psych question

[SWAT1088]

"Is it ever ok for a person to break the law?"

[CoBoY]

I would have to say yes......my girlfriend and I were out camping last weekend and she accidently cut herself with a fillet knife....our cell phones didn't have a signal, so I had no choice but to get in the truck and speed her down the road to the nearest hospital....technically I was breaking the law by speeding, but I would be hard pressed to find even one good reason why I shouldn't have done what I did...

(by the way I was not speeding or driving recklessly, so that wouldn't be a good reason...)

[pintsizedpi]

ok??? who is the one giving this ok???certainly not the law. the only time I would feel ok about breaking a law would be if meant protecting the life of myself or my family. my philosophy, "better to be tried by 12 then carried by 6". otherwise we have no choice but to live by societys rules.

[dano]

Of course! Sometimes laws are unjust and abiding by them would be immoral.

The labor, women's and civil rights movements (to name a few) all used civil disobedience as a means of highlighting social injustice. At times, it is the only means available to force reform on a democracy that fails to practice its tenants by imposing and/or enforcing immoral laws.

Where would our country be today without such groups and their activities? I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t want to live in it!

Blind adherence to the law without regards to their ethical or moral implications does not a good democratic citizen (or cop) make. This is a tenant associated more with totalitarian forms of government.

Is this what they want to hear in a LE psych interviews? I can’t say. This is how I answered it because I believe it to be truth. The shrink seamed impressed with it but I couldn’t tell you the outcome because I withdrew from that particular hiring process.

It's a classic moral argument. There are no simple answers.