Why being merciful helps criminals better themselves

You try to live strictly by the moral rules contained in your religion\\\\\\\'s moral code. The two most important rules are \\\\\\\"Be merciful\\\\\\\" (don\\\\\\\'t give people what they deserve) and \\\\\\\"Be just\\\\\\\" (give people exactly what they deserve). Now suppose a man is arrested for stealing food from your house, and the police leave it up to you whether he should be prosecuted for his crime or set free. Should you be merciful and set him free, or be just and make sure he is appropriately punished? How do you resolve this conflict of rules? Can your moral code resolve it? To what moral principles or theories do you appeal?

In this circumstance I would look to be merciful. Here, the rational is related heavily to the severity of the crime in relation to the individual committing the act. From the case example present above, the individual is shown to steal food from a home. However, the case doesn’t indicate that other valuables such as electronics, jewelry, or money are stolen. This indicates that the individual was looking to steal items that were necessary for survival as oppose to unnecessary items related to monetary gain (Affenito, 2014). In addition, the items stolen appear to be easily replaced and thus do not warrant an extreme punishment. Although not indicates in the case, it appears as though this is the first offense by the criminal in question. Finally, when examining the overall utility of the food for the victim relative to the home owner, it appears that the food would have much more utility to the criminal. This does not justify their behavior but it does add a layer of complexity relative to the punishment of being merciful or just. Here, the criminal appears to be stealing items of need that have a very high utility to the individual. Likewise, the home owner appears to have the capacity to easily replace the materials stolen. In addition, it appears that none of the home owners valuable possession where stolen during the breach (Dwyer, 1996). Here, it would be beneficial to be merciful and provide a punishment that is not necessarily commensurate with the crime committed. Through these actions it is reasonable to provide a merciful judgement on the individual committing the action. Here, instead of punishment through jail time, the “punishment” would be aimed at providing the offender skills in which they can be able to obtain the food they need to survive and be prosperous. This would have the residual impact of other improving the lives of future generations who could benefit from this knowledge base. This is particularly powerful as being merciful not only improves the life of the criminal, but it also improves the lives of future generations and society as a whole (Eisenhauer, 2014). Through being merciful society benefits could potentially be accomplishing that dwarf those of being “just.”