Monday, November 15, 2010

Comparing Laws...

Today we took a look at some of the laws laid out by Hammurabi and compared those to laws that are on the books today. We came to the conclusion that the laws under the Hammurabi Code were much more harsh than the laws today.

That leads me to the following discussion questions: Is it better to have harsh laws and stiff penalties for crimes or give second chances? What is the purpose of prison? Is it for rehabilitation or is it for punishment? Feel free to post your thoughts.

Reminder: Tomorrow we will have our Middle East map quiz. These quizzes will be done individually. You will have to identify 15 of the 30 locations that you were given and I will pick which locations. Make sure that you are prepared. There is no excuse for failure! There are only three people excused from the quiz: Cameron R., MacK G., and Michaela W.! Great job!

3 comments:

MacK 6 said...

I don't think it is right that some laws are very harsh and the crimes are not always that bad, but a crime is a crime. Yes, I don't think you should be killed because you committed a robbery but, sometimes you should be killed if the crime is way more serious. On the other hand, I think prisons are for punishment. Someone who committs a crime should be put in jail to sit there and rot for what they have done. No one who committs a crime deserves a second chance except for those who were good people who got into trouble by being followers. The murderers, kiddnappers, and child melesters, etc. should be in there for life.

Cameron-3 said...

The only way that I would give second chances is if we were in court and the other guy committed to the crime so the guy who we thought did it did not. I would give both of them second chances and make sure they don't do anything stupid. I think its better to have harsh laws and stiff penalties because people (hopefully) think of the consequences before acting on. If the person committ a crime they had two easy options before they did it. The purpose of prison is reflection. Jailors should reflect on what they did. Why there in jail. Should also be a "rude awakening."

Mr. Winand said...

@MacK - Is it possible that someone could commit a major crime by being a follower? Do you know what the costs are to keeping someone in prision for life? Think about these things and let me know if it impacts your opinion...

@Cameron - Do you think that being in jail could cause rage and anger in people and possibly make them worse in the end? In theory, reflection is a good thing but do you really think it occurs?