When abnormal becomes normal

People live differently in the woods than in a mansion.

“There are things which must cause you to lose your reason or you have none to lose.” Gothhold Lessing

As Viktor Frankl discussed in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, psychologists have long recognized that “an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.” In the philosophy of law class offered by the Georgetown Prison Scholars program, we were given a case from the 1800s in which three men were stranded at sea for weeks without any food, on the brink of dying from starvation. Long story short, under threat of what they believed was sure death, two of the men attacked their weaker shipmate and ate him. They were eventually rescued and charged with murder. At trial, the defendants argued that under the law governing self-defense, they had a legal right to protect themselves and thus were not guilty.

The verdict at the time? They were found guilty and sentenced to six years. However, they only served six months before the king commuted their sentences to time served. As a class assignment, we were tasked with arguing the law and the facts…