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>Law is there to protect the innocent first, if not, then it has no purpose. No, actually. The primary purpose of the law is to maintain order. Protection of
by tsotha 14y ago
>Law is there to protect the innocent first, if not, then it has no purpose.
No, actually. The primary purpose of the law is to maintain order. Protection of the innocent is a highly desirable feature, but if too many of the guilty are released people look to their friends and family to deal with transgressors.
- jlgreco 14y agoIf protecting the innocent was not of the utmost importance, then a modern justice system would be a waste of resources and vigilante lynch mobs would be used instead. The reason we don't do that is because we as a society have largely agreed that the innocent should be protected. That is the purpose of our system.
- tsotha 14y agoNonsense. There are systems all over the world that give only a passing nod to protection of the innocent, and they still work because the guilty are punished most of the time. As I said, the basic purpose of the law is to provide order.
- jlgreco 14y agoWould you like to live under such systems? What is the distinguishing characteristics between such systems? The recognized importance of the protection of innocents is the demarcation line between a system that maintains order, and a system that maintains order in a civilized fashion. North Korea is one hell of an orderly country. As they embrace generational punishment, they have zero respect for the protection of the innocents. The extent to which other non-extreme examples are more civilized is the extent to which they respect the importance of protecting the innocents more than North Korea does.
- tsotha 14y ago>Would you like to live under such systems? Not particularly. As I pointed out, protection of the innocent is a highly desirable feature of a legal system. But to say that "Law is there to protect the innocent first, if not, then it has no purpose" is just wrong.
- jlgreco 14y agoOur system of laws are designed with such an intention. Clearly laws can be constructed with no such intention, though frankly I don't see the point. I think I would rather live in Somalia than North Korea.
- tsotha 14y agoAnd yet those systems still have a point, one which is more important that protecting the innocent.