Criminals

Hello everybody! As you may or may not know, I'm Josh, and I post bout new and possibly controversial topics to see what the KaWmunity has to say in a debate. I took a break over the summer, but I'm back now, and now, without further ado, I present my latest thread...

Do Criminals Exist?

Most people seem to think the law is the law, and anybody who breaks it should be punished harshly. However, I think most lawbreakers get punished way too severely for what they did. Motive should be looked at before these lawbreakers get punished.

First, I'll start with murder. Most murderers receive a sentence of either life in prison or execution unless they are cleared by defense of insanity or other mental disorder. Any mental disorder like schizophrenia, antisocial behavior disorder (aka psychopathic disorder), or bipolarism should clear a person of crimes if they have seen a licensed psychiatrist who diagnosed the disorder and the person is taking a medication to deal with it. Also, most murders are committed by people who have caught their significant other in a relationship with someone else. These people obviously just let their emotions get the best of them and aren't going to kill anyone else. Is it fair that they're locked up or executed as a result of that?I don't think so. People who obviously aren't going to kill anyone else should maybe get 5 months in prison.

Next, robbery. If a person is in desperate need of getting their bills paid, who can blame them for trying to get money, even if it is in an unlawful way? Not getting bills paid could result in homelessness, begging for food, and possibly even starvation. Also, how about an average person that robs a bank. If a person robs a bank, he/she obviously wants a lot of money, and presumably doesn't want to work ever again. If the person had a bad day and work and was full of rage, should he/she be sentenced to a few YEARS in prison? Once again, in this example, the person let their emotions cloud their sense of reason, and if the person was caught, all that should happen is they are forced to hand the money back. If they try again, maybe a couple of months is sufficient punishment.

Then, we have various other motives. Jealousy is something everybody feels, and when a person feels strongly about something and gets very jealous, they resort to extremes. People shouldn't be sentenced excessively for acting out on jealousy, but rather they should take anger management classes. Revenge is tricky because you would have to consider the first crime with the revenge crime. For example, if a girl left guy 1 for guy 2, and guy 1 vandalized some of guy 2's property. Guy 1 obviously let his emotions cloud his reason, and should only have to pay to remove the vandalism. It is subject to change depending on what happened though.Crimes that happened as a result of taunting or instigating should definitely receive a lesser sentence.

To conclude, I'm trying to say that there is a motive behind every crime. Does the KaWmunity agree with what I think, or does the KaWmunity think anyone that breaks the law is a criminal? Also, what does the KaWmunity thinkof my suggested new lesser sentences? I'm interested in hearing what you all have to say.