Monday, September 28, 2009

When did it change?

Somewhere in my education I was taught that the true justice was about rehabilitation. When did our society flip over to pure punitiveness? Some states allow children as young as seven years old to be tried as adults and sentenced to life without parole. American incarceration rates far exceed any other industrialized nation. As spending for prisons has increased money for rehabilitation has shrunk. Studies show that harsh penalties have little deterrent effect. Punish, punish, punish....with little thought about how a perpetrator came to be what he/she is and not about how to rehabilitate him/her. For my nickel punishment is not justice!
This rant brought about by reading the newspapers.

No comments: