Looting should be viewed as a criminal that should be punished more severely than theft and burglary. When natural disasters strike, human beings are thrown into a state of confusion and do not understand how best they can act. Normally, people will try and run away from the disaster or help individuals who are stuck. It is puzzling that some individuals would use the chance not to run away to a safer place or assist individuals in problems but loot. Looting in times of a natural disaster portrays a maladaptive behavioral tendency that should be severely punished by the criminal justice system.
All instances of looting should be treated the same since they are conducted with similar intentions and cause the same effects on the victims. For example, the (Solinit, 2010) article indicates how people were captured looting when Hurricane Katrina happened. On the other hand, the (Khazan, 2020) article indicates that people engaged in looting acts such as breaking windows, burning property, and stealing goods in the wake of George Floyd's murder. These acts of looting accompanied the peaceful protests staged to seek Floyd’s justice. Since civilians are likely to engage in acts of looting every time there is a natural disaster, specific laws should be enacted to punish these actions.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The factors that can be used to evaluate and grade the severity of looting acts include prevailing conditions at the time, the criminals' intent, and the magnitude of the incident to other people. In the case of prevailing conditions, looting acts should be punished based on the type of disaster that happened. For instance, an individual who looted during Hurricane Katrina should be punished differently from one who looted during Floyd's protests. Besides, individuals have different intentions to loot, such as criminal attitudes and being motivated by finding a chance to do so. Besides, while looting causes pain on the victims, the magnitude of impact varies.
References
Khazan, O. (June 3, 2020). Why people loot. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/why-people-loot/612577/
Solinit, R. (August 29, 2010). Looters and the lessons of Katrina. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-aug-29-la-oe-solnit-katrina-looting-20100829-story.html
