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The BaMbuti People

1. Among the BaMbuti people, as described by Colin Turnbull in The Forest People, crime exists in different types of offenses, as well as different types of punishment, though as Turnbull describes it, the system is informal on the surface and seems to have no authority standing over the people to make certain that they comply. It is not necessary that there be a separate authority since the community concurs in what is a crime and in the punishment for the crime, and all who are part of the community impose the punishment as if ordered to do so. Punishment was not an outright form of punishment but rather came in the form of community sanctions, considered to be effective as deterrents. This is because this is a small and cooperative group, which means not only that it is thus possible to get the entire group to act as one but also that no one individual wants to have the job of either passing judgment or of administering punishment.

Certain crimes were considered so terrible that they would automatically lead to some form of supernatural retribution, and these offenses were rarely committed. A second type, also extremely rare, led to the intrusion of the molimo, the "animal of the forest," which might attack the hut of the offender and perhaps even the offender himself. The more serious general crimes, such as theft, were punished by a sound thrashing administered cooperatively by all who were inclined to participate, but this would come about only after the entire camp had discussed the case. Less serious offenses were settled in the simplest way by the litigants themselves as they either argued out the case or engaged in a mild fight.

Modern American culture shows a very different social structure and a different ranking of crime. Crime in the U.S. is divided primarily into two types according to severity--misdemeanors and felonies--and after that according to the severity of the specific felony offense, from crimes ...

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The BaMbuti People. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:20, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1708845.html