Crime and Punishment discussion will be held May 1 in Clubhouse 3
HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
Dave Silva will give a presentation titled “Crime and Punishment” to the Humanist Association on Sunday, May 1, at 10:30 a.m. in Clubhouse 3. Much of the information is from his book “Searching For Utopia.” The presentation will be followed by an audience discussion.
Silva believes that although humans will never have a perfect society, too much crime and punishment is a measure of a failed society. The United States of America has 4.5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of all the world’s prisoners. He will go over how this happened and what went wrong in what is commonly called “the Land of the Free.”
During the meeting, the Humanist Association will also examine what constitutes a crime and how society should deal with it. There are a number of factors that are related to crime, among them poverty, homelessness, income inequality, racial tensions, gun violence and religious beliefs.
More and more, civilized countries are moving away from capital punishment, but 38 states still retain the death penalty. Other contentious questions the group will discuss is how severe punishment for crimes should be. Whether more emphasis should be placed on rehabilitation, and how other countries are dealing with crime and whether the United States can learn valuable lessons from them?
