Could you really give someone the death sentence? In America we do. However Panem sentences 23 kids a year. Although the Hunger Games are cruel, the world is much more so.

The capital has many strict laws that are severely punished. If and when a citizen breaks a law the odds are that they will get whipped severely. An example of this is if someone hunts they would be whipped or killed as an example. Not only do these criminals’ bear lash marks more than that they may have family’s deaths weighing on their shoulders. However if it is a major crime the whole district could be penalized. The most common form of this is withholding food or water. They could do this easily because they controlled all the districts through their tyranny. Another form of district punishment is dreaded each year, the Reaping. Forcing the districts to give up children and fight to the death. These children are referred to as tributes and although it originated as punishment you could almost argue, that if you are from the capitol it’s more a form of entertainment. If the government wishes to make an example of a tribute they might burn them or manipulate them by moving water sources or food sources to make it harder and worse in the arena. If a citizen tries escape a district they get turned into an Avox or mute to do this they cut out their tongues.

Just as criminals in the Hunger Games may bear painful memories so too are criminals around the world beaten physiologically. The world is also very gory and gruesome. Not unlike the Hunger Games the world also punishes criminals. But the only country that maims thieves is Africa, and they cut off their hands. The other countries are not entirely peaceful either, the Europeans and the Americans resemble the capitol. Because they made Africa give them a bonanza of slaves, in the 1600-1700’s which to them seemed like tributes. Another culture that gets hit hard is Christians in the Baltic peninsula. If they oppose it in any way their family members gather around them and throw stones at them till they die this gruesome ordeal is called stoning. A slightly more humane way to die is lethal injection which is used by the U.S.A.

A long time ago in the 1690’s the U.S. burnt people at the stake in a time period avowed “the Salem witch trials.” The witch trials were where people who were thought to be suspicious put to trial then killed. France in 1792-1977 used the guillotine, a thin slice of glass or weighted blade that came crashing down on the offenders head. This however being quick it was reserved for nobles to be beheaded. Another slow punishment that the U.S. performed when they had slaves they would whip them for undesirable behavior. The final punishment and one of the few that were ever used by many nations is hard labor camps were part of a criminals sentence is to mine or build roads or any other labor necessary.

How could we avoid reaching a level of strictness beyond what we have now? Maybe join Panem and split up the classes or how about positive reinforcement. Don’t punish criminals reward people who follow the rules. The world needs to rethink how it handles lawlessness. It needs to go from negative reinforcement to positive reinforcement.