Posted on 02/08/2002 7:18:50 AM PST by g'nad
14:25 2002-02-08
RUSSIANS TO BE PROVIDED WITH THE RIGHT FOR SELF-DEFENSE
On Friday the State Duma passed amendments to the Criminal Code that are to increase the rights of the Russians for self-defense. For example, a new norm has appeared: “if an attack has posed a threat to the life, the harm to the assailant can not be treated as a crime.”
Earlier the Criminal Code contained a norm on inadmissibility of excessive self-defense. It is clear that if an assailant was murdered or injured, the man who defended his life was to be made answerable for the action. In accordance with the former Criminal Code it was rather complicated to prove that self-defense did not exceed the norm. And it seemed that the life was made simpler for criminals and more complicated for law-abiding citizens. The only thing to hope for then was to expect that the life would be preserved. 365 deputies voted for the amendments to the Code, one deputy abstained from voting, none of the deputies voted against the amendments. The crime rate has considerably increased in Russia, and law enforcement authorities fail to cope with it. The passing of the amendments means, the government, probably rather unwillingly, has to shift the defense of lives on the people themselves.
The social status is not a protection from assaults nowadays – the rich and the poor suffer equally. But the first have more chances for attraction of the public attention and for their own protection.
The confusion in the society and lack of faith in the ability of the authorities to restrain waves of crime make some people ask for restoration of capital punishment. Opponents of the capital punishment restoration say, those countries that practice capital punishment do not observe reduction of the crime rate. But the objections do not seem to be rather convincing for Russia.
Vasily Bubnov
PRAVDA.Ru
Translated by Maria Gousseva
Oh the horror, the horror!... Yuri, where's my Tokarev?...
And it seemed that the life was made simpler for criminals and more complicated for law-abiding citizens.
Does this sound familiar?
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Go Patriots!
Capital punishment is intended to punish. If it also brings a reduction in crime, that's just an extra bonus. But reduced crime rates, or criminal rehabilitation, should never be assumed to be the primary purpose of law enforcement.
If the Russian government is providing the right, it is not a right, but a priviledge. Rights are pre-exsisting, and are not granted by the government.
Some statistics are available here:
Anatoly Rudenko, president of the Russian Bible Society, in an interview with the editor of the East-West Church & Ministry Report, 6 June 1997, maintained that the number of practicing Christians of all confessions in Russia today is no more than two percent, and probably closer to one percent. If this is the case, Russia has far fewer believers than is generally assumed. In contrast to Rudenko's estimate of 1.7 to 3.3 million practicing Christians, Russian Orthodoxy alone routinely claims 50 to 60 million faithful (33 to 40 percent of the population)....
The disparity between Rudenko's estimate and the dramatically larger figures normally cited may be explained, in large part, by divergent understandings of what constitutes a believer. For example, research by Dimitri Furman reported in Izvestiia revealed that 50 percent of Russians surveyed identified themselves as believers, but less than two percent of these respondents attended church regularly, prayed, or believed in God as a personality. Furthermore, six times more respondents said they attend church regularly than do in reality...
A June 1996 Russian pre-election poll indicated that believers (50 percent of respondents) were far more often nonobservant (37.3 percent) than observant (12.7 percent). And corporate worship was strikingly erratic even among self-described observant believers: 10 percent answered once a week; 13 percent answered once a month; and 55 percent of self-described observant believers answered on religious holidays and on family occasions. Of the 50 percent of respondents who identified themselves as believers, 83 percent considered themselves to be Orthodox (Susan Goodrich Lehmann, "Religious Revival in Russia: Significant or Superficial?," paper presented at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Washington DC, 21 October 1996).
Interesting anyway.
. And it seemed that the life was made simpler for criminals and more complicated for law-abiding citizens.
Woohoo! Now, if they can get shall-issue CCW...
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - yorktown
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