Riddle 026: Raining on Prom Night

[questionauthority]

[A: 726 Anderson Lane - BACKDATED TO THE DAY AFTER PROM.

Riddle me this: Who's as green as his suit and just woke up with the worst hangover ever? Answer: Edward Nigma, of course. Family members and unexpected visitors will find the Riddler downstairs at the breakfast table, dressed in a green bathrobe, half-heartedly fumbling with his daily crossword while he picks at a plate of eggs. He looks incredibly groggy, tired, and somewhat foul-tempered.]

[B: Mayfield High School - TODAY. It appears as though your favorite Ethics teacher is looking a little bit better after a long weekend and some time to recover. On the chalkboard, there appears to be a hastily drawn picture of a man with a long face and a garish smile.]

A dangerous criminal has been apprehended. Caught red-handed. He's responsible for the deaths of countless innocents. Question: How do you proceed? Do you take an eye for an eye and serve him a death penalty? It only makes sense, doesn't it? Especially if you consider the possibility that he may escape from his prison. And it's true. He could certainly escape and kill again. And again.

For the safety of these innocents, and for the good of the people, it may be worthwhile to consider a utilitarian approach. That is to say, you would subscribe to a system of ethics in which you would seek to increase the safety, happiness, and well-being of all mankind to maximum levels. But...

[He draws up another picture on the chalkboard of a cloaked figure, shrouded in a long, flowing cape.]

...there are those who might disagree with you. Those self-righteous radicals who feel as though they should follow the rules. Whose rules, exactly? Their rules. Their morals are absolute. They simply can't be compromised. Even if executing a murderer and a madman will maximize our well-being, murder is still murder to them. Nothing changes that. This is a deontological approach, class. And the ends never justify the means to them.

...so riddle me this. What would you do, if you had a say in this criminal's fate?

[Around Town:

There's a good chance that, after school, you'll find the Riddler on an investigation. He'll be found in one of three locations---

C: Sniffing around the Zemekis Corps Office Building, trying to get a grasp on what exactly it is that people do here.

D: In the Downtown area, glancing into windows and occasionally taking notes on a small notepad.

E: At the Mayfield Hospital, to answer some questions. A hospital in Mayfield seems rather arbitrary, doesn't it? Especially considering that death isn't even permanent. Why would one even be here, then, if that's the case?]

Comments

B:

[flameyedhunter.livejournal.com]

If there is a law which covers him, you should obey it.

Exterminating people simply for the sake of the greater good is lazy thinking. If the system is failing -improve the system-.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Hmm. How do you go about improving the system, then?

[flameyedhunter.livejournal.com]

If the prison is what the criminal is escaping from, reform the prison system. If the courts are letting him get off due to poor prosecution, improve the prosecution. If there's a case of reasonable doubt, then the argument that it is better that 10 guilty men go free rather than one innocent being convicted must come into play, because one innocents start being jailed the system has broken, and there is no incentive for acting in a moral manner.

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

Hmm. You've certainly thought this through. But sometimes it isn't always so simple to change the system, is it?

[flameyedhunter.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not. But if something was easy to do, it probably isn't worth doing. The mechanisms of society are hard to change for a reason, because too much sudden change to something like criminal justice can upset the balance of the world and cause distortions. Kind of like how societal changes can cause what's called Anomie. Are you familiar with the works of Emile Durkheim?

[puzzlerprince.livejournal.com]

I can't say that I am.

[flameyedhunter.livejournal.com]

His work was pretty important when it talks about societal norms and how changes in them can increase the suicide rate. But I think the specific relationship here is that if you change something as far-reaching as criminal justice too quickly, you'll run into the problem of normlessness and people will be all at loose ends.

[She frowns.] That's why a sudden change to account for people who are escaping or outside the law can be dangerous, as it can upset things for everyone who works within it. you need to balance the speed of society's advance against the adaptability of individuals within it.