Critical Summary: Conflict as a Property. Article Critique

Critical Summary: Conflict as a Property
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Critical Summary: Conflict as a Property
 The justice system in the western culture plays a significant role in resolving conflicts. Whenever a conflict arises and a warrant of arrest is issued or an arrest is made, the state takes the responsibility of arguing and determining the outcome of the case. Nils Christie, has a problem with the justice system of the western world. Christie’s primary concern is in the manner that individuals involved in conflicts lose their right of owning the conflict. Christie takes to the stage to educate the society on the need to understand conflict as a property. The concept of conflict as a property to be owned does not refer to the material object used in the conflict. It, instead, refers to the actual conflict involving the parties. Christie wants the parties involved in the case to argue against one another (Christie, 1977). The author finds it disturbing that judges and lawyers steal the sense of “ownership” in the legal process and deny the right owners of the conflict an opportunity to argue and possibly forgive one another.  Christie makes two notable observations of how the courts and lawyers deprive the parties in conflict the original right to own the conflict. One of the observations is in the manner that the parties lose their right to the conflicts because the criminal offence has broken the law of the state (Christie, 1977). The defense lawyers and the prosecution lawyers start arguing against one another in the name of representing the actual suspect and the respondent. The second observation is that conflicts are a property of the community. They provide a viable environment for the society to progress through differences and forgiveness (Christie, 1977). The manner in which the actual parties are excluded from the conflict and they are replaced by lawyers is an injustice to the society where the conflict originated. In determining the ruling for the offence, judges hardly consider the opinion of neighbors, family friends, or the owner of the crime. The strength of the argument of the lawyers and the understanding of the judge is what matters in the end.  Christie argues for restoration of conflicts to their respective owners. The parties in conflict can argue against one another and find a lasting solution of they face one another and understand the harm that they are doing to one another.Critical Evaluation and OpinionEven though Christie offers an in-depth understan...