The concept of zero tolerance is becoming popular in communities around the country. Zero tolerance is the idea of handing down a uniform punishment for everyone regardless of a person’s culpability. I think it’s a dangerous practice to lump everyone in one category. In today’s judicial system judges usually have discretion in sentencing defendants. The judge can take in account many different factors such as the level of involvement in the crime, motive, age, health, etc. All of these extenuating circumstances can be used by a judge to determine the appropriate sentence. Our justice system has by the most part advocated a sentence that fits the crime. That’s why we have judges and alternate punishments like community service and probation.
I think what it boils down to is that society is tired of crime period! It seems that major crime is on the rise and people are afraid and frustrated. Communities see the same crimes committed over and over, and I can honestly understand their frustration with it. They feel that they can’t stop the major crimes but they can probably do something about the minor offenses. So communities, school districts, etc employ this system to try to deter crime by punishing everyone the same way. The problem I have with that is these crimes may happen over and over but most times the person who has the misfortune of committing a crime for the first time gets the brunt of the punishment. With zero tolerance that first timer doesn’t get any consideration for a first offense. People make mistakes in their life and sometimes all they need is a break, a little push to get their life together.
You see on the news all the time about students getting harsh punishments for infractions that go way beyond common sense. I remember a case a while back about a girl 7 or 8 years old who was suspended from school because she had a cartoon keychain on her book bag. The school had a zero tolerance policy against chains. The spirit of the rule was to ban weapons like those heavy link chains that are used to secure gates. In that case the girl’s keychain was blown out of proportion. It’s like common sense is thrown out of the window. Now parents have to rely on the legal system to remedy unjust punishments.
So when do we say we have had enough with cookie cutter justice? Is society too lazy to deal out justice on a case by case basis? Well that would mean society would actually have to care about solving our social problems. Can you imagine living in a society where everything is zero tolerance? I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a really scary place. I would love to see those who are so eager to adopt zero tolerance policies end up on the receiving end of the punishment.
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