The Youth Criminal Justice Act in Canada towards our young offenders concentrates an enormous amount of effort on the ruling of the young person’s crime. They decide if the person will undergo extrajudicial measures such as formal letters to parents written by the officer or the prosecutors, or if they will be referred to a youth organisation for delinquents. If the crime is more severe, they will undergo a trial in the youth division and we will then decide of their consequence(s): community service, probation, jail time, and many more. However, the justice system does not often pay a whole lot of attention towards the reason that the young offender committed the crime as well as his or her environment and social class. We live in a society where the social hierarchy determines the criminals. Have you ever noticed that the majority of criminals sitting in our jails were part of the lowest hierarchy class and were mostly poor?
I believe that the powerless minority refuses to conform to the values of the society they are living in. There is a strong domination by the higher classes and this ruling class sees the behaviour of the minority group as delinquency, which is in fact why crime is concentrated at the bottom of the hierarchy. Have you ever wondered why socialist societies have less crime? It is because they don’t have hierarchy conflicts! In Canada, I believe that there are crimes that are committed in all classes, but the lowest one is the target because the highest class has the more power. The people in the lowest category know that they are seen as non conformists, which is when they start to believe in this assumption. Not only that, but the economic situation is often at the source of the youth crimes. How can ineffective and unheard voices get out of a vicious, accusing circle of misdemeanour?
I believe that we should pay more attention to the youth offender’s situation, both economic and social, as well as the reason they committed this crime before we assume they are culpable without reason and put them away. I am not saying that we should give every young offender a blank slate, but instead of sending an approximate 25 000 young offenders to jail every year in Canada (Statistics Canada), we should evaluate their situation as well as their psychological background to understand them. We have such high prejudice of young Blacks, Hispanics, Latinos, Aboriginals, and many more that it is almost certain for 142 over 1000 blacks to get arrested and searched, compared to 19 over 1000 whites (1997-1998). (This article written by CBC News goes in depth about racial profiling). Why is it always the minority that suffers from the law?
In conclusion, the hierarchy, the economic status of every class and the social norms are responsible for youth offenders. We should help our young offenders to escape this vicious, accusative and prejudicial circle of crime instead of digging their hole deeper and finding the easy way out. Evaluations made by psychologists should be done, as well as a search of the offender’s background, including the economic and social aspects. The understanding of our young offenders as well as therapy would help shape their futures into industrious and productive ones.
vendredi 19 novembre 2010
lundi 15 novembre 2010
Philosophy: How Do You Make Moral Decisions?
Immanuel Kant argued that true morality was not a question of taste, personal abilities or opportunities for one. He carried the thought that humans had a duty, which was to be as honest as possible at all times. He emphasized a lot on the following theory: if the rule governing our action is not capable of being universalized, then it is unacceptable. Kant believed that the consequences of our actions could never justify the reasons we committed this action. But what do we define morality as? According to Dictionnary.com, morality is when one conforms to the rules of right conduct; honest and righteous conduct.
I strongly agree with Immanuel Kant and his journey to truth. I believe that honesty is the best policy, as cliché as that may sound. We cause much more damage when we lie than when we tell the truth. No matter how much pain you can cause someone by telling the truth, it will never amount to the hurt someone may feel when they find out about the lie on their own terms. Put yourself in this situation: you have been part of a relationship for a long time now and things have gone well up until now. You find that your partner’s behaviour has been weird for a while, so you ask one of his friends what’s going on and he accidently spills that your partner cheated on you. If your partner would have admitted to his mistake, it would have been proof that he wants to fix things. However, the fact that he kept such consequential information from you proves that the guilt he was feeling was not enough to tell you. Which one hurts more? You decide.
I trust that all human beings have rights and are all worthy as well as valuable. Every human being has the right to the truth, without exception. If the situation concerns them, who are we to take the right to hide precious information from them? We are cheating them into believing that everything is alright while there is an entire world of misdoings behind the curtain. We have the duty to take responsibility for our actions, therefore being sincere no matter what the consequences are. Humans also have values. No matter who the person is, they are worth more than being cheated into believing something that is false. We need to universalize truth and understand that as human beings, we have rights to the truth, no matter the damage it may cause. It is not about us, our looks or our opportunities. It is about morality.
To me, a good person is defined by values such as honesty and kindness. I believe that no matter what decisions or choices you are faced with in life, the biggest mistake you can make is to not tell the truth. Over my short years in this world, I have found that moments tend to pass by quickly and we are not often offered the chance to live those moments again. If we are not honest with who we are and what we want, regret can catch up to us in the blink of an eye. I would rather regret something I did than something that I didn’t do, but to go along with this theory, I have to be honest with myself and trust who I am as a person.
Moral decisions are hard things to deal with. We never seem to know which path to take in order to make the best decisions. I have found that honesty has guided me through my biggest downfalls and I would never change what I’ve done, even if the consequences weren’t positive. I believe that being honest with yourself and with what you truly want and need will never lead to regret.
I strongly agree with Immanuel Kant and his journey to truth. I believe that honesty is the best policy, as cliché as that may sound. We cause much more damage when we lie than when we tell the truth. No matter how much pain you can cause someone by telling the truth, it will never amount to the hurt someone may feel when they find out about the lie on their own terms. Put yourself in this situation: you have been part of a relationship for a long time now and things have gone well up until now. You find that your partner’s behaviour has been weird for a while, so you ask one of his friends what’s going on and he accidently spills that your partner cheated on you. If your partner would have admitted to his mistake, it would have been proof that he wants to fix things. However, the fact that he kept such consequential information from you proves that the guilt he was feeling was not enough to tell you. Which one hurts more? You decide.
I trust that all human beings have rights and are all worthy as well as valuable. Every human being has the right to the truth, without exception. If the situation concerns them, who are we to take the right to hide precious information from them? We are cheating them into believing that everything is alright while there is an entire world of misdoings behind the curtain. We have the duty to take responsibility for our actions, therefore being sincere no matter what the consequences are. Humans also have values. No matter who the person is, they are worth more than being cheated into believing something that is false. We need to universalize truth and understand that as human beings, we have rights to the truth, no matter the damage it may cause. It is not about us, our looks or our opportunities. It is about morality.
To me, a good person is defined by values such as honesty and kindness. I believe that no matter what decisions or choices you are faced with in life, the biggest mistake you can make is to not tell the truth. Over my short years in this world, I have found that moments tend to pass by quickly and we are not often offered the chance to live those moments again. If we are not honest with who we are and what we want, regret can catch up to us in the blink of an eye. I would rather regret something I did than something that I didn’t do, but to go along with this theory, I have to be honest with myself and trust who I am as a person.
Moral decisions are hard things to deal with. We never seem to know which path to take in order to make the best decisions. I have found that honesty has guided me through my biggest downfalls and I would never change what I’ve done, even if the consequences weren’t positive. I believe that being honest with yourself and with what you truly want and need will never lead to regret.
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