Querying the Reasonable Person?

Question

What is your opinion on the legal standard of "the reasonable person"- is it fair to hold everyone to such a standard? Can you see any flaws?

Answer 1

It is the perfect standard...the standard is the reasonable person in that situation.

This means what would the reasonable person do if they found their spouse in bed with another?....varied topic but there are reasonable responses....divorce? kill them? thats why we have manslaughter...but to chop them up into a million pieces? Thats not reasonable

What about a handicapped person? We use their abilities...what would the reasonable blind person do....So if we have a situation where the murderer would had to shoot the target with pinpoint precision from 100 yards we will probably not charge the blind person.

Answer 2

I seriously think that the average intelligence of the US has dropped over the past two generations. Which taints my opinion of "the reasonable person." To see this you only have to watch a couple of episode of "Jay Walking" on the Tonight Show. Or read a few surveys were Americans can't find Iran or some other country on a map.

One pillar of Democracy is for the voters to be educated enough to make the proper decision. As the average IQ falls then it becomes harder to find people who are informed enough to make proper legal and political decisions.

I am not proposing a test, because they can be biased, but we need to improve our teaching in the schools. We know it can be done because of the flight of so many children to the private schools. These schools have a higher standard, but they start with the same raw material. True economics is directly related to a person’s education, but the current state of our education system is not a function of economics as much as a lack of discipline.

Yes, I am thinking, “back when I was a kid…” With key phrases like walking to school uphill both ways… I think that the last two generations were harmed by the Me Generation. This generation cared more about themselves then their children. So the children are allowed to get wild and that creates problems teaching the students. Putting children into school uniforms seems like a minor change, but the discipline it shows does make a major change and this has been shown several times. Formerly poor performing schools in poor neighborhoods have shown great increases in the education standards when the teachers and the principle get more involved. One of the first steps these programs take is to put the students into uniform. Oprah’s new school in Africa requires student uniforms because it is a proven way to create better students.

The problem with the Me Generation goes beyond their children, to their children’s children. If you are not taught proper discipline as a child, how can you teach it to your children?

The founding fathers did fear the power of the people would be swayed by a good politician who could then use that power to become a king; this is why the Electoral College was invented. The theory was that wiser heads could prevail and insure that the poorly educated or easily moved public didn’t make a critical mistake. It is also why we have a Republic not a Democracy. In a Republic the politicians are elected by the population who then represent them on the passage and creation of laws.

The idea of a “reasonable person” has a fatal flaw in it when the majority of the population is no longer reasonable. We are getting near to that point and we are seeing the signs in it with the poor performance of children in the public school system. Improve that and we will have an increase in the intelligence to create a more reasonable population. And in my opinion we need to start with the discipline in our schools.

Answer 3

People has different discretions and could not be understandable about the reasonable standard unless required under a law.

Answer 4

It works for me. Remember the reasonable person standard is an "objective" analysis.

Answer 5

There are many flaws. However everyone sane is "reasonable" and acts reasonably given an event that has happened, its called natural instincts...

Answer 6

Reasonable thinking the subject over and considering myself as being reasonable person I would have to come to the decision, NO!

Answer 7

I'd like to know what the definition of a reasonable person is and who is creating the definition. In this day of so much diversity it seems impractical!

Answer 8

It may not be perfect, but it's better than anything else out there.