LET US REPAIR THE HARM DONE!: COMPENSATION IS BETTER THAN PUNISHMENT OR REVENGE

In response to abuse, there are basically 4 types of reactions (or a combination of several):

1. Reparations for the victim, through financial compensation, hours of work, and/or assistance. Read more at…

LET US REPAIR THE HARM DONE!

2. Institutionalized punishment: prison, fines, community service; in some countries, the death penalty, flogging, etc.

3. Revenge, which is when such punishment is imposed by private individuals rather than the authorities; in other words, taking justice into one’s own hands.

Those 3 reactions can be fair or unfair, depending on whether they are proportional to the wrongdoing committed. And they may or may not be accompanied by:

4. Re-education and/or therapy for the perpetrator so that they do not commit abuse again.

Of all these possible reactions, the one that benefits the victim the most is reparations, as it is the only one that allows for full compensation or, if that is not possible, the maximum compensation possible.

LET US LIVE WITHOUT CAUSING HARM! Let us provide the fair amount of compensation

In addition, re-education and/or therapy (the latter, for example, in cases of crimes caused by drug addiction or mental health problems) also benefits both the victim and other potential future victims, provided that it is effective in preventing reoffending. Its effectiveness is approximately 43% compared to cases in which there is no re-education and/or therapy—a sufficiently high percentage to make it worthwhile. At the same time, it is fair that the cost of these services be borne by the offenders.

By contrast, punishment by the authorities is of relatively little use to the abused person: they have the satisfaction that the crime has not gone unpunished, but the beneficiary of the fine or community service is not the victim, but the State (that is, society as a whole). And if there is a prison sentence, what it does is harm the offender, but this tends to benefit the victim little; moreover, it is not very effective in preventing reoffending and it entails a considerable cost for society as a whole.

LET US REPAIR THE HARM DONE!: Avoid prison as much as possible

The perpetrator is not accountable to the State, but to the victim or, if the victim has died, to the beneficiaries the victim would choose. Justice is just when it is centered on the wronged party and not on the State. Only when harm is done to society as a whole—such as in tax, environmental, or public-safety crimes—should the State be compensated.

Finally, in the hypothetical case of living in a place where there were no mechanisms to compel the perpetrator to repair the harm they have caused, it would be fair for the victim to take justice into their own hands, provided that it is proportional to the harm. Even in cases of severe harm, shortening the perpetrator’s life so that they do not harm anyone again would be honest. For example, the multiple attempts to end Hitler’s life were more than justified, because tyrannicide constitutes legitimate self-defense.

LIVING WITHOUT CAUSING HARM: Let us defend ourselves and others

What can you do to achieve a fairer justice system?:

1. Sign this campaign to ask all governments to fully redress all harm and damages caused to innocents… SIGN NOW!…

2. Sign this campaign to ask that prison sentences be replaced, as far as possible, by reparations and re-education… SIGN NOW!…

LET US REPAIR THE HARM!: Let us avoid prison where possible and guarantee dignified conditions

3. Share these signature campaigns and this message with as many people as possible.

Thank you for doing so to achieve a fairer and better world to live in,