Reference no: EM133719619

Assignment:

As we think about the relationship between freedom and responsibility, we also acknowledge that when actions are beyond our ability to choose, when they are determined by other factors beyond our control, that it is difficult to reasonably hold us responsible. This means that it is important to understand what exactly might count as determining factors.

In this discussion I will first give you a hypothetical scenario, but one that you may hear brought up in one form or another in various contexts in society. Then I will ask some questions for you to answer based on what you think in regard to the scenario.

Consider this to be about an 18-year-old who killed a gas station attendant as part of a botched robbery.

The murderer had been raised in a slum. His father abandoned him when he was seven months old; he was beaten by his older siblings and constantly abused by his mother. He never had the chance to attend school; when he was able to get a job at all, he never could hold it. By the time he robbed the store, he was near starvation, addicted to hard drugs, without friends, and without help of any kind. His sister said, "I've known since he was a child that he would do this some day." His mother complained, "I don't understand!" The prosecutor called it a "cold-blooded, premeditated act." The defense accused the whole of society, claiming that it had, through its neglect as well as its negative conditioning, made this man an inevitable killer.

Here are step-by-step instructions on what to do:

1). Write an initial post answering each of the following questions:

Who do you think should bear responsibility for this crime? NOTE: By bear responsibility, I don't mean who should be imprisoned (there might be different consequences based on the responsibility). Also, by not holding the killer solely responsible, it does not mean he is let back out onto the streets.

• The killer alone?
• The parents?
• The family?
• The school system?
• The drug dealers?
• The community?
• All of society?
• Some combination of these??