Justice

Watching a Spanish news show today with my Momma, I watched this brutal footage of a woman, eight months pregnant being dragged through Honduran Streets half naked, bloodied and beaten for break-in and theft. The police finally intervened right before the townspeople were about to lynch her. The two other accomplices got away.

I've seen other footage similar. People tired of the crime and unresponsive police, take matters into their own hands and brutally beat offenders.

My Mom said, "They burn rapists alive". What is the right balance between punishment and humanity? Our Justice system seems to cause serious damage in a subtle ways as well, one) by fostering Career criminals, two) by creating such a bureaucratic money guzzler. In taking these examples, its seems by we cutting criminals off, instead of slapping hands, we would be in a much safer world. For those sorry few who ended up being scape goats served as sacrifices for the community's standard, how do we deal with that? Is violence a lesson? Stoning a pregant woman for stealing is very horrific, but I am certain anyone witnessing it would probably not a make that mistake. The neighborhood stood up for its values. Responsiblity was taken, brutally, by the tribe. Where do we draw the line? Our system does a similar job, its just uses gloves and paper.

Punishment ...an interesting debate