want to be. A place like Hell. My good friend Dr. James Challis and I came up with a plan for an ultimate prison that is absolutely inescapable and absolutely removed from society. We designed a gigantic penitentiary that would be buried in an ice shelf in Antarctica, so even if by some marvelous event someone does escape, they will stuck on the frozen island wastelands of Antarctica. This place would only be for the lowest scum of the Earth, filled with murderers, rapists, and people who commit such terrible acts as genocide or terrorism. In this place, the scum will learn to live together, and work together, in order to survive, or they will be killed by one another.
This prison has a function, which is to serve as a hard-labour facility to ensure that maximum punishment is enforced to these criminals. It will be very hard, very labourious, very pointless work; for no reason other than to keep the inmates busy. The prisoners will wake up each day and mine ice. They will pound away at, and chop up giant ice blocks, which the prisoners will load into a cart or barrow pushed by hand, and the crushed ice will be sent into a machine which melts the ice and snow. The machine then turns the water back into those giant ice blocks, just to be destroyed the next day.
At the end of each day, the prisoners get a meal, of dry crackers. The inmates would walk back to their cells, which are each heated like a hot sauna, to the extent the sweat would be literally dripping off of their foreheads. Whenever the prisoners feel a little dehydrated they can drink a cup of warm cola. No ice. Would that be non-violent torture? Maybe that’s what we need, to scare these people out of committing crimes.
NORWAY
As a total opposite of what I have just been talking about, I’ll direct our attention to a country that the United Nations has ranked as having the highest human development index in the world. I don’t want to get into the country of Norway too much, because I feel that I don’t have enough knowledge of the country or of its affairs to carry on, but what I can discuss if only very briefly, is one of its systems of imprisonment.
In this case, once a person has been convicted of a crime, they are sent to a sort of a prison island, where they can be removed from the rest of the society, but once admitted to the prison they are subjected to influences of re-socialization. These prisoners take part in social activities and behave in a friendly way towards others, as others behave in a friendly way towards them. Both the prisoners and the guards of this prison treat each other as equals, or even as friends, and they all live together in a group setting. Just as regular people socialize with their friends or family, these prisoners enjoy the same experiences. The criminals have to go to work, come home to their neighborhood, pay their rent, live with, and be around people, all the time.
The thought and reasoning behind all of this, is that these people were socialized into committing those crimes. They were socialized within certain settings, that led to their behaviour, which determines their actions. Perhaps we can “re-socialize” these people into normal and healthy lifestyles if they are given a normal and healthy atmosphere. The idea here is that we can resocialize people. Here it has been proven that prisoners can be trained to re-acquire the skills necessary for functioning successfully in society.
As you can see, there are many issues within the topic of crime that must be considered. For the enforcement of global law, and the prevention of crime within all communities, the United Earth Police Force will set up an organized body of police within every municipality, with jurisdiction within that geographic area, who are given special legal powers by the government. Their task is to maintain public order and to prevent crime. We will build many more prisons and jails, to help strengthen our confinement systems, and we’ll build more criminal courts, to ensure that justice is dispensed honourably.
One fact is clear, that crime is a product of society itself, so to eliminate crime society will have to change as well. With better leadership, and a new economy, we can combine all previously mentioned areas, and we can either improve, change, or discard old techniques, and these steps are vital to saving the world. All of these measures are uniformly required without delay, to bring an immediate improvement in living standards for all of Earth’s members. We can provide for the security, welfare, and peace of mind of all people, and we can save the world.
by Aaron Nordquist
It’s time to take a look at another area of society, to see how this new economic system could be used to save the world. Crime is a major problem in most societies. A crime is any action that is considered morally wrong, that is shameful, unwise, or unacceptable, especially any act that is prohibited by law. Law is the system of rules that is recognized by a community, as enforceable by established processes, and binding by the authority of that community. Law has developed and evolved over time, as the result of human customs and judicial decisions concerned with the rights and responsibilities of individual people, and the rights and responsibilities of the public as a whole. These accepted rules that govern communities and countries create a kind of stability and order by the observance and enforcement of the law. Violation of the law usually results in consequences for the society, or damage to the physical environment or injury to another person or other people.
Many people think that crime will never completely be a non-issue. There are so many different types and degrees of crimes, that it is impossible for me to go into detail on how to stop every individual offense. Rather, here will discuss how the economy can improve the indicators which lead people to commit crimes. Another reason why it is hard to discuss individual laws, is that there are just so many of them. Furthermore, every nation defines crime in their own ways. This is because we define our crimes by our countries laws, which are supported by the beliefs, norms, and cultural traditions of the people in those nations. What one person in one country might say is illegal, or immoral, might be perfectly fine to someone else in another country. The only thing that is the same in all cases, is the moment when a person decides to behave in a way that diverges from the laws or rules of a society.
Therefore, crime is a product of society itself, and is sociologically rooted in deviance, which I have gone into great deal about in many of my other articles, so here I'll be brief. The roots of crime are often involved in a cycle with many other problems. The fundamental cause, basis, or essence of crime; or the sources from which crime derives are many, but often they related to each other. When an individual gets caught up in a cycle in which problems lead to other problems, they may find opportunities available to them, of all kinds. If one of those options is to break the law, a person may decide that the solution to their troubles might be committing crimes. When a person is caught up in a cycle of accepting this rationale, they are much more likely to engage in future activities that accept criminal behaviour. Happily, when the initial problems of the individual begin to dissipate, and the pieces of the cycle are taken out, the individual will be less likely to engage in acts that society considers criminal.
In Resolutionism, we seek to eliminate all pieces of this cycle that lead to the sources of criminal behaviour, for the reason that we want to avoid any consequences for the society, or any damage or injury to another person. I think it goes without saying that The UE will also employ more police, to maintain public order, by uniformly enforcing the law, and making arrests. With our plan to strengthen security, social welfare, education, and our new economy making sure that people can afford the things they need or want, most of the crime in society will slowly fade away. Of course, there is a possibility that criminal activity will never completely disappear, with Resolutionism, it will be much harder to get away with. If you are a criminal, you will be caught.
Control Theory
Travis Hirschi, sociologist and author of Control Theory, pointed out some key traits that can help define today’s criminals. Some of these traits are: they are young, usually male, and most take a short term view of their lives. Law breakers, in Hirschi’s own words, are people who are “relatively unable to sustain a course of action toward some distant goal, whether that goal is education, friendship, employment, or criminal gain.” Another defining characteristic Hirschi points out, is low self-control.
Therefore, Hirschi argued that rather than locking up adults for committing crimes, society needs to focus resources on younger people, before they commit crimes. Specifically, he suggested that we have to teach our children, by a much earlier age than teenagers, the key trait of self-control. But this role, or this responsibility, is for the parents, and is not particularly suited for the government.
SELF-DEFENSE
However, a government can through any strategy, try to strengthen family bonds to foster the growth of more positive values. The United Earth also has a mission to develop strategies that empower individuals and their communities, to improve their safety, security, and general well-being. The UE can provide education, awareness, and training to the public to advance individual personal safety. Everyone on Earth has a legal right to defend themselves, through the use of reasonable force for protection of self, family, and property against physical attack. There are many techniques that are used to defend against physical attack, especially unarmed combat techniques such as any of the martial arts like judo or karate.
GANGS
I want to invite your attention to one area of criminal activity that has increased dramatically in the last few decades, which is group violence. Group violence can take many forms. When groups of ordinary people form behind some collectively unintelligent or irrational goal, we usually call this a mob. A mob is usually different from The Mob, with is a group of people who are involved in powerful ruthless large-scale networks of professional criminals, or such networks in general, in a world of organized crime.
Smaller, than organized crime rings, are Gangs which are usually groups of people who spend time together for social reasons, who may engage in delinquent activities, and typically perform deviant and often illegal behaviour. The groups that we are concerned about often make a living from criminal acts such as selling drugs or weapons. We often tend to think of gangs of adults, or even teenagers, but the latest problem with gangs is the troubling fact that many gangs are being infiltrated by, or formed by pre-teens from the ages of 7-12.
Kathleen Harris and the QMI Agency recently reported on the Canadian prison system which is currently under much stress with over-crowding problems. The report, which came out August 2010, showed that 9% of those offenders currently incarcerated in Canadian prisons were associated with gangs or criminal organizations. 2079 prisoners were allied with some kind of gang. 32.13% were affiliated with street gangs, 24.82% were associated with native gangs, 19.53% belonged to motorcycle gangs, 11.83% was involved in organized crime. 11.69% were allied with other gangs.
SOCIAL BONDING
People are hardly ever forced to become a member of a gang. However, if a person sees joining a gang as a viable solution to the problems in their lives, such as poverty, then they may voluntarily join. This may seemingly be the only remaining alternative for many people who join gangs who live in a disadvantaged community, and can’t afford to buy the things that they need. As a member of a gang, people may steal or sell drugs to earn a cut of the money, which is used to help feed, clothe, and protect their families. In many cases, gangs have resorted to heavy violence as a means of protecting their gang, or their family, or their entire neighborhood.
As we know, socialization is a process we go through in which it is suggested that we become “bonded” to particular cultural patterns, by accepting rewards and/or punishments from those surroundings. We absorb a “way of life” as we perceive each event as either “right” or “wrong” according to the surroundings, and then we behave accordingly. So, people who grow up in a bad neighborhood, where criminal activity is all around , where conditions don’t allow for much education, extra-curricular activities, or any positive influences, are more likely to be involved in a gang. This is the problem.
SOME KIND OF MONSTER
Few will dispute that an even bigger problem, is the idea that gang life is “cool,” or that it is any kind of a good thing in general. Sanyika Shakur, a.k.a. “Monster” Kody Scott, described a frightening portrait of gang life in South Central Los Angeles, in his book, Monster: An Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member. After pumping eight blasts from a sawed-off shotgun at a group of rival gang members, twelve-year-old Kody Scott was initiated into the L.A. gang “the Crips.” The Crips fight against another powerful L.A. gang called “the Bloods.” Scott was regarded with respect after committing acts such as extreme violence, theft, abuse, and even murder, but even more worrying is the fact that he was rewarded for these acts by his peers. In fact, Scott was treated like a King! He and his friends worked hard for the protection of themselves, their families and their neighborhood. They were trying to make their neighborhood a safer place by taking part in this gang war.
His life was in jeopardy, many of his friends were killed, and their neighborhood did not become a safer place. Scott quickly matured into one of the most formidable Crip combat soldiers, earning the name “Monster” for committing acts of brutality and violence that repulsed even his fellow gang members. When the inevitable jail term confined him to a maximum-security cell, he wrote his autobiography in solitary confinement. Monster makes you see the despair and decay of America’s inner cities, and opens your eyes to what is really happening. People die for no reason at all. They kill each other, trying to protect each other.
A GANG SOLUTION
In order to solve some these problems, we have to give people more options, more plans, and more actions, directed at improving those neighborhoods, and the lives of those families who live there. If there are seemingly no available options to those people, it is up to us to give options to them. We will offer education, employment, and many other activities to promote alternatives to joining gangs. We’ll offer more sports, more literature, and more arts, which will foster more community events, that everyone could get involved in. At the same time, we will clean up the neighborhoods. We will literally clean up the whole world. No more graffiti, no more drugs, no more violence.
We can create stronger bonds of community, but many of the problems begin at home. So, we can also help strengthen family values, and give positive role models for children. We can also help parents teach their children the differences between right and wrong. We can make sure that people have less reasons to join gangs, by making sure that people are healthy, wealthy, and wise enough so that the gangs to lose their appeal.
Remember that Resolutionism and the United Earth are going to eliminate poverty in all forms. Remember that we are getting paid to live, work, and survive. More wealth equals less strife. Less strife equals more health. More health equals more happiness. With more pleasure, contentment, or joy in life, we can be closer to a peace on Earth, which raises the standard of living for all. To do this, we must begin by building more schools, hospitals, and more social arenas, and we must start cleaning up all of the neighborhoods of the world.
However, the United Earth is not simply a bouquet of hand-outs and donations. Our patience has worn too thin. We will no longer tolerate any illegal behaviour. We will strengthen our laws and judicial systems. We will employ more gang units within the police force, along with more drug units, anti-theft units, and so on. If the law is still not followed, we will be more strict in our punishments than ever before.
THE APPLICATION OF LAW
I’d like to take a moment to discuss a man who was hugely influential to the way the world works today, but is not as publicly recognized or as widely known as someone like Darwin, but one would say that he was just as influential.
Caesar Beccaria was an Italian youth who joined a group called “The Academy of Fists.” The Academy was a group of philosophers, during the time that is often called the “Age of Reason,” in the 18th and 19th centuries. They thought that they could pull themselves out of the dark ages; our of those hard and feudal times, by creating a reason-based system of thought.
The Academy handed out an assignment to each of its members, telling them to go out and investigate certain areas of social life. Using this reasoning they were supposed to try to come up with ways to fix the problems, or at least come up with a proposal for reform.
Beccaria’s assignment was in jails, crime, and punishment. He basically said that the way they did things; the way they decided who was guilty, and how they should punish them, in those feudal times, was completely wrong.
They had a judge who was available for anyone, if they wanted to make a complaint about somebody. The judge would ask, “Who did what?” After hearing the story, the judge would decide that that party is guilty, and creates a punishment for them. Then the police of their day would go out to the place the guilty party lives or works, or whatever, to drag the guilty away, possibly without even knowing what they were accused of.
Beccaria said that we have to create a new system with higher standards. He decided that the way to fix the problems was to have the following three step syllabus, that involved
1.) Legislative determination of the law, and judicial determination of guilt. Which basically means that you can’t just have a whole society going around blaming each other for everything. You have to have laws, and a judge who will determine if that law was broken or not. So, for example, the law says that stealing is a crime. When someone accuses another person of stealing, a judge or jury should determine whether or not that person broke the law. They should determine that the person accused is either innocent or guilty of committing a crime.
2.) Control the Act, not the Actor. This means that it doesn’t matter why you did the act. So, for example, if you are accused of stealing, you should be punished for stealing. Whether the act was performed for malicious reasons, or to feed one’s family, or whatever the excuse is, a judge and jury should only be concerned with the act itself, and if you are found guilty of breaking the law, you should get the same punishment for stealing, regardless of intent.
3.) Hierarchy of Punishments. This means that we need a system of chastisement which has more pain in the punishment than the pleasure of the act. If the pleasure of committing an illegal act outweighs the pain of the future punishment, then a criminal will commit a crime. The pain of the punishment must be higher than the pleasure of the act, so that you are deterred from wanting to commit the illegal act in the first place.
After Beccaria’s recommendations, countries all over the world soon created this systematic legal system. Perhaps it is time to reform “The Academy of Fists” for this new “Age of Reason,” in the 21st century. They thought that they could pull themselves out of the dark ages; our of those hard and feudal times, by creating a reason-based system of thought--can we?
JUSTICE SYSTEM
Those significant arguments changed the justice system, I believe it’s time to revise our methods of crime and punishment yet again. A criminal is a criminal. No race…no gender…and we must have no sympathy. At the end of the day, no matter what kind of excuses a criminal can come with; no matter what kind of abuse or hardship they had to endure, or what background they come from; no matter what kind of reasons a criminal has for breaking the law, they are a criminal. All those people who are pitiful excuses for human beings will only get through life by the mercy of others, but our patience for criminals has run out, and criminal behaviour will absolutely no longer be tolerated. No one, and nothing is above the law. All are to be held accountable.
We will build many more prisons and jails to help strengthen our imprisonment systems. We will build many more police departments to help enforce the laws, and to serve and protect all of the citizens, with observance of human rights. This includes the protection of the criminal and of the officers themselves. We must train these law enforcement officers to be more efficient and less violent. We must teach them to be conscious of the interests of all concerned. We must train them to be clever, and open-minded. We will set up Internal Affairs divisions within all departments that will maintain purity in crime prevention, and they will ensure that no corruption of the law takes place. There will no longer be any cases of police brutality or excessive force, as all police must also abide by the law or face criminal charges themselves.To eliminate the worst effects crime and the fear of crime, the United Earth will employ more police, build more courts, and prisons, and increase protection for everyone on the planet. The UE will have more gang units, drug units, anti-theft units, bomb units, Special Weapons and Tactics units, Central Intelligence Agency units, Federal Bureau of Investigation units, all kinds of military units, and more. This new economic system will allow for more production in all of these areas
Our courts have long stood as a forum, where justice is dispensed with honour. They are a tribunal for the truth, and not just a tool for the higher class. We need to strengthen our judicial systems, and have updated legislation, that truly reflects the global community’s values. Retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and social protection are some of the ways that we have justified punishments in the past, and these methods will continue to flourish. We can begin the transition to peace by beginning to eliminate the fear of crime or harm. We can protect ourselves through many means in the course of law.
However, we can not ultimately assume that the criminal justice system--the police, the courts, the prisons, etc.--will eliminate crime. Since crime is a product of society itself, society will have to change too. I've discussed how to change that over and over again as well in my work, so I won't bore you too much with that right now.
“The law is the last result of human wisdom, acting upon human experience, for the benefit of the public.”
--Samuel Johnson, Miscellanies CONFINEMENT and REHABILITATION
Although prisoners often must be removed from society to serve the greater good, we’re not just closing the door, locking people up, and throwing away the key. We’re not walking away from these criminals because offenders are human beings too. The United Earth upholds the principles of Resolutionism and the declaration of human rights, and we understand that confinement can be done without inflicting any more pain or harm to a prisoner than is necessary. If we are going to have peace on Earth we have to lead by example. By showing the better aspects of the human character, especially kindness and compassion, we can still show concern for the needs, well-being, and interests of all people, including prisoners.
There are many programs that can work for each individual prisoner. All of these options give prisoners a chance to better themselves. Most programs work on building the education of prisoners. We understand that everyone is different, and that we all learn different things as we grow. Everyone has been faced with a special situation or certain circumstances that might lead a person to a decision to break the law. Those reasons have to be discovered, and those problems need to be solved. From now on, all prisoners will become psychological patients, so that they can be examined and given treatment with the ultimate goal being rehabilitation.
To help us accomplish this goal, all prisoners will also become students. They learned the patterns of criminal behaviour, and they can un-learn those patterns as well. While some prisoners may never learn to be able to participate in society again, others may still have a chance. For example, if a prisoner hasn’t completed a high school education, while in confinement a prisoner can take courses, pass grades, and get a diploma. This not only improves a prisoner’s conventional academic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but this also will open up a prisoner to many new theoretical and practical aspects of life. Along with the scholastic knowledge, these prisoners will also learn many problem solving methods so that they have the ability to think and learn how to solve any problem for themselves.
When people are exposed to such intellectual insights, it increases their thinking and learning capacity, whether they are aware of it or not. People often learn to enjoy learning, and these prisoners might get real fulfillment out of learning something new. A prisoner might even take up an interest in a certain area of wisdom, and decide to continue their education by taking university level courses. However, the prisoners who have a hard time adapting to these processes will take a long time to get through a course. These people only require more detailed attention paid to them. For example, they may simply need help with the material, or they may require some more relevant adaptations of a problem in order to understand it. Most prisoners have little or no education, so all prisoners who do not know how to properly read or write, will be taught how to do so.
Other people have a good education, and are genuinely good people, but the reasons that landed them in jail might have been based on other localized factors, such as drug problems, especially if those problems lead to stealing or worse. These people may have had drug habits that literally ruined their lives. There are many highly-trained professionals who were reduced to committing crimes, and they are paying the price for it in prison. This is why we will have many quality detoxification programs, to get these people to clean up their lives so that they can get healthy and start making some better decisions.
On the other hand, there are some prisoners who have a very good education. We’ve all heard of the criminal genius, and these people usually have exceptional intellectual and/or creative ability. Often, these people commit crimes in hopes of gaining some kind of recognition for their crimes. These people need new a direction in life as well. We can offer that to them.
For those people who really have no excuses, such as a person who steals for greed, or the people that steal for fun, etc., these people need to be shown a better way for them to get their kicks. They get an adrenaline rush from stealing, so they steal just to steal. These prisoners may find that they can get that feeling, that rush, from something else. They might get the same feelings from accomplishing something else, or from achieving some other goal. Some people cook, some people grow gardens, other people turn to religion and they find their salvation in the pages of a book. We can help these people find a new joy in life.
On top of all of that, each prisoner will be taught life lessons. They will to make better decisions, and they will learn how to be responsible for themselves, and their actions. Each prisoner will learn the difference between “right” and “wrong.” Each prisoner will participate in logic and critical thinking classes to improve their decision making processes. They will take ethical and moral classes so that they understand such concepts as justness and fairness. They will take law courses so that they fully understand the rules of society, and why they can not break those rules. They will take behaviour and etiquette classes so that they fully understand how to act in society.
DETENTION
All people, of all ages, can be convicted of committing a crime. Anyone 18 years of age or older will be subject to a court trial, which will determine their innocence or guilt. Anyone who is under the age of 18 years will be subject to a sentencing policy of “Three Strikes and You’re Out.” This means that the law gives troubled youths a chance to turn themselves around, and mandates longer prison sentences for criminals with three misdemeanor convictions. If a youth commits a felony, they will subject to the punishment which is suited for their crime. A misdemeanor is a crime such as vandalism, that is less serious than a felony, such as murder, and therefore results in a less severe punishments.
After a youth is convicted of committing some illegal act, they will be subject to all the same processes as a regular criminal, but the First Strike might be enough to turn a troubled youth around, and scare them straight. A First Strike punishment would send these youths to a detention home for a week, and then they are sent home to their parents or guardians on House Arrest. House Arrest means the form of legal confinement in which people who have been arrested are not allowed to leave their own homes for a period of time.
A Second Strike conviction will result in more lengthy periods of detention, followed by supervised public service, such as garbage pick-up, which can be carried out in private, or in the public eye, so that the community can see that something is being done to protect them from such nuisances, and so that the offender can feel the intense scrutiny made by the public. After the public service, the offender is placed on house arrest for an even longer period of time.
On the Third Strike conviction, it is quite clear that this young person habitually and repeatedly breaks the law. The person charged with a Third Strike offense is sentenced to a Detention Home, where they will stay for a long period of time, like a prison sentence. After their detention term is complete, they will perform public services for the community while being under House Arrest for a period of time. After that, they will be on parole, monitored to make sure the person is acting in good behaviour, and regular reporting to the authorities for a set period of time
When young people aged 17 or under are convicted of committing a crime, they will also receive as much rehabilitation as we can give them, and rather than be sent to prison, they can stay in these Detention Homes, which are generally more safe than the regular prisons. They are similar to prisons, in that they are a secure place where somebody is confined as punishment for a crime, held in custody for long periods of time. Here they will receive the help they need to return to good health, or a normal life, because we can provide training and/or therapy. Once a youth turns 18 years old, they will experience the law as an adult.
Even with all of these rehabilitation efforts, prisons and detention homes are still a method of punishment, and they are not just a safe place to stay. It is very rough in there, and as part of the punishment for their crimes, they will have to endure the hardships. If you don’t think you’d like to find out how rough a prison can be, don’t commit any illegal acts, and you won’t have to worry about it. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
PRISONER CREDIT
If a prisoner realizes the errors of their ways, and they feel that they are ready to become a part of society again, they will have to prove it. All prisoners, of all ages, will be constantly evaluated, based on a number of things, but most important is a prisoner’s psychological case file. During their time in detention or prison, each inmate will have opportunities to rehabilitate themselves by taking courses, therapies, or programs aimed at recovery. Each opportunity that is taken, acknowledged, and accomplished, counts as a credit. Credits go in each prisoner’s case file, and this helps us understand and monitor their progress. If a prisoner makes no attempt to better themselves, they will never be eligible for early release.
Only if a prisoner has successfully completed a minimum of 40 credits, and passed all the life courses, and has shown good behaviour, may the prisoner be eligible for early parole. Parole means the conditional early release of a prisoner, if they have been adapted on good behaviour, and have promised to fulfill all set conditions outlined in the terms of parole, including regular reporting to the authorities to ensure compliance, for a set period of time. Even if you are eligible for early parole, that does not mean you will get it. If you don’t belong in society, you don’t go back. We are more strict about this than ever.
GOOD RIDDANCE?
For those people who, after extensive rehabilitation and treatment, still can not abide by the laws of our new global society, we shall have very little patience. Those who commit criminal acts will be punished, and guided towards a better path. Those who can not, or will not walk on that path, must be detached from the general public. If they present a danger to themselves, or others, they must be completely removed from society. We have discussed several methods of removal, but we haven’t really ventured into the area of capital punishment.
Capital punishment is the term for using execution as a punishment for a person who has been convicted of committing a crime. This form of punishment is the ultimate removal from society, but lately it has become a questionable topic. In many people’s opinions, the death penalty should be allowed as the highest form of punishment, to rid the world of such a disturbance. Yet in many other people’s opinions, the death penalty is a course of action that is not respectable or morally acceptable, for the simple logic that if it is not morally right for people to kill, it is not acceptable for anyone to kill anyone, under any circumstances. So let’s discuss a few options.
Everyone has the right to life, and I do not think that anyone has the freedom or liberty to take it from them. Therefore, I can not promote the death penalty as a reasonable way to remove the person from society. Furthermore, I believe that the death penalty is letting the criminals off too easily. In my opinion, the death penalty is ultimately self-defeating in a number of ways. The person dying won’t learn anything from dying, they just end their existence, and no real lesson was learned. Some people see death as honourable, and most people see death as a release, so the death penalty is simply doing them a favour.
However, many people believe that justice must be proportionate and the punishment should fit the crime. So, this leads us to the question: “Should a murderer be killed?” For such a moral issue, I think this is a decision that can not be made by one person, one state, or one nation. This is the kind of decision that the entire world must make. Some of you are saying that the world has already made this decision. The law says that it is not acceptable to kill, so we can’t kill killers. That’s logical. Others are saying that the world has made the decision that is acceptable. Therefore it is essential that we come to a global consensus on this situation, and we must test that consensus often. We should hold a global referendum, a vote by the whole world on this specific question, and we should do this often, to see how the world feels about it. When we all decide, it should then be put to the United Earth or similar governing bodies, to determine whether or not the death penalty is a reasonable punishment. If the world decides that we can kill killers, then governments can choose for themselves whether or not to enforce it the death penalty. If the world decides “no,” then we must find a better way to remove these people from society.
EJECTION
Our tolerance for criminal behaviour has been stretched to the limit. To remove those people from society, I invite you to consider building a new place for the worst of those people to go. A place you do not want to be. A place like Hell. My good friend Dr. James Challis and I came up with a plan for an ultimate prison that is absolutely inescapable and absolutely removed from society. We designed a gigantic penitentiary that would be buried in an ice shelf in Antarctica, so even if by some marvelous event someone does escape, they will stuck on the frozen island wastelands of Antarctica. This place would only be for the lowest scum of the Earth, filled with murderers, rapists, and people who commit such terrible acts as genocide or terrorism. In this place, the scum will learn to live together, and work together, in order to survive, or they will be killed by one another.
This prison has a function, which is to serve as a hard-labour facility to ensure that maximum punishment is enforced to these criminals. It will be very hard, very labourious, very pointless work; for no reason other than to keep the inmates busy. The prisoners will wake up each day and mine ice. They will pound away at, and chop up giant ice blocks, which the prisoners will load into a cart or barrow pushed by hand, and the crushed ice will be sent into a machine which melts the ice and snow. The machine then turns the water back into those giant ice blocks, just to be destroyed the next day.
At the end of each day, the prisoners get a meal, of dry crackers. The inmates would walk back to their cells, which are each heated like a hot sauna, to the extent the sweat would be literally dripping off of their foreheads. Whenever the prisoners feel a little dehydrated they can drink a cup of warm cola. No ice. Would that be non-violent torture? Maybe that’s what we need, to scare these people out of committing crimes.
NORWAY
As a total opposite of what I have just been talking about, I’ll direct our attention to a country that the United Nations has ranked as having the highest human development index in the world. I don’t want to get into the country of Norway too much, because I feel that I don’t have enough knowledge of the country or of its affairs to carry on, but what I can discuss if only very briefly, is one of its systems of imprisonment.
In this case, once a person has been convicted of a crime, they are sent to a sort of a prison island, where they can be removed from the rest of the society, but once admitted to the prison they are subjected to influences of re-socialization. These prisoners take part in social activities and behave in a friendly way towards others, as others behave in a friendly way towards them. Both the prisoners and the guards of this prison treat each other as equals, or even as friends, and they all live together in a group setting. Just as regular people socialize with their friends or family, these prisoners enjoy the same experiences. The criminals have to go to work, come home to their neighborhood, pay their rent, live with, and be around people, all the time.
The thought and reasoning behind all of this, is that these people were socialized into committing those crimes. They were socialized within certain settings, that led to their behaviour, which determines their actions. Perhaps we can “re-socialize” these people into normal and healthy lifestyles if they are given a normal and healthy atmosphere. The idea here is that we can resocialize people. Here it has been proven that prisoners can be trained to re-acquire the skills necessary for functioning successfully in society.
As you can see, there are many issues within the topic of crime that must be considered. For the enforcement of global law, and the prevention of crime within all communities, the United Earth Police Force will set up an organized body of police within every municipality, with jurisdiction within that geographic area, who are given special legal powers by the government. Their task is to maintain public order and to prevent crime. We will build many more prisons and jails, to help strengthen our confinement systems, and we’ll build more criminal courts, to ensure that justice is dispensed honourably.
One fact is clear, that crime is a product of society itself, so to eliminate crime society will have to change as well. With better leadership, and a new economy, we can combine all previously mentioned areas, and we can either improve, change, or discard old techniques, and these steps are vital to saving the world. All of these measures are uniformly required without delay, to bring an immediate improvement in living standards for all of Earth’s members. We can provide for the security, welfare, and peace of mind of all people, and we can save the world.