The Opposition - Jason Porter

For my research paper, I am looking at whether or not there are instances in which breaking the law is justifiable. I plan on arguing on the side that there are certain, specific situations in which breaking the law is justifiable, however, there are definitely more times than not that I do not believe breaking the law is justifiable. Many argue that there is no appropriate time to break the law. My opposition might ask whether or not I agreed that as long as someone believes in what he or she is doing, then it is justified for he or she to break the law. This is simply not the case. If a person believes that it is okay for he or she to go into a jewelry store and hold them up at gunpoint, it does not make it a justified breaking of the law.

            Other groups might argue that laws are put into place to protect us as a society and there are absolutely no instances in which breaking the law is justifiable. They might argue that if someone did not agree with a law that was in place, then he or she should either do a peaceful protest, while making sure to follow all laws, or take some sort of long winded legal action related route. Sometimes, sadly, this is not the most reasonable choice. At other times this is not even an option. I am sure that many people publically opposed slavery, but I bet that if they had simply tried to take slave owners to court, they would have been laughed right out of the door. It is because of this that people like them, just to give one example, were forced to break a law, because he or she truly believed that the outcome was beneficial to the good of mankind.