Gandhi Viewed Crime As A Social Malady.

Google AI Overview.

Mahatma Gandhi viewed crime as a societal malady, not a moral failing of the individual. He believed it should be treated like any other disease, with efforts focused on addressing its root causes rather than retribution. He emphasized that all crimes, including murder, are symptoms of a diseased social system and should be approached with a focus on reform and prevention.

Here are some key quotes and perspectives from Gandhi on this topic:

"Crime is a disease like any other malady and is a product of the prevalent social system".

"All crimes are different kinds of diseases and they should be treated as such by the reformers".

"No one commits crime for the fun of it. It is a sign of a diseased mind. The causes of a particular disease should be investigated and removed.".

"Jails should serve to treat the ailment,": implying a focus on rehabilitation and reform rather than punishment.

"Hate the crime and not the criminal.".

This emphasizes the need to address the root causes of crime, rather than focusing on punishment.
Crime is a disease and jails should serve to treat the ailment.

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I think really Gandhi was talking about human suffering, and all the suffering he saw around him in India then. But you know, all suffering (unless it's an act of God, as they call it in legal circles) is manmade. And manmade suffering results usually from mental illness, poverty, desperation, ignorance or low IQ. That last one, not directly from low IQ. But it is correlated because of things like lack of forethought, managing your emotions and considering the consequences of your action. Actually a lot of violence would be avoided if you just treated these people with respect, which is ironic and sad. And people with very low IQ's might still be in one of the lower stages of Kohlberg's development scale. Which means they just need more guidance. And love and respect too, really.

My point is it's a disease. People like Dahmer and Bundy were sociopaths, and thus mentally ill. They lacked all empathy. And sociopaths behavior often become reckless when for example they don't learn from their mistakes. Often leading in harm to them. As they get older (I once read years ago) the anger is often turned inward. But I think the time has come to treat crime and violence as an illness and slowly discard the punitive approach to violence and antisocial behavior altogether. Portugal has taken the lead with this with their approach to drug addiction. Norway is said to have some of the nicest prisons in the world, with a strong focus on rehabilitation and humane treatment.

For over twenty years now, actually since when I first went online, I have been putting forth the idea of a medicine or drug that cures violent tendencies. Maybe by restoring empathy. Oxytocin seems to do that, I've been telling people. Or by focusing on the cause of violence. Someone once told me Ritalin sometimes does that. And I have heard that people who have attention deficit disorder and ADHD often end up in prison when their condition goes untreated or even ignored. Someone once told me antipsychotics can suppress violent tendencies. I'm sure it can if that were part of the mentally ill person's condition. But someone said it can do that in normal people. If that's true and I didn't misunderstand them or what they said, maybe someone here could explain that to me. And why not develop new drug therapies and devote resources to what I just said here. Or just devote funds to prevention of crime and violence. Like I said, preventing drug addition is a better approach than to locking those people up. Also people abused don't automatically become abusers. But we need to focus on that problem with follow up treatment later in life for the victims of abuse. And better support for their whole family too.

I'm still not clear, all these years later, what if any research has been done on this topic. Also I am not clear what that person on that other message board meant about antipsychotics and other psychiatric medicines suppressing aggressive tendencies. In people who don't have serious mental illnesses to begin with. Anyone here know about that?

 

You failed to mention, or should I say the AI failed to mention Gandhi's experience as a lawyer in South Africa where his social views were formed and Apartheid was practiced before it was even given a name.