Determinism Criminal Justice

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The individual capability for change is a principle of human nature essential to the configuration of the criminal justice system in the United States. The cultural notion of the “American Dream” requires that people have the potential to alter the course of their lives in a myriad of areas, including economics, academics, and social standing. If people have the ability to reform their behavior, to change the way they respond to conflict, to improve behaviors associated with criminality, then retributive and quarantine-centric justice would be dissonant with a just approach to punishing crime within the cultural framing of the United States. It would not permit individuals with the ability to properly enact behavioral change and render them …show more content…
On this account, it would seem that the ability of individuals to change is nonexistent – there is no room to be an active participant in one’s own life path. What this hard determinist approach to change fails to take into account however, is the presence of extenuating circumstances and seemingly random events or occurrences. Even if free will, and active change, is not a viable pathway, there is always the chance that a positive force will exert itself on an individual and prompt a radical departure from their so-called determined path. Hard determinism is not fatalism - under this framework of thought there are not events that are destined to happen, but the course of events and both external and internal forces limit individuals options to a singular path. Consequently, the behaviors showcased by individuals are the result of events and stimuli that have occurred to them throughout their lives, which strongly indicates that a change of events can result in a change of behavior. For example, individuals who were born and raised in an honor culture have an unconscious response to interactions wherein they perceive being disrespected by another individual (Moser, 2012). Specifically in the South, individuals are more inclined towards aggression when faced …show more content…
In his 2008 work, Outliers, Gladwell uses statistical data to argue that successful individuals, people who are recognized and revered for their contributions to society, did not become successful merely because they worked for it. Instead, Gladwell argues that their success “is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserve, some not” all of which are critical to making them who they are” (Gladwell, 2008). This is not to say that these successful individuals were only lucky, but that their luck was required in tandem with hard work to get them to where they are. In the same way, individuals who have engaged in criminal activity are not only criminal but have been caught in a web of circumstances that are not entirely their fault. Gladwell contends that if these conditions, this luck, had been even slightly different than the paths and successes of these individuals could have, and likely would have, been extremely different. Applying this same reasoning to criminal actors, a change in conditions could have the potential of completely changing their paths and social
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