An average person can only see the world through black and white lens but what if another side exist apart from two sides of the coin, something in between. Matters of laws and regulations are always with loopholes, which can be used as a justification for doing lawful crimes. It wouldn't sound nice for a country that uses it's laws to protect the interest of criminals. Looking at the way the law is being considered as a tool for elite to use against the masses, which means to a certain level the law is losing the trust of the Masses. The primary focus of the law is to punish those that are found guilty but then, how would it feel like when someone commits a crime and such a person is still not guilty.
This is where matters of ethics and morals set in, to serve as a blockade for lawful crimes committed against humanity. The major reason for creating laws is to ensure the peaceful coexistence of humans, to ensure the survival of humanity and to make the earth less chaotic by creating order. To an extent, even the law can be exploited to commit crimes, if this is the case, wouldn't it make law makers look pathetic? What will be the point of the laws created and yet, such laws can't still protect humans interest and from themselves?
Should ethics be considered when making laws in a country? It should. Matters of ethics are not so straightforward like laws because ethics focus more human feelings, emotions and sentiments towards something. It is like when someone does something to you, though lawfully the person isn't wrong but it doesn't change the fact that you feel wronged. Ethnical laws is meant to protect humans from such feeling. Though ethics might not have a visible attachment to most laws in a country's constitution but before a judge passes his/her judgement, matters of ethics are mostly considered.
This occurs when analysing a person's motive for doing something or after a person pleads guilty and he or she is asking for a less sentencing. The judge looks at the manner at which the person presents himself/herself in court, if he/she is seen as someone being remorseful and willing to repent from committing crimes, such person might be given a lighter sentence. There are times when a judge considers public sentiment before passing a judgement, this is to prevent public backslash. This can occur when a verdict is passed based on the provisions of the law only. Most laws only worry about a person doing the right thing but ethics is more about a person doing the right thing the right way.
Imagine the police in pursuit of a criminal in a neighbourhood and they suddenly open fire on the criminal despite being aware that the neighbourhood is filled with other people just doing their own thing. Naturally the police would claim they were trying to catch a criminal but it doesn't give them the right to waste the lives of innocent citizens. Their actions might look justified but who would answer for the lives of innocent wasted in the crossfire?
Ethics is what separates murder from Justice. It is why a judge sentence a person to death, it is called justice but when an ordinary person kills a person, it is called murder. Both actions involves taking a human life but one is considered lawful and ethical, while the other doesn't.
Should something unethical be considered unlawful? Like I said earlier, matters of ethics are complex and it can also be exploited for personal gain. That is why not all unethical crimes are considered illegal, until it is considered to have huge effect on people. For instance, if a billboard is placed near a school and the advert being displayed in the Billboard is all about alcohol, cigarettes e.t.c according to the law, as an advertiser, you are not doing anything wrong as long as you are paying all the necessary fees to state/federal government but according to advertising ethics, it is believed that advertising such product near a school can be an issue to the children.
Advertising promotes consumerism and since children are not within the lawful age to consume such products, advertising such product within children environment is like advising them to use it. When it comes to unethical crimes, it barely come6 with huge sentencing, penalty fee is mostly seen as the best way to pay for unethical crimes. As a result of this, it has made it a lot easier for people to commit unethical crimes, since they can afford the fee. The fact is that unethical crimes might not cause physical harm to people but it endangers humanity.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Ethics and morals in hive learners community.
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