Crime And Punishment: Is There Or Is There Not Such A Thing As Crime? :: essays research papers

Crime and Punishment: Is There or is There Not Such a Thing as Crime?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For this question, I have chosen to discuss the following three works of literature: Crime and Punishment, by Feodor Dostoevsky, Beloved, by Toni Morrison, and Utopia, by Sir Thomas More.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin with an omniscient and philosophical frame of reference, crime is only defined as crime by the society defining it. When a mass of human beings coagulate to ¬ gether and form a civilized society, they are bound to make rules and laws to follow and bide by; for laws are one of the cornerstones of a civilized society. If there were no laws, society would be uncivilized and in a chaotic state of anarchy. These laws are decided and administered usually by elected officials who act as leaders in the society. From the input of the citizens, they make laws to run the society by. And when a person breaks the law, that is defined as a ‘crime'. For example, purposeful and alleged manslaughter is a crime, because it is a law to not kill others; people are not allowed to go cavorting around killing whomever they please, if they did, civilization would fall. Laws and rules hold us to civilization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another way to define crime is through ethics and morals. Each person on this Earth possesses a conscience; when we do something wrong, our conscience makes us feel guilty, although some people feel less or more guilt than others about certain acts; it varies individually. Based on this, one can define a crime as the things that make us feel guilty, although some crimes do not make us feel guilty. Some people do not feel any guilt when committing immoral acts; these people are deemed psychopaths or sociopaths by society. For example, most people do not feel guilty when they break the law by speeding, its just a way of life these days, but with complex ideologies (stealing, killing), we feel guilt if they are committed. Our consciences also hold us to civilization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, the laws are already defined in Early Nineteenth century St. Petersburg, Russia. Henceforth, when one breaks a law they have committed a crime and are eligible for arrest and punishment by the upholders of law in society, the police. A particular act that is defined as criminal is that of murder. Raskolnikov knows of this very well, for he has committed two murders, both of them ille ¬ gal and in cold blood. Obviously, this act is defined as criminal because of the moral and legal implications one