"Obscene"

In the episode of Law and Order: SVU titled, “Obscene,” the detectives and lawyers encounter multiple situations that push ethical standards and the boundaries of the law.  When a teenage actress, Jesse, is raped in her trailer, the detectives immediately look to the trash-talking BJ Cameron radio show as a possible reason for the attack.  And from this this source, they uncover that Danny Spencer, another teen, committed the crime.  But, the situation isn’t so simple because it is Cameron that suggests the idea of the crime to his listeners.  So a dilemma is presented.  Who should be held accountable for the rape, the impressionable teenager or the man who gave him the idea?  And when Danny’s angered, anti-BJ Show mother, Carolyn Spencer, takes the law into her own hands by attempting to kill Cameron, another question arises: were her intentions ultimately good?

These situations can relate back to the quotes by Jefferson and Plato.  Plato said, “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”  I believe BJ Cameron was a bad person.  While he fully utilized his right to freedom of speech, the things he said on his show were sometimes violent and frightening.  In this case, he used the law regarding his right to speak his mind to his advantage.  He twisted the law, expressing his own opinions and what he would like to do to Jesse, making an impression on kids that it might be the right thing to do.  Therefore, a good person like Danny figured that raping Jesse was right.  Ultimately this was all due to a bad person who managed to find his way around the law through his listeners.  This quote is accurate in regard to Cameron, but not as much in regard to Carolyn Spencer. 

Mrs. Spencer ultimately had good intentions.  She wanted to protect her children and other kids from the violent and inappropriate remarks Cameron was saying on his show to prevent actions like rape.  I am not saying it was right that she shot Cameron, but she was trying to prevent something else harmful from happening.  Therefore, in this case I think when Jefferson said “a strict observance of the law is doubtless one of the highest virtues of a good citizen,” he was not accurate; sometimes good people can justify breaking the law for a good reason, just as Carolyn Spencer did.