Part Four - Family and Society
Chapter 21 - Leadership and Government
5) Law and Punishments
2. The Administration of Justice
World Scripture
Whenever you judge between people, you should do so with justice. How superbly God instructs you to do so; God is Alert, Observant! Qur’an 4.58
Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien that is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. Deuteronomy 1.16-17
He is not thereby just because he hastily arbitrates cases. The wise man should investigate both right and wrong. The intelligent person who leads others not falsely but lawfully and impartially, who is a guardian of the law, is called one who abides by righteousness. Dhammapada 256-57 (Buddhism)
A thief shall, running, approach the king, with flying hair, confessing that theft, saying, “Thus I have done, punish me.” Whether he is punished or pardoned [after confessing], the thief is freed from the guilt of theft; but the king, if he punishes not, takes upon himself the guilt of the thief. Laws of Manu 8.314, 316 (Hinduism)
What destroyed your predecessors was just that when a person of rank among them committed a theft they left him alone, but when a weak one of their number committed a theft they inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. I swear by God that even if my daughter Fatima should steal, I would have her hand cut off. Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)
If the thief steals something he takes an oath to decide his fate, but if the oath steals something what will it take? Igala Proverb (African Traditional Religions) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20.16
Whoever commits a delinquency or crime, then throws it upon the innocent, has burdened himself with falsehood and a flagrant crime. Qur’an 4.112
A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained. If a malicious witness rises against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days; the judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. Deuteronomy 19.15-20
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
A nation’s laws impose punishment on criminals for the purpose of setting the indemnity conditions necessary for maintaining order in society. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1)
I cannot bend the law even for True Mother. The law rules her, as it rules me. (180:115, August 7, 1988)
You cannot have freedom without principle or law; you cannot have freedom without order… When there is no law and order, freedom brings only destruction. When you violate the law of a nation, you have to go to prison.
Yet if America is really a free country, why does it need prisons? Shouldn’t we just close them down and let everyone do whatever they want? Shouldn’t people be free to do whatever they want, even run down the street stark naked? Today in America people do that, even practice prostitution and homosexuality, and they regard it as their right to be free. Can we dispense with prison? Well then, should John Hinckley be able to get away with shooting President Reagan and insist that he not be arrested?
Certainly we need to incarcerate those who do not abide by the nation’s laws. Even in the spirit world there are prisons for those who do not abide by the laws of the spirit world. Schools need a room for detention, and families need a punishing spot. (112:73-74, April 1, 1981)
If a prosecutor or malicious person obtains the execution of an innocent man for personal motives, then according to the heavenly law he himself shall be sentenced to death. The person who was killed unfairly shall receive a reward, while the person who caused his death shall be punished. (93:111, May 21, 1977)