(k) – On Criminal Justice

What about the Criminal Justice system needs to be reformed?

• First Principles
  • The Criminal Justice system should preserve the dignity of human life
  • The Criminal Justice system should be focused on Justice more than punishment
  • The Criminal Justice system should return some good to society
  • Corollary: This must be a positive good, and not merely the benefit of removing some bad actor. The Criminal Justice System should contribute something to the well being of the community.
• What is wrong with incarceration?
  • It does not preserve the dignity of human life because the conditions in prisons are awful and if inmates are not subjected to torture by their keepers, they are subjected to torture by other inmates.
    • The solution to this is not a more liberal use of the death penalty.
  • Incarceration is more punishment than Justice in most cases.
  • Incarceration does not return a positive good to society.
• How can incarceration be improved?
  • Selective Input
    • Preserving the dignity of human life means being more selective about what kinds of people and what crimes are worth incarcerating, and finding creative solutions for other kinds of people or other (lesser) crimes.
    • There are very few cases where proper Justice means removing a criminal from society. Justice has as its elements something similar to Confession: Contrition, Repentance, Penance, Absolution.
      • The criminal must apologize for what was done.
      • The criminal must resolve never to repeat the deed.
      • The criminal must do some thing to return to the injured party some measure of compensation for their injury (in full knowledge that complete compensation maybe impossible).
      • The injured party ought to forgive the criminal after being compensated.
  • Properly ordered incarceration
    • Incarceration must be proper with respect to time spent incarcerated
    • Incarceration must be proper with respect to activities engaged in while incarcerated
      • I think putting the incarcerated to work on public projects would be a good thing to do here, provided their health and medical needs are met by the state.
        • Imprisoned labor preserves the dignity of the person because it gives them some work to occupy their time
        • Imprisoned labor preserves Justice because it offers some compensation to the community
          • It has the added benefit of being a discrete spiritual penance
        • Imprisoned labor returns some positive good to the community
        • Imprisoned labor is not fun and would still serve as a deterrent for crime.
      • Idleness of the incarcerated is a real problem and allows for all sorts of malfeasance while in and after departing from prison.
    • Incarceration must be proper with respect to treatment by caretakers and by other prisoners
      • Prisoners must have necessities provided for, they must be kept safe and secure and in good health.
      • Controls must be in place to prevent abuses from caretakers or other prisoners.
      • Abuses must be punished according to the same Justice. A crime against a criminal is still a crime.
  • Selective Output
    • The conditions under which a criminal is released must be explicit and properly ordered to the conditions which required their incarceration
      • once the elements of Contrition, Repentance, Penance, and Absolution have been completed, there should be no further need to retain the person in prison.
    • If they refuse to repent, ought they still be released?
    • If absolution is refused by the injured party? –when the penance is done their duty to the community is complete, absolution should be an act over and above. It would be good to have a ceremony after a prison sentence is complete where absolution and forgiveness is offered.