Claim: Many problems of modern society cannot be solved by laws and the legal system.Reason: Laws cannot change what is in people's hearts or minds.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reas

Although some of us sincerely believe that laws cannot change what is in our hearts and minds, I disagree with it. Consequently, I disagree with the claim as well due to the fact that the legal system and laws have tackled many of problems of humankind. Below I will discuss the reasons of my stance.

To begin with, it is a widespread belief that laws cannot alter our minds and hearts; however, if we take a closer look at the history of mankind, we figure out that this statement is mistaken. Laws create and reflect our understanding of appropriate and inappropriate, malevolent and benevolent conduct and by altering or creating new laws or norms we may change people's attitudes to the reality. For example, public attitude to homosexuals of both genders has changed dramatically since the 1960s. Homosexuality used to be considered as violation which should be punished by law, however, after the law was altered people's attitude has changed and today many of us perceive prosecution of this group as demonstration of bias and unfair behavior. This is only one example of many which demonstrates that laws may change our minds and attitudes.

Consequently, I disagree with the claim which avers that problems of society cannot be solved by laws and the legal system. In fact many of grave problems which humankind has faced were tackled or at least significantly alleviated by introduction on new laws. To illustrate this idea we may take a look at our history, one hundred years ago children labor was accepted and considered normal practice in many countries all over the world from Russia to the UK and from India to Japan. However, after the new laws which strictly prohibit the children's exploitation were introduced this kind of practice has vanished in majority of countries and today the obsolete practice is seemed by us as barbarian. You may aver that it is only one, unique case but in fact, many of problems were tackled by introduction of laws and treaties in all levels, for instance, the treaty signed by the USA and the USSR in the 1980s allows us to significantly alleviate problem of nuclear annihilation and both countries have reduced since than their nuclear arsenal remarkably.

Of course, the legal system cannot solve all problems in the world, in fact, murder, stealing, robbery are forbidden in almost all countries of the planet from Iraq to Norway; nevertheless our prisons are full of offenders. What is more, laws cannot regulate all aspects of our lives and thus they cannot address, for instance, personal problems such as loneliness. In other words, the legal system is not a panacea but nevertheless it is the best tool to solve problems we have today.

In conclusion, although many of us adhere to an idea that laws cannot change our minds, I disagree with it because laws create our understanding of evil and goodness and thus by altering the laws we can alter our attitudes. Consequently, not all but many of contemporary social problems may be solved by them.