Harrison's Law
Let me present to you Harrison's Law or The Maths of Crime, Victims and Community Service:
1. Thief steals from you (thief: +1 unit of energy; you: -1 unit of energy)
2. Thief ends up working for the community (thief: -0.9 units of energy; community: +0.9 units of energy)
3. Thief pays lawyer costs (thief: -0.1 unit of energy; lawyers: +0.1 unit of energy)
Totals:
Thief: 0 (he paid his debt in his eyes, clear conscience)
Community: +0.9 (free lunch, relies on criminal activity being brought to court)
Lawyers: +0.1 (keeps them in business)
You: -1 (you lose!)
You get nothing in compensation and still feel robbed.
Comments
Maybe the thief could work to repay the person he steals from AND pay for the costs of his incarceration instead of working for the community. That would balance things a little better.
Posted by: SpaceMonkey | March 23, 2004 4:02 PM
I always liked the Chinese Communist Party method - bill the family for the cost of the bullet used to shoot the criminal
Posted by: Mr Free Market | March 23, 2004 4:27 PM
This does not sound like a good law. But who was Harrison? When did he make the law? Was he a friend of Murphy? I´m interested to find out if he was a relative.
Stephen Lord Harrison
Posted by: Stephen Lord Harrison | February 18, 2009 8:16 AM