9 ms·
The punishment should be incidental, not the point. Our justice system is punishment-first, when it really should be correction-first. I don't think anyone is
by RIMR 10y ago
The punishment should be incidental, not the point. Our justice system is punishment-first, when it really should be correction-first.
I don't think anyone is arguing that convicted criminals don't deserve to be punished, just that punishing them shouldn't be the primary goal of our justice system.
- dTal 10y agoOh, but we but we still call prisons "correctional facilities". They're not, but we like euphemisms that make us feel better. The language permeates the entire justice system - parole boards speak of "rehabilitation". So at least at some level we already like to believe that we're doing this "for their own good" - we don't like to confront the retributive impulses that really drive the system. So it's unfortunately not a question of dispassionately debating whether "punishment-based justice" or "rehabilitative justice" works better - the answer to that is obvious. It's a question of forcing people to face up to the uglier parts of themselves.