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Statistically speaking, this is impossible to answer. There are many small towns with reported incidents of man types of major crimes measured in single digits.As such, these fail to provide statistically significant sample sizes.Measuring all reported incidents of crime could produce false comparisons since not all crimes are equatable. In other words, each unit measured would be treated equally regardless of type. Murders would be counted as equal to shoplifting.Consequently, the data would not produce a clear one to one comparison between towns. ou would know how many crimes are reported, but you would not know the nature or severity of those crimes

What has contributed more to humans being moral, biology or religion?Religion is the only practice that aspires to teaching and advocating the highest levels of morality. How effective this is varies—obviously—but whether or not individuals periodically fail at its practice does not determine whether someone else will respond to the teaching religion offers and succeed. Some kids fail and drop out of school; we keep offering education anyway.Overall, religion probably really does make a positive contribution to morality in humans that practice it. There is evidence of correlation between active religious practice and lower incidences of alcohol abuse, out of wedlock births, theft, and drug and alcohol abuse. Whether or not that translates to “morality” depends on your definition of morality to some degree.Imprisonment is a possible measure of morality, and atheists may be under-represented in the prison population—but it’s hard to nail that down.Amongst the incarcerated, 50.6 % claim to be Protestant and 14.5% claim Catholicism. According to PEW, 65% of polled American adults identified themselves accordingly in 2019.[1][1][1][1] That’s a representative sample and is to be expected if all other factors are equal.Atheists aren’t on this chart. The nearest sample is “no religious preference” at 10.6%, but it’s been shown that the societal group known as “nones” is not all atheist, therefore the part of the group in prison probably isn’t all atheist either. If they were, that would mean there is a disproportionate number of atheists imprisoned because, while we have no real measure of the number of atheists in society in general either, the closest estimate that we do have is about 3%.But honestly, there’s no way to know for sure how many atheists are in prison or society, so whether or not the atheist prison population is representative or not can’t really be answered either way.Plus, incarceration is influenced by many factors besides religion—or no religion— such as race, economic status, education and family.Taking into consideration the possibility of a lower presence of atheists in prison, it is still true that studies have abounded for the last twenty years that show religion provides a “moderate deterrent effect” on criminal behavior, especially in relation to shoplifting, music piracy, drug use, and alcohol abuse, among both adults and adolescents.[2][2][2][2][3][3][3][3][4][4][4][4][5][5][5][5][6][6][6][6][7][7][7][7]A 2013 article which cites governmental sources entitled “Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?” provides data which shows that the highly secular European countries of Sweden, France and Denmark have higher illegitimacy rates than the more religious European countries of Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and Spain.[8][8][8][8]Everyone agrees illegitimacy is a social issue, but many also assert aspects of a pragmatic, or practical, ‘morality’ attached to it because in too many instances the children born out of wedlock are disadvantaged by it.A Detroit study found that about 70 percent of juvenile killers did not live with both parents. A study of seriously delinquent girls in California showed 93 percent came from broken homes. A survey of juvenile delinquents in custody in Wisconsin found that fewer than one-sixth grew up in intact families. Sixty percent of rapists had single-parents (or none). Exactly how illegitimacy is connected to crime is not fully understood.[9][9][9][9] All studies of this phenomenon indicate religion fosters values and virtues that support marriage and decrease out of wedlock births. [10][10][10][10]Religion encourages people to donate to charity. American households donated a median $375 to congregations, $150 to religiously identified nonprofits, and $250 to secular charities in 2012. Black Protestants, followed by Roman Catholics and Jews, were the most likely to give out of the desire to help the needy.[11][11][11][11]People don’t donate to their congregations so much as through them, since churches use the money given to them to pay for the facility and staff then distribute the rest to the community, both local and global, in a vast variety of ways.The Catholic Church is the World's biggest charitable organization.Religion encourages people to care for one another.Marriage and religiosity generally have far-reaching, positive effects. A growing body of research documents an association between religious involvement and better outcomes on a variety of physical health measures, including problems related to heart disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer, gastrointestinal disease, as well as overall health status and life expectancy.There is emerging literature that shows a positive effect of religiosity on educational attainment, a key determinant of success in the labor market. These studies suggest a potentially important link between religious involvement during childhood and adolescence and subsequent economic well-being as an adult.Several studies have documented that family religious involvement promotes stronger ties among family members and has a positive impact on mothers’ and children’s reports of the quality of their relationship.Young people who grow up having some religious involvement tend to display better outcomes in a range of areas, such as a lower probability of substance abuse and juvenile delinquency, a lower incidence of depression, delayed sexual debut, more positive attitudes toward marriage and having children, and more negative attitudes toward unmarried sex and premarital childbearing. [12][12][12][12]Objections to religion are generally based on distortions, misinformation and bias. [13][13][13][13]Does religion, in actuality—not just in theoretical teaching—but in actuality, produce the real effect of moral development in its followers?To a degree, at the very least, it apparently does.Has biology contributed to moral development?One popular claim concerning biology is that evolution produced morals such as empathy through the beneficial effects of cooperative communal behavior. Humans and other primates are all social, group-living species. They do cooperate, so the hypothesis seems entirely plausible.However: evolution is not capable of selecting for something.So, let’s say cooperation really did make a difference for someone’s survival at an early stage in human development. That would matter to that individual, but it wouldn’t have any impact on evolutionary development if it stopped with that individual. In order to be an evolutionary development, the characteristic of empathy and cooperation that evolved to aid survival must be passed on to the next generation.Which is why: Reproductive success is the ultimate measure of selection.If cooperation was the means by which evolution introduced empathy and morality into human nature, then it must have increased the likelihood of reproductive success for it to be selected and passed on.Those that practiced it survived and multiplied, and those that didn’t—didn’t. We can’t go back in time and study cavemen directly and see if this is correct.We can study other primates.We should be able to see evidence of cooperation increasing reproductive success in other primate groups which would support that this is what happened in our own.We can look at primate behavioral tactics that confer an advantage to some over others, either before or after copulation.We can measure the effects of these tactics, and traits such as body and canine size or status-dependent ornaments (Plavcan 2004).We can look at optimal schedules of growth and maturation.We can measure the different sexual characteristics and behaviors between the genders and how they relate to male competition.We can record who has babies and who doesn’t and who has the most and how well they survive.What we observe is this: in the majority of cases, access to receptive females is rank-dependent, with alpha males enjoying the highest reproductive success (Altmann et al. 1996, Alberts et al. 2003).In most species, males establish their rank through dominance based on age, level of strength and aggression, and their dispersal status: among social animals a dispersed individual—one who left their birth group—must find and join a new group, which can lead to a loss of social rank. [14][14][14][14] [15][15][15][15]Among the factors affecting reproduction for males, cooperation isn’t on the list.The same is true of females: For females, social position—rank—is the leading factor in reproductive success.[16][16][16][16] Conflicts between males and female orangutans over mating have engendered antagonistic strategies, such as coercion by males and selective resistance by females. Orangutans are exceptional among mammals for their high levels of forced copulation.[17][17][17][17]Under conditions of low resource availability such as drought, or social stress, lower ranking females suffer. Dominant females take what they need without concern, compassion, or cooperation with subordinate females. They don’t share. They don’t cooperate. They don’t protect the weak out of empathy.[18][18][18][18] The infants of subordinate females die; the infants of the dominant survive.These studies all indicate that other primates—those that are not us—have not—still—after all these millions of years—evolved ‘cooperation’ as a path to reproductive success.If we evolved ethically while other primates have not, that would mean we evolved differently than all other primates, so that not only doesn’t help us answer this question—it creates other issues.‘We’re unique’ doesn’t provide an adequate naturalist explanation in itself, and while we can assume the naturalist model, ‘uniqueness’ precludes ever being able to provide evidence to support it.Therefore, I don’t find a naturalistic biological explanation for morality that actually stands up to examination.A further examination of biology shows its somewhat chilling contribution to the darker characteristics of mankind. There are traits that can be found in other animal species showing that Cruelty is an aspect of personality derived from biology that has been passed on — at least to some degree.A group of psychologists at the University of British Columbia, (including Del Paulhus and his student, Kevin Williams), defined a Dark Triad of identifiable personality traits almost twenty years ago. It was later extended into a Tetrad. These traits can be found in humans and other primates and even other species.Machiavellianism (manipulative, self-interested, deceptive),Psychopathy (antisocial, remorseless, callous)Narcissism (grandiose, proud, lacking empathy).Everyday Sadism (the enjoyment of cruelty).Every rhesus monkey seems to have the potential for Machiavellian behavior. They threaten, have unpredictable bursts of aggression, and use the fear this creates to rule subordinates. They are power conscious. But all primates are power conscious.The primatologist Frans de Waal had a chimp in his Arnhem Zoo colony called Puist who he said was "two faced and mean" and "deceitful or mendacious". She was universally disliked by researchers and compared to a witch.Jane Goodall studied a mother and daughter pair of chimpanzees – Passion and Pom – who systematically cannibalized eight infants over four years. Goodall called Passion a "cold mother".In 1991, Peter Buirski and Robert Plutchik used the Emotions Profile Index, an observational measure, to study Passion. The index includes "deceptiveness, callousness, aggressiveness, absence of emotional ties, and fearlessness" – and it suggested Passion showed deviant behaviour.A study in 1999 took 34 chimpanzees in captivity at a research centre in Georgia as the subjects of its 'Chimpanzee Psychopath Measure'. The team found that there was "evidence for the psychopathy construct in chimpanzees", and concluded that certain features of human psychopathy, such as risk-taking and absence of generosity, were found in great apes. As in humans, male chimps received higher scores than females.Dolphins attack porpoises. Infanticide has been observed in bottlenose dolphins.When male lions take over a pride they kill all previous offspring.Some animals play with their victims—which looks a lot like torture—before killing them.In Brazil, the margay cat mimics the sound of a wounded baby pied tamarin monkey in order to deceive and entice its prey.The female praying mantis will often chomp the head off and eat her mate after sex, sometimes even in the middle of the act.Hyena cubs will kill siblings from the moment they are born.Often we feel that something that is "evil" is against the natural order of things, but perhaps the opposite is true: perhaps it is "bad" behavior that is natural.The existence of a moral good then becomes difficult to explain.What has contributed more to humans being moral, biology or religion?Religion. No contest.Footnotes[1] Christianity in the United States - Wikipedia[1] Christianity in the United States - Wikipedia[1] Christianity in the United States - Wikipedia[1] Christianity in the United States - Wikipedia[2] An Examination of a Reciprocal Relationship Between Religiosity and Different Forms of Delinquency Within a Theoretical Model - BRENT B. BENDA, 1997[2] An Examination of a Reciprocal Relationship Between Religiosity and Different Forms of Delinquency Within a Theoretical Model - BRENT B. BENDA, 1997[2] An Examination of a Reciprocal Relationship Between Religiosity and Different Forms of Delinquency Within a Theoretical Model - BRENT B. BENDA, 1997[2] An Examination of a Reciprocal Relationship Between Religiosity and Different Forms of Delinquency Within a Theoretical Model - BRENT B. BENDA, 1997[3] RELIGION AND CRIME REEXAMINED: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION, SECULAR CONTROLS, AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY ON ADULT CRIMINALITY*[3] RELIGION AND CRIME REEXAMINED: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION, SECULAR CONTROLS, AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY ON ADULT CRIMINALITY*[3] RELIGION AND CRIME REEXAMINED: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION, SECULAR CONTROLS, AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY ON ADULT CRIMINALITY*[3] RELIGION AND CRIME REEXAMINED: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION, SECULAR CONTROLS, AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY ON ADULT CRIMINALITY*[4] No Time For Crime: Study Finds More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence[4] No Time For Crime: Study Finds More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence[4] No Time For Crime: Study Finds More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence[4] No Time For Crime: Study Finds More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence[5] Visiting a place of worship makes you less likely to shoplift[5] Visiting a place of worship makes you less likely to shoplift[5] Visiting a place of worship makes you less likely to shoplift[5] Visiting a place of worship makes you less likely to shoplift[6] Religion and Crime: A Systematic Review and Assessment of Next Steps[6] Religion and Crime: A Systematic Review and Assessment of Next Steps[6] Religion and Crime: A Systematic Review and Assessment of Next Steps[6] Religion and Crime: A Systematic Review and Assessment of Next Steps[7] Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality[7] Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality[7] Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality[7] Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality[8] Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?[8] Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?[8] Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?[8] Is Europe proof that intact families don’t really matter?[9] The Marriage-Crime Connection[9] The Marriage-Crime Connection[9] The Marriage-Crime Connection[9] The Marriage-Crime Connection[10] http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Then_Comes_Marriage.pdf[10] http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Then_Comes_Marriage.pdf[10] http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Then_Comes_Marriage.pdf[10] http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Then_Comes_Marriage.pdf[11] https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Religious-Americans-Give-More/153973[11] https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Religious-Americans-Give-More/153973[11] https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Religious-Americans-Give-More/153973[11] https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Religious-Americans-Give-More/153973[12] The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis[12] The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis[12] The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis[12] The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis[13] Jenny Hawkins's answer to Is God's propensity toward bloodshed and violence inherent in mankind?[13] Jenny Hawkins's answer to Is God's propensity toward bloodshed and violence inherent in mankind?[13] Jenny Hawkins's answer to Is God's propensity toward bloodshed and violence inherent in mankind?[13] Jenny Hawkins's answer to Is God's propensity toward bloodshed and violence inherent in mankind?[14] Dominance rank and mating success in male primates[14] Dominance rank and mating success in male primates[14] Dominance rank and mating success in male primates[14] Dominance rank and mating success in male primates[15] Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii[15] Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii[15] Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii[15] Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii[16] Sex, social status and physiological stress in primates: the importance of social and glucocorticoid dynamics[16] Sex, social status and physiological stress in primates: the importance of social and glucocorticoid dynamics[16] Sex, social status and physiological stress in primates: the importance of social and glucocorticoid dynamics[16] Sex, social status and physiological stress in primates: the importance of social and glucocorticoid dynamics[17] Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstrategies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion[17] Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstrategies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion[17] Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstrategies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion[17] Female reproductive strategies in orangutans, evidence for female choice and counterstrategies to infanticide in a species with frequent sexual coercion[18] Bateman Revisited: The Reproductive Tactics of Female Primates 1 [18] Bateman Revisited: The Reproductive Tactics of Female Primates 1 [18] Bateman Revisited: The Reproductive Tactics of Female Primates 1 [18] Bateman Revisited: The Reproductive Tactics of Female Primates 1

Credit: The SunTo begin with, I think that those protesting cases similar to George Floyd have it completely off when they think that policing is racial.It isn’t.Police in general treat everyone about the same, and I can show a plethora of videos regarding incidents against Caucasian people, or even Latinos and Asians that are every bit as bad (some possibly worse) than the cases that make it onto television.Perhaps later in this answer I will link some of the more outstanding cases, but first, let’s discuss the initial incident itself, and what my opinion is regarding the perpetrators.First of all, two sides of me speak when I hear about cases such as this:My human side, and my legal/ethics side.On a human level, I would say that we should probably just forgive the officers and not persecute them on a legal, nor social level.My other side, however, feels quite differently, and that is where I intend to focus the answer on first.Personally, I find it disgraceful that cops should be given more lenient treatment than civilians. You always hear cops gloating about how they are held to a “higher standard” than civilians, and yet I have not seen one documented case where this is actually true.Above: Death Of George Floyd VideoCops will also charge civilians with “aggravated assault” for “crimes” as meagre as making any physical contact with their uniform, or for moving your hands during an arrest etc..If that alone is considered to be an aggravated assault, then I don’t know what we should have called the incident with George Floyd, assuming he had not died.Whenever a cop gets in trouble for something, either themselves or one of their “supporters” will bring up the defence that “nobody is perfect!” as some sort of exoneration defence.Speaking as someone who is more considerate, I happen to agree on a fundamental level that everybody has certainly done something bad in their lives, even if it was not strictly illegal to do so. Perhaps we got into a fight with people we shouldn’t have; we said things we regretted; we killed insects; or we ate animals, even though slaughterhouses are far worse than any human prison.However, the difference between a normal person acknowledging this, and a cop, is that a cop is almost certain to arrest you, and then give you a lifelong record because of it.Criminal Records Linger Despite Lack of ConvictionsIn fact, contrary to popular belief, millions of people living in the United States and elsewhere have a criminal record even if they have never interacted with the police, because all that is required to get a record is for the police to write your name, and file a “person of interest” report.People “suspected” of being involved in drugs, for example, have been barred from employment, even though the evidence itself — if it even existed — was so unfounded that the police never even bothered to formally question them; let alone, issue an arrest.Credit: Canadian Broadcast CorportationAbove: George Floyd Protests In Washington D.C.Below is one answer I wrote regarding this type of system:David Frigault's answer to Why do criminals go back to crime?Even getting an acquittal in court does not help, as people acquitted for crimes ranging from drug offences to murder are still given a criminal record, and treated no differently than someone who was in fact guilty of whatever charge was thrown at them.Wrongfully Convicted Often Find Their Record, Unexpunged, Haunts ThemThere was even the case of Daniel Rushing— a sixty-four-year-old White male — who was driving home one night when the police pulled him over, and searched his vehicle.The police found some white powder at the bottom of his vehicle, and even though he told them outright that they are the crumbs from his Krispy Kreme doughnuts, he was nonetheless arrested and charged with possessing crystal methamphetamine.Later kits tested negative for drugs, and even though the courts acquitted him, he still has a charge “trafficking crystal methamphetamine with a weapon” (he legally owned a handgun) and as a result, he was no longer able to return to his old security job, and has remained more or less unemployed since then.Above: Daniel Rushing Being InterviewedFlorida Man Awarded $37,500 After Cops Mistake Glazed Doughnut Crumbs For MethUnfortunately, this is far from being an exception, as millions of people who were never convicted of a crime are still nonetheless given the umbrella treatment of being forced to live in lifelong unemployment, or working jobs that barely pay minimum-wage for a living.And even if someone did in fact possess drugs, or if they had indeed committed some other crime, does our system warrant making such people unemployable, whereby they are likely to begin acting irrationally because they have nothing to lose, or because they need to rob someone for money in order to feed themselves?For certain offences, including drug trafficking and terrorism charges, even relatives of such people can still get a record; effectively, it becomes a scenario of guilt by association.If those people had not been committed “terrorists” beforehand, I am certain you have helped in bolstering their numbers.The “criminal” system is nothing more than a modern equivalent of casting.Poor people are already likely to get a criminal record, because they are going to be stuck with public defenders, instead of real lawyers, which means that they would be forced to plead guilty to whatever charge is thrown at them in order to avoid a decade or more in prison for something as simple as shoplifting.Even those who live a middle-class background can easily find themselves being reduced to the poor class by being merely accused of one of thousands of offences written in our lawbooks.Credit: ABC NewsAbove: Donald Trump Announcing His Potential Plan To Shoot ProtestersQuite conveniently, of course, rich people in general don’t need to worry about the legal system, since they will have a team of lawyers to help them, and even if they are convicted, they will be sent to a comparatively plush prison, and be able to return to their mansion after they get out.Everyone else would be homeless by the time they got out.We spend more money on the police than we do on combating poverty. Quite the oxymoron, since poverty has been repeatedly shown to be the leading cause of robberies, assaults and murders.What NYC could do with its $6 billion police budgetStrictly speaking, defenders of police brutality would say that “it is not their fault that is how the system works” to which I will say that the police themselves represent the legal system which civilians are subjected to.They can try all they want in defending cops who treat people as felons and lifelong sex offenders for peeing in a bush because they could not find a washroom. However, as the police say “the law is the law” and if the law which they represent requires them to make felons out of people for trivial reasons, then they cannot use the excuse that “not all cops are the same” since the legal system is — at least in theory — the same for everyone.Before I proceed any further with George Floyd, I want to go back nearly three decades into the past and talk about the Rodney King riot incident.Contrary to popular belief, it is very unlikely that the Rodney King beating was the actual cause of the actual riot, even though it seems to have been the most popularised by the media.It is quite probable that the real spark was the case of Latasha Halrins, a fifteen-year-old teenage girl who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean businesswoman at a local shop, who had accused the former of shoplifting, even though she was already standing in front of the counter.Above: Latasha Harlins Shooting VideoThis incident took place in Los Angeles a mere thirteen days after the Rodney King beating, and from what I have seen on the surveillance camera of the incident, the Korean businesswoman proceeds to yank either her arm or bag (the images are grainy, so it is hard to tell) and in return Latasha begins throwing some punches, the Korean businesswoman throws a stool, and then Latasha smashes the orange juice bottle that she was initially intending to buy onto the counter.The video then ends with the Korean businesswoman pulling out her rifle from behind the counter, and shooting the teenager in the back of the head as she was walking away.Killing her outright.Personally, I am not big on incarceration, and would not mind seeing it diminished, if not outright abolished in the future.But this is not what my great concern regarding the legal outcome of this case is.The judge was a female judge who — despite having the power to give her sixteen years in prison for aggravated manslaughter — decided to give the Korean businesswoman five years of PROBATION, community service, and a fine.To top it off, the judge stated something along the lines of: “This is not a time for revenge; but a time for healing.”Killing of Latasha Harlins - WikipediaSorry, but I have never seen evidence that the American “justice system” was anything other than revenge, except for when a cop, politician or rich person is the defendant.Credit: Business InsiderAbove: A Typical “Prison Cell” In NorwayWhy Norway's prison system is so successfulIf this incident were to take place in a country like Norway today — the country that gave Anders Behring Breivik a twenty-one-year prison sentence in a fairly humane prison — I could understand the reasoning for this sentence, since Norway currently has a reputation for being quite lenient when it comes to criminal law.As a matter of fact, if this incident had taken place two decades earlier, I may have given the benefit of the doubt that the reason for probation, as opposed to imprisonment, was due to the more relaxed legal system seen in the United States during the 1970s, as compared to the 1990s.I have read about the likes of Santos Reyes getting a sentence of 26 years to life in a Californian prison for cheating on a driver’s test; or even Leandro Andrade getting a sentence of 50 years to life for shoplifting VHS tapes.Santos Reyes (prisoner) - WikipediaLockyer v. Andrade - WikipediaDecades later, and they are still incarcerated, since the Supreme Court did not feel that their sentences violated “cruel and unusual punishment”.Those who know anything about the Los Angeles riots don’t need me to explain that it was the Koreans — and not White people — who became primary targets for Black people, and even the shop where Latasha Halrins was killed was razed to the ground during the riots.It has nothing to do with me saying that I “want” to see the Korean businesswoman in prison, but everything to do with proportionality.Credit: Curbed LAAbove: Aftermath Of The Los Angeles RiotThe judge also tried to excuse her sentencing by saying how she is certain that the businesswoman “felt bad” and that she would “never reoffend again”.Of course, there are a lot of people who are in prison serving life sentences for far less whom I am certain feel the same way, and it is not like I see any judges or police officers running over to their rescue.I am also certain there are many people on death row for capital murder who would be perfectly law abiding citizens if they were released, and yet they are executed in the end, nonetheless.So, yes, even though I happen to agree that we shouldn’t be using the court system as a means to seek retribution, I can definitely understand the resentment some people would have felt in regards to this judge’s decision, since you cannot go around saying that “this is not a time for revenge” at one person, and then proceed to throw the book at the next.Aside from the fact that the police tend to be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to any legal complaints, the police are also armed with a lawyer (sometimes more than one).The lawyer will spend months preparing their legal defence, and everything is paid for by the police department.Above: Robert Leone Beating DocumentaryMeanwhile, a regular civilian like myself, as well as 99.9% of those who will ever read this answer, would be merely given a public defendant, and not a lawyer.Public defendants have to deal with dozens of cases per week, and they don’t have the time, nor energy, to make a strong legal defence in favour of the accused. The most you’ll get from a public defendant, is a request that you simply plead guilty to a plea bargain in order to avoid the maximum sentence.Oftentimes, public defendants are also friends with the judge, prosecutor, and even the arresting police officers, so they are not going to try and make their friends look bad by arguing against them. (Unlike private lawyers, who may not be associated with a specific courtroom to begin with.)Credit: TimesofIsraelAbove: Firework Being Ignited During The George Floyd ProtestsFor anyone still reading, you may be wondering what all of this is leading to, and here are several keypoints which I hope I have done a sufficient-enough job in explaining:We cannot be lenient towards a cop accused of a crime, since the very legal system which they claim to represent does not show such favouritirism towards anyone elseWe must stop treating the legal system as if it is some sort of infallible ethics system, despite the fact that the laws were clearly written by some random individual, whose moral authority is not any higher than anyone else’sWe should stop assuming that the police are indespensable, even though there are far better alternatives to policing which don’t involve “anarchy” the way some pro-police proponents paintJust this week, a man named Martin Gugino was nearly killed when the police went over and shoved his head to the ground; cracking his head open. Not one of them bothered to acknowledge the fact that there was a seventy-five-year-old man whose head was leaking blood all over the pavement.Quite tellingly, it was the army soldiers in the rear — and not the police — who had the courtesy to check and see if he was all right.Above: Martin Gugino Shoved To The GroundAs a result of this incident, all 57 members of the Buffalo Tactical Unit resigned; not because of the man being injured, but because two of their colleagues were being charged with the assault.57 members of Buffalo police riot response team resign after shoving incidentLike in the case with George Floyd, if the police themselves were not the types of people who would find any technicality in the law they could in order to give civilians the harshest sentences they could, I “may” have been slightly more sympathetic.However, knowing that people have spent years of their lives in prison for doing far less to a cop, and then getting a felony record on top of it as a means of barring such people from employment, makes me say “good riddance” to that entire unit, and that I wish more police would resign altogether so that policing as an institution can finally die out.If anything, I am more insulted that those police only resigned from active duty, yet they still expect to be paid their regular salary, sitting at their desk jobs doing squat.The hypocrisy amongst the police is outstanding, and the George Floyd protests seem to be resonating old memories, from police vehicles running down protesters, to police shooting the eyes out of news reporters and protesters with rubber bullets.Above: Police Using Their Vehicles Against ProtestersI don’t think the police are in the moral high-ground to be ever arresting people for “assault” ever again. Unfortunately, the world we live in right now falls under the philosophy of “might means right” so we will still be seeing people being charged by police who had ruptured the eyeballs of people during the George Floyd protests, because someone moved their hands while being handcuffed.Above: Woman Who Lost Eye To Police Rubber Bullet Being InterviewedAt this point, I may be digressing for some readers, though everything written above I feel was necessary in order to convey my points.In conclusion to what is happening right now, here is where I stand on the issue:Even if the police did not exhibit the types of outrageous behaviour exhibited in George Floyd, the protests, or elsewhere, I would still be calling for an end to policing, since I find them — the police — to be oudated and archaic, and I hope that these recent incidents will propel more people into my line of thinking.I don’t personally hate, nor like, the police involved in the death of George Floyd, since I don’t know them outside this particular case, which permits me to write this from a neutral perspective.Either way, the police are the ones who always like to gloat about accountability, and how we, the civilians, should just “plead guilty” otherwise we are “flaunting” justice.Police are also the same people who tell citizens to just tell the police everything they want to know, despite the fact that it makes it far less likely that someone will get a plea bargain — let alone, an acquittal — even if they are in fact innocent of what they are being charged with.Most police, online and offline, are acting outraged that we would be condemning these cops in much the same way that the likes of Amber Guyger were last year. And yet, the police themselves are notorious for shooting off fireworks or drinking beer outside an execution unit whenever someone accused of killing a cop gets executed. Can someone explain to me how people venting offline is worse than personally going over to cheer someone being killed by the state?There is no such thing as “good and bad” police: the police all enforce the same law, and therefore should not be differentiated. The fact that some police claim that they don’t always “agree” with the laws is completely moot. I am certain that the person who gets treated like a felon for peeing outside probably couldn’t care less what some cop’s excuse is.7 Surprising Things That Could Make You A Sex OffenderCredit: BreitbartAbove: Additional Fireworks Being Ignited During The George Floyd ProtestsWe should not be seeing the death of George Floyd as merely a system of racism or police brutality but as a system that is already rotten to its core, and can no longer be salvaged.People need to stop saying that they don’t like police brutality, and then at the same time act offended when someone suggests the possibility that there are far better ways to keep communities safe than policing.Right now, I cannot see too many people feeling safe at the thought that they could lose their eyesight from having the police shooting rubber bullets at their eyes.Even restaurant owner David McAtee, who had apparently been a former supporter of the police, and who used to give free meals to cops was not safe, for he was one of those who was shot and killed when the police began firing real bullets at protesters.Credit: Online NewsAbove: David McAteeShooting of David McAtee - WikipediaBelow, I will leave one answer of mine showing only a sample of some of the most egregious cases against White people by the police. Not unsurprisingly, not one of these cases ever trended on the mainstream news:David Frigault's answer to Do white people ever have crazy experiences with the police?I should also mention that I personally have a fairly high standard for what constitutes as murder, and even more so when it comes to first degree murder. Personally, I don’t think that the George Floyd case was really a murder at all (unless I find out later that Derek Chauvin had indeed known Floyd beforehand, and was coming over to deliberately kill him with a clear mind for personal reasons) since I strictly hold to the old school of thought that for a murder to have been committed, one has to have had a reasonably sound mind at the time, and that there was some sort of malice involved, such as robbery, rape, revenge killing etc. and that the offender had not acted out the killing in a moment of rage.Credit: NBC NewsAbove: George Floyd’s Coffin During His FuneralThe standards mentioned above are still applied in most European countries, where charging someone with murder is much harder to do, because of the narrower definition needed for a homicide to be regarded as such. And if the case of George Floyd were to have happened in one of these European countries, I would be personally opposed to charging them with murder because of the higher standards required for murder.On a legal level, however, North America tends to consider the killing of any cop to be an automatic murder, regardless of the premeditation involved, mindset and reason for the killing; and since the police always boast that they hold themselves to a higher accountability than civilians, would it be fair on a legal level to not charge these former police officers with murder, regardless of intent?By the way, here is one video that went viral during the protests when a police officer was shown taunting protesters as he fired rubber bullets indiscriminately into the crowd. What is more outrageous, however, is not the act of this individual, but of his police chief, who tried to brush off the incident by talking about how how “he is a good kid who just made a mistake.”I would like to see a time when someone from his department gets shot by a teenager or young adult, and see him making the same statement on behalf of the cop killer, as I am certain plenty of those who shoot police officers are themselves “good kids making a mistake”.Above: Video Footage Of The Shooting, Plus The Police Chief’s Awkwardly Silly RemarksI think even in a clear-cut case of second degree murder (or even first degree murder) a forty-year prison sentence — what the four accused now face — is indeed quite excessive on a personal level, and such prison sentences were the result of the United States adopting harsher prison sentences for murder, starting in the 1970s.However, knowing that in Minnesota, first degree murder carries an automatic life sentence without parole for at least 30 years, and that killing a cop in the same way that they killed George Floyd would have resulted in a far harsher sentence for Floyd (and probably even less sympathy from the general population or courtroom) I cannot say that giving them a forty-year-sentence would be outrageously disproportional, based on the current sentencing laws exhibited in the United States, even though it is unlikely that they would get sentenced to anywhere near that length of time.In Canada, the shooting of Sammy Yatim by James Forcillo in July 2013 was actually far less extreme than the viral cop videos shown in the USA, since Yatim was indeed wielding a knife at passengers, and threatening to stab them.He was then shot three times by Forcillo when Yatim began turning his attention on the police waiting outside the bus. After Yatim tried getting up, he was shot six more times by Forcillo, and it was the second volley that made the jury find the former police officer guilty of attempted murder (Yatim later died) and was given a six-year-prison sentence (he was paroled after two years).Above: Sammy Yatim Shooting VideoIf this were in the United States, it is very unlikely that a conviction would have taken place. It is even unlikely that a prosecutor would have gone through with this case, since the “feared for my life” defence is far more lenient towards American cops than Canadian cops.Not to say that the criminal record system, or the use of aggression by Canadian cops is any better, but Canadian sentencing laws in general tend to be far less extreme than those found in the United States, so the sentence handed against Forcillo is definitely not as disproportionate by Canadian standards.For those interested in hearing further arguments as to why I think policing is outdated, check out my other answer linked below:David Frigault's answer to Should the police be abolished?If the four cops involved feel genuinely bad about their situation, or even the actions resulting in George Floyd’s death, then that is fine.Credit: WikipediaAbove: George FloydHowever, since I have never heard of a civilian getting out of being imprisoned, or even executed, for “feeling bad” about something, the whole argument of proportionality comes back into play, since we cannot be giving one standard to a certain group of people, and another to everyone else.If we were to begin releasing people based on how they feel after the fact, thousands of people currently in prison for murder right now would be freed at this very moment. Of course, that is obviously not going to happen, and I am sure the police would be themselves amongst the most vehemently opposed to seeing a mass release of civilians convicted of murder; especially if they were accused of killing a police officer.I don’t doubt that Nikolas Cruz feels bad about shooting up his high school, even though the shooting was the result of several unfortunate incidents in a row leading to Cruz resorting to desperate violence.And yet, the prosecutor still intends to seek the death penalty, due to the act itself, and not because of who Cruz is as a person.Credit: The New York TimesAbove: Nikolas Cruz On TrialWhen Amber Guyger was being tried last year, the court had a slew of police officers try to tell the jury and those watching the case from their homes, about how Amber Guyger was a “good person” who “feels bad” about killing Botham Jean as their reasoning for why Amber Guyger should be let off altogether.Of course, if Botham Jean had been the one who was accused of killing Amber Guyger, I doubt any one of these officers would have claimed that Botham Jean should be released based on “feeling bad” about the situation.Cops in Texas are notorious for showing up in their uniforms, and standing at the back of the courtroom in order to intimidate jury members into giving out the maximum sentence to anybody accused of causing the death of a police officer.It is also the reason why police officers who showed up to the Amber Guyger trial were prohibited from wearing their uniforms, since to do so could have compelled the jury members to acquit Guyger altogether.Credit: New York PostAbove: Amber Guyger Taking The Stand Shortly Before Her SentencingWhat will happen when these four police officers stand trial?Will they be acquitted?Will they get a more lenient sentence than is the norm for second degree murder?Who knows.Either way, I think it is a good thing that more and more police are finally being arrested and sentenced to the very prisons they themselves made a career out of sending civilians to; not because I am a vengeful person who enjoys seeing cops going to prison the way cops claim to enjoy incarcerating “thugs” but because the prison industry is now going to be striking far closer to home for the police. Furthermore, the very thought that they themselves could be spending years of their lives surrounded by the inmates they once arrested may actually intimidate a lot of police into leaving the police forces altogether, which would finally allow proponents of legal reform to gradually outlaw the use of incarceration.I also want to mention one thing regarding Amber Guyger, since I find something about her defence to be quite ironic:One of those people whom she had ticketed, had claimed that she was “grateful” to have been given a ticket for drug possession by Guyger, who claimed that she could see her ticket as “her way out” (of poverty).Credit: INCAbove: Homeless Family On The StreetSince when has giving people a criminal record, and thus limiting their jobs, been a way to get people out of poverty?Is Amber Guyger going to see the 5–10 years she’ll spend in a Texas prison, as well as having a lifelong felony on her record, to be a positive asset to her livelihood?Either way, this just goes further to prove how out of touch with reality the police are when it comes to the prison system.Prison itself — especially in North America — is nothing more than mere warehousing. Literally nothing positive comes out of being in prison, and I am certain that Michael Slager, Roy Oliver, Jason van Dyke, Mohamed Noor, Amber Guyger, Johannes Mehserle, Derrick Safford etc. are not going to come out of prison at some later date, and talk about what a positive experience it was.I am certain even James Forcillo, who was released from Canadian prison this January, is not going to claim that he came out of prison a better person, especially once he realises his job prospects are approximately zero.Credit: City News TorontoAbove: James Forcillo (Left) And Sammy Yatim (Right)With all the hundreds of people who have been killed, beaten or mutilated by the police within just the last week alone, we should have been able to see large swathes of the police force behind bars as an example to their emboldened colleagues.Unfortunately, very few have been charged, and probably even fewer will be prosecuted, since most police at this time are hiding their badge numbers in order to make identification impossible.Nonetheless, perhaps the cowardly attitudes of the police during these times will make civilians realise that since the police do not wish to identify themselves while committing such atrocities, civilians in turn should have no obligation in identifying themselves when a police officer decides to arrest them for either protesting, or just about any other reason.Credit: YouTubeAbove: Kelly Thomas In A Coma On July 5, 2011 After Being Beaten By Police (He Died Five Days Later)Death of Kelly Thomas - WikipediaA better way to defy the legal system is to do what the police being charged already do, and plead not guilty, regardless of the “evidence” against you, for this will take up far more of the court’s time, and if thousands of protesters do the same thing, it could cause a complete breakdown in the system; further proving that the right to a fair trial is nothing more than a lie.We citizens do not owe the prosecutors, judges or police anything. Besides, the system is supposed to work for the citizens, not the other way around. I think that the people representing the system have long since lost their credibility to be imposing guilt on the civilian population, and these acts being committed by the police during the protests are only strengthening that belief.Perhaps when we see the police being prosecuted for shooting out the eyes of protesters, we can talk about protesters — who are not breaking the law, by the way — “cooperating” with the legal system.Here is a more detailed version regarding my opinions on prisons, and why I don’t think that incarceration is the right way to go about things:David Frigault's answer to Should prisons exist?Far from being an ethics or a moral code, the law is merely a set of written rules made by politicians, who tend to have a political agenda beneath these laws, and the police are expected to enforce them at all costs.Credit: Al JazeeraAbove: Police Arresting Protesters During The George Floyd ProtestsPerhaps this black and white rule is also why — in the same way “criminals” and “non-criminals” are defined — the average civilian now standardises their view on the state based on what they deemed to be abhorrent behaviour.I am certain that the four police officers currently in custody for the death of George Floyd are wishing for others to be compassionate towards them.And while I think we should be on a human level, I think that as far as the legal system is concerned, justice in this case demands that the police be dealt with as harshly as a civilian would.Yes, the police who killed George Floyd are, at the end of the day, still human beings with feelings and desires like the rest of us. Then again, so are the millions of civilians who get caught up in the legal system, and I doubt that their fates have been any better.For the sake of public safety, fairness must come before personal emotions, and fairness in this case would not be to regard the police officers, or even the police in general as human beings, but as individuals who are subjected to a set of laws that is, in theory, removed from personal feelings.Above: Man Who Suffered Loss Of Left Eye, Broken Jaw And Teeth From Police Projectiles Being InterviewedThe moment we start letting the police off the hook based on their social background, their income, or the “prosecutorial immunity” defence is when we give the greenlight for more police to feel compelled to act this way.Notice how most police these days won’t even get bothered if someone is filming their actions?Clearly, this is the result of years of judges, juries and prosecutors siding with so-called law enforcement officials, no matter how clear the evidence is, which in turn gives other police officers the incentive to push police brutality to a whole new level.Above: Kelly Thomas Beating VideoFortunately, it seems that within the last five years alone, more police are being arrested for murder, attempted murder, or physical violence than have been in the last century combined.This is not proof that the police of today are more violent than those in the past, since I am confident that police would have been far more likely to beat someone up or shoot them during an era when cameras did not exist, and when their word was treated as absolute.Unfortunately, the decision to take these cases seriously only now, in the midst of social media and growing unrest, means that many police officers who shot fleeing suspects in front of civilians because they thought they could get away with it may have resulted in far more civilians being killed by the police, and far more police being arrested than would otherwise have been the case.That does not mean that I am exonerating the likes of Michael Slager or Derek Chauvin, since I feel that they are still at fault for their own actions, regardless of what they “thought” would happen to them on a legal basis.Credit: TRT WorldAbove: Left To Right — Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane And Derek ChauvinI have come to understand that two of the officers involved in the death of George Floyd had only been on the job for three or four days. Apparently Lane, the one who sat on George Floyd’s legs, had a grandfather who had worked as a police detective.It would be interesting to have known what his grandfather’s views were regarding what should happen to civilians who cause the death of another, so that when he is informed that his own grandson is now being prosecuted for murder after only four days on the job, we don’t have his grandfather resorting to begging for the same leniency which he would deny others.Thomas Lane: 5 Things About Officer Charged With Aiding & Abetting After George Floyd’s DeathUnfortunately, we will never know the answer, since his grandfather died in 2008, and asking such a question would be meaningless if he was already aware of the George Floyd incident beforehand.VERDICTAs one can see, I tend to weigh my decisions when making moral conclusions, since I as a human can differentiate grey areas in events such as this one; something which the law does not have the capacity for doing.Whatever happens at the end of the day will happen.I can’t say I would be “happy” if they got imprisoned — since prison can leave people with a lot of physical and mental health problems, in addition to being left in a financially penurious state — but at the same time, I cannot say I would be legally opposed to it, either, since their treatment would not be any worse than a civilian being accused of the same type of crime.Hopefully lessons will be learned, even though it is doubtful.Merely having protesters saying things like “stop the hate” is not going to solve anything, since the legal system in itself is hateful. I have never witnessed anyone who experienced being the defendant in a legal system claim it was a positive experience.On the day I hear politicians stating their intentions in ending incarceration, and to stop criminalising civilians out of employment, is the day I will say that I support the unconditional release of the four officers involved in George Floyd’s death, as well as those cops convicted/charged in other cases.Since it does not seem that it will be happening any time soon, I do not intend to change my opinion in the foreseeable future, either.Credit: Alton TelegraphAbove: Sketch Featuring Thomas Lane Making His Initial Court Appearance