Crime, justice and authority

Regenerative Culture Social Technology
#1

When people are self reliant in a village, you would probably have less crime but how do you deal with crime?

I guess the rules can be quite simple: don’t fysically hurt anybody, don’t kill anybody and don’t steal or damage peoples possessions.

I don’t know to what degree punishment should be scary so that people are less likely to do it (I know I was always too scared to do illegal graffiti). You may want to make a good diagnosis for why people did it and then have punishments that are also transformative, so that people learn from their mistakes, for example a course in perspective taking, prosocial behavior, effective communication, etc.

JAIL

If somebody killed another person or repeatedly commited violence, would you want to lock that person up to protect other people?

In a lot of country’s jails are messed up, which is probably making people even more likely to use violence. Cosy jails where people can still be in nature, play and listen to music,… are probably a good idea. It wouldn’t differ so much from ordinary life in the village only that you can’t leave and have to work on your problems.

AUTHORITY

The rules are quite simple, but what’s the authority? What are the dangers or problems with having an authority? Corruption? I think in the UK cops don’t have guns (perspective).

MY QUESTION

Who wants to shed some light on this issue? What are some indigenous perspectives?

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#2

I think it would depend on how far back in time you go. As history gets closer to the present, jails become more and more complex. When you are speaking of a self- reliant village, are you referring to an early American colonization prison or further back? I think it would also depend on the population of the village as well. I know that In Amish country (not exactly primitive these days but close enough) if you don’t follow the rules of their society you can be shunned, kind of like going through everyday life without being able to talk to anybody and only lasts for a period of time, or you could be banished where there is a complete sever from you and the rest of the community and it lasts forever. I’d imagine that there would be similar methods across cultures, but depending on how far back your talking about do some research. Look up tribes in undeveloped countries and see how people deal with misconduct in them as well as developing and developed countries. Hope this helps!

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