A thirteen year old was charged with stealing two cigarette
lighters. Hauled before the courts,
public opinion is divided on the efficacy of using the legal system to deal
with a comparatively minor offence. Is
it possible that he could have been dissuaded from a life of crime with a
simple warning, or was it really necessary to bring the full force of the legal
system down upon him to set an example?
This incident raises two issues. The first is the ability of the public to
comment upon criminal law matters with a very scant knowledge of the
facts. In any news article we are
presented with a very short précis of all the evidence brought before the court. Yet even with such scant information we believe
that we are entitled to an opinion about whether or not the judge made the correct
decision.
Even if we could form an opinion without knowing all the
facts - what could possibly be the justification for reporting on such a story
at all. Are we to believe that
all thirteen-year-olds are career criminals in the making and should be dealt
with as such? At the very least the fact
that he stole cigarette lighters invites us to speculate that he was either
planning on committing arson, or using them for some other nefarious purpose –
after all, what else could a thirteen year old need cigarette lighters for!
The reason is, of course, distraction. If they make us afraid of thirteen-year-olds
with cigarette lighters then we aren’t focussed on the real ills in our society. Children with access to fire are the least of
our worries.
The second issue is the more concerning, as the reaction to that
story proved. Are we so in lack of
empathy as a society that we would rejoice in seeing a thirteen-year-old dealt
with by the courts for such a minor infraction?
Criminality is a reflection on us all. What drives another human being to break the social contract should be a question we ask ourselves constantly – and yet it’s not. We sit back and say, ‘well I’ve had it tough too, but I’d never steal something, I’d never break the law, I’d never do that’.
How can we really be so sure that we wouldn’t? If we’ve never lived the life of the person
we are judging, how can we be so sure that we wouldn’t do exactly the same
thing in their position? We’d like to
think that we wouldn’t, but how can we be so sure unless and until we are faced
with those same circumstances?
If we want to live in a community then we need to consciously
practice empathy. We don’t have to agree
with the choices that our peers make, but we at least have to appreciate that there
may have been a reason for them making the choices that they did. If we believe that their reason is misguided, all
we can do is try to educate them - try to push them in a different direction.
Without empathy, all we do is shout our opinions at them and
threaten them with punishment. Shouldn’t
we have learned by now that threats of punishment just don’t work?
