Innocent if Ignorant?

[AmRivlin]

What if you really were ignorant, what if you were rasied in a community where customs were very important to your people and way of life (Where are they not?) But what if these customs looked like the worst atrocities of the surrounding civiliztion. What if you were 55 and sold a new bride of the ripe child bearing age of 14? What if this 14 year old didn't know what was going to happen... What if this happened in our world.

Well it did. A 55 year old Aboriginal man (1 of the 4 scientific races of humans, White/Black/Asian/Aboriginal) was charged with rape, yet his knowledge of rape is non existant, yes maybe he was aware of western ways of British Australia in his life time, but he lives in the outback/bush, where those rules aren't his rules... It would be like telling me I have to pray to Allah 10 times a day, I would be aware of that but think it is pure rubbish.

This man served 1 month of his 2 year sentance for sexually assualting a 14 year old.

Should he have served any?
Australian Law can not be imposed on Aboriginal Tribes, as they first populated the continent 20-30,000 years ago spurring an entire different humanity than we are familiar with. They attempt to live in harmony, but things like this come up more often than not.

Should he have known, yes, but how can Australia force new values of life upon people. And as a disclaimer, we are not discussing a oh I am "this or that" so I am exempt... This is a true way of life for people completely different from western ways of life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4401982.stm

[AmRivlin]

As I think about this more and more...

What is criminal, who picks what a "criminal act" is? In this day and age, we expect people to follow the same values and morals. I don't think a heinous crime is a respectable thing, and tolerance isn't the right answer for it either... but what if aliens came to earth with a custom of eating their dead children, who are we to pass judgement on the visitors... it is their custom.

Education is the answer.

[nickel]

ignorance of the law is no excuse

(or so it's been said a brazillion times)

[Grimm]

ignorance of the law is no excuse

(or so it's been said a brazillion times)
Well, was what he did really illegal? What sort of status do aboriginals have in Australia? Are they held to the laws of the Australians? Or are they left to their own devices so long as no harm comes to an outsider?

While ignorance is no excuse, any government should ensure that a law is common knowedge before enforcing it. Apparently this hasn't been done in Australia as far as the aboriginals are concerned. It is unreasonable to expect another society to conform to our customs when we haven't even told them what they are!

[avlena]

Well, was what he did really illegal? What sort of status do aboriginals have in Australia? Are they held to the laws of the Australians? Or are they left to their own devices so long as no harm comes to an outsider?

While ignorance is no excuse, any government should ensure that a law is common knowedge before enforcing it. Apparently this hasn't been done in Australia as far as the aboriginals are concerned. It is unreasonable to expect another society to conform to our customs when we haven't even told them what they are!

but if we you visit another country and break one of their laws, aren't you held accountable?

btw, it's interesting that the guy claimed that he thought the sex was consensual. So it becomes a case of he said/she said, because did she actually say no and try to fight him off, or did she just lay there and cry (which the old guy might have assumed was a new bride's nerves?). Do the Aboriginies have a concept of rape at all, or is sex usually freely given/received?

[Grimm]

but if we you visit another country and break one of their laws, aren't you held accountable?
That isn't a reasonable comparison. Human culture has been pretty much shared for the last couple thousand years. Ideas and morays have migrated throughout Asia and Europe, resulting in relatively similar perceptions. Except for the Aboriginies. They were seperated 20 to 30 thousand years ago. Before our earliest reccords. Before even the basics of religion, law or any sembalance of anything we would recognise as society was established. We have come into contact relatively recently. A couple hundred years, most of which wasn't spent discussing philosophy, but attacking them and trying to destroy the culture they created. Not exactly what I would call a good introduction...
Expecting them to understand our culture is not reasonable. It's an entirely new way of thinking for them. It's not just a difference in language. It's an entirely different concept of reality. They can perceive time, distance and relation in a manner foriegn to us. To expect them to understand our culture after a few decades of contact isn't realistic.

Look at it from his perspective. He was legaly married to a woman after a propper arrangement. She was confused and frightened after their wedding night and ran off. Then the newcomers come and lock him up for getting married.

Consider that in some states the legal age for marriage is 12 with parental consent. Some other states say 14 or 16.
Before the discovery of America, marriage at 14 or even earlier was considered the norm. Aboriginies, until very recently lived like the Native Americans did, or like the Celts. Guess what, in those cultures, 14 was considered "of age" too. For her culture she was not a child.

[InfiniteNothing]

I think to be convicted you should have to be able to tell right from wrong and it is the burden of the state to prove that you knew right from wrong. I do not believe this man thought what he did was wrong.

[molecularfire]

Laws and rules we make up and enforce because it makes things more convenient for the majority of the population. Whatever his beliefs are, he did offend the beliefs of the majority of the population by doing something that we see as "wrong" and because the majority has much more power than him alone, he should be punished.
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||
||||||
|||||
||||
|||
||
|