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Psychology

Crime and Punishment

A corrupt sense of morality would lead to an unethical society at large.

By Fatima Pervaiz Khan | July 2021


Crime and punishment are both excessively covered topics in holy scriptures and other renowned books of ethics and morality. The most profound definition of crime is found in Vol. 6, Book 47, Hadith 4998,:

It was narrated by Abu Hurairah that: The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said: “The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the people are safe, and the believer is the one from whom the people’s lives and wealth are safe.”

What makes it the best definition is that it recognizes the two natures of crime; one is the physical crime and the second the emotional crime. It is very complex to understand the true nature of a crime, as a crime against the physical well-being of a person has implications upon its emotional realities and how they experience the world. And a crime against the emotional well-being of a person has its physical manifestations too that the victim has to suffer. The nature of punishment would have to consider such complexities.

Nature of Punishment
The nature of punishment is heavily dependent based upon evidence. No evidence equals no punishment, that is the rule of the court across all nations. In presence of evidence, punishment is given and that too is when the lawyers succeed in establishing the grounds for the evidence. There are several loops within the justice system around the world. In cases of emotional crimes, there is no evidence. There is a lack of a system or a process through which it can even be recognized and registered.

Importance of Punishment
The sole purpose of punishment should be the redemption of the criminal. A truly guilty person would seek redemption and would easily accept the punishment to be able to forgive themselves over the crime they committed. In a contrasting scenario, the criminal would gain ignorance towards his evil. This is what makes the role of punishment or the institute administering the punishment so vital in the process of redemption, invoking a sense of guilt and shame. It is important to understand what leads one to commit a crime of a particular nature. Criminals must be enabled to heal from a sense of guilt and shame until they reach the point of absolution. Once redeemed, a criminal should be trusted to be a responsible member of society and walk free with another chance. The role of the punishment should be to make the criminal conscious enough to differentiate between right and wrong.

Right and wrong can easily be identified when the crime is supported with evidence. In cases of emotional crimes, where one would not be able to produce evidence, how can punishment be administered? The absence of evidence blurs the boundaries of moralities and ethics. The consequences can be traced when they are present in the physical world, but they can’t be traced in the emotional world. A counter-argument would be right and wrong is very subjective to each individual, and with that being said, criminals of emotional crime hold more power to do as they like.

Carl Jung would say, “the pendulum of mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” All of us can distinguish between sense and nonsense, depending upon what works in our favour. Sense and nonsense can be differentiated from right and wrong as sense and nonsense are as per what benefits me as an individual and accounts for no moral or ethical judgment. Right and wrong encapsulate the moral and ethical judgment and boundaries of right and wrong. Sense and nonsense fail to acknowledge the consequences of our doing, whereas right and wrong acknowledge the moral and ethical consequences of our doing.

Without the boundaries, there could be no measure on the scales of right and wrong, and we would run wild from here to there like wild animals. Reasons to support the criminal can be endless when we come to profile the life of a criminal and begin to collect shreds of evidence that led them to commit an act of crime. Reasoning with a criminal reduces the magnitude of the crime and makes us stand on the side of the wildlife, creating a global culture of acceptance towards the crime and losing sensitivity towards the victim. Imagine how this impacts society at large. It surely propagates more crime and less punishment, more sensitivity towards the criminal than towards the victim.

Where do we stand on punishment when it comes to emotional crimes?
A society less sensitive towards victims breeds more crime. A society ignorant towards emotional crimes is leaving the door open towards the propagation of more physical crimes. Emotional crimes can’t stand in court for justice, and so the punishment can’t be served in prisons. Fortunately, a prison is not only a cell with 4 walls. The sense of guilt itself is an experience for the guilty similar to that of a prison. Absolution comes from serving the sentence of enormous guilt and shame. How can we then ensure the safety of others? How would others not only be safe from our hands but also our tongue? To ensure the safety of those around us and those we interact with, we must learn the basics of morality and ethics.

Morality and ethics differ. Morality comes from our principles, and ethics comes from a body of external sources. A corrupt sense of morality would lead to an unethical society at large. The very basic of morality is to discipline individuals with a sense of responsibility towards the mess they create. Collectively, society is an emotional mess and is least bothered towards cleaning the mess. Invoking this sense of responsibility can be taught from the early developmental age of a child. When children play and throw around the toys from the basket, it is best to let them clean up from an early age. Doing so builds neural networks and pathways of responsible behaviour of cleaning the mess they create. The actions a child carries out in the physical world develop how they learn to respond in the emotional world.

Is this it?It is of utmost importance to discipline a child with love and compassion. The absence and love and compassion build up resentment towards others and self. A child who learns from an early age to resent themselves for their childish behaviour will never learn to hold compassion with self and cease to be honest with themselves. That would only turn out to a disaster on their part. As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

Any person who is incapable of holding compassion and discipline their own emotions is a person others would feel emotionally unsafe around. They would develop an ignorant attitude towards their doings and as time passes, it only magnifies and begins to show up in the next generation. The biggest of all crimes is to turn a blind eye to what corrupts us on the inside. Raising responsible children is our best contribution to society to reduce the occurrence of crime.

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