Drug Freeland 7 Establish Full Personal Responsibility in the Legal System
Part 6 of Drug Freeland dealt with the abolition of laws limiting private sector access to information-"privacy laws". The next step we should take before legalising drugs is to establish a legal system that treats people as fully responsible for their actions.
Number Six. The Establishment of Full Personal Responsibility in the Legal System
How many times have you read of some burglar, fraudster, basher or road hoon being given lenient treatment in the courts, "because my client has a serious drug problem, which he is working hard to overcome M'Lud"?
Our criminal justice system system is lenient in the extreme and it is often particularly soft on those who have chosen to make a lifestyle of ingesting toxic chemicals.
New Freeland's Justice system will be based totally on the premises of free will and personal responsibility. Drugs will be legal, and people will no doubt do stupid things under the influence. However in court they will be just as liable, as if they had committed the offence while stone cold "straight".
Judges will be required to judge the offence, not the the possible state of mind behind it (except where others may have contributed through provocation for instance).
So the young "boy racer" will know that if he takes LSD and drives his Mazda into a red dragon that turns out to be a phone box with a person inside, he will face murder charges.
The insanity defence will hopefully also be history. Certainly, knowingly taking drugs, becoming temporarily or permanently insane and committing an offence will be regarded as an act of evil by the courts and punished accordingly.
People incarcerated for crimes committed drugged may be able to earn treatment treatment while in prison, but will serve the full sentence regardless of outcome.
Likewise, any property damage committed while "under the influence" will be fully paid for by the perpetrator. If you prang into a $300,000 BMW while you're stoned/tripping/drunk you'll be paying it off (plus interest) at 40% of your gross income per week until it's finished.
Of course you might have insurance, but your policy will quite possibly have a "no cash for hash", or "no hope for dope" getout clause.
If drugs were legal, but we had a tough justice system, that held people to account for ALL their evil deeds, I believe this would make drug abuse a very unattractive option?
Number Six. The Establishment of Full Personal Responsibility in the Legal System
How many times have you read of some burglar, fraudster, basher or road hoon being given lenient treatment in the courts, "because my client has a serious drug problem, which he is working hard to overcome M'Lud"?
Our criminal justice system system is lenient in the extreme and it is often particularly soft on those who have chosen to make a lifestyle of ingesting toxic chemicals.
New Freeland's Justice system will be based totally on the premises of free will and personal responsibility. Drugs will be legal, and people will no doubt do stupid things under the influence. However in court they will be just as liable, as if they had committed the offence while stone cold "straight".
Judges will be required to judge the offence, not the the possible state of mind behind it (except where others may have contributed through provocation for instance).
So the young "boy racer" will know that if he takes LSD and drives his Mazda into a red dragon that turns out to be a phone box with a person inside, he will face murder charges.
The insanity defence will hopefully also be history. Certainly, knowingly taking drugs, becoming temporarily or permanently insane and committing an offence will be regarded as an act of evil by the courts and punished accordingly.
People incarcerated for crimes committed drugged may be able to earn treatment treatment while in prison, but will serve the full sentence regardless of outcome.
Likewise, any property damage committed while "under the influence" will be fully paid for by the perpetrator. If you prang into a $300,000 BMW while you're stoned/tripping/drunk you'll be paying it off (plus interest) at 40% of your gross income per week until it's finished.
Of course you might have insurance, but your policy will quite possibly have a "no cash for hash", or "no hope for dope" getout clause.
If drugs were legal, but we had a tough justice system, that held people to account for ALL their evil deeds, I believe this would make drug abuse a very unattractive option?
posted by Trevor Loudon at
1/27/2007 03:08:00 PM
2 Comments:
This is my biggest one. While drugs can lower your inhibitions - you are still a rational human being.
I hate the idea that someone can blame a crime on drugs (especially after reading all this complete bollicks in the herald blaming BZP for sexual assaults - speaking from experiance, I don't think anyone would be capable of sex, let alone sexual assault after a dose of BZP, and it definately doesn't affect your decision making ability!) when they made the choice to consume the drug in the first place.
I'm all for full legalisation of all substances, as I am with removal of drugs as a defense for crime.
You chose to take drugs, therefore you chose to take responsibility for what ever you do (be it good or bad) while under the influence.
Perhaps you'd like to add a picture of this man alongside that of Pete Doherty.
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