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Submitted by psh919 on April 27, 2008
Category: History Other
Words: 1861 | Pages: 8
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Crime and Punishment: How does Hammurabi’s Code translate into modern society?
In order to understand crime, it’s factors, and it’s transcendence through time, we must first realize the source of aggression. At some point during human history, man turned on himself and began attacking others within his species, whether it was a result of a territorial, sexual, or other type of conflict. However, these acts of wrongdoing did not become crimes until they were violating an actual written law. Therefore the origin of crime must have occurred during the first civilization from which written language has been discovered: Mesopotamia. A few codes of law have been discovered from ancient Mesopotamia, the most famous one written by a king of Babylon, Hammurabi. Many of his dictums are supported by the same morals which apply to today’s laws in the United States. Drapkin (1989) asserts that “…Mesopotamian concepts penetrated the Western ethos and are responsible, in no small proportion, for our turbulent history of tensions between reason and faith, hope and despair, freedom and authoritarianism, progress and defeat.” (p. 31) Although the Mesopotamian code of conduct was very different than those of its contemporaries, it played an enormous role in the formation of western laws.
As humans shifted from being nomadic to settling for extended periods in a particular area, many settled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This area provided fertile land, irrigation, and protection against invasions. This also meant that they were among the first to encounter an “urban” society on many levels. They dealt with the same moral issues which have been plaguing philosophers for centuries since. Their rulers worried about the same power struggles and territorial conflicts. Instead of the previously communal property, civilians had personal ownership and fought over private properties.
Crime and Punishment 2
One of the first codes of...
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