Anuj Patel
Week 5
ASA 002, Section A03
ID: 998882783

          In the article Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence by Darrell Y. Hamamoto, Hamamoto talks about many causes of murders and deaths: these causes include racism, economics, cannabis abuse, people being dissatisfied with their life in general, a sniper culture, as well as people being hostile about life in general. (Hamamoto, 276-289). First, Hamamoto talks about economics being the main cause of murders and that serial murders and mass murders often occur so that people can "break even" in society by getting rid of the people they feel take advantage of them. (Hamamoto, 278-279). For example, Hamamoto mentions "Economic uncertainty, the decline in real income, emasculation by routinized and tenuous jobs, and resentment against non-white minorities have caused more than a few middle-aged and vengeful white men to explode in paroxysms of violent rage against those seen as responsible for their plight." (Hamamoto 279). Hamamoto explains the ways that people justify their actions, and this relates to how we think when people make excuses in society for doing things that are illegal. For example, many people who end up in jail believe that because they do not know a particular law, this means that they should be exempted from getting in to trouble because of violating that law (Rosenzweig 2013). I believe that while many of these people are indeed correct, but it is sad that there are a few people who use the ignorance of the law excuse non-genuinely, which means that the government cannot tell who really did and did not know break the law (Rosenzweig 2013). Sadly this means that to protect society the government has to punish everyone. (Rosenzweig 2013). This relates to another part of Hamamoto's article, in the section "HIghway To Hell" which talked about Ramirez's difficult life of crime. (Hamamoto 287-288). Overall, this is an interesting article that relates to this weeks theme about Imperial University as unfortunate experiences within the legal system can tie in to experiences within school. For example, often times because I have ADHD, I act impulsively which has caused me to get into many fights unintentionally during high school and middle school. However, the principles do not see it this way and therefore they see it as an intentional fight and I would be treated like everyone else. It is sad, but in a way, the motto is right: "Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse" (Rosenzweig 2013). Otherwise, we can all technically act how we want with no consequences as nobody could evaluate our excuses (Rosenzweig 2013).

(England 2012)



Question: Should mistake of fact even apply to criminal law, as these types of mistakes are even harder to evaluate than ones of mistake of law? Or should people within the community, especially Asian Americans, be allowed this defense in criminal law?


References:

Boggs, C. (2003). Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire. New York, New York: Routledge.

England, Randy. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." FREE IS BEAUTIFUL. N.p., 5 Oct. 2012. Web. <http://freeisbeautiful.net/ignorance-of-the-law-is-no-excuse/>.

Rosenzweig, Paul. "Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse, But It Is Reality." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 17 June 2013. Web.
http://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/ignorance-the-law-no-excuse-it-reality