Exam 2 Essay 1

Amanda Peterson PA344 Q:1 11/4/08 Brute Force Does Not Command Obedience

Formal and Informal laws of government and of entities subject behavior to rules. According to Lawrence M. Friedman there are four types of law. Laws that are both formal and public are found in acts of Congress. Laws that are public but informal are seen in the reluctance of police officials to pursue those speeding. Laws that are formal but private are seen in mediation and arbitration within entities. Laws that are private and informal are seen inside the family structure (41).

Reactions and changes in behavior in observance to laws are legal

behaviors. Legal behaviors do not include those behaviors in observance of informal laws. These ideas Friedman presents can be developed into the informal realm as well. Informal laws allow communities to develop social controls that provoke citizens to obey criminal laws and dictate whether they use or don’t use non-criminal laws. Not all individuals care equally about what others opinions may be of them and these are who choose to disobey laws, formal or informal. Therefore informal laws based on morals that are taught within the family, are possibly better deterrents to violations of the law than harsher punishments. Friedman states “the law influences conduct, [meaning] laws do have […] a[n] effect on behavior, including behavior of violators. There are those in society who are deterred by enforcement and punishment even in a small amount. Communities tolerate certain types of violations of the law and do not tolerate other types of violations. It is the less tolerated violations citizens perceive to have a moral concept pushing behind them. The offenses of murder, rape, child molestation have very low tolerances and most of these violations are what drives

the need for tougher punishments. For Friedman the factors that influence legal behavior could help those who believe harsher punishments deter or suppress increasing crime rates and bring them to understand the realities of formal and informal law. Nicole Wallen-Thompson asks herself “what if something happens today” every day when she drops off her child at daycare. Nebraska state lawmakers passed a bill increasing the punishments for sexual assaults against children. Violation of this law is clearly among those that are not tolerated. “Many lawmakers said the newly passed law would protect those young Nebraskans who can rarely notice a threat, and said the legislation should remind Nebraskan parents or guardians of what threatens their children” (Backman 2). For Nicole her conscience is reassured by the hard laws. An important influence on legal behavior is basic knowledge of the law. Friedman doesn’t simply mean who knows their First Amendment rights and who does not, but also the misinformation people believe about the system. “People believe what they want to believe, and what fits in with their values and worldviews” (Friedman 239). Those who greatly fear child molesters and serial murderers have little to fear but a myth. “Murder is the least frequent violent victimization; with about 6 murder victims for every 100,000 people in the population [rape and sexual assault being even less]” (Kappeler, Potter 42). This influential factor of legal behavior would bring comfort to those who push for hasher punishments out of fear and principles of morality. Among those violations that are tolerated by the public are speeders. Most have this notion that going five to ten miles per hour over the speed limit is not really a crime. This rule that is public but informal is thought of as the norm and highly tolerated (Friedman 233). For most of society members, morality does not

back a law concerning speeding. In other words it is not unethical to go five or ten miles per hour over the legal limit. For this cause enforcement is low and sporadic, and not many would push for harsher punishments for traffic violations. On the flip side we see the use and non use of divorce law. The non use of divorce opportunities can stop some from getting remarried after a marriage fails, but not all who fail to use the law are deterred not to remarry. In doing so they commit a crime, remarriage without dissolution of a previous marriage, which most people find morally unacceptable and punishments are often harsher. Formal and informal laws have some effect on the obedience and use of law. Legal behaviors tend to be more swayed by those laws that are based on the realities of social controls. Enforcement and punishments are inclined to coincide with those social morals. Friedman makes clear that even in obedience to informal public laws a crime is still being committed (41). However, in the midst of all the formal laws there are “informal norms [based on moral stances] [that] are just too powerful to be disobeyed” (Friedman 47). This idea, more so than punishment, leads to those choices of obedience or uses of law by applying informal laws to create societal standards. Harsher punishments will never lead to a perfectly flat curve where no violations will be made. Friedman notices that there will always be those who were never taught informal norms of self discipline (246). Morality and fear already deter most criminal acts that are grievous and less tolerated by society; there is no need to enact harsher punishments for those formal and public laws. Basic knowledge of the four types of law and violations of these laws can drastically change legal behaviors and the persistence for a harsher system.

Works Cited Backman, Katie. “New Laws Enforce Harsher Punishment for Offenders.” DailyNebraskan.com. 19 April 2006 Friedman, Lawrence M. American Law: An Introduction. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1998. Kappeler, Victor E., and Gary W. Potter. The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc, 2005.