The Amish Subculture

Crime and Justice through eyes of the Amish
200 miles away from New York lays another world – one that is frozen in time. Home for a people whose lives have barely changed since their forefathers settled there over 300 years ago. Since then the Amish community has spread across 28 states and has more than one hundred an eighty thousand members. Worlds apart from mainstream culture, the Amish is oppose to many aspects of modern world, e.g. use of modern technology such as computers or cars. Even the public school systems are in the ‘wrongs’’ to their beliefs, making the community create customized school, which end at 8:th grade. One of the most striking aspects of Amish life is their strong reluctance to the Criminal Justice system. Even
Such Romanization of the Amish culture, indicates that the Amish subculture is some kind of ‘’idealistic society’’, where nothing bas ever happens. Even if unemployment is at a minimum, it’s a greater overstatement to argue that crimes within the Amish community are ‘’low, if not non-existent’’ (Kraybill, Donald B). When it comes to the approach of crime and justice, clearly the Amish live by different values than mainstream America. Following strict codes of morals from the Christian tradition, together with the focus on forgiveness over anger. Different from the rest of America, the community lacks set of punishments being attached to committed ‘’aberrations’’. According to Kraybill and Byers the Amish Justice System is driven by the principle of ‘’Gelassenheit,’’ which indicates and teaches submissiveness to the holy trinity of God, community and family. Instead, if the perpetrator confesses his guilt in front of the Church they are automatically forgiven. If a dispute occurs it is up to the Church officials, primarily the Bishop to solve. If punishment is implemented, the offender had to repeated his behavior, and will suffer ‘’shunning’’, which take on different forms of seriousness, from being excluded from Church service to exclusion from the entire
Even though closing themselves of from the rest of the world, the Amish are still American citizens, and should be protected and cared for as such. However, there lays great difficulty in protecting a people that seek limited governmental involvement. What such insight might bring to the ‘’English’’ is closer knowledge, and inspiration to reduce the current alienation between the mainstream and the subculture. Finishing that compared to most Americans the Amish culture seem most different, and the area of Crime and Justice is where such differences are highly played out. The Amish society does have crime, as oppose to the romanticizing of the peaceful culture that is promoted in media. However what is different and most peculiar is the lack of punishment, where salvation lays in forgiveness is promoted. The question becomes, Does forgiveness work as effectively as