Justice in Les Miserables (revised)
I read Les Miserables several months ago, here is a brief overview; the main character, Jean Valjean, has been a convict for 19 years. 5 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and 14 years for 4 attempted escapes.
The main social issue in this book is punishment. It is quite clear that 19 years is too much for stealing some bread. What really bothers me is the fact that according to his record he is a very dangerous person. What makes it so unjust is that no one knows the true reason why he was imprisoned. The report from his case says that he was sentenced for burglary and attempted escape. Although this is true, it lacks detail and I would say that it exaggerates the real situation. And due to this Jean Valjean has now been stripped of his rights as a person. No one wants to help him because they are afraid of him. It’s not exactly correct to say that they should meet him first and then judge him by his personality, because if a man shows up at your house and he has a card that says that he is a dangerous criminal you’re not going to let him in. however I do believe that there should be a more clear and realistic description of Jean Valjean’s crime.
I don’t really know why Jean Valjean would want to attempt to escape from jail so many times when he knows what he was risking if he was unsuccessful. It could have been just simply knowing that he did not deserve to be in jail, and it’s not all because of the simple fact that he was in jail, but his sentence was originally for 5 years. And 5 years for stealing a loaf of bread, is not just. Perhaps Jean Valjean just thought that he could escape successfully and start a new life, but failed four times.
I think that fair punishment for a crime is when it seems reasonable. If you steal an object then you should both return it and have to pay a fine or just pay a fine for replacing it. It’s just not fair to arrest someone and throw them in jail for stealing some bread, or let’s say for j-walking.
This leads me to my point; how do we know if the punishment fits the crime? And how do we decide on an appropriate punishment for a crime? I believe that this is one of the biggest social issues of the world. It’s everyday that you hear stories on the news about some kind of crime and you always wonder what’s going to happen to the person responsible for the crime. And sometimes you may think that the punishment is too harsh or sometimes it’s too mild. But how can we develop a system for punishing crime the right way so that everyone can be in agreement, and is it even possible to do so? This book takes place in the 1800s, so just after the French revolution, which was when the absolute monarchy collapsed. Right away you can see how far we've come to punish crime in a more fair way. But there are still places in our world where punishment for crime is not fair, and even in places where it is, there are exceptions. Our world is far from perfect, but if everyone realizes the mistakes we may be able to create justice.
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