title
stringlengths
0
221
text
stringlengths
0
375k
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC Enforcement arm would bring in a higher proportion of defendants in to trial Eight out of the thirty people indicted by the ICC (four in the Darfur situation, including Omar al-Bashir, three Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda and one in the DR Congo investigation) are still alive and avoiding justice. An ...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC enforcement arm would make the ICC more credible as an organization To its critics, the ICC is an organization that can be mocked with Stalin’s dismissal of the influence of the Pope: “how many divisions does he have?” An ICC capable of arresting its own fugitives would become a more credible organization, not...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
Those arguments are similar ones to those used against the ICC. An ICC police force, comprised of officers from individual state and supervised by an independent authority appointed by a similar mechanism to the judges, would use the existing frameworks in place for the use of the ICC. If states are happy to have their...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC police would be able to provide independent assistance to these states to aid those that do not have enough resources. The ICC has a poor track record of capturing suspects. This is not due to a lack of trying by the ICC – in some cases, it is due to the lack of trying of states such as those that have played ho...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC enforcement arm would be unduly expensive In a climate where the ICC’s budget is determined exclusively by contentious negotiation between states (at a time where the ICC itself has threatened to close down investigations due to a lack of funds [1] ), many of whom are undergoing austerity, an enforcement arm is...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
ICC enforcement would create resentment There are good reasons for why an ICC enforcement arm would be ineffective on its own. It may have all the necessary equipment and training but it would be a foreign force, that may or may not be seen as legitimate, attempting to arrest a native of that country. The result would...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC enforcement arm would be highly detrimental to the relations between the ICC and state parties Currently the ICC functions based on a relationship of trust and understanding with the state parties to the ICC – a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach. This is backed up by the court’s respect for the for the ...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
An ICC enforcement arm is unnecessary To create an enforcement arm for the ICC would be to accept that state parties are incapable of enforcing decisions themselves, that is not necessarily the case. State parties have supplied the ICC with many of the defendants that it desires to face trial, including Bemba and the ...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
Apart from the visibility due to the diversity of the force the ICC force may well be very similar to national forces in this regard. Often a problem with arresting wanted international criminals is their support in the community – that they have often been claiming to be fighting for. The national government’s enforce...
crime policing international law house believes icc should have its own enforcement
What price justice? The ICC has been supported by a large number of states who accept that, while it does cost money, the ICC is the only effective way to bring war criminals and those who commit crimes against humanity to trial, provide them with a fair trial and sentence them appropriately. If that is the goal, state...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges can result in areas of open drug use around the needle exchange. Given the level of criminality of drug users it often causes these areas to degenerate into dangerous places which the public cannot go to. This is effect causes harm to local business, not only because of the actual potential for harm, ...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges protect the public Needle exchanges allow drug addicts a convenient and safe place to throw away used needles. This directly protects the public from stray needles that are sometimes put in rubbish bins or left lying around. Specifically this protects children who often don’t know to avoid needles but...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Some studies have shown that there are relatively few referrals to drug treatment clinics from needle exchanges. This might be due to the fact that drug addicts who attain clean needles assume that they are now ‘safe’ taking drugs and as such see no need to get into rehab for their addiction. Further, many needle exch...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges prevent the transmission of disease A needle exchange as mentioned in the introduction allows drug users to trade in dirty needles for new ones. This can prevent disease simply by preventing transfer of fluids from one drug user to another. As such, if one drug addict has HIV and has not yet been diag...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Some studies have found that needle exchanges are not related to decreases in HIV transmission. It is theorised that the overall increase in drug use that needle exchanges cause, which is described in the first point of the opposition case, offsets the benefits the exchanges provide in terms of disease prevention. Fur...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges can help social services to locate addicts who are in need of treatment Needle exchanges allow drug addicts to see formal parts of the state that they often associate with negatively as institutions that can help them. This allows them to more positively associate with other state mechanisms such as r...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
It is possible that needle exchanges increase crime in areas. However, needle exchanges serve to allow for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Whilst there might be greater crime owing to needle exchanges in the short term, in the long term they serve to treat one of the biggest causes of crime in a community.
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges do not condone drug use and in fact they actively discourage it. However, it is important to note that drug addicts are not rational actors and given that they are already taking drugs in a very hostile legal environment, it seems that taking a hard line to them is unlikely to have any real affect. Wha...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges will increase the incidence of drug use Beyond increasing drug use through condoning the practice, needle exchanges also facilitate drug use by gathering all the drug addicts in a single area. This allows drug dealers to operate more efficiently and as such gives them more time to explore new markets ...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Needle exchanges cause crime Needle exchanges gather a large number of drug addicts into a single area. Many drug addicts are forced into criminality because of their addiction. Given that this is true, the needle exchanges serve to concentrate a large number of potential criminals in a small area. Not only does this ...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Creating needle exchange may normalise drug-taking behaviour Needle exchanges increase drug use. The state implicitly accepts that drug use is an acceptable practice when it aids drug users in practicing their habit. As such drug users feel less afraid of taking drugs. This can extend to first time users who might be ...
th law crime policing law general house would fund needle exchanges
Most studies indicate that needle exchanges do not increase drug use. This is corroborated by studies in Amsterdam and New Haven, Connecticut. In fact, one programme in San Francisco resulted in decreased drug use in the community owing to the links that were tied with the drug using community. Further reasons for this...
punishment house would make fines relative income
This motion will have no impact on that problem. Fines must be set at a low percentage of income so that the people earning the least do not find themselves going without essentials (a fine for speeding that caused you not to be able to heat your house in winter would seem, with good reason, disproportionate!) Consequ...
punishment house would make fines relative income
The rich are now also deterred Another purpose of fines is to provide a deterrent. If fines are applied at one rate regardless of income, they must be low enough not to be un-payable for those who do not earn much money. Consequently, they are set so low that they fail to have a deterrent effect on the richest in soci...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Whilst this may well appease some sections of society, it comes at the cost of resentment from the rich. This resentment will be magnified by media response: some newspapers and news outlets will choose to report this as an attack on the rich. The problem is therefore very similar to the questions posed by taxing the...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Rich and poor now face equality of impact of punishment The purpose of a fine is to ensure that the offender faces the consequences of their actions. The extent to which a financial penalty feels like a negative consequence is relative to the amount of income someone has, not to the simple amount that the fine is. Tha...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Even if a fine is made proportional to income, you will not get the equality of impact you desire. This is because the impact is not proportional simply to income, but must take into account a number of other factors. For example, someone supporting a family will face a greater impact than someone who is not, because t...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Creates the perception that the rich are not immune to the consequences of their actions Fines that are not proportionate to income may create the perception that the rich are immune to the consequences of their actions. This is because people see those earning the least struggling to pay a fine, whilst the rich are a...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Given, particularly, that it is those with the most money who are most likely to deem the fine ‘worth it’, this would be mitigated by the increased deterrent: the rich will now face substantially greater penalties.
punishment house would make fines relative income
Whilst it is true that a crime ought to be proportionate to the severity of the crime committed, there is no reason why that must be the only factor. This motion does not remove the proportionality about which you are concerned, but merely adds an additional factor. If two people earn the same amount, but person A has ...
punishment house would make fines relative income
The rich will resent this The rich will feel like they are receiving an unfair, ‘greater’ punishment. This resentment will be magnified by media response: some newspapers and news outlets will choose to report this as an attack on the rich just as is the case with progressive taxation which is often attacked as an ass...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Creates the perception that fines are like taxes, rather than a punishment If we detach fines from the crimes committed, people are more likely to see fines as unrelated to justice. Rather, they will see fines as another mechanism by which the government makes money, this will be especially the case if as in New Zeala...
punishment house would make fines relative income
A flat rate is more just A fine ought to be proportionate to the severity of the crime committed, not the income of the offender. It is fundamental that the justice system should treat all offenders equally; if two people commit the same crime in the same circumstances but one is richer than the other then they have c...
punishment house would make fines relative income
Only a small number of people will act like this. Some people, though rich, are nevertheless capable of seeing beyond self-interest, and will consider the fine to be fair. This small harm is therefore easily outweighed by the improved perceptions of the justice system by those who currently believe it unfair that the ...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
When battling those who would seek to replace the rule of law and democratic governance with religious decree, it is more important than ever to demonstrate that the principles of a civilised society are paramount. In the light of that reality, for the state to use the very tools of fear and violence that they are fig...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
Terrorist organisations such as Al Qaida do not respect the rights of individuals and the only way to fight fire is with fire Terrorist networks use fear, pain and suffering as their stock in trade. By definition, terror organisations are not bound by legal due process or rights of appeal and review. Instead they deal...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
The primary difficulty with the use of torture is not one of principle but one of practice – it doesn’t work. You simply have no way of checking whether the information is accurate. By using force or the threat of force, suspects are under pressure to say something- anything- that will stop the pain they are experienci...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
In the event of an imminent attack it is only reasonable to use force to find information If authorities have good reason to believe that there is a realistic threat of a nuclear explosion in downtown Manhattan or Tel Aviv then it is vital that as much information as possible can be gathered as quickly as possible. I...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
What about a biological bomb in a small town killing a few thousand. Or a lunatic with an M16 in a village killing fifty? Or preventing a single murder or rape? Anyone attempting to support the resolution must give a clear explanation of the point at which torture can be justified. How many individuals must information...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
Time is of the essence in a crisis. When confronted with extremists who see a virtue in their own death, extraordinary methods may be required. The use of force and fear in enhanced interrogation gives quick results. In the event of a bomb hidden somewhere in Manhattan, it’s vital to have information quickly. Nobody, ...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
No amount of legal niceties would bring any comfort to the families of those slaughtered in terrorist atrocities around the world. When you are fighting an enemy that has no time for the European Convention on Human Rights, the US Bill of Rights, English common law or the Geneva Convention it is simply impractical to a...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
It is perfectly possible to put legal structures in place that allow for judicial overview of the interrogation techniques used. In most Western countries – the most common targets of modern terrorism – there are already legal frameworks for judicial approval of the extension of detention periods and so forth on an eme...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
Introducing the use of violence into the justice system means that liberties that have taken centuries to secure are lost The principle that all people are presumed innocent and, as a result, should not be abused either physically or mentally by officers of the state is one that took centuries- not to mention a great ...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
If legal principles are abandoned then there is little point in defending the liberties that democratic governments say they are so keen to defend If we accept that this is a war, then its focus is not so much political control of territory as the preservation of a way of life. It is ridiculous to fight to defend prin...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
Allowing torture under any circumstances will allow the prospect of its routine use The advantage of a complete ban on torture is that it leaves no room for doubt, no possibility for confusion, no need to apply personal judgement. Under the status quo, it is simply illegal to use force or the threat of force to solici...
human rights philosophy ethics politics terrorism house would use torture obtain
The era of battlefield warfare has passed. The war on terror may be a new form of combat, but the results are no less serious. Were a terrorist flying a military bomber aircraft to deliver a payload of death and destruction on one of the world’s major cities, nobody would think twice about shooting it down, killing the...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
A stenographer already records every word spoken during the course of the trial, which already serves to help with potential appeals [1] [2] . Furthermore, appeal court judges rarely interfere with the verdicts of lower courts because they were not present at the original trial. Using a video record to overturn the ver...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Video footage of a court case would provide valuable information for both defendant and judiciary. If the defendant is convicted of a crime, they have a right to appeal in the UK [1] and US [2] . However, this is made difficult for another court to re-assess the conviction if they cannot know how reliable evidence was...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Putting this kind of pressure on the judiciary and lawyers does not have the same kinds of benefits that it might in the House of Commons. Politicians often focus on, and are expected to uphold, the general interest of the public, which is why having public access to televised debates is an incentive for them to push t...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
People should have a right of access to justice. Given that people are already allowed to watch court proceedings from the public gallery – including the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in the UK [1] , and the Supreme Court in the US [2] – there is little reason why this should not be extended to give better ...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
When people take the time and effort to visit the law courts and watch a case, it is a formal, regulated atmosphere. If this were televised, it would become closer to ‘entertainment’ than to fair, legal proceedings. It becomes a human interest story rather than a legitimate court case, where the focus is on moral retri...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Cameras encourage efficiency and high standards. Placing cameras into courtrooms encourages the judiciary and lawyers to increase their efficiency and have high standards of behaviour, because they are aware that it will be carried outside of the courtroom by public viewing. The introductions of cameras to the Houses ...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
For the families of defendants, incriminating evidence of the defendant comes out anyway – the emotional problems are still there under the status quo, whether or not the trials are televised. For the victims, often a reason why cases are dropped or the victims decide not to testify is the idea that their case is not s...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
It is unlikely that people will use court cases as a form of entertainment; if the entire case is televised, then a lot of the case will be ‘boring’ discussion of applying law and legal theory [1] , rather than doling out punishment Judge Judy-style. Even if a few people do try to use it as entertainment, the potential...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Invoking public reaction can damage the lives of those concerned in the court case. Proposition may well argue that televising court cases gains a sense of ‘sympathy’ and justice for the victims of the case. However, this is double-edged. Firstly, particularly emotive and controversial court cases concerning crimes su...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Witnesses and jurors could easily become involved in the media coverage of the case and place the trial at jeopardy. Newspaper interviews with witnesses have already caused trials to be cancelled in the past [1] because the judiciary recognises that media coverage can change people’s incentives and warp their prioriti...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Televising court cases undermines the right to privacy for the victim and the defendant’s family Court proceedings can be extremely stressful for the families of the accused, and publicising them in this way only makes this worse. Again, a good example of this is the Milly Dowler case, when her father’s pornographic m...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
This turns court cases into entertainment, rather than legitimate legal proceedings. Several television shows, such as ‘Judge Judy’, assert the style of a legal courtroom [1] . These shows are based on entertainment value from scrutinising the accused and defendant; it would be dangerous to remove a barrier which curr...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Juror involvement is made less likely by the proposition line that jurors’ faces will be blanked out during the broadcast. For witnesses, the potential to warp and distort the truth already exists; they could be trying to avoid a sentence, or to make sure that justice is done if they have been wronged. They are already...
law general house would place cameras courtrooms televise court cases
Withholding video evidence of a court trial will not stop people from automatically siding with the victim and denouncing the accused; it will just stop them from being able to see the body language and other actions which can balance out the media’s assertion that one party is definitively a ‘victim’ while the other i...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Arguments that invoke censorship of materials for minors are just that - arguments for the censorship of materials for minors. They do not concede the general principal that censorship is good because until the age of majority the state has a duty to respect (and to take limited measures to ensure others respect) the p...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Protection of Minors We need to protect minors (those under the age of majority) from exposure to obscene, offensive or potentially damaging materials. While this would be a restriction on the freedom of speech it should be something that the government is responsible for and we would all agree needs some kind of rest...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
The ends do not justify the means. The government may well wish to suppress publication of information that would be prejudicial to its success in the next elections or its war campaign, but it’s in the public interest to know about their dirty dealings or illegal activities. Moreover secrecy in the name of security o...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." [1] Shouting fire in a crowded cinema when there is no fire, and you know it, is wrong because doing so creates...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
The argument leads to a slippery slope. It is one thing to regulate speech on matters that are objectively verifiable, quite another to restrict the permissible scope of opinion and expression. Even then, the state should be extremely cautious about declaring a state of objective fact. People taking advice on matters s...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Society is self-regulating. The link between speech acts and physical acts is a false one - people who commit hate crimes are likely to have read hate speech, people who commit sex crimes are likely to have watched pornography but not necessarily the other way around. Viewers of pornography and readers of hate speech a...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
It may be necessary in the interests of national security The Government must protect its citizens from foreign enemies and internal enemies - thus freedom of speech can be acceptably curtailed during times of war in order to prevent propaganda and spying which might undermine the national interest. This has happened ...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Holocaust Denial Speech acts lead to physical acts. Thus pornography, hate speech and political polemic are causally linked to rape, hate crimes, and insurrection. Both scientific creationism and Holocaust denial have serious, and dangerous, hidden agendas. Deniers of the Nanjing Massacre believe that the Japanese di...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Society is entitled to define itself on certain issues – otherwise what does it stand for? Community is only possible among like-minded individuals. It is likewise entitled to tell those who refuse to accept the consensus on those issues to ‘lump it or leave it’. It is also absurd to suggest that all challenges to ort...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Individual Liberty outweighs any potential harms Whatever the potential harms that may arise from unrestrained free speech; they pale in comparison to the harm that arises from banning an individual from freely expressing his own mind. It is a matter of the upmost individual liberty that one’s thoughts and feelings a...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Free speech allows challenges to orthodox beliefs Free speech is not merely a ‘nice thing to have’, it is a mechanism which brings real, tangible benefits to society by allowing people to challenge orthodoxy. States that do not allow orthodox beliefs to be challenged stagnate and decline. Reducing restrictions on fre...
speech debate free challenge law human rights philosophy political philosophy house
Liberty is an intangible right – restrictions on liberty can be equally intangible and entirely transitory based on the circumstances. What we know though is that real harm is derived from defaming an individual’s reputation, broadcasting racist abuse and shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre. It is wrong to ignore rea...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Prohibition may not be working in the UK but that does not mean that prohibition is not working everywhere. In the US, the Drug Enforcement Agency states that “Overall drug use in the United States is down by more than a third since the late 1970s. That’s 9.5 million people fewer using illegal drugs. We’ve reduced coca...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Prohibition does not work; instead, it glamorizes drugs Those who want to use drugs will take them whether they are legal or not – and more are doing so than ever before. In 1970 there was something like 1,000 problematic drug users in the UK, now there are over 250,000. [1] Legalization will also remove the glamour w...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
The law is hypocritical In most countries where drugs are illegal, tobacco and alcohol, which arguably have equally devastating consequences in society, are legal. In a UK study, alcohol was shown to have the worst effects of any drug, yet the current law recognises that people should be able to choose whether they dr...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
If the state is to make money from taxing drugs, this undercuts the (supposed) advantages of lower-priced drugs and will just encourage a black market to continue. In the UK, there is large black market for tobacco; it is suspected that tax has not been paid on 21% of cigarettes and 58% of hand rolling tobacco consumed...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Part of the reason that drugs are illegal is because of the health ramifications, which exist even if a drug is pure. To give a brief summary of some health harms that come from unadulterated drugs: “Cocaine can cause such long-term problems as tremors, seizures, psychosis, and heart or respiratory failure. Marijuan...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Drugs currently fund terrorism and regional instability The Taliban gets most of its revenue from poppies, which provide the opium for heroin. They do this by intimidating local farmers who would otherwise sell their harvest at market. They then demand “protection money” as well, or else either another local warlord o...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
People should be free to take drugs Individuals are sovereign over their own bodies, and should be free to make choices which affect them and not other individuals. Since the pleasure gained from drugs and the extent to which this weighs against potential risks is fundamentally subjective, it is not up to the state to...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Legal drugs would increase tax revenue In 2009-2010, the tax revenue from tobacco in the UK was £10.5 billion. [1] If the state legalizes drugs, it can tax them and use the revenue from this practise to fund treatment. At the moment such treatment is difficult to justify as it appears to be spending ordinary taxpayers...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
This point makes the assumption that drug use only affects the individual concerned; in reality, drug usage can have a significant effect on people close to the user, as well as wider society. People who can be affected include family who have to care for a user and victims of drug-related crimes. In addition, in count...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Whether legal or illegal, drugs will still be a source of income for warlords and terrorist groups. Instead of starving them off, the dealers become more competitive and lower their prices. The only way to stop these people using drugs as a source of income is to remove poppies from Afghan fields, to destroy coca plant...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Perhaps alcohol and tobacco should also be illegal. However, one of the reasons why alcohol ranks so badly in such studies is because of its legality; if other drugs were legal, we would see their usage go up and therefore the negative social effects they produce rise as well.
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Drugs affect how people think, and they take away their ability to control their actions rationally, and so people on drugs are more likely to commit crimes. The US Drug Enforcement Administration states, “Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influe...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Drugs are safer when legal Currently in the UK, purity of illegal Amphetamine is normally under 5%, and some tablets sold as ecstasy contain no MDMA at all. Instead, drugs are adulterated (“cut”) with substances from chalk and talcum powder to completely different drugs. [1] At least when drugs are legalised the stat...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Legalisation reduces crime The illegality of drugs fuels a huge amount of crime that could be eliminated if drugs were legalised. Price controls would mean that addicts would no longer have to steal to fund their habits, and a state-provided drug services would put dealers out of business, starving criminal gangs of t...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
In a capitalist system reliant on supply and demand, the cost of a particular drug will always correspond to what people are willing to pay for them. So, there is no reason why a black market should spring up under a legalised system of drug sale.
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Many things that can be dangerous are legal, from drugs such as alcohol, to activities such as skydiving, or even rugby. However, millions of people are able to drink or play sports without harming themselves or society. It would seem draconian and extremely paternalistic for the government to ban everything that has t...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
More people will take drugs if they are legal Considering that drug use has so many negative consequences, it would be disastrous to have it increase. However, the free availability of drugs once they are legal will make it far easier for individuals to buy and use them. In most cases, under 1% of the population of OE...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Drugs will either be too cheap or too expensive Low prices for drugs will hugely increase consumption of drugs, amongst all groups - addicts, previously casual users, and those who were not previously users. If drug provision is strictly regulated, an illegal black market may remain.
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
Drugs are dangerous, and the governement should discourage its use The government has a responsibility to protect its citizens; if a substance will do people and society significant harm, then that substance should be banned. There is no such thing as a safe form of a drug. Legalization can only make drugs purer, and ...
th addiction health general law crime policing house supports legalisation drugs
When drugs are illegal, this does not stop people from using them. A Canadian report on the matter concluded, "The licit or illicit status of substances has little impact on their use." [1] In addition, even though drugs are illegal, it is not hard to access them. In a Spanish survey, 92.9% of Spanish students said tha...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
Crime is not pathology, it is not the product of circumstance, and it is certainly not the product of coincidence. As the case of Husng Guangyu shows, despite being Chinas richest man he still committed crimes involving illegal business dealing, insider trading and bribery and was then sentenced to 14 years. This was r...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
Rehabilitation Has Greater Regard For the Offender Rehabilitation has another important value – it recognises the reality of social inequity. To say that some offenders need help to be rehabilitated is to accept the idea that circumstances can constrain, if not compel, and lead to criminality; it admits that we can he...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
Rehabilitation Is A Better General Justifying Aim for Punishment Rehabilitation is the most valuable ideological justification for imprisonment, for it alone promotes the humanising belief in the notion that offenders can be saved and not simply punished. Desert (retributive) theory, on the other hand, sees punishment...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
A sanction should not merely be helpful – it should treat the offending conduct as wrong. The purpose of punishment is to show disapproval for the offender’s wrongdoing, and to clearly condemn his criminal actions. This is what was and is being done with the offenders of the August riots, the most common example is of ...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
The expense of re-offenders re-entering the system is also an expense that our prison system cannot afford. A system such as counselling for released prisoners would prove to be inexpensive when weighed against the benefits of decreased crime, and all the costs involved in that (public damage, judicial costs and prison...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
The needs of society are not being met by those who reoffend due to lack of rehabilitation. The fact that two thirds of offenders subsequently re-offend with two years [1] suggests that the prison system does little to encourage people to stay on the right side of the law. Clearly, the threat of prison is not enough al...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
Rehabilitation Doesn’t Actually Work While some rehabilitative programmes work with some offenders (those who would probably change by themselves anyway), most do not. Many programs cannot overcome, or even appreciably reduce, the powerful tendency for offenders to continue in criminal behaviour. In Britain, where reh...
crime policing punishment society house believes criminal justice should focus more
Rehabilitation Constitutes an Unjustifiable Further Expense The evidence from all over the world suggests that recidivism rates are difficult to reduce and that some offenders just can’t be rehabilitated. It therefore makes economic sense to cut all rehabilitation programs and concentrate on ensuring that prisoners se...