The whole point of those zones was that they would cover the entire planet. Anybody's bedroom could be a punishment zone at any time. And it would be impossible to know that one was not in a punishment zone.
Essentially, it was a means of decreasing the workload of the police. They only patrol a tiny area of the planet at a time (and thus are able to mount an immediate response to Wesley's offense), but they control crime elsewhere by imposing an excessively harsh punishment and thus driving fear in the hearts of wrongdoers. A bit like the stereotypical RCMP patrolman who quells a rebelling city by his very presence (with the implication that it could be the presence of a heavily armed brigade of his colleagues if people didn't behave).
That's fairly reasonable, really. If crime is to be deterred through fear of punishment, why settle for less than death? (Indeed, why settle for painless death? Add torture to death for better measure! These people were being lenient, probably because their solution to crime had already worked and people did behave themselves.) And if deterrence is your strategy, why bother with constant patrol when selective patrol will do just as well?
The only unreasonable aspect here is that Wesley's actions would constitute a crime. He would not have been deterred from having that accident even had he known about the somewhat unusual punishment system. Moreover, Tasha Yar said that the laws of the planet were reasonable and not out of the ordinary (even though the planetary officials and their promotional material clearly failed to describe the way those laws were enforced). Criminalizing the accidental damaging of property would certainly be unreasonable and out of the ordinary.
Now, the episode would have worked much better had Wesley become agitated in a friendly game of futuroball, and punched one of his opponents. Death penalty for deliberate violence would certainly make sense, in this system based on extreme deterrence and minimal patrol...
Timo Saloniemi
Essentially, it was a means of decreasing the workload of the police. They only patrol a tiny area of the planet at a time (and thus are able to mount an immediate response to Wesley's offense), but they control crime elsewhere by imposing an excessively harsh punishment and thus driving fear in the hearts of wrongdoers. A bit like the stereotypical RCMP patrolman who quells a rebelling city by his very presence (with the implication that it could be the presence of a heavily armed brigade of his colleagues if people didn't behave).
That's fairly reasonable, really. If crime is to be deterred through fear of punishment, why settle for less than death? (Indeed, why settle for painless death? Add torture to death for better measure! These people were being lenient, probably because their solution to crime had already worked and people did behave themselves.) And if deterrence is your strategy, why bother with constant patrol when selective patrol will do just as well?
The only unreasonable aspect here is that Wesley's actions would constitute a crime. He would not have been deterred from having that accident even had he known about the somewhat unusual punishment system. Moreover, Tasha Yar said that the laws of the planet were reasonable and not out of the ordinary (even though the planetary officials and their promotional material clearly failed to describe the way those laws were enforced). Criminalizing the accidental damaging of property would certainly be unreasonable and out of the ordinary.
Now, the episode would have worked much better had Wesley become agitated in a friendly game of futuroball, and punched one of his opponents. Death penalty for deliberate violence would certainly make sense, in this system based on extreme deterrence and minimal patrol...
Timo Saloniemi
