I'm trying to create a JUSTICE SYSTEM in ANCAPISTAN

in #anarchism7 years ago (edited)

Trying to create a JUSTICE SYSTEM in an ANARCHIST WORLD

Before I begin to explain my musings, I would like to acknowledge the fact that these ideas were written by a teenager on a Tuesday afternoon in class while he should have been studying geography - they are in no way developed. Secondly, as is the case with anything related to justice and law enforcement, a lot depends on the situation and I promise far from a waterproof system. Now that we have this out of the way, I'd like to introduce my quickly made-up justicial system.

Laws in an anarchist world?

Yes, to non-anarchists, it might sound surprising but there would be some sort of law enforcement in an anarchist world, perhaps even similar to how we know it today. The basics for this are the non-aggression-principle. It's very simple, there are only a few rules.

Every person owns their body and their labor. Without this right, slavery would be widespread.

When a person directly or indirectly violates or supports the violation of another person, they are committing a crime.

A violation is either the infringement of somebody's basic rights and freedoms (to own their body and labor) or to enact force upon them without their willing consent first. If the other commits a violation, the victim is most certainly allowed to defend themselves.

I've basically paraphrased Adam Kokesh's FREEDOM! in this paragraph, which can be found on THIS WEBSITE.

So how would my system work?

In the true spirit of anarchy: leave it to the people affected to figure out.

Let's imagine a situation, for example, a rural area (as I think this system would be applied to best, private law enforcement agencies might be considered a bit expensive, especially in the periphery of the world). A man turns out to have dealt with mental issues for a while and decides to use his allowed weaponry to shoot up the neighbor's house: there is only one survivor of the four residents. The neighbors, completely taken by surprise had no time to prepare themselves for a home invasion and were shot. The murderer escaped his crime scene but was apprehended by local townspeople shortly after. The man has a wife and two children, both underage (that wouldn't be a word in this scenario, but mentioned just to explain that they're kids and there's probably some psychological reaction to the community due to this).

So, we should leave the people affected by the crime to figure it out. As the man was the one to break the non-aggression-principle, the people of the community support the victim's side of the argument and would serve as 'law enforcement'; the victim would be the judge. On the aggressor, they could technically pass any form of judgment, as the people are with them in this case.

Unfortunately for the victim, graveyard space, coffins and ceremonies aren't cheap. Also, the traumatic events could require medical care, which costs a lot. To make a long story short: there would need to be at least some monetary compensation, no matter what punishment is passed upon the murderer. This, however, greatly disadvantages the wife and children the murderer is connected to. The wife and children who are innocent, and perhaps also suffered under his yoke. The people will be less likely to agree upon monetary compensation in this case, which limits the victim's options: she cannot simply bleed the wallets of innocent people dry. She cannot pass this judgment, as she would not have the security of having the people as willing law enforcement for this. Therefore, the punishment cannot be too severe and is a question of emotion rather than of state and strict code, which often leaves all sides dissatisfied.

Conclusion

I'm almost certain that there are some things I've missed, some conclusions I've drawn that cannot be logically drawn, etc. Again, this is far from fleshed out, and I cannot guarantee that it'll be successful - I have, after all, no experience on judicial issues.

It is for this very reason that I encourage you to criticize the hell out of this post. Free discussion and flame wars are more than welcome!

Other sources on law enforcement in Ancapistan:

(Bitbutter, The Machinery of Freedom: Illustrated summary)


Also, upvoting, resteeming and following would be an amazing show of support!