P4C Lesson – Crime and Punishment Learning Objective: To develop your own thoughts on war and the use of violence. To develop the skill of creating big questions. To develop the discussion skill of Add, Build and Contest. To reflect on your own views on war and the use of violence.

Warm Up What is the most important reason for punishing? What is the least important reason for punishing? What is the most respectful? What is a bad reason for punishing?

Stimulus – In the Nick of Time Some time in the future the Metropolitan Police department learns to tackle crime in a completely new way. Amazingly, criminals are punished but no one suffers the effects of any crimes. This is because the police department have been using time machines to arrest criminals before they commit their crimes. They use the time machine to travel to a point in time just before the would-be criminal commits the terrible act. For instance, the police arrive while the assailant holds the knife over their victim in a stabbing position before they actually stab their victim. They have chosen this point in time because the police department believe that it leads to ‘absolutely no doubt’ that the would-be criminal would have committed the crime had they not intervened, thereby securing, they believe, the assailant’s culpability. The would-be criminal is then apprehended before the crime is committed, taken back to the police department’s present and incarcerated.

Things to think about… Can the would-be criminals be held morally responsible for these crimes? Under what condition can someone be said to be responsible for an act? If we could predict people’s behaviour with 100% degree of certainty should people be arrested and punished for crimes it has only been predicted they will commit?