An Eye for an Eye: Justification or Codification, Michel Foucault

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“Justice must always question itself, just as society can exist only by means of the work it does on itself and on its institutions.” The philosopher Michel Foucault explains the delicate balance of the justice systems with society. We have grown accustom to our way of crime and punishment in the United States. It handles the situations in a way of treating everyone as equals. Hammurabi’s code relies on more of a crime fits the punishment method. The common code, an eye for an eye, shows how seriously strict Hammurabi’s code can be. Should punishment be handled like we do in today’s society, in a humane way, or a brute force method? Without a doubt, history shows that human nature causes us to desire power, and usually ends in criminal actions. Punishment comes from the government and how it is handled. Is the United States implementing their job or do we need to go back to a stricter code?
In Mesopotamia, about two thousand years ago, two civilizations began to thrive. Both cultures were very old and prospered long before the bible was written, as well as before the Greeks and Romans flourished. One that emerged was the civilization of Babylonia, in the southern part near the Persian Gulf (Giokaris, Amalia). It was there that an impressive City began to grow. The ancient city of Babylon was a walled city, with networks of canals. To go along with this architecture, there were green crops surrounding the city. In the middle of the square was a giant 300 foot high ziggurat, filled with plants and sculptures. People lived inside the wall that surrounded the city, where they had lavish sized homes. Even the lowest class had typically three levels of living space. Traders filled the streets with fresh fruit, baked b...

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