| REHABILITATION, RETRIBUTION, AND RESTITUTION: REVAMPING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM By Greg Kay 12 Febuary, 2001 |
| I probably don't have to tell anyone reading this that the American system
of justice does not work; in fact, it is horribly, irrevocably broken. When
murderers and child molesters are released early to make room for tax
evaders something is very wrong. It is in this sorry condition because it is
based on confusion; the inability to tell the difference between
rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution. Rehabilitation is simply the concept of changing behavior; restoring an acceptable social normality of interaction, and with it status. It is a result of education, or reeducation. Unfortunately, all too many people have come to believe that it is the be-all and end-all of the justice system, which is faulty logic. Rehabilitation is as much the desired result of a process as it is a process it's self. It's only part of the equation. Rehabilitation cannot truly occur until the subject repents, invariably as the result of either the act of or the fear of retribution, or of restitution. Retribution is an easy concept to grasp; it is punishment, as vengeance for particular act ("an eye for an eye"), and is what the folks at the opposite end of the spectrum from the rehabilitators like to emphasize. For some crimes, particularly those committed against a person, such murder, rape, assault, etc., retribution is as much of a requirement now as it was in the Mosaic law that is so famous for it. However, it too is only part of the equation; most people (on both sides of the issue, the rehabilitors and the retributors) tend to overlook the fact that, even in the Old Testament period, retribution wasn't the ONLY way; it was generally reserved for intentional "personal" crimes, against either God or man, NOT for unintentional personal crimes, and certainly not for property crimes. That's where restitution comes in. Restitution, or "restoring" was actually the solution the most common crimes, and it makes as much sense today as it did thousands of years ago. No judicial latitude, no bankruptcy in the criminal case; you did the crime, you owe the money, and you will pay it, period. Picture the reduction in both crime rate and prison population if the Biblical (and logical!) principle of restitution were applied in cases where appropriate. If a thief has to repay four times the price of the car he stole or seven times the price of that pair of jeans she shoplifted, or the drunken driver has to begin surrendering half of his income for the rest of his life to support the family of the pedestrian he ran down, not only does the victim get paid for his trouble, but both the criminal and those potential criminals who see it suddenly begin to realize that crime no longer pays like it used too, and are then on the road to rehabilitation. The victims and their families get some real compensation, the taxpayer doesn't have to foot the bill for incarceration, and the prisons have room for those to whom retributive punishment is due. Ah, you say, but what if he won't pay? Ah, I say, but he will; one way or another. If he refuses to work on the outside to make the payments, the Bible prescribes the remedy for that as well - his labor may be sold instead. The choice would be the criminal's; does he prefer to work a normal job and have his payments deducted from his check, or does he prefer to be out along the highway on a prison work gang, FORCED to work, with the State remitting the entire worth of his work, minus room and board, to the victim, for as long as it takes to pay it off? When the criminal pays for his deed and when the victim is compensated without exception, then and ONLY then, will you have real justice for all. HOME ~ EDITORIALS ~ THE MCCCAUSLAND PLAN ~ CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ~ LINKS |