There is a debate that rages on these days about whether people should be punished or treated for their shortcomings. In the Catholic world, punishment is central, people must pay for their sins before they are absolved. This idea has integrated itself in our legal system and within societal beliefs. Whenever there is a problem with a criminal element, there is always a debate on whether the people responsible should be punished and how. But is punishment really an effective way to treat and prevent crime? My short answer is "No"...but y'all know that I don't really understand the meaning of "short answer".
Murder, rape and child abuse are all considered to be crimes that deserve harsh punishment, but does punishment accomplish anything other than revenge? In my mind, sending someone to the death chamber for murder doesn't really do much other than shrink the population. It doesn't bring back the deceased, it doesn't really help the victims (friends and family of the deceased) of the crime to feel better for losing their loved one, and it certainly doesn't prevent future murders. Thousands of people have been executed for murder in the history of man, and yet we still have daily murders in this country. California has more people on Death Row than any other state, yet the homicide cops in LA and SF are constantly overwhelmed. This shows the futility of using punishment to deter activities. The real cause of murder is generally circumstantial: sometimes it's all about gang activity and that's partially a result of poor state planning and a lack of a welfare state and partially about a lack of proper supervision during childhood; sometimes it's about jealousy of others who have more, whether that's money, women or power, jealousy is always a possible motive for murder; and sometimes it's just about a socio/psychopath who cannot help but kill. To me, all of these could easily be treated if caught in time.
It's the same for drug use, this nation has incarcerated more people for drug-related "crimes" than anything else. People go to jail just simply because they found the most lucrative way to earn money in the ghetto. In the ghetto of New Orleans, a middle-school dropout can become a player if he's got the right business sense as a crack-dealer. But even if he's just selling crack to support his kids, he will be sent to prison for a long time. That's not even taking into account whether or not he does the drug, or who he sells it to. Addicts will get their drug wherever they can, and the harder it is made for them to purchase, the more likely they will find violent ways of obtaining their fix. For those who are drug users, it seems just plain retarded to send someone to jail because they have a chemical addiction. They don't get cured behind bars, they find ways to keep their addiction going while in the can, and when they get out, they find a dealer right away and get right back on the same path.
We have more money than any other nation, yet we still have crime rates that compare more to the third world than to the European Union. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that we still have the Puritan sense of "you've done wrong, now we must punish you". I'm just sick of hearing people say "He broke the law, so he's a criminal" when all he did was sell $1000 worth of marijuana to pay the rent. Hopefully one day American voters will realize that treatment is the only way to prevent the major problems in society. That's not just drug treatment, but psychological treatment for troubled kids, marriage counselling for unhappy couples and lessons on how to raise kids for bad parents. There is no way we will eliminate all crime from the planet in our lifetime, but at least we can do something about the overcrowded prison system and the billions of dollars we waste every year on incarceration of non-violent people.
Murder, rape and child abuse are all considered to be crimes that deserve harsh punishment, but does punishment accomplish anything other than revenge? In my mind, sending someone to the death chamber for murder doesn't really do much other than shrink the population. It doesn't bring back the deceased, it doesn't really help the victims (friends and family of the deceased) of the crime to feel better for losing their loved one, and it certainly doesn't prevent future murders. Thousands of people have been executed for murder in the history of man, and yet we still have daily murders in this country. California has more people on Death Row than any other state, yet the homicide cops in LA and SF are constantly overwhelmed. This shows the futility of using punishment to deter activities. The real cause of murder is generally circumstantial: sometimes it's all about gang activity and that's partially a result of poor state planning and a lack of a welfare state and partially about a lack of proper supervision during childhood; sometimes it's about jealousy of others who have more, whether that's money, women or power, jealousy is always a possible motive for murder; and sometimes it's just about a socio/psychopath who cannot help but kill. To me, all of these could easily be treated if caught in time.
It's the same for drug use, this nation has incarcerated more people for drug-related "crimes" than anything else. People go to jail just simply because they found the most lucrative way to earn money in the ghetto. In the ghetto of New Orleans, a middle-school dropout can become a player if he's got the right business sense as a crack-dealer. But even if he's just selling crack to support his kids, he will be sent to prison for a long time. That's not even taking into account whether or not he does the drug, or who he sells it to. Addicts will get their drug wherever they can, and the harder it is made for them to purchase, the more likely they will find violent ways of obtaining their fix. For those who are drug users, it seems just plain retarded to send someone to jail because they have a chemical addiction. They don't get cured behind bars, they find ways to keep their addiction going while in the can, and when they get out, they find a dealer right away and get right back on the same path.
We have more money than any other nation, yet we still have crime rates that compare more to the third world than to the European Union. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that we still have the Puritan sense of "you've done wrong, now we must punish you". I'm just sick of hearing people say "He broke the law, so he's a criminal" when all he did was sell $1000 worth of marijuana to pay the rent. Hopefully one day American voters will realize that treatment is the only way to prevent the major problems in society. That's not just drug treatment, but psychological treatment for troubled kids, marriage counselling for unhappy couples and lessons on how to raise kids for bad parents. There is no way we will eliminate all crime from the planet in our lifetime, but at least we can do something about the overcrowded prison system and the billions of dollars we waste every year on incarceration of non-violent people.
posted by Dan Pasternack at 5:04 PM
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