Who Can Blame Whom? Moral Standing to Blame and Punish Deprived Citizens

There are communities in which disadvantaged groups experience severe inequality. For instance, poor and indigent families face many difficulties accessing their social rights. Their condition is largely the consequence of the wrong choices of those in power, either historical or more recent choices...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Criminal law and philosophy 2019-06, Vol.13 (2), p.271-281
Main Author: Beade, Gustavo A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law
Ethics
Inequality
Law
Law and Criminology
Legal History
Morality
Original Paper
Philosophy
Philosophy of Law
Poverty
Theories of Law
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Summary:There are communities in which disadvantaged groups experience severe inequality. For instance, poor and indigent families face many difficulties accessing their social rights. Their condition is largely the consequence of the wrong choices of those in power, either historical or more recent choices. The lack of opportunities of these deprived citizens is due to state omissions. In such communities, it is not unusual for homeless members of these particular groups to occupy abandoned lands and build their shelters there. However, almost everywhere, these actions constitute a crime. The typical response to this situation is prosecution and punishment. In this paper, I will defend the occupation of public places as a consequence of the failure of governments to solve the problem of housing, and I will argue that we must distinguish a social claim from a crime and avoid the use of criminal law in these “occupation cases”. I will also argue that our right—as a community—to blame and punish these “squatters” is eroded by the fact that we perpetrated their situation of injustice.
ISSN:1871-9791
1871-9805
DOI:10.1007/s11572-018-9471-z