Blaming the victim vs Practical culpability.

[Magic Poriferan]

At this point I think it might be of interest that the topic that was the catalyst for me to make this thread did not actually involve rape. It just involved horrible dates/hook-ups and sub-criminal harrassment.

It was actually a piece at Jezebel. I'll link it, but it's seeming like I may have trouble accessing that at this office.

Although I really didn't want the OP to just be a veiled reference to that. I am broadly wondering about things like deserving, entitlement, blame, rights, earnings, and all those related moral concepts and what impact they have on our culture.

 

[Bamboo]

Actually, I do oppose that. It is better to get to the ultimate point. We are putting the thief in jail because he is a danger to society and jail will restrict him in a safe way. When a sentence becomes a matter of what the criminal deserves, the sentence tends to become self-serving. The point becomes that X is just supposed to happen to a person who does Y, regardless of utility.

While I agree with the concept that things shouldn't be doled out "just because that's the way it is", you're not going to be able to walk up to a mugger and say "Excuse me sir, for the utility of society come with us, we're going to restrict you in a safe way, please come with me - for utility's sake."

He's going to spit in your face and probably try to knock your face open if you force him. His family and friends will probably protest with great vigor.

People object to restrictions on their liberty. As a society, we have to determine if they deserve it or not - because chances are they aren't going to come willingly, and there's an assumption that people should be allowed liberty in the first place. I don't see how you can remove deserve from the equation. If someone commits a crime they have "earned the merit" to be detained, society will pay for police to chase them down, and to have their liberty restricted - an otherwise unacceptable act. A guy walking his dog minding his business doesn't deserve to go to jail. To do so would be a violation of the justice system.

You just can't go overboard. "He gave me a dirty look, so he deserves for me to shoot him" *is* self-serving BS.