i don't know very much about it but recall from school that saxon and viking societies used to have blood money payments for crimes. similarly i believe that a payment to the victims family can be sufficient within the islamic code providing that family agrees the sum.
a self regulating solution? i believe there were also other penalties if terms could not be agreed. david ----- Original Message ----- From: "Francois-Rene Rideau" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 11:25 AM Subject: monopoly justice vs free market justice > On Mon, Jan 28, 2002 at 01:54:22PM -0800, Fred Foldvary wrote: > > --- Eric Crampton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> While we're at it, why don't we make it illegal for people to kill each > >> other. If it were illegal, with stiff fines, we'd surely get rid of > >> murder. > > > > Do you deny that we have less murder with laws penalizing it than if we had > > no such laws? > > > > If so, do you wish to eliminate all criminal codes? > > > I don't know about Eric, but I definitely think that > there would be less murders if there were no laws against them, > and similarly for robbery, rape, fraud, etc. > Crimes would instead be settled in civil courts, > and murderers would be greatly indebted to the heirs, > and the fact of criminals paying back their debt > would make the whole process economically efficient. > > Someone who would refuse to accept responsibility for his deeds, > one who would deny facts established in courts, refuse to pay one's debts, > or one who would indulge in killing again, > this someone would be at war with all the peace-loving members of society, > and one would promptly be a casualty of that war. > If one knows one has killing urges, and does not want war, > one oneself will find a warrant, i.e. a specialized insurance company, > who will accept public responsibility for one not doing anything wrong again, > thus preventing war. The warrant might keep one under tight guard, > keep one in a jail (but then would be responsible for crimes committed > within the jail, too), etc., and be ready to pay any new debt > one would contract as well as help one pay his current debt. > In any case, it would be responsible before its customers, the convicts, > who themselves would be responsible before their victims. > Everyone would have interest in making the convicts as productive as possible > (not cleaning roads, but learning real jobs and making real money), > instead of humiliating them and turning them into hardened criminals. > There would be no "punishment". The whole penal "justice" system > is actually a school of crime, paid with tax money. > > http://www.liberalia.com/htm/cm_criminals_punished.htm > > [ Fran�ois-Ren� �VB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ] > [ TUNES project for a Free Reflective Computing System | http://tunes.org ] > Toleration is not about believing that stupid people are intelligent, > it's about letting stupid people be victims of their own stupidity > rather than being victims of yours. >
