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Old 02-11-2015, 08:17 PM   #1
Concept
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Ethics of the Trial by Public Opinion

Title a variation of one suggested by Jeri because I was struggling to come up with anything. Thanks for the assistance.

British UPNers may be familiar with the case of Ched Evans. He was a profession soccer player who several years ago was convicted of rape. He served his sentence and has since been released. After his release, he attempted to return to professional football and has so far been prevented from doing so due to large pressuring petitions aimed at any club who considers hiring him.

The specifics of the case are just an illustrative example for the question I wanted to discuss; to what extent do the public have the right to involve themselves in cases that the legal system considers over and done with? What about cases that the legal system are currently dealing with? Does the public have more of a right to involve themselves if the person was found guilty rather than innocent or vice versa? Do the specifics of the case change your answer, and why do they effect it?
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Last edited by Concept; 02-11-2015 at 08:24 PM.
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Old 02-11-2015, 08:29 PM   #2
Mercutio
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I think he should be allowed to play. No questions asked. He has done what the legal system required of him, the fact that the legal system has let him off lightly is not relevant. An 18 year old given 20 years for manslaughter has the right to try and earn a living at age 40. This is no different.

Otherwise you may as well just shoot all criminals upon charging.
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Old 02-11-2015, 08:49 PM   #3
Talon87
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An argument could be made that the law needs to be recalibrated. That is to say, if the law says a rapist has to serve three years while the court of public opinion is that rapists are better off dead, you could, I think, make the argument that the law should be updated to make the punishment for rape either death or, in societies where capital punishment is off the table, life imprisonment.

I'll provide another example. Say the law says that the minimum sentence allowed for defaming God is five years' hard labor. The absolute minimum. And say everyone in a country except the clergy-judiciary are like, "This is so outdated, this is so wrong, blasphemy shouldn't be illegal, at least lessen the sentence to 6 months in jail." Then I would argue that the law is behind the times, that it fails to reflect the will of the people, and that it ought to be calibrated to do precisely that.

I think? Admittedly haven't given it too much thought. There may be some horrifying and/or hilarious unforeseen consequences of the reasoning I'm arguing here. After all, the mob is dumb while super judges are usually pretty bright or at least well-studied.
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Old 02-11-2015, 09:03 PM   #4
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I think that there are big differences between being eligible for a job and being considered for a job where in many ways you're representing a community. Sports teams get popular by making the local populace think of them as part of the team- fans say "We had a hard year." "We're making progress," "We won the championship!" The emphasis is on the "We"- which makes doing unpopular things like giving convicted rapists million dollar contracts hugely damaging to the brand. Say goodbye to a huge chunk of your female fan base, for one thing, and be prepared for vehement protests in every city you go to... for a little while, at least. As we've seen in the States with Kobe Bryant (rape) and Michael Vick (Dog Fighting) say you're sorry and stick around long enough and a lot of people will forget that you did anything wrong in the first place.

If you're not in that top 1% of the 1% talent wise, though, good luck to you. There are enough people who can do your job at about the same level for about the same pay that don't involve huge blows to your brand.
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