Crime and Punishment

A judge has just ruled that California must reduce its prison population by tens of thousands on inmates within the next three years. Of course, this decision has predictably opened up the old debates about punishment vs. prevention, who is or is not soft on crime, and on ad nauseum.

I put forward the humble proposition that there are three possible (although not exclusive) purposes for a corrections system:

1. Protect the population
   
   1. ...in the short term, by removing harmful elements from it.
   2. ...in the long term, by making examples of current criminals to discourage future crime.
2. Rehabilitate criminals, that is, transform destructive elements of the society into constructive ones. Rehabilitation means more than simply reducing recidivism; it further means taking advantage of previously-untapped creative resources in the community: the former criminals themselves.
3. Revenge: Doing harm to those who have done harm to restore some kind of karmic balance, because they "deserve" it.

I further propose that revenge has no place in a just and compassionate society, so let's set that aside as a goal of our corrections system.

What we're left with is something I think is a very positive vision: a society seeking the safety and positive contribution of all of its members. So let's move beyond a discussion about how we punish criminals and towards a discussion about how to build that kind of society. We may still end up talking about crime, prisons, and recidivism, but hopefully with a more focused and effective mission and a renewed sense of our common values.