(A brief explanation of the language used in this essay)
Over the course of human history, we have become aware. And with this awareness, we have developed a sense of self importance and developed various concepts to distinguish us from other less intelligent animals on Earth. I believe the reality is that all animals are people. Levels of intelligence vary among species and individuals of species. But in this belief, level of intelligence does not determine whether a or not an animal is a person. Feelings do. Emotions do. The ability to reason in some capacity, small or great, defines whether or not a person is a person. If a creature has no brain, and consequently no ability to feel, that creature is not a person.
Humans do various cruel acts to humans as well. Imprisonment, torture, rape, murder, robbery and many other things as well. In the case of humans, we are intelligent enough to premeditate an act (just or unjust) or to decide not to do a premeditated act. We are influenced by the thoughts which we choose or allow, but we have the intelligent will to choose. In some cases of imprisonment of humans, the act is justified. A human may need to be prevented from doing an act to harm people. But simple imprisonment is unreasonable. Imprisonment may be justified reasonably, but for it to remain reasonable, it must include healthy rehabilitation. It may, depending on the nature of the person being imprisoned and the act committed be reasonable to keep a person restrain for a very long time, even for life. But it is unreasonable to take away this person's dignity and reason for living. Giving the person a reason to live, a purpose in life or allowing that person to find a purpose within the confines of a system designed to protect people should also protect the person being confined in all the ways necessary for a person to be emotionally, spiritually and physically healthy. This may in some, if not most, even include a relationship of some sort. It might be a relationship with another human or a different species for the human to care for. No doubt doctors who sincerely care and are well learned and studied in the details of the needs of people of various species could design a healthy and just system for healing people, which is very often all that really needs to be done.
Humans, when emotionally and spiritually injured are the most destructive species on Earth without a doubt. And because of this, it seems likely that humans all throughout history have gradually developed greater degrees of the ability to damage the emotional and spiritual status of humans as our intelligence has increased. As humans who are beginning to understand how nature works and how we work, we are reaching a point in our own development where we have a responsibility to use our power of intelligence responsibly. We have increased our ability to do damage. We have the responsibility to increase our ability to heal, not just ourselves, but others.
An inclusive comprehensive definition of 'person' and 'people' in law might simplify the law, but it would probably increase prosecution of acts committed by humans. It must be understood that it is unjust and unreasonable to prosecute and punish a person who cannot understand the nature of the act committed, such as a child or someone with cognitive limitations or impairment. Even if the person must be restrained, under all circumstances that person's dignity, emotional, spiritual and physical health must be cared for in order for the healing of the person to be able to occur.
It is absolutely necessary for those who are the stewards of the law to be educated as to the needs of the people they are charged with protecting and caring for. Without that education, they will continue to employ a variety of discordant and effectively destructive methods, and in the process of doing what they are charged with, they will commit unreasonable and unjust acts against the very people they are obligated to care for. A well defined set of principles which allow those people to better understand how to care for people will hopefully have a reasonable and just effect on how they do their work and affect the people they care for. Prosecution and punishment is very often redundant to the person being punished. They were punished before the prosecution, and in fact learned skills useless in a productive life which caused them to be prosecuted. The system of prosecution and punishment must be replaced with a system of evaluation and rehabilitation. Judges will still be judges and lawyers will still be lawyers and police will still be police, but all will be trained in ways that will be intended to reduce violence and
Police trained to restrain people without hurting them and who will take the time to demonstrate their own ability to care for the person they are restraining, who will observe accurately and communicate effectively will probably encounter fewer instances of resistance and violence, and when they do, it may even be less severe and intense, causing less damage to the people involved. No doubt there will still be those individuals who are dedicated to violence and destruction. And doctors may be able to theorize as to the reason for those people, may even be able to reasonably determine why, but those who are not dedicated to violence and destruction will be inclined to a more peaceful resolution of a situation.
Training police, lawyers and judges and all the other various public servants is not enough though. The person who is being restrained must know with reasonable certainty that he or she will be treated with dignity and respect, and will not be abused, but will be helped. And for that to be the case, a system must be designed and must replace the existing system which will insure this.
There must also be a system of monitoring and regulating the people who are the public servants, and a powerful and effective system of removing and rehabilitating them if they should commit acts against people which are inconsistent with their job and which are unjust and unreasonable. This system must include the general public, since it is a system for which the public has a vested interest in maintaining in order to fulfill their obligation of caring for and not harming other people, not to mention to protect themselves from a system which could potentially harm them, as our current system is doing.
I must caution that some people will be inclined to want to stay in a system that cares for them. Probably it won't be that many since one characteristic of the system is the limited or lack of freedom that will depend upon the severity of the act committed.
-- Daemon A. Bernstein