Is Our Legal System Harsh? This is a story of a legal system whose punishments are far to extreme. Chinese society has always stressed structure and conformity. These ideas by themselves are not such bad ideals for a people to hold to. However, the problem comes when these ideals and rules are broken. Persecution of these individuals who break these laws is often severe, using long prison terms and execution as punishment. With over 18,000 during the 1990’s, executions seem to be a popular sentencing option. These question that begs to be answered is, are the criminals so much worse in China to warrant so many executions. The answer is no, if the sentence of death is given to people such Qui, who committed tax evasion, then it extends to far less serious crimes than homicide. I am looking at his situation from a very different point of view. I see it from our societies view on crime. Our legal system is often criticized for being to easy on criminals. China’s legal system is just the opposite; it is criticized for being far too harsh. However, is it different when looking from their point of view? Do they rationalize these penalties as being beneficial to society? It seems to me that their idea of justice is retribution rather than rehabilitation. Can this work? Obviously it does not completely eliminate crime, but does it deter many others from committing it. How does our rehabilitation system compare to their system, in terms of deterrence? The truth China’s legal system instills fear in would be criminals. Not only does it eliminate the source of crime, by execution, it says to other future criminals, you are next if you choose to break the law. It makes the criminal think, is this act worth my life? Our system allows the same criminal to think, is this act worth a year’s probation and fines? This is not to say that China’s system is better. My theory is that it is better to teac...
