Shouldn't our criminal laws be much stricter?

Question

The criminal gains and the victim loses. What's up with that?
Your opinion!

I stand corrected on my bad grammar.

My question was put in a very simple format and of course, it isn't quite that simple.
What I mean to say is, the laws are in place, but criminals get a slap on the wrist.
I realize our jails are full and it costs money to keep these people behind bars.
It isn't simple to resolve yet I believe stricter enforcement is called for.
Young criminals who damage property or steal are encouraged in their livestyles with only a slap on the wrist. Lock them all up? I don't know if that is the answer, but we do need to find a solution.

I believe it starts in the home, raising the child, giving that child values and teaching consequences.
Parents have largely lost that power and expect society to do it for them.

Answer 1

No and yes. Criminal law traditionally includes a mens rea element - Latin for guilty mind. If I kill you, I sort of know instinctively that I shouldn't do that. We seem to have watered down those traditional crimes with focus on the poverty of the criminal, or some other psycho-babble excuse. The point of the law is not to exact vengeance but to instruct us on how to behave. We should rigorously enforce those laws because the people commiting them have no excuse. When they do it, they detract from humanity. Redemption is found for them through justice, if it is found at all. It isn't about rehabilitation. That is a looney idea.

On the other hand, white collar crimes are often ridiculous. If you drive your tractor over an endangered gopher in the field, you can be prosecuted for violaitng the endangered species act. Some of those crimes have no mens rea element. They are simply arbitrary rules put in place by social engineers - people who are stupid and arrogant enough to think that they can tinker with the laws of morality and make them better.

If your a** can go to jail or get the lethal injection, it should be for something that is more or less intuitively wrong. The financial crimes that the guys at Enron, Worldcom, etc. committed are anything but intuitive. It takes a law degree to twist your mind into thinking that some of that stuff should be illegal.

Answer 2

I tend to agree with you on the face of things, but our society is at a breaking point and has been for some times now. Consider how many people are jailed for crimes, how many people are in prisons and then consider how many of these criminals are let loose on the street to continue their lives of crime. While it is true that it doesn't always happen, what we see demonstrates a terrible trend: some people woud rather take the easy route and steal from other people rather than working for a living. We can point to the Miranda and Escobedo rulings of the 60's for some answers: criminals received more rights, some say more than they deserved. We have to understand that we can't make crime go away simply by putting people in prison.
The effort in the American system has been to ensure that those accused of crimes received a fair shake. I think the result has been to create a system in which no one is guilty, but those who go to jail are simply unfortunate. Hence it does no good to establish guilt or innocence when the results of such do nothing to either make restitution or rehabilitate the criminal.
A fair system would be for a criminal to make public restitution for all his misdeeds. Personally I would love to see road gangs brought back. Have every criminal work until every cent is repaid to the victim. In the case of murder, I don't think the perpetrator deserves to enjoy life after he has taken another. Of course, in my ideal system, we would have to get rid of all the lawyers first, which sometimes sounds like a good starting point.

Answer 3

Well I think the punishment should fit the crime. Don't give a guy 10years for a drug charge and a child molester 3years. I think they should levy heavier fines when applicable. They should also (depending on the crime) be able to "buy time" either off the sentence or the whole thing. This would help free up some of the over crowding in the jails and money pulled in by the court would help increase funding for the jail system. (who knows better staffing, more facility's, more programs for better rehabilitation)

Answer 4

Of course, the victim loses. That's why it's a crime.

And most crimes where the criminal actually gains something, such as theft, already have restitution to the victim as part of the punishment.

What else would you suggest.... a huge array of activities is illegal right now, including things that don't actually cause any harm. Many things are illegal just because they might have the possibility of increasing the risk of maybe resulting in harm if something else happens. Do you really want to make more actions illegal?

Answer 5

the laws in most states are sufficent to handle what we need, but they are not enacted on.. we as a society want more done,and i agree. america has more than doubled our prison population in the last 10-15- years. you must understand that to keep people in prison longer cost more money, therefore higher taxes , that no one wants to pay. the drug laws for use of mar. i think is useless. you need rehabilation programs more than ever..
we lock up these bad guys today, and give them color tv. weight rooms to make them stronger, so they can beat the hell out of us more when they get out.
this country has lost it's values on raiseing and teaching our children the right way to live in this world.. you have close to a 50 % divorce rate in this country. every child does need it's mother ,,but also very important is the father figure in this childs life. split parents fight most of the time, and the child is put in the middle. why?? this child is torn between two sides..
i do believe that a child molester should never see freedom again. we have a system that they get out in so many years.. but your local and state goverments pass laws of where they cannot live.. but yet we turn them loose to go where? we need to address this issue on child molesters now,,, because it is not going away..
the most of our elected officals are a bunch of crooks,, and we complain,, but yet less than 40% of the people vote.. why?
when we come out in high numbers and make our demans known, then and only then will things happen.
the very first step starts in our homes and how we raise our children.

Answer 6

Well, I think criminality should be attacked primitively. We know who the criminals are not, so lets just jail all the future criminals before they get started on their wasted lives.
Also, I am pro-life, but I would like to see certain exceptions for the no abortion ban. For example, for parents of criminals, retroactive abortion would be appropriate. Some of the parents might feel otherwise but then their pain would be over in minutes, and it would be more cost effective to abort the parents before the child is born.
I don't know why my brother and sister neocon's have not thought about this before. What do you think?

Answer 7

The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world and is one of a minority of nations that has a death penalty. What changes would you like to this? Here's an article from the Christian Science Monitor. As of 2003, about 6 million Americans were in jail or had served time.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0818/p02s01-usju.html

Answer 8

When somebody commits a crime he never thinks of the punishment provided in the law. If that is done so then there would be no crime in our society. The real problem is not in increasing the punishment, but to make people aware that they must follow the right path.

Answer 9

Unfortunately, there are sometimes the judges have too much discretion on what sentencing they have in criminal cases. It should be more standard nationwide, too, for major offenses. Too often the victim seems to come off on the short end of the stick

Answer 10

ESPECIALLY anyone who does harm to a child. Personally I believe in cases of child molestation they should all be castrated! All should spend the rest of their lives in jail after the 1st conviction. Do lawmakers not understand that these people are ALWAYS repeat offenders, and they will strike again? Yes, something should be done to change the law.