Crime and Punishment:

Is man responsible for his actions?

I. Humanitarian Attitude Towards Crime:

i. Humanitarian Definition of Crime:

Crime is an illness, a state of impared functioning. Crime is an illness which must be treated; and the people who commit crime must be cured.

ii. Method of Treating Crime: The Theraputic Paradigm

A person who commits crime must not be punished. We must adopt a theraputic attitude towards crime. People who commit crime must be cared for so that their willingness and behavior be treated.

II. C.S. Lewis: The Injustice of Humanitarianism

i. Justice: The Justification for Punishment

1. Equitable punishment can only be achieved if the concepts of deserving and justice are realised.

2. There can not be mercy and forgiveness without the idea of deserving. Deserving, mercy and forgiveness can not be given without the idea of wrong. With the idea of wrong, there must be an idea of punishment.

3. Therefore punishment is justified and also neccessary, because it is the recognition of a wrong doing and deserving, which ultimately enables the individual to recieve mercy and forgiveness.

ii. Humanitarianism: Devoid of Justice and Rights

1. If crime is considered an illness, and not a wrong doing, there is no justice, but only a so called cure.

2. If the wrong doing is not punished, but treated as if one would treat an illness, there is no justice. To cure someone of an illness that he "could not help" leaves us without justice. First of all the individual is no longer held responsible for his actions, as a result of this belief the individual is not punished.

3. The individual has no rights with the humanitarian view because the "ill" person is no longer a man, but merely a patient to be treated. He is not considered to be a man of free will, he becomes no differnt from an animal. As a result his treatment is not voluntary, therefore he has no rights. But, his rights are not lost merley in the regards of his choice to accept treatment, but also in the regards of the human quality of exersising free will. Not only this; he has also lost his right to freely repent. Just as an animal is not deemed worthy of forgiveness, the man who commited the crime can no longer be forgiven.

iii. The Abuse and Tyranny of Humanitarianism

1. Once an individual commits a crime; his rights are lost. He is no longer a human being, but a sick person who needs a cure.

2. Morality, the concepts of right, wrong and punishment are replaced by narrow minded anamalistic views of human beings. The treatment for a person who commits a crime is no longer any different from the treatment given to an individual who truly has a mental sickness or a wild animal. This is a grave injustice to the dignity of the human person.

Related Topics: [Free Will vs Determinism] [Moral Absolutes vs Ethical Relativity]

Back to: [Christian Philosophy Made Simple]

19, May 1996 by P.L. Weiss