Question About Anarcho-Communism

[WeAreReborn]

I have been thinking about crime in general in an Anarcho-Communist society. Now naturally I understand, and agree, that crime in general will most likely come to an almost complete halt because why steal when there is no point? Murder will go down because everyone will be like brothers and sisters so aggression will definitely plummet. However, the question I have is that what about the serial killers or rapist who act off of a mental instability? Punishment is rejected by anarchists and rightfully so but how will they be dealt with? Thanks in advance for any comments, any opinion is welcome.

[DaComm]

I have been thinking about crime in general in an Anarcho-Communist society. Now naturally I understand, and agree, that crime in general will most likely come to an almost complete halt because why steal when there is no point? Murder will go down because everyone will be like brothers and sisters so aggression will definitely plummet. However, the question I have is that what about the serial killers or rapist who act off of a mental instability? Punishment is rejected by anarchists and rightfully so but how will they be dealt with? Thanks in advance for any comments, any opinion is welcome.

Re-educational centers can do wonders for mentally instable patients. Thats not to say however, that if someone detonated a bomb in a kindergarden, that rehab. would be the first option. The community decides what the appropriate act to take shall be; for the most part mental clinic-type facilities will be the primary choice because, as you said, crimes of theft will dissolve, and murders based of racial, social, and religious hatred will be things of the past, leaving the only real offenders to be those of not-sound minds. Hope this helps

[Amphictyonis]

Read Alexander Berkmans ABC's of Anarchism here:

http://www.lucyparsonsproject.org/anarchism/berkman_abc_of_anarchism.html

[WeAreReborn]

Re-educational centers can do wonders for mentally instable patients. Thats not to say however, that if someone detonated a bomb in a kindergarden, that rehab. would be the first option. The community decides what the appropriate act to take shall be; for the most part mental clinic-type facilities will be the primary choice because, as you said, crimes of theft will dissolve, and murders based of racial, social, and religious hatred will be things of the past, leaving the only real offenders to be those of not-sound minds. Hope this helps
The re-educational centers sound quite fair and effective but wouldn't the community decision just revert to mob justice? Although I recognize it is a small price to pay for overall equality and peace, I'm just acting as a devil's advocate so I can have a better understanding.

[DaComm]

The re-educational centers sound quite fair and effective but wouldn't the community decision just revert to mob justice? Although I recognize it is a small price to pay for overall equality and peace, I'm just acting as a devil's advocate so I can have a better understanding.

Mmmm, I see what you mean but when I said community decides, I was referring to something more along the lines of a randomized jurry.

[WeAreReborn]

Mmmm, I see what you mean but when I said community decides, I was referring to something more along the lines of a randomized jurry.
Oh I see, to me that seems somewhat bureaucratic, to have you expand more how large would the jury be? The general problem of representatives is that there is no way of representing the community accurately with such a small number of people. So is there an in between to mob justice and representation? Or is just the lesser of two evils?

[ContrarianLemming]

Punishment is not rejected by anarchists, and prisons are compatable (though not desirable) in anarchism.

[WeAreReborn]

Punishment is not rejected by anarchists, and prisons are compatable (though not desirable) in anarchism.
You're right and I apologize for the over generalization of Anarchism in general. I was thinking in a Kropotkin sense and he opposes punishment and obviously prison as well.

[Magón]

The best thing I think, is set the people up to be rehabilitated first if it's something that's thought to be able to be fixed and not done again by the person. Depending on the crime, like if it was something of Rape, Murder, Serial Killer(s), whatever along those lines, I don't think rehabilitation can exactly help them. So the next thing isn't just have them sit in some cell, the thing to do is just rid them from Society and the World. (Execution in other words.)

Also, to keep places like Cemeteries from filling up, I think cremation is the best step to riding the dead body(s).

[revolution inaction]

Punishment is not rejected by anarchists,

it should be, it doesn't perform any useful funtion



and prisons are compatable (though not desirable) in anarchism.
i think this depends on how we define prisons, if we just mean somewhere people are locked up separate from the rest of society then obviously that would be compatible, but if we mean prisons as exist now that would not.


The best thing I think, is set the people up to be rehabilitated first if it's something that's thought to be able to be fixed and not done again by the person. Depending on the crime, like if it was something of Rape, Murder, Serial Killer(s), whatever along those lines, I don't think rehabilitation can exactly help them. So the next thing isn't just have them sit in some cell, the thing to do is just rid them from Society and the World. (Execution in other words.)

i don't really see any point in executing people, and of cause you will always get some innocent people to

[Quail]

The best thing I think, is set the people up to be rehabilitated first if it's something that's thought to be able to be fixed and not done again by the person. Depending on the crime, like if it was something of Rape, Murder, Serial Killer(s), whatever along those lines, I don't think rehabilitation can exactly help them. So the next thing isn't just have them sit in some cell, the thing to do is just rid them from Society and the World. (Execution in other words.)


I disagree. To commit a crime like that, a person has to be somewhat mentally unstable, and it is antisocial criminals that would benefit most from rehabilitation. These people need to be rehabilitated so that they accept that what they did was wrong and learn to function as members of the community. In fact, I can't think of any other crimes that would really be committed in a communist society, since there would be no real motive for petty crimes or anything related to money.

[Palingenisis]

I disagree. To commit a crime like that, a person has to be somewhat mentally unstable, and it is antisocial criminals that would benefit most from rehabilitation. These people need to be rehabilitated so that they accept that what they did was wrong and learn to function as members of the community. In fact, I can't think of any other crimes that would really be committed in a communist society, since there would be no real motive for petty crimes or anything related to money.

This is fatally flawed....People can be actually bad as opposed to just mad.

[Tifosi]

Murder will go down because everyone will be like brothers and sisters so aggression will definitely plummet.

That's soooooo utopia.

Murder rates will most likely fall after the revolution due to a greater sense of community but to think everyone will be like brothers and sisters, with love in the air is just silly. :tt1:

You'll still get fights be hide the bike shed at school, out side pubs, over boys and girls etc as an Anarchist society will be a human society.

[Quail]

This is fatally flawed....People can be actually bad as opposed to just mad.

I don't think that anyone is just born "bad" if that's what you're trying to say? The way people act is affected by the experiences they've had. Their life experiences may lead them to do bad things, but that's something that can be rehabilitated.

[revolution inaction]

This is fatally flawed....People can be actually bad as opposed to just mad.

what does being "bad" mean?

[Magón]

I disagree. To commit a crime like that, a person has to be somewhat mentally unstable, and it is antisocial criminals that would benefit most from rehabilitation. These people need to be rehabilitated so that they accept that what they did was wrong and learn to function as members of the community. In fact, I can't think of any other crimes that would really be committed in a communist society, since there would be no real motive for petty crimes or anything related to money.

Maybe for some cases this is true, where the person is mentally unstable, but not necessarily for all of them and if so, rehabilitation isn't necessarily the best alternative for someone like this. Let's say in a hypothetical Anarchist Society, we're both living in the same one and suddenly we hear about a person who's a Serial Rapist and is going around raping women and young people. A couple days later, after several rapes or so, the person is found and captured. This person is later detained in a holding cell for people to think of what his punishment should be before they do anything.

I'm quite sure that most people will rather say, let's just kill the disgusting person, rather then rehabilitate them since they've obviously showed no remorse for those they raped and have ruined for years to come either physically or mentally.

Not all who commit a crime of murder, or rape, are unstable mentally, sure they use that defense a lot, but it's probably not the case for 80% of those who do commit such a crime. The reason I say this, is because I've known several people who've had friends or family members act out in these disgusting ways. I've never met the people who did them personally, but I do know that out of the five, two of them said they did the crime just to do it. (And one was a rape case, the other a murder.) The others I don't know why they did it.

But not all criminals can be helped with the method of rehabilitation, it's just not possible. And like I've said to EvildRedGuy, it's probably my intolerance of these sort of acts that makes me think like this, but I don't want the work that I or others do, going to help shelter or feed these leeches on society. Because if you keep rehabilitating them, and nothing gets fixed because of it, they gradually just became leeches on the society who's working to shelter, feed, and clothe them.

[meow]

Punishment is not rejected by anarchists, and prisons are compatable (though not desirable) in anarchism.
bullshit. i am anarchist and i reject both punishment and prison as incompatable with anarchism.

[WeAreReborn]

That's soooooo utopia.

Murder rates will most likely fall after the revolution due to a greater sense of community but to think everyone will be like brothers and sisters, with love in the air is just silly. :tt1:

You'll still get fights be hide the bike shed at school, out side pubs, over boys and girls etc as an Anarchist society will be a human society.

Well I didn't mean it necessarily like in a traditional family sense, I just meant to stress there would be a significant increase in a feeling of community and people would be closer as a whole.

[AK]

Murder will go down because everyone will be like brothers and sisters so aggression will definitely plummet.
I don't know where you got the idea that murder is caused by a lack of brotherhood and sisterhood. Such crimes are caused either by economic reasons or mental health complications.

[Apoi_Viitor]

This is fatally flawed....People can be actually bad as opposed to just mad.

I agree, this is why we need Ethnic Purges, Gulags and a Secret Police.

[WeAreReborn]

I don't know where you got the idea that murder is caused by a lack of brotherhood and sisterhood. Such crimes are caused either by economic reasons or mental health complications.
I agree, I suppose I just phrased it wrong.. What I mainly meant by that statement is that people will be less apathetic about one another's lives, since there is a better sense of community.

[WeAreReborn]

I agree, this is why we need Ethnic Purges, Gulags and a Secret Police.
Well assuming you aren't trolling, that is an extremely flawed and hypocritical view point. Because to stop being "bad" you oppress the people and wipe out massive groups of people. Makes perfect sense...

[AK]

I agree, I suppose I just phrased it wrong.. What I mainly meant by that statement is that people will be less apathetic about one another's lives, since there is a better sense of community.
I suppose you're getting a better idea of the concept but this is still not a reason why such crimes will rarely occur.

[EvilRedGuy]

Well assuming you aren't trolling, that is an extremely flawed and hypocritical view point. Because to stop being "bad" you oppress the people and wipe out massive groups of people. Makes perfect sense...

Try reading it again, im sure he was sarcastic.

Allso: Wooooo!!! 100th post! .:star::hammersickle:

[Tifosi]

I don't know where you got the idea that murder is caused by a lack of brotherhood and sisterhood. Such crimes are caused either by economic reasons or mental health complications.

Murder is often a crime of passion to, which will be very hard to eradicate as it's normally a spur of the moment thing.