(June 11, 2015 at 6:56 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(June 11, 2015 at 6:16 pm)Jenny A Wrote: Generally speaking, I think people should not be forgiven for activities that were illegal at the time they were committed even if they become legal later. This is because it is important that people obey the law.
Is it? Was it important for southern blacks to obey Jim Crow laws during the civil rights movement of the 1960's?
I don't think it's important to obey unjust laws, while I simultaneously recognize the state's interest in prosecuting and imprisoning people people for doing so. It doesn't make it right, though.
How is justice served by continuing to imprison people for things that are not unlawful, and never should have been in the first place?
I said, not if the law was unconstitutional or a human rights violation. The Jim Crow laws were both.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
