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RELATED THEMES social institutions social relationships OTHER LOCAL THEMES BACKGROUND |
justice and crime
In cases of arson and robbery an afersata (gathering of villagers) used to be held, from which no one was allowed to leave until the offender was exposed: "Now if I see someone take away my ripe crop, he can be imprisoned" (Ethiopia 8). By tradition, anyone who committed the crime of murder had to leave the area: "His kinsmen, too, have to leave the place since the kinsmen of the deceased want to avenge the blood of the dead person by attacking them" (Ethiopia 8). A sense emerges from the testimonies of a general recognition that traditional ways of settling scores or exacting justice, including revenge killings, have been largely superseded by the state justice system: "Now you don't talk about bravery and cowardice, for there is the law above you" (Ethiopia 10). However, it's clear that a number of people see a continuing role for community mechanisms of reconciliation and compensation. Religious heads seem to have a particular responsibility for reconciling people who have quarrelled: "[When someone quarrels with another] he goes to the elders and appeals to them to reconcile him with the person he has quarrelled with. Or the community or the judge will detain the offender for a night and they will reconcile him with the other person by making him pay compensation to the victim. I myself have reconciled others in this manner. This practice exists even now," explains a Muslim religious leader (Ethiopia 9). One narrator claims that there was no theft in the old days because there was no poverty then: "Now you find them burgling somebody's home and the owner will hit him on the head when he catches him in the act. The thieves too have become tougher now. That is why death has become so common" (Ethiopia 2). quotes about justice and crime"There were arson and robbery in the old days and they called the afersata. Now if I see someone take away my ripe crop, he can be imprisoned. Now they say, thieves should be eliminated. In the old days, you needed powerful allies and kinsmen to find out the thief and eliminate him. If you had no such helpers, you would be constantly vulnerable to robbery." "I am still the Qadi of my woreda. In this capacity, I reconcile women who have quarrelled with their husbands, oversee new marriages, divorces and inheritances and other religious matters." |
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quotes about justice and crime
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Summary
