On OAU campus there is this act called "maximum shishi" which is beating an offender round the hostels half naked, thiefs, two fighters, cultist and all alike things. This act has been used in the past to correct, to retribute and to prevent, for deterrence and other elements of the aim of this kind of punishment.
I've been wanting to write on jungle Justice. And I think this is a very good platform to project this to the people.
This act is likened to jungle justice, I mean the "maximum shishi" of a thing discussed above because sometimes they'd realize they've beaten up an innocent being. They don't only do this when that person is declared to have violated the rules and laws of the school estsabished and put forward by the constituted authority and the union of the school but also while looking for the culprit among students who they call suspects.
What is jungle justice?
In the loose sense this is when individual or group of individuals put laws into their hands without consulting the constituted authority or handing over any case to them.
It is also known as mob justice, whereby individual is being lynched, burnt to ashes and most of the times killed by the unauthorized people.
This act is rampant in Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria to be precise.
Coming from the point of view of Kant's deontology, an action is wrong or right not because of the consequence but because of the thing they are. E.g killing is wrong because it is conceived to be a bad act and so must be recognized as a bad act even if it brings out good consequences because rationally it is wrong.
Since we are all rational being and because we are naturally packaged to be self interested we must protect ourselves and protect others too even if not because we are motivated to help them but because we are conscious of our self interest too. E.g don't kill if you don't wanna get killed. There are two imperatives from Kant which I won't be able to discuss fully here.
1.categorical imperative which says act according to that maxim which a rational agent can always consistently will to be a universal law of nature in a moral universe.
2.practical imperative says act so as to treat humans as end I'm themselves and not as means to end.
It is true according to research that people result into that act because they've lost their trust in the constituted authority. E.g when they take bribe or engage in some fallacious act like taking into consideration "pity" and things of such. But at the same time if we don't put them in place then freedom would loose it meaning and people will act as they like. And according to Thomas Hobbes it will take us to a state of nature where there is no law. And in the state of nature human lives are solitary, Brutish, nasty, poor and short
What can we do to put an end to this?
According to the united global resolve for peace(U.G.R.P) the managing director in person of Mr. Olaseni Shalom. There was a rally against jungle justice in ondo state and the second state by March which is Lagos state, this rally is going across 7 states of Nigeria and then out of Nigeria also.
- Do not rejoice at the misfortune of others
- Call the attention of the constituted authority in your district or the anti jungle justice volunteer club which the organisation has propounded.
- Make sure to follow up any case reported to them.
- Ensure that justice prevail and follow due process, in fact ensure it is duely served.
In conclusion, jungle justice is cruel, bad, wrong, irrelevant, illogical, irrational, and can cause mental and physical damages.
Scopicfelani.....
Thanks.....