Crime and Punishment
I can't get too excited about victimless crimes, that is to say
crimes in which the only victim is the person committing it.
Those who want to self-destruct - provided the consequences are
not shouldered by others - have the right to do it. Everyone has
the moral responsibility for their own person.
Crimes against others is another matter. Nobody has the right to
inflict physical harm on another. Nor does anyone have the right
to harm us emotionally or economically. There are degrees of
damage, obviously. Defamation does not bring the harm that
torture, rape or murder does. In a just world, the punishment
must fit the crime.
Perfect justice must begin with absolute proof of guilt. Such is
often not the case as evidenced by the numerous prisoners
exonerated by DNA testing. Punishment meted out unfairly is one
of the cruelest forms of torture. The desire to give innocence
every chance to emerge is perhaps in large measure the reason
our criminal justice system often bogs down with technicalities
and loopholes. If a person is guilty of violent crime what do we
do then? The first step in a rational approach is to decide
whether we want violent criminals to be free to roam our
streets. We could be "kind and understanding" and let them go
after a little counseling. But the evidence does not demonstrate
that works. To be safe we'd all have to arm ourselves as
increasing numbers of violent criminals roamed the streets.
If we are to protect ourselves from such criminals, there are
two logical choices:
1.We lock them away in a box six feet under ground after
executing them. The most just way to do the killing is exactly
the way they did it to their victim. That is a permanent
solution, sure and just but it makes me uneasy since there is
almost always the question of true guilt.
2.We lock them away in some type of secure institution. Since I
am trying to come up with a logical solution, that institution
would not be our present prison system.
The second option leaves room for the possibility of exoneration
with new exculpatory evidence. But if not prison, what?
Criminals should be put on secure restitution work farms
instead. There they will toil producing useful labor or goods
for society commensurate with the damage they have done. The
victim's medical bills, lost work and incapacities must be paid
for by the offender. Moreover, all the costs to society for
investigations, trials and room and board while incarcerated
must be paid. (A great motivation for those guilty to admit it
and reduce the legal costs.) The time it takes for economic
restitution would by and large dictate the length of the term.
For example, if you attack another, incapacitating them, then
you get to spend whatever time is necessary earning the money to
take care of them. Those who take another's life must substitute
their own life with a lifetime of productive work to repay
society and the victim's family.
Isn't this an obvious solution? Mere imprisonment with society
picking up the tab for the police and legal work and the
maintenance of the criminal is nuts. Why should the victim and
society pay for the evils of the wrongdoer?
How do you force someone in prison to work off his or her debt?
Give them a choice. Either do it or go without food and shelter.
That is the law that works throughout nature so why not apply it
to humans? How do you maintain discipline on the farm? Well, a
hard day's work will leave little energy for much more than
rest. As it is now, prisoners sitting in cells all day have
nothing other to do with their energy than scheme more
wrongdoing. With my idea those who are a problem get penalized
with an extension of their stay and longer work shifts.
This is a fair and just way to deter crime and offset the damage
created by it. It does not have the potential of unjustly taking
the life of another since time would be provided for proof of
innocence. And I'm not talking chain gang here, but rather
passable work and living conditions with the product of labor
going where it should, to the victims and society. U.S.
companies are always looking for a cheaper labor force. Well
here it is, right on our own shores numbering in the tens of
thousands. There is nothing better to sober someone up and drain
them of the energy to think up nefarious deeds than a hard day's
work. For minor offenders who have a stint in these restitution
farms and are then released, they will know what work is,
actually improve their resume, spread the word on the street
that crime means hard work and be motivated not to return. If
they repeat offend, then society will not be the one to suffer.
Criminals should be self-maintaining, even a profit center
rather than an economic sinkhole.
Our present penal system does not work. It is a huge and unjust
cost to society. To many it neither serves as punishment nor
deterrent. About three quarters of all U.S. prison space has
been built in the last decade. Just in California the chances
that a person either lives or works in a prison is 1 in 200.
It's a crazy state of affairs. I wish I could be warden of the
world tomorrow and fix it all.