Many people and nations stand today as having profited from crimes in the past. Portugal's money came from the slave trade, China conquered Tibet, the United States annihilated the Native Americans, etc. Individual people's rights were violated - property was stolen, people were raped and murdered.


Questions to Debate:

What (if anything) should be done today to right these wrongs?

Should there be some sort of statute of limitations on these crimes?

What (if anything) should be done today to right these wrongs?

Nothing will ever truly "right" a "wrong", but a full and honest acknowledgement of what happened, and open discussion on why it was wrong, is a good start. To learn from the past and dedicate ourselves as society to never make the same mistakes in the future, and to validate the perspective of the descendants of the victims.

Should there be some sort of statute of limitations on these crimes?

It seems to me that there has to be. "Crimes" that happened many, many generations ago can't really be prosecuted, can they? The victims are long dead, and so are the perpetrators. If you're talking about civil law reparations, that is a slightly different issue. You can make the case that the descendants of the victims have possibly had diminished lives for what was done to their people in the past, and that injury is very real. But our civil justice system is set up such that you really need to get the people who are culpable and responsible for the harm. Their own descendants may have indeed benefitted from the profits or ill-gotten gains of their ancestors, but we do not transfer wealth in that fashion. Perhaps if you could legally and definitely establish where that wealth went, through a series of corporations, etc., you might have a chance, but its a long shot at best.

In the case of the Native Americans I'd recommend making them tax exempt, that each of their votes counts as 10,000, and giving them all public lands for free. Thus a Native American who votes actually has his/her vote counted 10,000 times. This would enable Native Americans to have better influence over political officials running for office.

What (if anything) should be done today to right these wrongs?

As Azure-Citizen said, we should take action to insure that such things never happen again, apologize for the crimes, and allow an open discussion of the crimes to take place.

Should there be some sort of statute of limitations on these crimes?

It's really hard to prosecute the offenders in criminal court if the perpetrators are all dead, so I think that the statute should discount all criminal prosecution after everyone involved has died. Again, as Azure-Citizen said, if the money trail can be traced to those families and groups responsible, and there is considerable proof that the money came from conducting illegal activities, then civil action is within reason.

What (if anything) should be done today to right these wrongs?

Nothing simply note them in the correct context. To often these are used by groups to further an agenda, are twisted to fit the propaganda of the hour.



Should there be some sort of statute of limitations on these crimes?

Yes a limitation should be in place if the persons affected by said travesty are dead then that is that. Think of all the ridiculous lawsuits you could file otherwise. The Jews would sue the Egyptians, Romans, the EU. The Welsh and natives of Brittany would sue the descendents of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism could sue Islam for stealing their land, and killing their adherents. The United States could sue Britain over pressing seamen in the 19th century. It would be a never ending parade of ridiculous lawsuits on court tv