Umaymah Shahid

21^st June 2015

Crime and Punishment

After reading various Utopian literature such as Thomas More’s Utopia and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, I began to question how Utopian societies decided upon punishments to deal with citizens who challenge the laws set in place, and commit crimes such as theft, murder, rape, etc.? More’s Utopia discusses slavery and death as punishments inflicted on a person for crimes such as rebellion, adultery, travel violations, murder, and some small crimes such as theft. Gilman’s Herland shows citizens not punished for their crime but “preventive measures” (Chapter 10) taken by the society to treat them. How are the punishments in Utopian societies different from the ones executed in a non-utopian society? In contrast to Utopian literature one can see the prevalence of punishments for even petty crimes in Dystopian societies. The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand punishes crimes such as stealing by confinement for 10 years, or speaking the “Unspeakable Word” by burning at the stake. Dystopian novels are more likely to speak openly of their punishments, unlike their counterparts, Utopias. To understand the laws regarding crime and punishment in Utopian novels, I found it imperative to first research how Utopian societies functioned, which would then lend itself to the varied punishments in Utopias.

          First, to grasp the nature of Utopias, one must understand that people who felt that their society was going through a time of political or economic strife created Utopias in literature because they provided “the critical impetus that empowers our transformative ethics and politics” (Johnson 2). In other words, Utopias are created to help find the best or happiest form of society. I will explore two aspects of a perfect society: Basic Income and Open Information while looking at how Utopia and Herland explore these ideas as well.

A central part of Utopias is the availability of resources such as money, food, shelter, or family. Philippe Van Parijs in the article “The Universal Basic Income: Why Utopian Thinking Matters, and How Sociologists Can Contribute to It” looks at how providing a basic income would help create a more just society. As Thomas More states in Utopia, “there are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves, but it were much better to make such good provisions by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and of dying for it” (1.3d) That the success of a society lies in providing for their needs is critical to having a sustainable society. According to Parijs, providing an unconditional basic income, irrespective of how someone lives, whom they live with, or what they like to work in, will allow people to have the “power to decide what sort of life [they] want to live,” and it becomes the “power to say yes to activities that are poorly paid or not paid at all, but are nonetheless attractive either in themselves or because of the training and the contacts they provide” (Parijs). Time and time again Utopian societies have shown to not discriminate on the labor one performs, as long as it benefits the society. When someone does not have to worry about their income’s source, they will work on what interests them. In Utopia we see citizens working in gardens, out on the field, “manufacture of wool or flax, masonry, smith’s work, or carpenter’s work; for there is no sort of trade that is in great esteem among them” (2.7). They work on what they find pleasurable to them. Similarly in Herland, most women labor in motherhood, teaching, physical training, or mentoring, among many others.

A second aspect of Utopias is the availability and accessibility to information. For example, when the mentors of Van, Jeff, and Terry in Herland learn something about the world outside of theirs, they script it and then make it available to all of the citizens of Herland. According to Archon Fung in his article “Infotopia: Unleashing the Democratic Power of Transparency”, “the first principle of democratic transparency is that the information citizens need to protect their vital interest should be available to them” and “that information should be accessible”. Having information available to the public is essential to the smooth governance of Utopias because majority decisions are based on a democratic system, and so without democratic transparency, there would be no collective decision making. One can pick up any Dystopian novel and find the prevalence of hidden information which results in curious citizens wanting to seek information and then be punished for doing so. So Utopias value two key elements: basic income, or the providing of necessary provisions, and democratic transparency. In light of these two elements I will explore the creation of laws governing crime and punishment in Utopian societies.

To understand punishments carried out in various Utopias, the purpose of political order in a country needs analysis. Keally McBride states in her book Punishment and Political Order, “the basic task of political order is to create harmony out of what is a volatile and varied population” (18). Human beings are not of conformity but consist of people with various views, behaviors, desires, etc. Political regimes have an idealistic idea of how to govern their land but they forget that about the existence of human behavior. “This gap between human behavior and political ideals is occupied by state punishment” (McBride 18) because through state punishment people expect order.  A political regime needs to find a balance between “practicality and justice” (McBride 22) in order for the society to run efficiently. As Thomas More states in Utopia, “Certainly unless you remedy these evils [poverty and lack of work], it is pointless for you to boast of the justice administered in the punishment of thieves, a justice which is specious rather than either just or expedient.” Thus the crime arises not from the fact that there is not a just punishment but that the social organization of the country forces the hands of the commoner to theft (McBride 22). Therefore, in order to have a Utopia and a decline in the rates of punishment, the social organization must allow all citizens access to work, income, and information, which we see in most Utopian fiction. In Thomas More’s Utopia, citizens do not find value in gold and silver, as they do not have any use for money. Similarly in Herland, money does not exist as a means of trade or economics, and any information is public.

A democratic system is utilized in Utopian societies in their creation of punishments to determine the best way to make someone atone for his misdeed. Laws in Utopia, do “not determine the punishment for other crimes, but that is left to the Senate, to temper it according to the circumstances of the fact.” The Senate, selected by the people, represents the views and opinions of those they represent. Most crimes are punished through slavery because it proves more productive than killing someone. In Herland punishment is given either through anesthesia, isolation, or exile. However there is no real law on punishments because the citizens do not believe in punishing but rather “preventive measures” are taken to treat the behavior (Chapter 10). Neither Utopias, unless a grave misdeed is committed, kill their citizens because, according to Roger Highfield in “Need for punishment rules out Utopia,” “punishment sustains co-operation in society, particularly punishment that is impartial and altruistic—not just tit-for-tat revenge meted out by individuals” because it gives justice to the punishment handed out and power to the people. “Utopians have few laws and attorneys, proctors and legal sergeants are banned, as they would manipulate and craftily dispute legislations to the advantage of some and the detriment of others” (Ruggiero). Therefore, punishments are created based on what is most beneficial to the society, i.e. slavery v. death, or what the people deem fit for the crime. It is important to compare the Utopian social organization and laws on crime and punishment to those of Dystopian.  Rand’s Anthem illustrates the citizens living in constant fear of punishment for speaking out of turn, smiling without reason, or exhibiting more intelligence than normal. Punishment becomes the foundation of Dystopian societies, but it serves as a means of order in Utopias.

Through this research I have understood the importance of social organization in the dealing of crime and punishment. Equality in the distribution of resources and transparency in the society paves a way for a more cooperative society and a need for fewer and less severe punishments.

Works Cited

Fung, A. "Infotopia: Unleashing the Democratic Power of Transparency." Politics & Society 41.2 (2013): 183-212. Web. 18 June 2015.

Highfield, Roger. "Need for punishment rules out Utopia." The Daily Telegraph 14 January 2002:11. Web. 18 June 2015.

Johnson, Greg. "The Specter of the Utopian." Elements of the Utopian. Aurora, Colo.: Davies Group, 2011. Print.  

McBride, Keally D. Punishment and Political Order. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2007. Print.

Parijs, P. Van. "The Universal Basic Income: Why Utopian Thinking Matters, and How Sociologists Can Contribute to It." Politics & Society (2013): 171-82. Web. 18 June 2015.

Ruggiero, Vincenzo. "Crime and Punishment in Classical and Libertarian Utopias." Crime, Critique and Utopia 52.4 (2013): 414-32. Web. 17 June 2015.