We Belong To The State.

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The other day, I talked about the lengths governments were willing to go to just to protect prisoners and convicts. It goes to show that no matter how heinous a crime you commit, you still have rights and as such, the state will still have a duty to protect you even from the blowback of the very crime that you commit. When a person kills someone and is subsequently arrested, it’s up to the state to protect the killer from the victim’s loved ones or friends who might try to get revenge.

It won’t matter if the criminal killed a billion people, it won’t matter if the victim was your own baby sister. Once it’s proved that you killed them solely out of revenge, it becomes murder and you could very well serve the same punishment that they’re serving.

Is that fair? After all, the two crimes are committed on two separate grounds. One was done to avenge while the other was done simply because he was a sadistic person.

If there is one thing I’ve noticed, it’s the fact that we are all brothers and sisters under law. As guided by the constitution, the state has the power to protect us all and as such has the power to punish anyone who places the lives of the ordinary citizens at risk. That’s why criminals are not sued in court by friends and loved ones of the victims. When a case is being announced, it goes as “The case of The State of Lagos Vs Mr. Doings.”

Because your crime is not just against your victim, but against the entire state. So, you who have been wronged, that’s why you have a right to report things people do to you. Normally, there are cases that police are meant to handle, as long as they threaten you in any way. Then it’s a job for the police. But then, there are cases where you can sue them in court yourself. Not just with murder, but crimes like aggravated assault, battery, rape, and name them all, it’s all crimes against the state and the state takes it upon herself to punish offenders.

When you look at it through some other lens, you see that it could also be translated to mean that we’re owned by the state. Harming the citizens could be like harming government property. So, no matter where you are, you’re still answerable to the state. This is why some countries have expedition agreements so that when tourists commit crimes in one country, they can be deported and then punished in their home country. Otherwise, the country you are arrested in will do the honors. Although it all depends on the crime sha.

But then, this could also be the reason why suicide is a crime. I don’t know about other countries, but here in Nigeria, anyone caught attempting suicide could bag up to 14 years imprisonment. I’ve never really understood why that was so, but then when you think about it, your life is not yours to take just as anyone else’s isn’t yours to take. The law that protects other people from you is the same law that protects you from yourself. So, taking your own life is a crime punishable by serving hard time.

So many things can be done to push someone into prison and this is just done to avoid order and chaos in society. As I mentioned earlier, no matter how evil the person is, it doesn’t matter if everyone knows without irrefutable proof that the person is evil, he also reserves the right to live until the government deems otherwise. So, anyone who kills them, if it can’t be proved that it was done in self-defense or in protection of life and property will be going down for murder. Even if the person was already slated for execution and five minutes before his court-appointed death, someone managed to kill him, that will still be murder.

It’s crazy, right? Yeah, but I believe these are part of the reasons why so many people manage to keep themselves in order. If not, people will be going about committing heinous crimes all in the name of revenge. The police should handle all the revenge, in a sane world, seeing the criminals get locked up and serve their time should be all the justice we need. Sadly, this is not a sane world. This is a selfish world and people only do the things they’re sure would benefit them. And what does that mean for the rest of us? Well, you can guess.

As usual, note that I’m just an electrical engineer who also happens to be an awesome writer. I know next to nothing about the law, so everything I said here is based off my opinions and my vast reading. Don’t quote me anywhere, because I’ll deny I said it! If you want real legal advice, go to a real lawyer ooo!

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, I would love to know what you're thinking. See you in the next post. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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