Secular law Essay Example for Free

Secular law Essay Incidents in which police officers shoot and kill citizens often provoke substantial controversy. And this is even more true where the shooting occurs as a consequence of a person’s own provocative behavior and in circumstances that be defined as amounting to a victim provoked shooting or a victim precipitated shooting. Where death occurs it may be victim precipitated homicide, and in other terms as suicide by cop. Despite the fact that such events are surprisingly common, the literature is unexpectedly sparse and is often, lacking in empirical study. Outside the law enforcement community, the existence of the phenomenon is not well known and is certainly too often seriously misunderstood. But understanding suicide itself will help to give some understanding to this type of assisted suicide and how it is seen in the eyes of a criminologist. First I want to examine the criminologist perspective of suicide and this was first introduced by Emile Durkheim with his research on suicide that laid the foundation for anomie or strain theory. Anomic suicide, he postulated, occurs when rapid or extreme social change or crisis threatens group norms. People become uncertain of the appropriateness of their behavior. This results in a state of confusion or normlessness. Durkheim’s examples referred to the higher suicide rates during wars and revolutions as well as during periods of economic recession, depression, or advancement. Durkheim considered fatalistic and anomic suicides as opposites, that is, the former reflecting over-control while the latter represents a lack of normative control. Criminologists have extended the idea of anomie or strain to account for the genesis of crime. Durkheim’s four types of suicide are: Egoistic, which is suicide resulting from a weakening of commitment to group values and goals, especially when the individual has come to rely on primarily upon his or her own resources. Altruistic, suicide precipitated by an over-commitment to group values and norms. Fatalistic, suicide derived from excessive regulation. And Anomic, suicide that occurs when rapid or extreme social change or crisis threaten group norms (Vowell May, 2000). In a historical perspective those who believe that the roster of victimless crimes ought to be thinned or eliminated argue that an essential trait of a democracy is that it extends freedom to all citizens so long as that freedom does not infringe upon the equivalent liberty of other people. Those holding this view assert that victimless offenses are outlawed primarily on moral and religious grounds. For example prostitution violates theological dictates condemning fornication and adultery. But most Western religions also condemn a considerable variety of other acts that the criminal law ignores, such as taking the Lord’s name in vain. Suicide also is abhorred in Catholic theology. In earlier times, suicides were declared criminal offenders, their goods confiscated, and their bodies buried in unhallowed ground at crossroads, with stakes driven through their hearts. These views no longer influence secular law. And it is argued, should any other facets of any group’s moral or religious beliefs be imposed by law on those who do not accept the group’s principles unless it can be shown that a particular action harms others. The opposing position holds that victimless crime is a faulty construct that in actual fact there is no such thing. Prostitutes, it is said, degrade women in genera, transmit AIDS and venereal diseases, disrupt families and support men who exploit them ruthlessly. Drug addicts, because of their habit, often are unable to engage regularly in productive work and steal from innocent victims (Schneider, 2000).