Law and Morality, Inextricably Linked

This morning's top story in The Cincinnati Enquirer recounted how a driver, trying to avoid a Labor Day weekend drunk-driving checkpoint, allegedly made a U-turn, led police on a chase through several area communities, hit and killed a motorcyclist, and then fled the scene. If allegations against Kenneth Haugabook are true--and it appears they are true, this is a very serious matter, especially his decision to leave his unsuspecting victim to die.

If that sounds like preacher talk, consider the assessment of Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones:

"He [Haugabook] caused the life of a person to be taken because he was avoiding the police," ...Jones said. "It's a tragedy and it's terrible."

Jones called Haugabook selfish.

"He never stopped or gave aid," the sheriff said. "There are some people in our society who are very sick and care more about themselves.

"This is a very mean-spirited individual," Jones said.

What so interests me about Jones' words is that, on the surface, they don't seem to reflect his legal assessment of Haugabrook's actions. They appear to reflect a purely moral judgment.

Is that right? Should a public official, especially one who's charged with the impartial enforcement of laws in a pluralistic society, talk about morality?

I suppose that if Jones' words reflected a particular sect's notions of morality, it would raise concerns for me. Law enforcement officials shouldn't use their offices or on-duty hours to advance their particular moral views. And all public officials should, I think, be respectful of diverse moral values that exist in our pluralistic society. (Even that last statement is a moral value, I know.)

But one would be hard-pressed to name any religion or worthy philosophy that would call the actions Haugabrook is alleged to have committed anything but wrong.

They also happen to be illegal.

All of which raises an interesting point: Law, every law, even laws dealing with seemingly mundane issues, are meant to enforce the common moral values of a society or community. We citizens "hire" police, sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, and presidents, in part, to enforce the basic moral values to which we all--Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others--share.

We have speed laws. for example, because of moral values, because as a society, we deem it wrong to waste a non-renewable resource like the gas in our tanks and because speeding vehicles endanger other motorists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists. Conservation of resources and of human life are moral values.

None of this is to say that there aren't lousy laws on the books or that some politicians don't hide behind moral niceties to make sweetheart deals that fatten their wallets or that they don't engage in pork barrel spending that enhances their chances for re-election. The law is abused by legislators, courts, and executive decision makers.

But any pol who has a hand in such shenanigans will always try to cover his or her true motives by hiding behind a posited value--some certain moral good--as a reason for their action.

In a pluralistic society, laws are designed to enforce our common moral values. Societal values change over time, often because of enlightenment or mature consideration. Prohibition has been first written into and then out of our Constitution, for example. Both actions reflected the country's values at the moments of their passage. Laws put on the books always demonstrate what societies believe to be right and wrong at any given time. When values change, so do laws.

Sheriff Jones' assessment of one motorist's alleged acts, I think, reflect the great Western moral tradition given to us by Jews and Christians. This tradition makes much of love of God and neighbor. One of Jesus' most famous parables dealt with a Samaritan helping a Jew who had been brutally beaten by thieves and ends with His exhortation to do the same thing for all our hurting neighbors. [Most importantly maybe, as shown by historian Rodney Stark in his amazing, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, Christianity freed the West to use reason to discern what is right or wrong, how to apply God's call (and command) to live lovingly with our neighbors, in specific and changing circumstances.]

But Sheriff Jones' assessment of Haugabrook's alleged actions also reflects the collective moral judgment of our pluralistic society today: It's selfish to hurt someone and leave them to die. May we never change our mind on that as a society!