Is it acceptable to take matters into your own hands if authorities will not enforce the law?

[BornInMarch]

In India, a man found out that his fourteen year old daughter was raped by one of his neighbors. The father responded by going into the rapist’s apartment and ending his life.

One of the reasons the man cited for taking matters into his own hand is that the Indian Authorities are notoriously inefficient and/or corrupt. Multiple people living in that neighborhood stated that they would have done the same thing in the father’s place.

Do you think it is justified to take matters into your own hands if the authorities will not enforce the law?

If your daughter was raped by someone you knew, and the authorities would not do anything about it, how would you react?

 

[Mary_Estelle]

It depends. In this country you can make a citizens arrest or defend your home, life or family if there is imminent danger. That doesn’t mean you should not try for justice within the law system. If all else fails I don’t have the answer, but we are not India. India has a terrible record for dealing out justice for sexual crimes.

 

[GEddie]

Although the father’s action was understandable, and I honestly can’t say what I would have done in that situation; God has not authorized average citizens to inflict capital punishment.

It is not morally acceptable, IMNAAHO.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Aunt_Raven]

If one is a Christian one may not return evil for evil. If the man is of a religion (Muslim or pagan religions such as Hindu) which does not forbid it, I should think it was morally if not legally acceptable. It might prevent the rapist from striking again, and make potential rapists think twice about predations in the village where the victim’s father took vigilante justice.

HOWEVER – the man should take some time to ponder the law of unintended consequences, by which he may start a blood feud which will result in he and/ or some of his relatives being killed by relatives of the rapist, causing many more deaths as “collateral damage” from his act of retribution.

 

[SMH_2015]

If one is a Christian one may not return evil for evil. If the man is of a religion (Muslim or pagan religions such as Hindu) which does not forbid it, I should think it was morally if not legally acceptable. It might prevent the rapist from striking again, and make potential rapists think twice about predations in the village where the victim’s father took vigilante justice.

HOWEVER – the man should take some time to ponder the law of unintended consequences, by which he may start a blood feud which will result in he and/ or some of his relatives being killed by relatives of the rapist, causing many more deaths as “collateral damage” from his act of retribution.

Well said, IMHO.

 

[nodito]

If one is a Christian one may not return evil for evil. If the man is of a religion (Muslim or pagan religions such as Hindu) which does not forbid it, I should think it was morally if not legally acceptable.

If something is morally wrong for Christians because it violates natural law (as revenge killing does), then it is morally wrong for ALL people, whether or not their individual religions recognize this as true.

There are some obligations that Catholics have by virtue of our baptism (Sunday Mass attendance, for example, and marriage in the Catholic Church) and these are not binding on non-Catholics. But other moral precepts (to honor one’s father and mother, to reserve sex for marriage, to care for and protect one’s unborn children, etc) are required of all of us.

I would argue that it is universally immoral for a parent to murder their child’s rapist, unless there was an immediate threat of it reoccurring (i.e., the parent sees the rapist about to attack again) and there is no other means of keeping their child safe. This is not to say I cannot empathize with the father in that situation. How tragic to know your child was violated in such a way and worse, to live so near the offender.

 

[agnes_therese]

In India, a man found out that his fourteen year old daughter was raped by one of his neighbors. The father responded by going into the rapist’s apartment and ending his life.

One of the reasons the man cited for taking matters into his own hand is that the Indian Authorities are notoriously inefficient and/or corrupt. Multiple people living in that neighborhood stated that they would have done the same thing in the father’s place.

Do you think it is justified to take matters into your own hands if the authorities will not enforce the law?

If your daughter was raped by someone you knew, and the authorities would not do anything about it, how would you react?

From what you say here, he didn’t even give the authorities a chance. Of course that’s not acceptable.

 

[truetofaith]

In India, a man found out that his fourteen year old daughter was raped by one of his neighbors. The father responded by going into the rapist’s apartment and ending his life.

One of the reasons the man cited for taking matters into his own hand is that the Indian Authorities are notoriously inefficient and/or corrupt. Multiple people living in that neighborhood stated that they would have done the same thing in the father’s place.

Do you think it is justified to take matters into your own hands if the authorities will not enforce the law?

If your daughter was raped by someone you knew, and the authorities would not do anything about it, how would you react?

In the movie, “The Godfather,” the undertaker goes to the DON & says he wants ‘justice’ for his daughter, who was raped. He wants the culprits, killed, since the police released them… The Godfather tells him, your daughter is alive…it’s not justice you want, but revenge.
Even the Mafia has a code of decency!

 

[unstoppable_II]

…
If your daughter was raped by someone you knew, …

There is no way you would know for sure who the guilty one was.

 

[GEddie]

There is no way you would know for sure who the guilty one was.

You would if she came forward.

It doesn’t matter really. As much as we may want to kill the perpetrator, God has not given us as average citizens that right. In fact, by doing so, we would ourselves become subject to state execution. Better to let the legal process run its course.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[mikekle]

You would if she came forward.

It doesn’t matter really. As much as we may want to kill the perpetrator, God has not given us as average citizens that right. In fact, by doing so, we would ourselves become subject to state execution. Better to let the legal process run its course.

ICXC NIKA.

At one time, he did…in fact to NOT kill in certain cases would have been more sinful.

Of course, Im referring to such laws like…‘if a man commits adultery, the cheating man AND woman he slept with, must be killed immediately’, if you search, there are ALOT of laws like this, where the person must kill another. They are OT, but still, they show that God did indeed order individuals to kill others, nowhere did it say, you must first try to go thru the local authority figures.

 

[BornInMarch]

Nation States and their laws are human constructs. While God gave us natural laws (instincts on right vs wrong), he never said that we could not carry them out ourselves.

In the Old Testament, it is written that a man who rapes a woman is to be put to death. It does not say by whom; in those times, it would often just by a mob of locals with throwing-rocks.

 

[BornInMarch]

From what you say here, he didn’t even give the authorities a chance. Of course that’s not acceptable.

In real life, a Turkish man named Talaat Pasha committed a genocide and ran away to Germany. Soghomon Tehlirian, one of the survivors of said genocide, tracked the man down and shot him dead. The courts let Soghomon go free (nominally on a temporary insanity ruling, but really because Pasha deserved to die).

Sometimes there are situations where either you kill a monster yourself or he gets away scot free. In these situations, I believe it would be sinful NOT to do what the authorities failed to do.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

In India, a man found out that his fourteen year old daughter was raped by one of his neighbors. The father responded by going into the rapist’s apartment and ending his life.

One of the reasons the man cited for taking matters into his own hand is that the Indian Authorities are notoriously inefficient and/or corrupt. Multiple people living in that neighborhood stated that they would have done the same thing in the father’s place.

Do you think it is justified to take matters into your own hands if the authorities will not enforce the law?

If your daughter was raped by someone you knew, and the authorities would not do anything about it, how would you react?

Here, I would trust the authorities to do their duty and spend my energy helping my daughter through this turmoil. In a lawless place I would do something short of murder.

ATB

 

[mikekle]

Here, I would trust the authorities to do their duty and spend my energy helping my daughter through this turmoil. In a lawless place I would do something short of murder.

ATB

If it came down to a sex offender being punished for their crimes in the US, Im not so sure I would put my trust into authority here, they are notoriously easy on sex offenders when it comes to sentencing, that has to got to bother parents of victims!

It seems there is alot of tough talk regarding sex crimes, especially involving children, but at sentencing, many times, these offenders dont get much time, I assume thats due to politics though.

IMO, as christians, we should be more concerned with Gods laws versus mans laws, mans law is not that important in the big picture.

 

[Mickey_Finn]

If it came down to a sex offender being punished for their crimes in the US, Im not so sure I would put my trust into authority here, they are notoriously easy on sex offenders when it comes to sentencing, that has to got to bother parents of victims!

It seems there is a lot of tough talk regarding sex crimes, especially involving children, but at sentencing, many times, these offenders don’t get much time, I assume that’s due to politics though.

IMO, as Christians, we should be more concerned with Gods laws versus mans laws, mans law is not that important in the big picture.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_rape#Punishment
Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 11.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years. This follows the typical pattern for violent crimes in the US, where those convicted typically serve no more than half of their sentence.

If you are not rehabilitated in 5 years I question whether you ever will be.

ATB