Are people naturally good, or naturally bad, and is the criminal justice system good?
Are people naturally good, or naturally bad, and is the criminal justice system good?
Hello and welcome readers! Today I'll be talking about the morality of if people are good or bad. I discussed this with my good friend Ken here, so feel free to listen to this for our conversation, or click here to see his writing on it.
Asking if people are inherently good or bad seems like a deep question, but I believe that people are inherently good, as God created us all in our mother's womb. To say that people aren't good is to say that God did something wrong, which in my belief, is not possible.
I would rather like to spend the bulk of this talking about the current criminal justice system, and what could be done to improve it. Currently, there's a high rate of people returning to a life of crime after getting out of jail. Why is that? Why doe people feel the need to repeat offenses that they have already been punished for?
Personally, I would say it's because the laws don't make sense, and neither do the punishments. We live in a society where people with minor offenses, and other people who have committed much worse crimes are able to get away with it with minimal time at all. According to the DOJ in this article, you can spend on average less time in jail for negligent manslaughter than for drug possession. The idea that someone with drugs on them, no intent to distribute, could spend more time in jail than someone who accidentally killed someone while drunk driving. How is this a system we are meant to take seriously?
Meanwhile to make things worse, bureaucrats continue to pile on laws and adjust definitions of laws to continually keep people from being law abiding citizens. A current example of this is the ATF changing how they feel on arm braces, which they previously said were ok. They're now trying to move to a point system that would make most braces in circulation a felony. This active attempt to stop our freedoms because someone decided they didn't like what they originally said is terrible for the citizens of this country. Overnight you can go from a law abiding citizen to someone who's committing a felony worth 10 years in prison.
The only solution to this is to lessen the power of the government, and push for more clear laws. This way people know what they're being accountable for, and then provide judgements that fit the crimes.
These are just some of my thoughts on the situation. If you want to hear more of my thoughts, along with my friend Ken, check out our podcast short here, or our website here.
I hope you have a great day, and God Bless,
Tim B
Weekly WIN co-host
1 Corinthians 15:58